Job 38
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine, dixit:
2 “(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
3 I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
4 (“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi si habes intelligentiam.
5 Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
Quis posuit mensuras eius, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
6 What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem eius,
Cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?
8 “When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens:
9 It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
Cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
10 I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem, et ostia:
11 [I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
Et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
12 “Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
13 Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
14 When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
15 When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
Auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
16 “[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
17 Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
18 Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia.
19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
In qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
20 Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus eius.
21 I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses? et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
23 I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
Quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
24 And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
25 Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
Ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur,
27 Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
Ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
28 Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
29 And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
De cuius utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
30 [In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
31 “[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
Numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
32 Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
Numquid producis Luciferum in tempore suo, et Vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
33 Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem eius in terra?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
35 Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
37 And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem, et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
38 with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
39 “When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum eius implebis,
Quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
41 Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli eius clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
