Job 38
1 Then Yahweh called to Job out of a fierce storm and said,
Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine, dixit:
2 “Who is this who brings darkness to plans by means of words without knowledge?
Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
3 Now gird up your loins like a man for I will ask you questions, and you must answer me.
Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
4 Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me, if you have so much understanding.
Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi si habes intelligentiam.
5 Who determined its dimensions? Tell me, if you know. Who stretched the measuring line over it?
Quis posuit mensuras eius, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
6 On what were its foundations laid? Who laid its cornerstone
Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem eius,
7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?
8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst out, as if it had come out of the womb—
Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens:
9 when I made clouds its clothing, and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
Cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
10 That was when I marked out for the sea my boundary, and when I placed its bars and doors,
Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem, et ostia:
11 and when I said to it, 'You may come this far, but no farther; here is where I will put a boundary to the pride of your waves.'
Et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
12 Have you given orders to the morning, or caused the dawn to know its place,
Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
13 so that it might take hold of the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
14 The earth is changed in appearance like clay changes under a seal; all things on it stand out clearly like the folds of a piece of clothing.
Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
15 From wicked people their 'light' is taken away; their uplifted arm is broken.
Auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
16 Have you gone to the sources of the waters of the sea? Have you walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
18 Have you understood the earth in its expanse? Tell me, if you know it all.
Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia.
19 Where is the way to the resting place of light— as for darkness, where is its place?
In qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
20 Can you lead light and darkness to their places of work? Can you find the way back to their houses for them?
Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus eius.
21 Undoubtedly you know, for you were born then; the number of your days is so large!
Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses? et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
22 Have you entered the storehouses for the snow, or have you seen the storehouses for the hail,
Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
23 these things that I have kept for times of trouble, for days of battle and war?
Quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
24 What is the path to where the lightning bolts are distributed or to where the winds are scattered from the east over the earth?
Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
25 Who has created the channels for the floods of rain, or who has made a path for the thunder,
Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
26 to cause it to rain on lands where no person exists, and on the wilderness, in which there is no one,
Ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur,
27 to satisfy the devastated and desolate places, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
Ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
28 Does the rain have a father, or, who fathers the drops of dew?
Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
29 Out of whose womb did the ice come? Who bore the white frost out of the sky?
De cuius utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
30 The waters hide themselves and become like stone; the surface of the deep becomes frozen.
In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
31 Can you fasten chains on the Pleiades, or undo the cords of Orion?
Numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
32 Can you lead the constellations to appear at their proper times? Can you guide the Bear with its children?
Numquid producis Luciferum in tempore suo, et Vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
33 Do you know the regulations of the sky? Could you set in place the sky's rule over the earth?
Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem eius in terra?
34 Can you raise your voice up to the clouds, so that an abundance of rainwater may cover you?
Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
35 Can you send out bolts of lightning that they may go out, that they say to you, 'Here we are'?
Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
36 Who has put wisdom in the clouds or has given understanding to the mists?
Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
37 Who can number the clouds by his skill? Who can pour out the water skins of the sky
Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem, et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
38 when the dust runs into a hard mass and the clods of earth clump tightly together?
Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
39 Can you hunt down a victim for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of her young lion cubs
Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum eius implebis,
40 when they are crouching in their dens and sheltering in hiding to lie in wait?
Quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
41 Who provides victims for the ravens when their young ones cry out to God and stagger about for lack of food?
Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli eius clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
