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