Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,
Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit:
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
[Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
3 Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.
5 Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
6 What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,
Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,
7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et jubilarent omnes filii Dei?
8 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens;
9 when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
10 marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,
Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem et ostia,
11 and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?
et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
12 “Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
14 It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.
Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
15 From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
18 Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.
Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia:
19 “What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,
in qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
20 that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus ejus.
21 Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
22 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
24 By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,
Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
26 to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,
ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur;
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?
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 Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?
De cujus utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
32 Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo, et vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem ejus in terra?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
37 Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,
Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem? et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
38 when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?
Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum ejus implebis,
40 when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
41 Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?]
