< Job 23 >
1 And Job answered and said,
Respondens autem Iob, ait:
2 Even to-day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagae meae aggravata est super gemitum meum.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat!
Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium eius?
4 I would order the cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments;
Ponam coram eo iudicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus.
5 I would know the words he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
Ut sciam verba, quae mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.
6 Would he plead against me with [his] great power? Nay; but he would give heed unto me.
Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suae mole me premat.
7 There would an upright man reason with him; and I should be delivered for ever from my judge.
Proponat aequitatem contra me, et perveniet ad victoriam iudicium meum.
8 Lo, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I do not perceive him;
Si ad Orientem iero, non apparet: si ad Occidentem, non intelligam eum.
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I behold [him] not; he hideth himself on the right hand, and I see [him] not.
Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum: si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.
10 But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold.
Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum, quod per ignem transit:
11 My foot hath held to his steps; his way have I kept, and not turned aside.
Vestigia eius secutus est pes meus, viam eius custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.
A mandatis labiorum eius non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris eius.
13 But he is in one [mind], and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, that will he do.
Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem eius: et anima eius quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.
14 For he will perform [what] is appointed for me; and many such things are with him.
Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia praesto sunt ei.
15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence; I consider, and I am afraid of him.
Et idcirco a facie eius turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore solicitor.
16 For God hath made my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me;
Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he hidden the gloom from me.
Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.