Job 38
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,
Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine, dixit:
2 “Who is this who questions my wisdom by talking so ignorantly?
Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
3 Prepare yourself, be strong, for I am going to question you, and you must answer me.
Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have such knowledge!
Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi si habes intelligentiam.
5 Who decided its dimensions? Don't you know? Who stretched out a measuring line?
Quis posuit mensuras eius, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
6 What do its foundations rest upon? Who laid its cornerstone,
Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem eius,
7 when the stars of the morning sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.
Cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?
8 Who laid down the boundaries of the sea when it was born?
Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens:
9 Who clothed it with clouds, and wrapped it in a blanket of deep darkness?
Cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
10 I set its limits, marking its borders.
Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem, et ostia:
11 I said, ‘You may come here, but no farther. Here is where your proud waves stop.’
Et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
12 During your lifetime, have you ever ordered the morning to begin?
Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
13 Have you ever told the dawn where to appear that it might take hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wicked out?
Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
14 The earth is changed like clay under a seal; its features stand out like a crumpled garment.
Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
15 The ‘light’ of the wicked is taken away from them; their acts of violence are stopped.
Auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
16 Have you entered the sources of the sea? Have you explored their hidden depths?
Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
17 Have you been shown where the gates of death are? Have you seen the gates of utter darkness?
Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
18 Do you know how far the earth extends? Tell me if you know all this!
Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia.
19 In which direction does light live? Where does darkness dwell?
In qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
20 Can you take them home? Do you know the way to where they live?
Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus eius.
21 Of course you know, because you were already born then! You've lived so long!
Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses? et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
22 Have you been to where the snow is kept? Have you seen where the hail is held?
Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
23 I have stored them up for the time of trouble, for the day of war and battle.
Quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
24 Do you know the way to where light comes from, or to where the east wind blows over the earth?
Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
25 Who cuts a channel for the rain to flow? Who creates a path for the thunderbolt?
Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
26 Who brings rain to an uninhabited land, to a desert where nobody lives,
Ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur,
27 to water a parched wasteland to make the green grass grow?
Ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who was the father of the dewdrops?
Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
29 Who was the mother of ice? Does the frost of the air have a mother?
De cuius utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
30 Water turns into rock-hard ice; its surface freezes solid.
In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
31 Can you tie together the stars of the Pleiades? Can you loosen the belt of the Orion constellation?
Numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
32 Can you guide the stars of Mazzaroth at the right time? Can you direct the Great Bear constellation and its other stars?
Numquid producis Luciferum in tempore suo, et Vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you apply them to the earth?
Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem eius in terra?
34 Can you shout to the clouds and command them to pour rain down on you?
Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
35 Can you send out bolts of lightning and direct them, so that they can answer you saying, ‘Here we are’?
Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
36 Who has placed wisdom inside people? Who has given understanding to the mind?
Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
37 Who is clever enough to count the clouds? Who can turn heaven's water jars on their sides
Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem, et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
38 when the dust has baked into a solid mass?
Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
39 Can you hunt prey for the lion? Can you feed the lion cubs
Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum eius implebis,
40 as they crouch down in their dens and lie in wait in the bushes?
Quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God, weak from starvation?
Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli eius clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
