Job 23
1 Then Job answered and said,
Respondens autem Job, ait:
2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy because of my groaning.
[Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him! Oh, that I might come to his place!
Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium ejus?
4 I would lay my case in order before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
Ponam coram eo judicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus:
5 I would learn the words with which he would answer me and would understand what he would say to me.
ut sciam verba quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.
6 Would he argue against me in the greatness of his power? No, he would pay attention to me.
Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.
7 There the upright person might argue with him. In this way I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum.
8 See, I go eastward, but he is not there, and westward, but I cannot perceive him.
Si ad orientem iero, non apparet; si ad occidentem, non intelligam eum.
9 To the north, where he is at work, but I cannot see him, and to the south, where he hides himself so that I cannot see him.
Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum; si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.
10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.
Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum quod per ignem transit.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept to his way and turned not aside.
Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus: viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.
12 I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.
13 But he is one of a kind, who can turn him back? What he desires, he does.
Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem ejus: et anima ejus quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.
14 For he carries out his decree against me; there are many like them.
Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.
15 Therefore, I am terrified in his presence; when I think about him, I am afraid of him.
Et idcirco a facie ejus turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.
16 For God has made my heart weak; the Almighty has terrified me.
Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.
17 I have not been brought to an end by darkness, because of the thick darkness that covers the gloom of my face.
Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.]
