Job 23
1 Respondens autem Job, ait:
Then Job answered and said,
2 [Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.
Even to day [is] my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium ejus?
Oh that I knew where I might find him! [that] I might come [even] to his seat!
4 Ponam coram eo judicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus:
I would order [my] cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 ut sciam verba quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.
I would know the words [which] he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.
Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me.
7 Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum.
There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Si ad orientem iero, non apparet; si ad occidentem, non intelligam eum.
Behold, I go forward, but he [is] not [there; ] and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum; si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.
On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold [him: ] he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see [him: ]
10 Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum quod per ignem transit.
But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus: viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.
My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary [food].
13 Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem ejus: et anima ejus quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.
But he [is] in one [mind], and who can turn him? and [what] his soul desireth, even [that] he doeth.
14 Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.
For he performeth [the thing that is] appointed for me: and many such [things are] with him.
15 Et idcirco a facie ejus turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.
Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.
For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.]
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.
