Job 38
1 Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit:
Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
2 [Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
“(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
3 Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
4 Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.
(“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
5 Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
6 Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,
What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
7 cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et jubilarent omnes filii Dei?
8 Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens;
“When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
9 cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
10 Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem et ostia,
I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
11 et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
[I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
12 Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
“Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
13 Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
14 Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
15 auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
16 Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
“[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
17 Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
18 Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia:
Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
19 in qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
“Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
20 ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus ejus.
Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
21 Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
22 Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
“Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
23 quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
24 Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
25 Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
26 ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur;
Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
27 ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
28 Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
29 De cujus utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
30 In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
[In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
31 Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
“[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
32 Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo, et vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
33 Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem ejus in terra?
Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
34 Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
“Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
35 Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
36 Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
37 Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem? et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
38 Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
39 Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum ejus implebis,
“When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
40 quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
41 Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?]
Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
