Job 23
1 Respondens autem Iob, ait:
Then answered Job, and said,
2 Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.
Even now is my complaint bitter: my suffering is heavier than my groans.
3 Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium eius?
Oh who would grant that I knew where I might find him! that I might attain to his Judgment throne!
4 Ponam coram eo iudicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus,
I would put in order before him my cause, and my mouth would I fill with arguments.
5 Ut sciam verba, quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.
I should know the words which he might answer me, and understand what he might say unto me.
6 Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.
Would he with his power contend against me? he would truly not lay such doings to my charge.
7 Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam iudicium meum.
There would an upright one argue with him; and I should be allowed to escape for ever by my judge.
8 Si ad Orientem iero, non apparet: si ad Occidentem, non intelligam eum.
But, lo, I go eastward—and he is not there; and to the west— and I cannot perceive him;
9 Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum: si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.
When he doth great things at the north, I behold him not; he hideth himself in the south—and I see him not.
10 Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum, quod per ignem transit:
But he knoweth the way that I take: were he to probe me, I should come forth as gold.
11 Vestigia eius secutus est pes meus, viam eius custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.
On his steps my foot hath held fast: his way have I kept, and swerved not.
12 A mandatis labiorum eius non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris eius.
From the commandment of his lips have I also not moved away: as a fixed statute for me have I treasured up the sayings of his mouth.
13 Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem eius: et anima eius quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.
But he is unchangeably one, and who can turn him? And what his will desireth, even that he doth.
14 Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.
For he will bring to completion what hath been destined for me: and like these hath he many other things with him.
15 Et idcirco a facie eius turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.
Therefore am I terrified at his presence: I will reflect, and be in dread of him.
16 Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.
Still God hath made timid my heart, and the Almighty hath terrified me;
17 Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.
Because I was not destroyed before this darkness, and because he hath not hidden from my face [this] gloom.
