Job 38
1 Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine, dixit:
Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
2 Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
3 Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
4 Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi si habes intelligentiam.
Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
5 Quis posuit mensuras eius, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem eius,
Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
7 Cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?
When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
8 Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens:
Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
9 Cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
10 Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem, et ostia:
I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
11 Et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
12 Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
13 Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
14 Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:
15 Auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
17 Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
18 Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia,
Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
19 In qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness:
20 Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus eius.
That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
21 Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses? et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
22 Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
23 Quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
24 Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
25 Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
26 Ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur,
That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
27 Ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
28 Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
29 De cuius utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
30 In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
31 Numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
32 Numquid producis Luciferum in tempore suo, et Vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
33 Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem eius in terra?
Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
34 Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
36 Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?
37 Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem, et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
38 Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
39 Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum eius implebis,
Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
40 Quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
41 Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli eius clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
