Job 9
1 Et respondens Iob, ait:
Then Job answered,
2 Vere scio quod ita sit, et quod non iustificetur homo compositus Deo.
“Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
3 Si voluerit contendere cum eo, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille.
If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
4 Sapiens corde est, et fortis robore: quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit?
God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
5 Qui transtulit montes, et nescierunt hi quos subvertit in furore suo.
He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
6 Qui commovet terram de loco suo, et columnæ eius concutiuntur.
He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
7 Qui præcipit Soli, et non oritur: et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo:
He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.
8 Qui extendit cælos solus, et graditur super fluctus maris.
He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora austri.
He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south.
10 Qui facit magna, et incomprehensibilia, et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus.
He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
11 Si venerit ad me, non videbo eum: si abierit, non intelligam.
Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
12 Si repente interroget, quis respondebit ei? vel quis dicere potest: Cur ita facis?
Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 Deus, cuius iræ nemo resistere potest, et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem.
“God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
14 Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei, et loquar verbis meis cum eo?
How much less will I answer him, and choose my words to argue with him?
15 Qui etiam si habuero quippiam iustum, non respondebo, sed meum iudicem deprecabor.
Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
16 Et cum invocantem exaudierit me, non credo quod audierit vocem meam.
If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
17 In turbine enim conteret me, et multiplicabit vulnera mea etiam sine causa.
For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum, et implet me amaritudinibus.
He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 Si fortitudo quæritur, robustissimus est: si æquitas iudicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere.
If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
20 Si iustificare me voluero, os meum condemnabit me: si innocentem ostendero, pravum me comprobabit.
Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.
21 Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea, et tædebit me vitæ meæ.
I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.
22 Unum est quod locutus sum, et innocentem et impium ipse consumit.
“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
23 Si flagellat, occidat semel, et non de pœnis innocentum rideat.
If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
24 Terra data est in manus impii, vultum iudicum eius operit: quod si non ille est, quis ergo est?
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
25 Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore: fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum.
“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.
26 Pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes, sicut aquila volans ad escam.
They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
27 Cum dixero: Nequaquam ita loquar: commuto faciem meam, et dolore torqueor.
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,’
28 Verebar omnia opera mea, sciens quod non parceres delinquenti.
I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29 Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi?
I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
30 Si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis, et fulserit velut mundissimæ manus meæ:
If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 Tamen sordibus intinges me, et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea.
yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.
32 Neque enim viro qui similis mei est, respondebo: nec qui mecum in iudicio ex æquo possit audiri.
For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
33 Non est qui utrumque valeat arguere, et ponere manum suam in ambobus.
There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.
34 Auferat a me virgam suam, et pavor eius non me terreat.
Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
35 Loquar, et non timebo eum: neque enim possum metuens respondere.
then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
