Job 29
1 Addidit quoque Job, assumens parabolam suam, et dixit:
Job also added to this, using figures of speech, and he said:
2 Quis mihi tribuat ut sim juxta menses pristinos, secundum dies quibus Deus custodiebat me?
Who will grant to me that I might be as I was in former months, according to the days when God kept watch over me?
3 Quando splendebat lucerna ejus super caput meum, et ad lumen ejus ambulabam in tenebris:
At that time, his lamp shined over my head, and by his light, I walked through the darkness.
4 sicut fui in diebus adolescentiæ meæ, quando secreto Deus erat in tabernaculo meo:
I was then just as in the days of my youth, when God was privately in my tabernacle.
5 quando erat Omnipotens mecum, et in circuitu meo pueri mei:
At that time, the Almighty was with me and my children surrounded me.
6 quando lavabam pedes meos butyro, et petra fundebat mihi rivos olei:
Then, I washed my feet with butter, and a boulder poured out rivers of oil for me.
7 quando procedebam ad portam civitatis, et in platea parabant cathedram mihi.
When I went to the gate of the city, or to the main street, they prepared a chair for me.
8 Videbant me juvenes, et abscondebantur: et senes assurgentes stabant.
The youths saw me and hid themselves, and the elders, rising up, remained standing.
9 Principes cessabant loqui, et digitum superponebant ori suo.
The leaders stopped talking, and they placed a finder over their mouth.
10 Vocem suam cohibebant duces, et lingua eorum gutturi suo adhærebat.
The commanders subdued their voice, and their tongue adhered to their throat.
11 Auris audiens beatificabat me, et oculus videns testimonium reddebat mihi:
The ear that heard me, blessed me, and the eye that saw me, gave testimony for me.
12 eo quod liberassem pauperem vociferantem, et pupillum cui non esset adjutor.
This was because I had freed the poor, who cried out, and the orphan, who had no helper.
13 Benedictio perituri super me veniebat, et cor viduæ consolatus sum.
The blessing of him who would have been destroyed came upon me, and I consoled the heart of the widow.
14 Justitia indutus sum, et vestivi me, sicut vestimento et diademate, judicio meo.
I put on justice, and I clothed myself with my judgment, like a robe and a diadem.
15 Oculus fui cæco, et pes claudo.
I was an eye for the blind and a foot for the lame.
16 Pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam diligentissime investigabam.
I was the father of the poor; and if I lacked knowledge about any case, I investigated very diligently.
17 Conterebam molas iniqui, et de dentibus illius auferebam prædam.
I crushed the jaws of the impious, and I took away prey from his teeth.
18 Dicebamque: In nidulo meo moriar, et sicut palma multiplicabo dies.
And I said, “I will die in my little nest, and like a palm tree, I will multiply my days.
19 Radix mea aperta est secus aquas, et ros morabitur in messione mea.
My root has been spread beside the waters, and the dew will remain with my harvest.
20 Gloria mea semper innovabitur, et arcus meus in manu mea instaurabitur.
My glory will always be restored, and my bow will be restored to my hand.”
21 Qui me audiebant, expectabant sententiam, et intenti tacebant ad consilium meum.
Those who heard me, expected vindication, and they listened closely in silence to my counsel.
22 Verbis meis addere nihil audebant, et super illos stillabat eloquium meum.
To my words, they dared to add nothing, and my eloquence poured over them.
23 Expectabant me sicut pluviam, et os suum aperiebant quasi ad imbrem serotinum.
They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for belated rains.
24 Siquando ridebam ad eos, non credebant: et lux vultus mei non cadebat in terram.
If I had ever laughed at them, they would not have believed it, and the light of my face was not cast down towards the ground.
25 Si voluissem ire ad eos, sedebam primus: cumque sederem quasi rex, circumstante exercitu, eram tamen mœrentium consolator.
If I wished to go to them, I sat down first, and, though I sat like a king surrounded by an army, yet I was a comforter to those who mourned.
