Job 38
1 Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,
2 Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
“Who is this who questions my wisdom by talking so ignorantly?
3 Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
Prepare yourself, be strong, for I am going to question you, and you must answer me.
4 Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have such knowledge!
5 Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
Who decided its dimensions? Don't you know? Who stretched out a measuring line?
6 Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,
What do its foundations rest upon? Who laid its cornerstone,
7 cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et jubilarent omnes filii Dei?
when the stars of the morning sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.
8 Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens;
Who laid down the boundaries of the sea when it was born?
9 cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
Who clothed it with clouds, and wrapped it in a blanket of deep darkness?
10 Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem et ostia,
I set its limits, marking its borders.
11 et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
I said, ‘You may come here, but no farther. Here is where your proud waves stop.’
12 Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
During your lifetime, have you ever ordered the morning to begin?
13 Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
Have you ever told the dawn where to appear that it might take hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wicked out?
14 Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
The earth is changed like clay under a seal; its features stand out like a crumpled garment.
15 auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
The ‘light’ of the wicked is taken away from them; their acts of violence are stopped.
16 Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
Have you entered the sources of the sea? Have you explored their hidden depths?
17 Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
Have you been shown where the gates of death are? Have you seen the gates of utter darkness?
18 Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia:
Do you know how far the earth extends? Tell me if you know all this!
19 in qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
In which direction does light live? Where does darkness dwell?
20 ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus ejus.
Can you take them home? Do you know the way to where they live?
21 Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
Of course you know, because you were already born then! You've lived so long!
22 Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
Have you been to where the snow is kept? Have you seen where the hail is held?
23 quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
I have stored them up for the time of trouble, for the day of war and battle.
24 Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
Do you know the way to where light comes from, or to where the east wind blows over the earth?
25 Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
Who cuts a channel for the rain to flow? Who creates a path for the thunderbolt?
26 ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur;
Who brings rain to an uninhabited land, to a desert where nobody lives,
27 ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
to water a parched wasteland to make the green grass grow?
28 Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
Does the rain have a father? Who was the father of the dewdrops?
29 De cujus utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
Who was the mother of ice? Does the frost of the air have a mother?
30 In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
Water turns into rock-hard ice; its surface freezes solid.
31 Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
Can you tie together the stars of the Pleiades? Can you loosen the belt of the Orion constellation?
32 Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo, et vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
Can you guide the stars of Mazzaroth at the right time? Can you direct the Great Bear constellation and its other stars?
33 Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem ejus in terra?
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you apply them to the earth?
34 Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
Can you shout to the clouds and command them to pour rain down on you?
35 Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
Can you send out bolts of lightning and direct them, so that they can answer you saying, ‘Here we are’?
36 Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
Who has placed wisdom inside people? Who has given understanding to the mind?
37 Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem? et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
Who is clever enough to count the clouds? Who can turn heaven's water jars on their sides
38 Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
when the dust has baked into a solid mass?
39 Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum ejus implebis,
Can you hunt prey for the lion? Can you feed the lion cubs
40 quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
as they crouch down in their dens and lie in wait in the bushes?
41 Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God, weak from starvation?
