Job 13
1 Ecce omnia haec vidit oculus meus, et audivit auris mea, et intellexi singula.
Lo, all [this] hath my eye seen, my ear hath heard and noted it for itself;
2 Secundum scientiam vestram et ego novi: nec inferior vestri sum.
As much as ye know, do I also know: I do not fall short compared with you.
3 Sed tamen ad Omnipotentem loquar, et disputare cum Deo cupio:
However, I would gladly speak to the Almighty; and to argue with God do I desire.
4 Prius vos ostendens fabricatores mendacii, et cultores perversorum dogmatum.
But ye are inventors of falsehood, physicians of no value are all of you.
5 Atque utinam taceretis, ut putaremini esse sapientes.
Oh, who would grant that ye might keep a profound silences! and it would he accounted unto you as wisdom.
6 Audite ergo correptionem meam, et iudicium labiorum meorum attendite.
Do hearken but to my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Numquid Deus indiget vestro mendacio, ut pro illo loquamini dolos?
Will ye speak wrong things for God? and will ye speak for him deceitfully?
8 Numquid faciem eius accipitis, et pro Deo iudicare nitimini?
Will ye show him undue favor, when ye contend for God?
9 Aut placebit ei quem celare nihil potest? aut decipietur ut homo, vestris fraudulentiis?
Will it be well if he should search you out? or as one overreacheth another mortal, do ye expect to overreach him?
10 Ipse vos arguet, quoniam in abscondito faciem eius accipitis.
He will surely reprove you, if in secret you show him undue favor.
11 Statim ut se commoverit, turbabit vos, et terror eius irruet super vos.
Doth not his excellency terrify you? and his dread fall upon you?
12 Memoria vestra comparabitur cineri, et redigentur in lutum cervices vestrae.
The things you remember are mere proverbs of ashes, your high-places are high-places of clay.
13 Tacete paulisper ut loquar quodcumque mihi mens suggesserit.
Keep silence toward me, that I may indeed speak, and let pass over me what will.
14 Quare lacero carnes meas dentibus meis, et animam meam porto in manibus meis?
Whatever it may cost, I will take my flesh in my teeth, and my life will I put in my hand.
15 Etiam si occiderit me, in ipso sperabo: verumtamen vias meas in conspectu eius arguam.
Lo, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: only I will argue my own ways before him.
16 Et ipse erit salvator meus: non enim veniet in conspectu eius omnis hypocrita.
Even he will come to my assistance; for a hypocrite cannot come before him.
17 Audite sermonem meum, et aenigmata percipite auribus vestris.
Listen well to my word, and to my demonstration with your ears.
18 Si fuero iudicatus, scio quod iustus inveniar.
Behold now, I have arrayed my cause: I know that I shall be indeed justified.
19 Quis est qui iudicetur mecum? veniat: quare tacens consumor?
Who is he that will contend with me? for now, if I keep silence, I must perish.
20 Duo tantum ne facias mihi, et tunc a facie tua non abscondar:
Only two things do not unto me: then will I not hide myself from thy presence.
21 Manum tuam longe fac a me, et formido tua non me terreat.
Remove thy hand far from me; and let not thy dread terrify me.
22 Voca me, et ego respondebo tibi: aut certe loquar, et tu responde mihi.
Then call thou, and I will answer; or let me speak, and do thou reply to me.
23 Quantas habeo iniquitates et peccata, scelera mea et delicta ostende mihi.
How many are my iniquities and sins? my transgression and my sin let me know.
24 Cur faciem tuam abscondis, et arbitraris me inimicum tuum?
Wherefore wilt thou hide thy face, and regard me as an enemy unto thee?
25 Contra folium, quod vento rapitur, ostendis potentiam tuam, et stipulam siccam persequeris:
Wilt thou terrify a leaf driven about [by the wind]? and wilt thou pursue dry stubble?
26 Scribis enim contra me amaritudines, et consumere me vis peccatis adolescentiae meae.
That thou writest bitter decrees against me, and assignest unto me the iniquities of my youth;
27 Posuisti in nervo pedem meum, et observasti omnes semitas meas, et vestigia pedum meorum considerasti:
And [that] thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest narrowly all my paths; [and] settest for thyself a mark upon the soles of my feet?
28 Qui quasi putredo consumendus sum, et quasi vestimentum quod comeditur a tinea.
And yet the body decayeth like a rotten thing, as a garment that the moth hath eaten.
