Job 23
1 Respondens autem Iob, ait:
Then Job answered and said,
2 Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagae meae aggravata est super gemitum meum.
Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium eius?
Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 Ponam coram eo iudicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus.
I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 Ut sciam verba, quae mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.
I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.
6 Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suae mole me premat.
Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 Proponat aequitatem contra me, et perveniet ad victoriam iudicium meum.
There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Si ad Orientem iero, non apparet: si ad Occidentem, non intelligam eum.
Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum: si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.
On the left hand, where he does work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum, quod per ignem transit:
But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 Vestigia eius secutus est pes meus, viam eius custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.
My foot has held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 A mandatis labiorum eius non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris eius.
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem eius: et anima eius quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.
But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desires, even that he does.
14 Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia praesto sunt ei.
For he performs the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
15 Et idcirco a facie eius turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore solicitor.
Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.
For God makes my heart soft, and the Almighty troubles me:
17 Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither has he covered the darkness from my face.
