Job 38
1 Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine, dixit:
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2 Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
4 Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terrae? indica mihi si habes intelligentiam.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Quis posuit mensuras eius, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 Super quo bases illius solidatae sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem eius,
On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
7 Cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?
while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens:
Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9 Cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiae obvolverem?
when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
10 Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem, et ostia:
when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
11 Et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
12 Numquid post ortum tuum praecepisti diluculo, et ostendisti aurorae locum suum?
In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
13 Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terrae, et excussisti impios ex ea?
that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
14 Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
15 Auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
16 Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
17 Numquid apertae sunt tibi portae mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Numquid considerasti latitudinem terrae? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia,
Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
19 In qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
20 Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus eius.
so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
21 Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses? et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
22 Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
23 Quae praeparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnae et belli?
which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
24 Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur aestus super terram?
In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
26 Ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur,
to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
27 Ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
28 Quis est pluviae pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 De cuius utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de caelo quis genuit?
From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
30 In similitudinem lapidis aquae durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 Numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
32 Numquid producis Luciferum in tempore suo, et Vesperum super filios terrae consurgere facis?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
33 Numquid nosti ordinem caeli, et pones rationem eius in terra?
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34 Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
35 Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
37 Quis enarrabit caelorum rationem, et concentum caeli quis dormire faciet?
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
38 Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebae compingebantur?
when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
39 Numquid capies leaenae praedam, et animam catulorum eius implebis,
Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
40 Quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Quis praeparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli eius clamant ad eum, vagientes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
