Job 9
1 Et respondens Iob, ait:
Then Job answered and said,
2 Vere scio quod ita sit, et quod non iustificetur homo compositus Deo.
I know of a truth that it is so: for how shall a mortal man be just before the Lord?
3 Si voluerit contendere cum eo, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille.
For if he would enter into judgment with him, [God] would not hearken to him, so that he should answer to one of his charges of a thousand.
4 Sapiens corde est, et fortis robore: quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit?
For he is wise in mind, and mighty, and great: who has hardened himself against him and endured?
5 Qui transtulit montes, et nescierunt hi quos subvertit in furore suo.
Who wears out the mountains, and [men] know it not: who overturns them in anger.
6 Qui commovet terram de loco suo, et columnae eius concutiuntur.
Who shakes the [earth] under heaven from its foundations, and its pillars totter.
7 Qui praecipit Soli, et non oritur: et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo:
Who commands the sun, and it rises not; and he seals up the stars.
8 Qui extendit caelos solus, et graditur super fluctus maris.
Who alone has stretched out the heavens, and walks on the sea as on firm ground.
9 Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora austri.
Who makes Pleias, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and the chambers of the south.
10 Qui facit magna, et incomprehensibilia, et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus.
Who does great and unsearchable things; glorious also and excellent things, innumerable.
11 Si venerit ad me, non videbo eum: si abierit, non intelligam.
If ever he should go beyond me, I shall not see him: if he should pass by me, neither thus have I known [it].
12 Si repente interroget, quis respondebit ei? vel quis dicere potest: Cur ita facis?
If he would take away, who shall turn him back? or who shall say to him, What hast thou done?
13 Deus, cuius irae nemo resistere potest, et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem.
For [if] he has turned away [his] anger, the whales under heaven have stooped under him.
14 Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei, et loquar verbis meis cum eo?
Oh then that he would hearken to me, or judge my cause.
15 Qui etiam si habuero quippiam iustum, non respondebo, sed meum iudicem deprecabor.
For though I be righteous, he will not hearken to me: I will intreat his judgment.
16 Et cum invocantem exaudierit me, non credo quod audierit vocem meam.
And if I should call and he should not hearken, I cannot believe that he has listened to my voice.
17 In turbine enim conteret me, et multiplicabit vulnera mea etiam sine causa.
Let him not crush me with a dark storm: but he has made by bruises many without cause.
18 Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum, et implet me amaritudinibus.
For he suffers me not to take breath, but he has filled me with bitterness.
19 Si fortitudo quaeritur, robustissimus est: si aequitas iudicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere.
For indeed he is strong in power: who then shall resist his judgment?
20 Si iustificare me voluero, os meum condemnabit me: si innocentem ostendero, pravum me comprobabit.
For though I should seem righteous, my mouth will be profane: and though I should seem blameless, I shall be proved perverse.
21 Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea, et taedebit me vitae meae.
For even if I have sinned, I know it not [in] my soul: but my life is taken away.
22 Unum est quod locutus sum, et innocentem et impium ipse consumit.
Wherefore I said, Wrath slays the great and mighty man.
23 Si flagellat, occidat semel, et non de poenis innocentum rideat.
For the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.
24 Terra data est in manus impii, vultum iudicum eius operit: quod si non ille est, quis ergo est?
For they are delivered into the hands of the unrighteous [man]: he covers the faces of the judges [of the earth]: but if it be not he, who is it?
25 Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore: fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum.
But my life is swifter than a post: [my days] have fled away, and they knew it not.
26 Pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes, sicut aquila volans ad escam.
Or again, is there a trace of [their] path [left] by ships? or is there one of the flying eagle as it seeks [its] prey?
27 Cum dixero: Nequaquam ita loquar: commuto faciem meam, et dolore torqueor.
And if I should say, I will forget to speak, I will bow down my face and groan;
28 Verebar omnia opera mea, sciens quod non parceres delinquenti.
I quake in all my limbs, for I know that thou wilt not leave me alone [as] innocent.
29 Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi?
But since I am ungodly, why have I not died?
30 Si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis, et fulserint velut mundissimae manus meae:
For if I should wash myself with snow, and purge myself with pure hands,
31 Tamen sordibus intinges me, et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea.
thou hadst thoroughly plunged me in filth, and my garment had abhorred me.
32 Neque enim viro qui similis mei est, respondebo: nec qui mecum in iudicio ex aequo possit audiri.
For thou art not man like me, with whom I could contend, that we might come together to judgment.
33 Non est qui utrumque valeat arguere, et ponere manum suam in ambobus.
Would that [he] our mediator were [present], and a reprover, and one who should hear [the cause] between both.
34 Auferat a me virgam suam, et pavor eius non me terreat.
Let him remove [his] rod from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
35 Loquar, et non timebo eum: neque enim possum metuens respondere.
so shall I not be afraid, but I will speak: for I am not thus conscious [of guilt].
