Job 38
1 respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine dixit
Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
2 quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus inperitis
“(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
3 accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos interrogabo te et responde mihi
I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
4 ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terrae indica mihi si habes intellegentiam
(“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
5 quis posuit mensuras eius si nosti vel quis tetendit super eam lineam
Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
6 super quo bases illius solidatae sunt aut quis dimisit lapidem angularem eius
What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
7 cum me laudarent simul astra matutina et iubilarent omnes filii Dei
8 quis conclusit ostiis mare quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens
“When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
9 cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiae obvolverem
It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
10 circumdedi illud terminis meis et posui vectem et ostia
I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
11 et dixi usque huc venies et non procedes amplius et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos
[I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
12 numquid post ortum tuum praecepisti diluculo et ostendisti aurorae locum suum
“Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
13 et tenuisti concutiens extrema terrae et excussisti impios ex ea
Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
14 restituetur ut lutum signaculum et stabit sicut vestimentum
When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
15 auferetur ab impiis lux sua et brachium excelsum confringetur
When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
16 numquid ingressus es profunda maris et in novissimis abyssis deambulasti
“[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
17 numquid apertae tibi sunt portae mortis et ostia tenebrosa vidisti
Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
18 numquid considerasti latitudines terrae indica mihi si nosti omnia
Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
19 in qua via habitet lux et tenebrarum quis locus sit
“Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
20 ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos et intellegas semitas domus eius
Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
21 sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses et numerum dierum tuorum noveras
I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
22 numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti
“Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
23 quae praeparavi in tempus hostis in diem pugnae et belli
I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
24 per quam viam spargitur lux dividitur aestus super terram
And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
25 quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum et viam sonantis tonitrui
Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
26 ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto ubi nullus mortalium commoratur
Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
27 ut impleret inviam et desolatam et produceret herbas virentes
Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
28 quis est pluviae pater vel quis genuit stillas roris
Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
29 de cuius utero egressa est glacies et gelu de caelo quis genuit
And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
30 in similitudinem lapidis aquae durantur et superficies abyssi constringitur
[In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
31 numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pliadis aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare
“[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
32 numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo et vesperum super filios terrae consurgere facis
Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
33 numquid nosti ordinem caeli et pones rationem eius in terra
Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
34 numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam et impetus aquarum operiet te
“Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
35 numquid mittes fulgura et ibunt et revertentia dicent tibi adsumus
Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
36 quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam vel quis dedit gallo intellegentiam
Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
37 quis enarravit caelorum rationem et concentum caeli quis dormire faciet
And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
38 quando fundebatur pulvis in terram et glebae conpingebantur
with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
39 numquid capies leaenae praedam et animam catulorum eius implebis
“When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
40 quando cubant in antris et in specubus insidiantur
41 quis praeparat corvo escam suam quando pulli eius ad Deum clamant vagantes eo quod non habeant cibos
Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
