Job 9
1 et respondens Iob ait
Then Job answered,
2 vere scio quod ita sit et quod non iustificetur homo conpositus Deo
“Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
3 si voluerit contendere cum eo non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille
If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
4 sapiens corde est et fortis robore quis restitit ei et pacem habuit
God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
5 qui transtulit montes et nescierunt hii quos subvertit in furore suo
He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
6 qui commovet terram de loco suo et columnae eius concutiuntur
He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
7 qui praecipit soli et non oritur et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo
He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.
8 qui extendit caelos solus et graditur super fluctus maris
He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 qui facit Arcturum et Oriona et Hyadas et interiora austri
He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south.
10 qui facit magna et inconprehensibilia et mirabilia quorum non est numerus
He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
11 si venerit ad me non videbo si abierit non intellegam eum
Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
12 si repente interroget quis respondebit ei vel quis dicere potest cur facis
Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 Deus cuius resistere irae nemo potest et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem
“God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
14 quantus ergo sum ego qui respondeam ei et loquar verbis meis cum eo
How much less will I answer him, and choose my words to argue with him?
15 qui etiam si habuero quippiam iustum non respondebo sed meum iudicem deprecabor
Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
16 et cum invocantem exaudierit me non credo quod audierit vocem meam
If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
17 in turbine enim conteret me et multiplicabit vulnera mea etiam sine causa
For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 non concedit requiescere spiritum meum et implet me amaritudinibus
He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 si fortitudo quaeritur robustissimus est si aequitas iudicii nemo pro me audet testimonium dicere
If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
20 si iustificare me voluero os meum condemnabit me si innocentem ostendere pravum me conprobabit
Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.
21 etiam si simplex fuero hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea et taedebit me vitae meae
I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.
22 unum est quod locutus sum et innocentem et impium ipse consumit
“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
23 si flagellat occidat semel et non de poenis innocentum rideat
If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
24 terra data est in manu impii vultum iudicum eius operit quod si non ille est quis ergo est
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
25 dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore fugerunt et non viderunt bonum
“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.
26 pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes sicut aquila volans ad escam
They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
27 cum dixero nequaquam ita loquar commuto faciem meam et dolore torqueor
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,’
28 verebar omnia opera mea sciens quod non parceres delinquenti
I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29 si autem et sic impius sum quare frustra laboravi
I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
30 si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis et fulserint velut mundissimae manus meae
If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 tamen sordibus intingues me et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea
yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.
32 neque enim viro qui similis mei est respondebo nec qui mecum in iudicio ex aequo possit audiri
For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
33 non est qui utrumque valeat arguere et ponere manum suam in ambobus
There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.
34 auferat a me virgam suam et pavor eius non me terreat
Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
35 loquar et non timebo eum neque enim possum metuens respondere
then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
