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Job 9

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1 ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ιωβ λέγει 2 ἐ{P'} ἀληθείας οἶδα ὅτι οὕτως ἐστίν πῶς γὰρ ἔσται δίκαιος βροτὸς παρὰ κυρίῳ 3 ἐὰν γὰρ βούληται κριθῆναι αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ ὑπακούσῃ αὐτῷ ἵνα μὴ ἀντείπῃ πρὸς ἕνα λόγον αὐτοῦ ἐκ χιλίων 4 σοφὸς γάρ ἐστιν διανοίᾳ κραταιός τε καὶ μέγας τίς σκληρὸς γενόμενος ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ ὑπέμεινεν 5 ὁ παλαιῶν ὄρη καὶ οὐκ οἴδασιν ὁ καταστρέφων αὐτὰ ὀργῇ 6 ὁ σείων τὴν ὑ{P'} οὐρανὸν ἐκ θεμελίων οἱ δὲ στῦλοι αὐτῆς σαλεύονται 7 ὁ λέγων τῷ ἡλίῳ καὶ οὐκ ἀνατέλλει κατὰ δὲ ἄστρων κατασφραγίζει 8 ὁ τανύσας τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος καὶ περιπατῶν ὡς ἐ{P'} ἐδάφους ἐπὶ θαλάσσης 9 ὁ ποιῶν Πλειάδα καὶ ἕσπερον καὶ ἀρκτοῦρον καὶ ταμίεια νότου 10 ὁ ποιῶν μεγάλα καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστα ἔνδοξά τε καὶ ἐξαίσια ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός 11 ἐὰν ὑπερβῇ με οὐ μὴ ἴδω καὶ ἐὰν παρέλθῃ με οὐ{D'} ὧς ἔγνων 12 ἐὰν ἀπαλλάξῃ τίς ἀποστρέψει ἢ τίς ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ τί ἐποίησας 13 αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀπέστραπται ὀργήν ὑ{P'} αὐτοῦ ἐκάμφθησαν κήτη τὰ ὑ{P'} οὐρανόν 14 ἐὰν δέ μου ὑπακούσηται ἦ διακρινεῖ τὰ ῥήματά μου

1 But Job answered: 2 No need to teach me that; how should a man win his suit, matched against God? 3 Who would go to law, where one plea on this side is arrayed against a thousand on that? 4 His all-knowing mind, his all-conquering arms, what man ever throve yet that defied them? 5 God, the unseen power that can thrust mountains this way and that, uproot them in his anger, 6 can move earth from its place, and set all its pillars quaking, 7 can prevent, with a word, the sun’s rising, or imprison, under his royal seal, the very stars? 8 He it was, and no other, that spread out heaven to be his covering, made ocean a floor under his feet; 9 that created Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the nooks of the south;[1] 10 great wonders he does, beyond all our understanding and all our reckoning. 11 Hidden from my sight, hidden from my thought, he comes and goes; 12 comes suddenly, and how should I defend my doings? goes suddenly, and how should I question his? 13 There is no braving the anger of such a God, when even the Titanic powers obey him;[2] 14 and what am I that I should use phrases of studied eloquence for my pleading?

1 Et respondens Job, ait: 2

Vere scio quod ita sit,
et quod non justificetur homo compositus Deo. 3
Si voluerit contendere cum eo,
non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille. 4
Sapiens corde est, et fortis robore:
quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit? 5
Qui transtulit montes, et nescierunt
hi quos subvertit in furore suo. 6
Qui commovet terram de loco suo,
et columnæ ejus concutiuntur. 7
Qui præcipit soli, et non oritur,
et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo. 8
Qui extendit cælos solus,
et graditur super fluctus maris. 9
Qui facit Arcturum et Oriona,
et Hyadas et interiora austri. 10
Qui facit magna, et incomprehensibilia,
et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus. 11
Si venerit ad me, non videbo eum;
si abierit, non intelligam. 12
Si repente interroget, quis respondebit ei?
vel quis dicere potest: Cur ita facis? 13
Deus, cujus iræ nemo resistere potest,
et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem. 14
Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei,
et loquar verbis meis cum eo?

15 ἐάν τε γὰρ ὦ δίκαιος οὐκ εἰσακούσεταί μου τοῦ κρίματος αὐτοῦ δεηθήσομαι 16 ἐάν τε καλέσω καὶ ὑπακούσῃ οὐ πιστεύω ὅτι εἰσακήκοέν μου 17 μὴ γνόφῳ με ἐκτρίψῃ πολλὰ δέ μου τὰ συντρίμματα πεποίηκεν διὰ κενῆς 18 οὐκ ἐᾷ γάρ με ἀναπνεῦσαι ἐνέπλησεν δέ με πικρίας 19 ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἰσχύι κρατεῖ τίς οὖν κρίματι αὐτοῦ ἀντιστήσεται 20 ἐὰν γὰρ ὦ δίκαιος τὸ στόμα μου ἀσεβήσει ἐάν τε ὦ ἄμεμπτος σκολιὸς ἀποβήσομαι 21 εἴτε γὰρ ἠσέβησα οὐκ οἶδα τῇ ψυχῇ πλὴν ὅτι ἀφαιρεῖταί μου ἡ ζωή

15 Nay, though I had right on my side, I would not plead against him as an adversary, I would sue to him for mercy as a judge. 16 What though I should cry upon him, and he should answer my summons? Well I know he would listen to no pleadings of mine; 17 his storms would overwhelm me, faster than ever the unmerited blows would fall; 18 never a breathing-space, never a draught but of gall! 19 Nought avails might, when a giant threatens me; nought avails right, when none dares to support my quarrel. 20 Would I plead in defence, he turns my own words against me; be I never so upright, he will prove me hypocrite. 21 And innocent I am, but of that I take regard no longer; I am aweary of life itself.

15
qui etiam si habuero quippiam justum, non respondebo:
sed meum judicem deprecabor. 16
Et cum invocantem exaudierit me,
non credo quod audierit vocem meam. 17
In turbine enim conteret me,
et multiplicabit vulnera mea, etiam sine causa. 18
Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum,
et implet me amaritudinibus. 19
Si fortitudo quæritur, robustissimus est;
si æquitas judicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere. 20
Si justificare me voluero, os meum condemnabit me;
si innocentem ostendero, pravum me comprobabit. 21
Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea,
et tædebit me vitæ meæ.

22 διὸ εἶπον μέγαν καὶ δυνάστην ἀπολλύει ὀργή 23 ὅτι φαῦλοι ἐν θανάτῳ ἐξαισίῳ ἀλλὰ δίκαιοι καταγελῶνται 24 παραδέδονται γὰρ εἰς χεῖρας ἀσεβοῦς πρόσωπα κριτῶν αὐτῆς συγκαλύπτει εἰ δὲ μὴ αὐτός τίς ἐστιν

22 Still unchanged is the burden of my complaint; innocent and guilty, he sweeps all away.[3] 23 If his scourge must fall, should not a single blow suffice? Why does he look on and laugh, when the unoffending, too, must suffer? 24 So the whole world is given up into the power of wrong-doers; he blinds the eyes of justice. He is answerable for it; who else?

22
Unum est quod locutus sum:
et innocentem et impium ipse consumit. 23
Si flagellat, occidat semel,
et non de pœnis innocentum rideat. 24
Terra data est in manus impii;
vultum judicum ejus operit.
Quod si non ille est, quis ergo est?

25 ὁ δὲ βίος μού ἐστιν ἐλαφρότερος δρομέως ἀπέδρασαν καὶ οὐκ εἴδοσαν 26 ἦ καὶ ἔστιν ναυσὶν ἴχνος ὁδοῦ ἢ ἀετοῦ πετομένου ζητοῦντος βοράν 27 ἐάν τε γὰρ εἴπω ἐπιλήσομαι λαλῶν συγκύψας τῷ προσώπῳ στενάξω 28 σείομαι πᾶσιν τοῖς μέλεσιν οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἀθῷόν με ἐάσεις 29 ἐπειδὴ δέ εἰμι ἀσεβής διὰ τί οὐκ ἀπέθανον 30 ἐὰν γὰρ ἀπολούσωμαι χιόνι καὶ ἀποκαθάρωμαι χερσὶν καθαραῖς 31 ἱκανῶς ἐν ῥύπῳ με ἔβαψας ἐβδελύξατο δέ με ἡ στολή 32 οὐ γὰρ εἶ ἄνθρωπος κα{T'} ἐμέ ᾧ ἀντικρινοῦμαι ἵνα ἔλθωμεν ὁμοθυμαδὸν εἰς κρίσιν 33 εἴθε ἦν ὁ μεσίτης ἡμῶν καὶ ἐλέγχων καὶ διακούων ἀνὰ μέσον ἀμφοτέρων 34 ἀπαλλαξάτω ἀ{P'} ἐμοῦ τὴν ῥάβδον ὁ δὲ φόβος αὐτοῦ μή με στροβείτω 35 καὶ οὐ μὴ φοβηθῶ ἀλλὰ λαλήσω οὐ γὰρ οὕτω συνεπίσταμαι

25 Swift as a royal courier my days pass, and joyless each one, 26 like a pinnace gliding down stream,[4] or an eagle swooping on its prey. 27 Ere now, I have been minded to put away such talk as this, wear a sad face and live on the rack no more; still would I have pains to daunt me; 28 still thou wouldst hold me guilty, wouldst not spare. 29 Blamed I must be, in spite of all; vain was my striving, 30 vainly I washed me in water pure as snow, kept my hands shining clean; 31 thy condemnation must roll me in the mire again, till the very clothes I wear shun the touch of me! 32 I cannot meet him in judgement as man to man, claim an impartial hearing for my plea; 33 there can be no arbiter between us, to claim jurisdiction over both. 34 Let him lay by his rod, let his terrors cease to daunt me; 35 then I will speak out bravely to his face; it is fear that holds me dumb.

25
Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore;
fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum. 26
Pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes;
sicut aquila volans ad escam. 27
Cum dixero: Nequaquam ita loquar:
commuto faciem meam, et dolore torqueor. 28
Verebar omnia opera mea,
sciens quod non parceres delinquenti. 29
Si autem et sic impius sum,
quare frustra laboravi? 30
Si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis,
et fulserint velut mundissimæ manus meæ, 31
tamen sordibus intinges me,
et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea. 32
Neque enim viro qui similis mei est, respondebo;
nec qui mecum in judicio ex æquo possit audiri. 33
Non est qui utrumque valeat arguere,
et ponere manum suam in ambobus. 34
Auferat a me virgam suam,
et pavor ejus non me terreat. 35
Loquar, et non timebo eum;
neque enim possum metuens respondere.

[1] ‘The nooks of the south’; this is presumably some astronomical allusion to which we have lost the key.

[2] ‘The Titanic powers’; literally, in the Latin version ‘those who hold up the earth’. The Hebrew text is generally understood as referring to the powers of Chaos over which, by an allegory, Almighty God is pictured as triumphing at the Creation.

[3] The Hebrew text of this verse opens with the words, ‘It is one thing’, a phrase which is generally interpreted, ‘It is all one’ (whether I live or die; or perhaps, whether a man is guilty or innocent). But there is no evidence that this English idiom was familiar to the Hebrew mind.

[4] Literally, in the Latin version, ‘ships carrying fruit’; the phrase in the Hebrew text is usually rendered, ‘skiffs made of papyrus’.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd