OLD TESTAMENT | NEW TESTAMENT | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The 7 Books | Old Testament History | Wisdom Books | Major Prophets | Minor Prophets | NT History | Epistles of St. Paul | General Writings | |||
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuter. Joshua Judges | Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chron. 2 Chron. | Ezra Nehem. Tobit Judith Esther 1 Macc. 2 Macc. | Job Psalms Proverbs Eccles. Songs Wisdom Sirach | Isaiah Jeremiah Lament. Baruch Ezekiel Daniel | Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah | Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi | Matthew Mark Luke John Acts | Romans 1 Corinth. 2 Corinth. Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians | 1 Thess. 2 Thess. 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews | James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation |
1 ὑπολαβὼ |
1 But Job answered: 2 Listen, do but listen to me, and then, if you will, repent of your charity; 3 let me have my say, and then mock on. 4 It is not as if I bore a grudge against man; I have better reason than that to be indignant. 5 Mark my complaint well, and you shall be astonished, hold your breath[1] in amazement, 6 as I too tremble with dismay at the thought of it. | 1 Respondens autem Job, dixit: 2 Audite, quæso, sermones meos, et agite pœnitentiam. Sustinete me, et ego loquar: et post mea, si videbitur, verba, ridete. Numquid contra hominem disputatio mea est, ut merito non debeam contristari? Attendite me et obstupescite, et superponite digitum ori vestro. Et ego, quando recordatus fuero, pertimesco, et concutit carnem meam tremor. |
7 |
7 How is it that godless men live on, meet with advancement, enjoy their riches undisturbed? 8 Long they live, to see their posterity thrive about them, kinsmen and grandsons thronging all around. 9 Safe and sound their dwelling-place; God’s scourge passes them by; 10 never bull of theirs failed to gender, cow to calve; 11 blithe as lambs the little children go out to play; 12 everywhere is tambour and harp-playing, everywhere the pipe’s merry note. 13 So, full of ease, their life passes, and they go down at last without a struggle to the grave. | 7 Quare ergo impii vivunt, sublevati sunt, confortatique divitiis? Semen eorum permanet coram eis: propinquorum turba et nepotum in conspectu eorum. Domus eorum securæ sunt et pacatæ, et non est virga Dei super illos. Bos eorum concepit, et non abortivit: vacca peperit, et non est privata fœtu suo. Egrediuntur quasi greges parvuli eorum, et infantes eorum exultant lusibus. Tenent tympanum et citharam, et gaudent ad sonitum organi. Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt. |
14 λέγει |
14 And these are the men who bade God keep his distance from them, refused to learn his will;[2] 15 what right had he, the Omnipotent, to their obedience, what advantage would they gain by offering prayer to him? 16 These are the godless folk whose counsel I must shun because they cannot command their own good fortune! 17 Tell me, how often in very deed are the hopes of the wicked extinguished, engulfed by the flood? Does God’s vengeance often deal out misfortune to them, 18 sweeping them away like chaff before the wind, ashes beneath the storm? | 14 Qui dixerunt Deo: Recede a nobis, et scientiam viarum tuarum nolumus. Quis est Omnipotens, ut serviamus ei? et quid nobis prodest si oraverimus illum? Verumtamen quia non sunt in manu eorum bona sua, consilium impiorum longe sit a me. Quoties lucerna impiorum extinguetur, et superveniet eis inundatio, et dolores dividet furoris sui? Erunt sicut paleæ ante faciem venti, et sicut favilla quam turbo dispergit. |
19 ἐκλίποι |
19 But perhaps God is reserving for the children punishment of their father’s sins? Nay, let the sinner himself feel the retribution when it comes; 20 his own eyes must see the blow fall, his own lips drink in the divine vengeance! 21 Little he cares what befalls his posterity after he is gone, though halved be the time of its continuance. | 19 Deus servabit filiis illius dolorem patris, et cum reddiderit, tunc sciet. Videbunt oculi ejus interfectionem suam, et de furore Omnipotentis bibet. Quid enim ad eum pertinet de domo sua post se, et si numerus mensium ejus dimidietur? |
22 πότερον |
22 The God that passes judgement on his angels needs none to instruct him![3] 23 Here is one man goes to his death sound and strong, rich and happy, 24 well covered with flesh, his bones full of marrow; 25 another, all misery and poverty, 26 and he, no less than the other, has dust for bed, worms for coverlet. | 22 Numquid Deus docebit quispiam scientiam, qui excelsos judicat? Iste moritur robustus et sanus, dives et felix: viscera ejus plena sunt adipe, et medullis ossa illius irrigantur: alius vero moritur in amaritudine animæ absque ullis opibus: et tamen simul in pulvere dormient, et vermes operient eos. |
27 ὥ |
27 Spare me those thoughts I know already, those reasons that would crush me! 28 What becomes of the tyrant’s palace, of the evil-doer’s home, at last? 29 Ask any wayfarer (you say) that knows them, and you shall hear the same account of the matter: 30 The rogue’s villainy is being reserved for future punishment, he is being slowly drawn on to his doom. 31 Fools, how can anyone bring home his guilt to him now, punish the wrong he did? 32 He is being slowly drawn on to his tomb, where he shall wait on in the ranks of the dead; 33 made welcome in the dark valley,[4] whither all men shall follow, as numberless that went before him. | 27 Certe novi cogitationes vestras, et sententias contra me iniquas. Dicitis enim: Ubi est domus principis? et ubi tabernacula impiorum? Interrogate quemlibet de viatoribus, et hæc eadem illum intelligere cognoscetis: quia in diem perditionis servatur malus, et ad diem furoris ducetur. Quis arguet coram eo viam ejus? et quæ fecit, quis reddet illi? Ipse ad sepulchra ducetur, et in congerie mortuorum vigilabit. Dulcis fuit glareis Cocyti, et post se omnem hominem trahet, et ante se innumerabiles. |
34 |
34 Vain is all your consolation, while the answer you give me matches so ill with truth. | 34 Quomodo igitur consolamini me frustra, cum responsio vestra repugnare ostensa sit veritati? |
[1] Literally, ‘put your hands on your mouths’.
[2] vv. 14-33. The interpretation here given to this passage is designed to make Job’s remarks consistent with each other and with his general line of argument. Several of them would appear at first sight (especially as read in the Latin version) to favour the notion that God inflicts signal punishment on evil-doers. But it seems clear that these do not reflect Job’s own sentiments; they are an ironical presentation of his opponents’ point of view, e.g., verse 16 and the first half of verse 19.
[3] It is hard to see how this verse fits into the context, and some think it has been misplaced. The idea seems to be that Job’s comforters are offering an apology for the Providential order such as God himself would not approve of.
[4] The Latin here gives the strange rendering, ‘the gravel of Cocytus’. In pagan mythology, Cocytus was a river flowing through the underworld.
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