Job 38

NEW JERUSALEM	VULGATA
1 Then from the heart of the tempest Yahweh gave Job his answer. He said:	1 Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit :
2 Who is this, obscuring my intentions with his ignorant words?	2 Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis ?
3 Brace yourself like a fighter; I am going to ask the questions, and you are to inform me!	3 Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos : interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
4 Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tel me, since you are so wel -informed!	4 Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.
5 Who decided its dimensions, do you know? Or who stretched the measuring line across it?	5 Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti ? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam ?
6 What supports its pil ars at their bases? Who laid its cornerstone	6 Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt ? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,
7 to the joyful concert of the morning stars and unanimous acclaim of the sons of God?	7 cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et jubilarent omnes filii Dei ?
8 Who pent up the sea behind closed doors when it leapt tumultuous from the womb,	8 Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens ;
9 when I wrapped it in a robe of mist and made black clouds its swaddling bands;	9 cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem ?
10 when I cut out the place I had decreed for it and imposed gates and a bolt?	10 Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem et ostia,
11 'Come so far,' I said, 'and no further; here your proud waves must break!'	11 et dixi : Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
12 Have you ever in your life given orders to the morning or sent the dawn to its post,	12 Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum ?
13 to grasp the earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it?	13 Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea ?
14 She turns it as red as a clay seal, she tints it as though it were a dress,	14 Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum :
15 stealing the light from evil-doers and breaking the arm raised to strike.	15 auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
16 Have you been right down to the sources of the sea and walked about at the bottom of the Abyss?	16 Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti ?
17 Have you been shown the gates of Death, have you seen the janitors of the Shadow dark as death?	17 Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti ?
18 Have you an inkling of the extent of the earth? Tell me al about it if you have!	18 Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia :
19 Which is the way to the home of the Light, and where does darkness live? -	19 in qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit :
20 You could then show them the way to their proper places, you could put them on the path homeagain!	20 ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus ejus.
21 If you do know, you must have been born when they were, you must be very old by now!	21 Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum noveras ?
22 Have you visited the place where the snow is stored? Have you seen the stores of hail,	22 Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
23 which I keep for times of distress, for days of battle and war?	23 quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli ?
24 From which direction does the lightning fork, where in the world does the east wind blow itself out?	24 Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram ?
25 Who bores a channel for the downpour or clears the way for the rol ing thunder	25 Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
26 so that rain may fal on lands where no one lives, and the deserts void of human dwel ing,	26 ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur ;
27 to meet the needs of the lonely wastes and make grass sprout on the thirsty ground?	27 ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes ?
28 Has the rain a father? Who begets the dewdrops?	28 Quis est pluviæ pater ? vel quis genuit stillas roris ?
29 What womb brings forth the ice, who gives birth to the frost of heaven,	29 De cujus utero egressa est glacies ? et gelu de cælo quis genuit ?
30 when the waters grow hard as stone and the surface of the deep congeals?	30 In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
31 Can you fasten the harness of the Pleiades, or untie Orion's bands?	31 Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare ?
32 Can you guide the Crown season by season and show the Bear and its cubs which way to go?	32 Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo, et vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis ?
33 Have you grasped the celestial laws? Could you make their writ run on the earth?	33 Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem ejus in terra ?
34 Can your voice carry as far as the clouds and make the pent-up waters do your bidding?	34 Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te ?
35 Will lightning flashes come at your command and answer, 'Here we are'?	35 Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi : Adsumus ?
36 Who endowed the ibis with wisdom and gave the cock his intel igence?	36 Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam ? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam ?
37 Whose skil details every cloud and tilts the water-skins of heaven	37 Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem ? et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet ?
38 until the dust solidifies and the cracks in the ground close up?	38 Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur ?
39 Do you go hunting prey for the lioness; do you satisfy the hunger of young lions	39 Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum ejus implebis,
40 where they crouch in their den, waiting eagerly in the bushes?	40 quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur ?
41 Who makes provision for the raven when his little ones cry out to God craning their necks in search offood?	41 Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos ?