HOLY BIBLE: Job 11 (original) (raw)

1 ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Σωφαρ ὁ Μιναῖος λέγει 2 ὁ τὰ πολλὰ λέγων καὶ ἀντακούσεται ἢ καὶ ὁ εὔλαλος οἴεται εἶναι δίκαιος εὐλογημένος γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ὀλιγόβιος 3 μὴ πολὺς ἐν ῥήμασιν γίνου οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἀντικρινόμενός σοι 4 μὴ γὰρ λέγε ὅτι καθαρός εἰμι τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ ἄμεμπτος ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ 5 ἀλλὰ πῶς ἂν ὁ κύριος λαλήσαι πρὸς σέ καὶ ἀνοίξει χείλη αὐτοῦ μετὰ σοῦ 6 εἶτα ἀναγγελεῖ σοι δύναμιν σοφίας ὅτι διπλοῦς ἔσται τῶν κατὰ σέ καὶ τότε γνώσῃ ὅτι ἄξιά σοι ἀπέβη ἀπὸ κυρίου ὧν ἡμάρτηκας 7 ἦ ἴχνος κυρίου εὑρήσεις ἢ εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα ἀφίκου ἃ ἐποίησεν ὁ παντοκράτωρ 8 ὑψηλὸς ὁ οὐρανός καὶ τί ποιήσεις βαθύτερα δὲ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου τί οἶδας 9 ἢ μακρότερα μέτρου γῆς ἢ εὔρους θαλάσσης 10 ἐὰν δὲ καταστρέψῃ τὰ πάντα τίς ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ τί ἐποίησας 11 αὐτὸς γὰρ οἶδεν ἔργα ἀνόμων ἰδὼν δὲ ἄτοπα οὐ παρόψεται 12 ἄνθρωπος δὲ ἄλλως νήχεται λόγοις βροτὸς δὲ γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ἴσα ὄνῳ ἐρημίτῃ

1 Then answered Sophar the Naamathite: 2 Ready to speak should be ready to listen; glibness will not make an innocent man of thee. 3 Must all keep silence till thou hast done; shall none make answer to thy raillery? 4 Still thou wilt have it that all thy dealings[1] are upright, that thy heart, as God sees it, is pure. 5 Would he but speak one word in thy ear, make thee his confidant! 6 Would he but reveal to thee the secrets of his wisdom, in its ordered variety! Then wouldst thou learn that the penalty he is exacting of thee is less, far less, than thy sins deserve. 7 What, wouldst thou search out the ways of God, have knowledge unconfined of his omnipotence? 8 High as heaven is that wisdom, and thy reach so small; deep as hell itself, and thy thought so shallow! 9 Far as earth it stretches, wide as ocean; 10 will he sweep them all away, or confine them all in a little space, there is no gainsaying him. 11 He knows the false hearts of men, sees wickedness there, and wouldst thou have him overlook it? 12 Poor fools, that will have a mind of their own, and think they were born free as the wild ass!

1 Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit: 2

Numquid qui multa loquitur, non et audiet?
aut vir verbosus justificabitur?

3
Tibi soli tacebunt homines?
et cum ceteros irriseris, a nullo confutaberis? 4
Dixisti enim: Purus est sermo meus,
et mundus sum in conspectu tuo. 5
Atque utinam Deus loqueretur tecum,
et aperiret labia sua tibi, 6
ut ostenderet tibi secreta sapientiæ,
et quod multiplex esset lex ejus:
et intelligeres quod multo minora exigaris ab eo
quam meretur iniquitas tua! 7
Forsitan vestigia Dei comprehendes,
et usque ad perfectum Omnipotentem reperies? 8
Excelsior cælo est, et quid facies?
profundior inferno, et unde cognosces? 9
Longior terra mensura ejus,
et latior mari. 10
Si subverterit omnia, vel in unum coarctaverit,
quis contradicet ei? 11
Ipse enim novit hominum vanitatem;
et videns iniquitatem, nonne considerat? 12
Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur,
et tamquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat.

[1] ‘Thy dealings’; the Hebrew text gives ‘thy doctrine’, but this is not in point. Job has claimed to be innocent, not to be infallible. It seems possible that there is some corruption in the text; meanwhile, the Latin word used occasionally has the sense of ‘dealings’ in general; cf. ‘he had dealings with Joab, son of Sarvia’ in III Kg. 1.7, ‘the God we have to deal with’ in Heb. 4.13. So also, ‘what she has done’ in Esther 1.17.

[2] ‘Hidden away in safety’; literally, ‘dug in’. It can hardly be supposed that the Latin version intends an allusion to burial.

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