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Job 12

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1 ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ιωβ λέγει 2 εἶτα ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἄνθρωποι ἦ με{Q'} ὑμῶν τελευτήσει σοφία 3 κἀμοὶ μὲν καρδία κα{Q'} ὑμᾶς ἐστιν 4 δίκαιος γὰρ ἀνὴρ καὶ ἄμεμπτος ἐγενήθη εἰς χλεύασμα 5 εἰς χρόνον γὰρ τακτὸν ἡτοίμαστο πεσεῖν ὑπὸ ἄλλους οἴκους τε αὐτοῦ ἐκπορθεῖσθαι ὑπὸ ἀνόμων 6 οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς πεποιθέτω πονηρὸς ὢν ἀθῷος ἔσεσθαι ὅσοι παροργίζουσιν τὸν κύριον ὡς οὐχὶ καὶ ἔτασις αὐτῶν ἔσται 7 ἀλλὰ δὴ ἐπερώτησον τετράποδα ἐάν σοι εἴπωσιν πετεινὰ δὲ οὐρανοῦ ἐάν σοι ἀπαγγείλωσιν 8 ἐκδιήγησαι δὲ γῇ ἐάν σοι φράσῃ καὶ ἐξηγήσονταί σοι οἱ ἰχθύες τῆς θαλάσσης 9 τίς οὐκ ἔγνω ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις ὅτι χεὶρ κυρίου ἐποίησεν ταῦτα 10 εἰ μὴ ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ψυχὴ πάντων τῶν ζώντων καὶ πνεῦμα παντὸς ἀνθρώπου 11 οὖς μὲν γὰρ ῥήματα διακρίνει λάρυγξ δὲ σῖτα γεύεται 12 ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ σοφία ἐν δὲ πολλῷ βίῳ ἐπιστήμη

1 But Job answered: 2 Strange, that you alone should have the gift of reason; that when you die, wisdom must die too! 3 Well, I too have my thoughts; I am yet a match for you; this knowledge you bring me is knowledge common to all. 4 For all his friends’ raillery, a man such as I will still cry upon God, and have him answer the summons;[1] the simplicity of the upright was ever a laughing-stock, 5 and indeed, it is but a rushlight, despised by shrewd and prosperous folk, but it waits its turn.[2] 6 Meanwhile, see how well the robbers store their houses, braving God’s anger, and yet in all things he lets them have their way! 7 Dost thou doubt it? The very beasts will tell thee, the birds in air will be thy counsellors; 8 the secret is known in every cranny of the earth, the fish in the sea will make it known to thee; 9 none doubts, I tell thee, that all this is the Lord’s doing; 10 all living things that breathe, all the spirits of all mankind, lie in the hollow of his hand. 11 As surely as the ear judges words, and the mouth relishes the taste of food, 12 so surely is there truth in ancient sayings; it is time brings experience.

1 Respondens autem Job, dixit: 2

Ergo vos estis soli homines,
et vobiscum morietur sapientia? 3
Et mihi est cor sicut et vobis, nec inferior vestri sum;
quis enim hæc quæ nostis ignorat? 4
Qui deridetur ab amico suo, sicut ego,
invocabit Deum, et exaudiet eum:
deridetur enim justi simplicitas. 5
Lampas contempta apud cogitationes divitum
parata ad tempus statutum. 6
Abundant tabernacula prædonum,
et audacter provocant Deum,
cum ipse dederit omnia in manus eorum. 7
Nimirum interroga jumenta, et docebunt te;
et volatilia cæli, et indicabunt tibi. 8
Loquere terræ, et respondebit tibi,
et narrabunt pisces maris. 9
Quis ignorat quod omnia hæc manus Domini fecerit? 10
In cujus manu anima omnis viventis,
et spiritus universæ carnis hominis. 11
Nonne auris verba dijudicat?
et fauces comedentis, saporem? 12
In antiquis est sapientia,
et in multo tempore prudentia.

13 πα{R'} αὐτῷ σοφία καὶ δύναμις αὐτῷ βουλὴ καὶ σύνεσις 14 ἐὰν καταβάλῃ τίς οἰκοδομήσει ἐὰν κλείσῃ κατὰ ἀνθρώπων τίς ἀνοίξει 15 ἐὰν κωλύσῃ τὸ ὥδωρ ξηρανεῖ τὴν γῆν ἐὰν δὲ ἐπαφῇ ἀπώλεσεν αὐτὴν καταστρέψας 16 πα{R'} αὐτῷ κράτος καὶ ἰσχύς αὐτῷ ἐπιστήμη καὶ σύνεσις 17 διάγων βουλευτὰς αἰχμαλώτους κριτὰς δὲ γῆς ἐξέστησεν 18 καθιζάνων βασιλεῖς ἐπὶ θρόνους καὶ περιέδησεν ζώνῃ ὀσφύας αὐτῶν 19 ἐξαποστέλλων ἱερεῖς αἰχμαλώτους δυνάστας δὲ γῆς κατέστρεψεν 20 διαλλάσσων χείλη πιστῶν σύνεσιν δὲ πρεσβυτέρων ἔγνω 21 ἐκχέων ἀτιμίαν ἐ{P'} ἄρχοντας ταπεινοὺς δὲ ἰάσατο 22 ἀνακαλύπτων βαθέα ἐκ σκότους ἐξήγαγεν δὲ εἰς φῶς σκιὰν θανάτου 23 πλανῶν ἔθνη καὶ ἀπολλύων αὐτά καταστρωννύων ἔθνη καὶ καθοδηγῶν αὐτά 24 διαλλάσσων καρδίας ἀρχόντων γῆς ἐπλάνησεν δὲ αὐτοὺς ὁδῷ ᾗ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν 25 ψηλαφήσαισαν σκότος καὶ μὴ φῶς πλανηθείησαν δὲ ὥσπερ ὁ μεθύων

13 All God’s doing; his are the wisdom and the power; to him belong prudence in act and discernment. 14 The ruins he makes, none can rebuild, his imprisonment none can escape; 15 withholds he the rain, all is dried up; sends he rain, it floods all the ground. 16 Yes, he is strong, he is wise; reads the knave’s heart as easily as the fool’s. 17 He can thwart the counsellor, bemuse the judge, 18 exchange the king’s baldrick for the rope of a prisoner, 19 lead the priest away ungowned, dispossess the noble, 20 bewitch the lips that never erred, rob the elder of his prudence, 21 bring princes into contempt, unman the strong.[3] 22 Things deep hidden in darkness he reveals, kindles the light where death’s shadow lay, 23 brings growth or ruin to a people, and what he has ruined restores. 24 The hearts of chieftains he bewilders, leading them by false paths to vain ends, 25 till all light fails, and they grope about in darkness, wander aimless like a drunkard after his wine.

13
Apud ipsum est sapientia et fortitudo;
ipse habet consilium et intelligentiam. 14
Si destruxerit, nemo est qui ædificet;
si incluserit hominem, nullus est qui aperiat. 15
Si continuerit aquas, omnia siccabuntur;
et si emiserit eas, subvertent terram. 16
Apud ipsum est fortitudo et sapientia;
ipse novit et decipientem, et eum qui decipitur. 17
Adducit consiliarios in stultum finem,
et judices in stuporem. 18
Balteum regum dissolvit,
et præcingit fune renes eorum. 19
Ducit sacerdotes inglorios,
et optimates supplantat: 20
commutans labium veracium,
et doctrinam senum auferens. 21
Effundit despectionem super principes,
eos qui oppressi fuerant relevans. 22
Qui revelat profunda de tenebris,
et producit in lucem umbram mortis. 23
Qui multiplicat gentes, et perdit eas,
et subversas in integrum restituit. 24
Qui immutat cor principum populi terræ,
et decipit eos ut frustra incedant per invium: 25
palpabunt quasi in tenebris, et non in luce,
et errare eos faciet quasi ebrios.

[1] The translation given here, as in 5.1, 9.16 and 13.22, assumes that a judicial process is meant; Job will (as it were) call God to account at law for his injustice. Commentators ordinarily understand ‘cry upon’ and ‘answer’ in the sense of granting relief.

[2] Two words in the Hebrew text here are susceptible of other interpretations than those given by the Latin version; and its sense is probably better rendered ‘The shrewd and prosperous make light of a man’s ruin, when his feet are just ready to stumble’.

[3] The Latin version has ‘relieve the oppressed’, which is quite out of keeping with the context.

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