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Job 24

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1 διὰ τί δὲ κύριον ἔλαθον ὧραι

1 Since he, who is omnipotent, determines every event, how is it that those who know him wait in vain for his doom to fall?[1]

1

Ab Omnipotente non sunt abscondita tempora:
qui autem noverunt eum,
ignorant dies illius.

2 ἀσεβεῖς δὲ ὅριον ὑπερέβησαν ποίμνιον σὺν ποιμένι ἁρπάσαντες 3 ὑποζύγιον ὀρφανῶν ἀπήγαγον καὶ βοῦν χήρας ἠνεχύρασαν 4 ἐξέκλιναν ἀδυνάτους ἐξ ὁδοῦ δικαίας ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐκρύβησαν πραεῖς γῆς 5 ἀπέβησαν δὲ ὥσπερ ὄνοι ἐν ἀγρῷ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ ἐξελθόντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν πρᾶξιν ἡδύνθη αὐτῷ ἄρτος εἰς νεωτέρους 6 ἀγρὸν πρὸ ὥρας οὐκ αὐτῶν ὄντα ἐθέρισαν ἀδύνατοι δὲ ἀμπελῶνας ἀσεβῶν ἀμισθὶ καὶ ἀσιτὶ ἠργάσαντο 7 γυμνοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκοίμισαν ἄνευ ἱματίων ἀμφίασιν δὲ ψυχῆς αὐτῶν ἀφείλαντο 8 ἀπὸ ψεκάδων ὀρέων ὑγραίνονται παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν αὐτοὺς σκέπην πέτραν περιεβάλοντο 9 ἥρπασαν ὀρφανὸν ἀπὸ μαστοῦ ἐκπεπτωκότα δὲ ἐταπείνωσαν 10 γυμνοὺς δὲ ἐκοίμισαν ἀδίκως πεινώντων δὲ τὸν ψωμὸν ἀφείλαντο 11 ἐν στενοῖς ἀδίκως ἐνήδρευσαν ὁδὸν δὲ δικαίαν οὐκ ᾔδεισαν 12 οἳ ἐκ πόλεως καὶ οἴκων ἰδίων ἐξεβάλλοντο ψυχὴ δὲ νηπίων ἐστέναξεν μέγα αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τί τούτων ἐπισκοπὴν οὐ πεποίηται

2 Here are men that alter their neighbour’s landmark, drive stolen cattle to pasture, 3 rob the orphan of his ass, take the widow’s ox in pawn, 4 shoulder the poor aside, conspire to oppress the friendless; 5 leave others to make their living as best they may, like the wild ass in the desert, waking betimes to scrape food for hungry mouths at home. 6 Reap they the field that is none of theirs, strip they the vineyard wrongfully seized from its owner; 7 let men go bare, their garments snatched away, 8 defenceless against cold and rain on the mountain-side, so that they are fain to hug the rocks for lack of shelter. 9 Their violence robs the helpless children, despoils the poor and simple; 10 back and side must go bare, and never a stalk left for hungry men to glean; 11 nor any vintager of theirs lies down between the rows at noon, but goes thirsty![2] 12 A cry goes up from the city streets, where wounded men lie groaning; tell me, does not God allow it to pass unheeded?[3]

2
Alii terminos transtulerunt;
diripuerunt greges, et paverunt eos. 3
Asinum pupillorum abegerunt,
et abstulerunt pro pignore bovem viduæ. 4
Subverterunt pauperum viam,
et oppresserunt pariter mansuetos terræ. 5
Alii quasi onagri in deserto egrediuntur ad opus suum:
vigilantes ad prædam, præparant panem liberis. 6
Agrum non suum demetunt,
et vineam ejus, quem vi oppresserint, vindemiant. 7
Nudos dimittunt homines, indumenta tollentes,
quibus non est operimentum in frigore: 8
quos imbres montium rigant,
et non habentes velamen, amplexantur lapides. 9
Vim fecerunt deprædantes pupillos,
et vulgum pauperem spoliaverunt. 10
Nudis et incedentibus absque vestitu,
et esurientibus tulerunt spicas. 11
Inter acervos eorum meridiati sunt,
qui calcatis torcularibus sitiunt. 12
De civitatibus fecerunt viros gemere,
et anima vulneratorum clamavit:
et Deus inultum abire non patitur.

13 ἐπὶ γῆς ὄντων αὐτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἐπέγνωσαν ὁδὸν δὲ δικαιοσύνης οὐκ ᾔδεισαν οὐδὲ ἀτραποὺς αὐτῆς ἐπορεύθησαν 14 γνοὺς δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ ἔργα παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς εἰς σκότος καὶ νυκτὸς ἔσται ὡς κλέπτης 15 καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς μοιχοῦ ἐφύλαξεν σκότος λέγων οὐ προσνοήσει με ὀφθαλμός καὶ ἀποκρυβὴν προσώπου ἔθετο 16 διώρυξεν ἐν σκότει οἰκίας ἡμέρας ἐσφράγισαν ἑαυτούς οὐκ ἐπέγνωσαν φῶς 17 ὅτι ὁμοθυμαδὸν τὸ πρωὶ αὐτοῖς σκιὰ θανάτου ὅτι ἐπιγνώσεται ταραχὰς σκιᾶς θανάτου

13 How they shun the light, these rebels who ignore God’s precepts, leave his paths untrodden! 14 The murderer must be stirring before daybreak, to catch his helpless prey, or prowl, as the thieves prowl, at night. 15 For darkness, too, the adulterer waits, no eye must scan his muffled features; 16 under cover of darkness he will break into the house, to keep the tryst made yesterday; no daylight for him. 17 To him, the first flush of dawn is death’s shadow; deep gloom is the sunshine he walks by.

13
Ipsi fuerunt rebelles lumini:
nescierunt vias ejus,
nec reversi sunt per semitas ejus. 14
Mane primo consurgit homicida;
interficit egenum et pauperem:
per noctem vero erit quasi fur. 15
Oculus adulteri observat caliginem,
dicens: Non me videbit oculus:
et operiet vultum suum. 16
Perfodit in tenebris domos,
sicut in die condixerant sibi,
et ignoraverunt lucem. 17
Si subito apparuerit aurora, arbitrantur umbram mortis:
et sic in tenebris quasi in luce ambulant.

18 ἐλαφρός ἐστιν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον ὕδατος καταραθείη ἡ μερὶς αὐτῶν ἐπὶ γῆς 19 ἀναφανείη δὲ τὰ φυτὰ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ξηρά ἀγκαλίδα γὰρ ὀρφανῶν ἥρπασαν 20 εἶ{T'} ἀνεμνήσθη αὐτοῦ ἡ ἁμαρτία ὥσπερ δὲ ὁμίχλη δρόσου ἀφανὴς ἐγένετο ἀποδοθείη δὲ αὐτῷ ἃ ἔπραξεν συντριβείη δὲ πᾶς ἄδικος ἴσα ξύλῳ ἀνιάτῳ 21 στεῖραν γὰρ οὐκ εὖ ἐποίησεν καὶ γύναιον οὐκ ἠλέησεν 22 θυμῷ δὲ κατέστρεψεν ἀδυνάτους ἀναστὰς τοιγαροῦν οὐ μὴ πιστεύσῃ κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς 23 μαλακισθεὶς μὴ ἐλπιζέτω ὑγιασθῆναι ἀλλὰ πεσεῖται νόσῳ 24 πολλοὺς γὰρ ἐκάκωσεν τὸ ὕψωμα αὐτοῦ ἐμαράνθη δὲ ὥσπερ μολόχη ἐν καύματι ἢ ὥσπερ στάχυς ἀπὸ καλάμης αὐτόματος ἀποπεσών

18 Light as foam on the waters, nor light the doom, surely, that awaits him on earth; not for him the vineyard’s sunny slope! 19 Swift as snow melts under the noon-day heat, let his guilty soul pass to the grave, 20 unpitied, with worms for its boon-companions, forgotten, overthrown like an unfruitful tree! 21 The childless woman was his prey;[4] in vain the widow looked to him for mercy; 22 now, surely, God has pulled the tyrant down; firm he has stood, but now he despairs of life itself! 23 Time for repentance God gave him, by his pride misused, but ever on his doings kept a watchful eye; 24 now, their brief renown over, such men must pass, as all things pass, into the dust, be carried off, swept away like ears of corn![5]

18
Levis est super faciem aquæ:
maledicta sit pars ejus in terra,
nec ambulet per viam vinearum. 19
Ad nimium calorem transeat ab aquis nivium,
et usque ad inferos peccatum illius. 20
Obliviscatur ejus misericordia; dulcedo illius vermes:
non sit in recordatione,
sed conteratur quasi lignum infructuosum. 21
Pavit enim sterilem quæ non parit,
et viduæ bene non fecit. 22
Detraxit fortes in fortitudine sua,
et cum steterit, non credet vitæ suæ. 23
Dedit ei Deus locum pœnitentiæ,
et ille abutitur eo in superbiam:
oculi autem ejus sunt in viis illius. 24
Elevati sunt ad modicum, et non subsistent:
et humiliabuntur sicut omnia, et auferentur,
et sicut summitates spicarum conterentur.

25 εἰ δὲ μή τίς ἐστιν ὁ φάμενος ψευδῆ με λέγειν καὶ θήσει εἰς οὐδὲν τὰ ῥήματά μου

25 But no, never the day comes! Who dares give me the lie, challenge me in God’s sight?[6]

25
Quod si non est ita, quis me potest arguere esse mentitum,
et ponere ante Deum verba mea?

[1] Literally, ‘Times are not hidden from the omnipotent, but those who know him are ignorant of his days’.

[2] vv. 2-11. The Latin version is here in disagreement, occasionally, with the Hebrew text, which is itself very difficult. It is not always easy to see whether the subject of a particular sentence is the wicked, or their victims.

[3] It seems necessary to understand the end of this verse as a question; otherwise the Latin flatly contradicts the meaning, both of the Hebrew text and of the Septuagint Greek, nor can we easily suppose it to have been Job’s opinion.

[4] ‘Was his prey’; the Latin word used can mean either ‘fed’ or ‘fed upon’.

[5] vv. 18-24. These verses, with their threat of calamity to the wicked, should perhaps be understood as an ideal consummation which, as verse 25 points out, does not seem to be verified in fact. Their exact sense is largely open to dispute.

[6] The meaning of the Hebrew text is probably, ‘reduce my words to nothingness’.

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