Job 38-39 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Job 38

 ¹Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said :

    ²Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?

    ³Gird up thy loins like a man : I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

    ⁴Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth ? tell me if thou hast understanding.

    ⁵Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

    ⁶Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

    ⁷When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

    ⁸Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb :

    ⁹when I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

    ¹⁰I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors :

    ¹¹And I said : Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

    ¹²Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?

    ¹³And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?

    ¹⁴The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment :

    ¹⁵From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.

    ¹⁶Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

    ¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?

    ¹⁸Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?

    ¹⁹Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness :

    ²⁰That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.

    ²¹Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born ? and didst thou know the number of thy days?

    ²²Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail :

    ²³Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?

    ²⁴By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?

    ²⁵Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder :

    ²⁶That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth :

    ²⁷That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?

    ²⁸Who is the father of rain ? or who begot the drops of dew?

    ²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?

    ³⁰The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.

    ³¹Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?

    ³²Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?

    ³³Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?

    ³⁴Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?

    ³⁵Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee : Here we are?

    ³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?

    ³⁷Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?

    ³⁸When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?

    ³⁹Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,

    ⁴⁰When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?

    ⁴¹Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?

   

Job 39

 ¹Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth among the rocks, or hast thou observed the hinds when they fawn?

    ²Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

    ³They bow themselves to bring forth young, and they cast them, and send forth roarings.

    ⁴Their young are weaned and go to feed : they go forth, and return not to them.

    ⁵Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bonds?

    ⁶To whom I have given a house in the wilderness, and his dwellings in the barren land.

    ⁷He scorneth the multitude of the city, he heareth not the cry of the driver.

    ⁸He looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing.

    ⁹Shall the rhinoceros be willing to serve thee, or will he stay at thy crib?

    ¹⁰Canst thou bind the rhinoceros with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee?

    ¹¹Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and leave thy labours to him?

    ¹²Wilt thou trust him that he will render thee the seed, and gather it into thy barnfloor?

    ¹³The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.

    ¹⁴When she leaveth her eggs on the earth, thou perhaps wilt warm them in the dust.

    ¹⁵She forgetteth that the foot may tread upon them, or that the beasts of the field may break them.

    ¹⁶She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, she hath laboured in vain, no fear constraining her.

    ¹⁷For God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he given her understanding.

    ¹⁸When time shall be, she setteth up her wings on high : she scorneth the horse and his rider.

    ¹⁹Wilt thou give strength to the horse, or clothe his neck with neighing?

    ²⁰Wilt thou lift him up like the locusts? the glory of his nostrils is terror.

    ²¹He breaketh up the earth with his hoof, he pranceth boldly, he goeth forward to meet armed men.

    ²²He despiseth fear, he turneth not his back to the sword,

    ²³Above him shall the quiver rattle, the spear and shield shall glitter.

    ²⁴Chasing and raging he swalloweth the ground, neither doth he make account when the noise of the trumpet soundeth.

    ²⁵When he heareth the trumpet he saith : Ha, ha : he smelleth the battle afar off, the encouraging of the captains, and the shouting of the army.

    ²⁶Doth the hawk wax feathered by thy wisdom, spreading her wings to the south?

    ²⁷Will the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest in high places?

    ²⁸She abideth among the rocks, and dwelleth among cragged flints, and stony hills, where there is no access.

    ²⁹From thence she looketh for the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.

    ³⁰Her young ones shall suck up blood : and wheresoever the carcass shall be, she is immediately there.

    ³¹And the Lord went on, and said to Job :

    ³²Shall he that contendeth with God be so easily silenced? surely he that reproveth God, ought to answer him.

    ³³Then Job answered the Lord, and said :

    ³⁴One thing I have spoken, which I wish I had not said : and another, to which I will add no more.