Fragmenda

Scripture

Job 38–42

Job 38

God interposes and shews from the things he hath made, that man cannot comprehend his power and wisdom.

1 

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

2 

Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?

3 

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

4 

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

5 

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

6 

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

7 

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

8 

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

9 

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

10 

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

11 

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

12 

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

13 

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

14 

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

15 

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

16 

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

17 

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

18 

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

19 

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

20 

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

21 

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

22 

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

23 

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

24 

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

25 

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

26 

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

27 

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

28 

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

29 

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

30 

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

31 

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

32 

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

33 

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

34 

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

35 

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

36 

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

37 

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

38 

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

39 

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

40 

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

41 

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


Job 39

The wonders of the power and providence of God in many of his creatures.

1 

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

2 

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

3 

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

4 

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

5 

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

6 

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

7 

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

8 

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

9 

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

10 

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

11 

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

12 

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

13 

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

14 

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

15 

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

16 

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

17 

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

18 

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

19 

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

20 

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

21 

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

22 

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

23 

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

24 

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

25 

When 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.

26 

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

27 

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

28 

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

29 

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

30 

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

31 

And the Lord went on, and said to Job:

32 

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

33 

Then Job answered the Lord, and said:

34 

What can I answer, who hath spoken inconsiderately? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.

35 

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


Job 40

Of the power of God in the behemoth and the leviathan.

1 

And the Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind, said:

2 

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

3 

Wilt thou make void my judgment: and condemn me, that thou mayst be justified?

4 

And hast thou an arm like God, and canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

5 

Clothe thyself with beauty, and set thyself up on high, and be glorious, and put on goodly garments.

6 

Scatter the proud in thy indignation, and behold every arrogant man, and humble him.

7 

Look on all that are proud, and confound them, and crush the wicked in their place,

8 

Hide them in the dust together, and plunge their faces into the pit.

9 

Then I will confess that thy right hand is able to save thee.

10 

Behold behemoth whom I made with thee, he eateth grass like an ox.

11 

His strength is in his loins, and his force in the navel of his belly.

12 

He setteth up his tail like a cedar, the sinews of his testicles are wrapped together.

13 

His bones are like pipes of brass, his gristle like plates of iron.

14 

He is the beginning of the ways of God, who made him, he will apply his sword.

15 

To him the mountains bring forth grass: there all the beasts of the field shall play.

16 

He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, and in moist places.

17 

The shades cover his shadow, the willows of the brook shall compass him about.

18 

Behold, he will drink up a river, and not wonder: and he trusteth that the Jordan may run into his mouth.

19 

In his eyes as with a hook he shall take him, and bore through his nostrils with stakes.

20 

Canst thou draw out the leviathan with a hook, or canst thou tie his tongue with a cord?

21 

Canst thou put a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with a buckle?

22 

Will he make many supplications to thee, or speak soft words to thee?

23 

Will he make a covenant with thee, and wilt thou take him to be a servant for ever,

24 

Shalt thou play with him as with a bird, or tie him up for thy handmaids?

25 

Shall friends cut him in pieces, shall merchants divide him?

26 

Wilt thou fill nets with his skin, and the cabins of fishes with his head?

27 

Lay thy hand upon him: remember the battle, and speak no more.

28 

Behold his hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down.


Job 41

A further description of the leviathan.

1 

I will not stir him up, like one that is cruel, for who can resist my countenance?

2 

Who hath given me before that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.

3 

I will not spare him, nor his mighty words, and framed to make supplication.

4 

Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can go into the midst of his mouth?

5 

Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

6 

His body is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressing upon one another.

7 

One is joined to another, and not so much as any air can come between them:

8 

They stick one to another and they hold one another fast, and shall not be separated.

9 

His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning.

10 

Out of his mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire.

11 

Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling.

12 

His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth.

13 

In his neck strength shall dwell, and want goeth before his face.

14 

The members of his flesh cleave one to another: he shall send lightnings against him, and they shall not be carried to another place.

15 

His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith’s anvil,

16 

When he shall raise him up, the angels shall fear, and being affrighted shall purify themselves.

17 

When a sword shall lay at him, it shall not be able to hold, nor a spear, nor a breastplate.

18 

For he shall esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

19 

The archer shall not put him to flight, the stones of the sling are to him like stubble.

20 

As stubble will he esteem the hammer, and he will laugh him to scorn who shaketh the spear.

21 

The beams of the sun shall be under him, and he shall strew gold under him like mire.

22 

He shall make the deep sea to boil like a pot, and shall make it as when ointments boil.

23 

A path shall shine after him, he shall esteem the deep as growing old.

24 

There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one,

25 

He beholdeth every high thing, he is king over all the children of pride.


Job 42

Job submits himself. God pronounces in his favour. Job offers sacrifice for his friends. He is blessed with riches and children, and dies happily,

1 

Then Job answered the Lord, and said:

2 

I know that thou canst do all things, and no thought is hid from thee.

3 

Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge.

4 

Hear, and I will speak: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me.

5 

With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee.

6 

Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.

7 

And after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Themanite: My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends, because you have not spoken the thing that is right before me, as my servant Job hath.

8 

Take unto you therefore seven oxen and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a holocaust, and my servant Job shall pray for you: his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you: for you have not spoken right things before me, as my servant Job hath.

9 

So Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite went, and did as the Lord had spoken to them, and the Lord accepted the face of Job.

10 

The Lord also was turned at the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

11 

And all his brethren came to him, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, and they ate bread with him in his house: and bemoaned him, and comforted him upon all the evil that God had brought upon him. And every man gave him one ewe, and one earring of gold.

12 

And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

13 

And he had seven sons, and three daughters.

14 

And he called the name of one Dies, and the name of the second Cassia, and the name of the third Cornustibii.

15 

And there were not found in all the earth women so beautiful as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

16 

And Job lived after these things, a hundred and forty years, and he saw his children, and his children’s children, unto the fourth generation, and he died an old man, and full of days.

Catechism

Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part 1, Chapter 1, Sections 17-18

The Doctrine Of The Trinity

In the one Substance of the Divinity the Father is the First Person, who with His Only­begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, is one God and one Lord, not in the singularity of one Person, but in the trinity of one Substance. These Three Persons, since it would be impiety to assert that they are unlike or unequal in any thing, are understood to be distinct only in their respective properties. For the Father is unbegotten, the Son begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both. Thus we acknowledge the Essence and the Substance of the Three Persons to be the same in such wise that we believe that in confessing the true and eternal God we are piously and religiously to adore distinction in the Persons, unity in the Essence, and equality in the Trinity.

Hence, when we say that the Father is the First Person, we are not to be understood to mean that in the Trinity there is anything first or last, greater or less. Let none of the faithful be guilty of such impiety, for the Christian religion proclaims the same eternity, the same majesty of glory in the Three Persons. But since the Father is the Beginning without a beginning, we truly and unhesitatingly affirm that He is the First Person, and as He is distinct from the Others by His peculiar relation of paternity, so of Him alone is it true that He begot the Son from eternity. For when in the Creed we pronounce together the words God and Father, it means that He was always both God and Father.

Practical Admonitions Concerning The Mystery Of The Trinity

Since nowhere is a too curious inquiry more dangerous, or error more fatal, than in the knowledge and exposition of this, the most profound and difficult of mysteries, let the pastor teach that the terms nature and person used to express this mystery should be most scrupulously retained; and let the faithful know that unity belongs to essence, and distinction to persons.

But these are truths which should not be made the subject of too subtle investigation, when we recollect that he who is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory. We should be satisfied with the assurance and certitude which faith gives us that we have been taught these truths by God Himself, to doubt whose word is the extreme of folly and misery. He has said: Teach ye all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and again, there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.

Let him, however, who by the divine bounty believes these truths, constantly beseech and implore God and the Father, who made all things out of nothing, and ordereth an things sweetly, who gave us power to become the sons of God, and who made known to the human mind the mystery of the Trinity ­­ let him, I say, pray unceasingly that, admitted one day into the eternal tabernacles, he may be worthy to see how great is the fecundity of the Father, who contemplating and understanding Himself, begot the Son like and equal to Himself, how a love of charity in both, entirely the same and equal, which is the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, connects the begetter and the begotten by an eternal and indissoluble bond; and that thus the Essence of the Trinity is one and the distinction of the Three Persons perfect.