Job 23
1 Then answered Job, and said,
Alors Job prit la parole et dit:
2 Even now is my complaint bitter: my suffering is heavier than my groans.
Oui, aujourd’hui ma plainte est amère, et pourtant ma main retient mes soupirs.
3 Oh who would grant that I knew where I might find him! that I might attain to his Judgment throne!
Oh! Qui me donnera de savoir où le trouver, d’arriver jusqu’à son trône!
4 I would put in order before him my cause, and my mouth would I fill with arguments.
Je plaiderais ma cause devant lui, et je remplirais ma bouche d’arguments.
5 I should know the words which he might answer me, and understand what he might say unto me.
Je saurais les raisons qu’il peut m’opposer, je verrais ce qu’il peut avoir à me dire.
6 Would he with his power contend against me? he would truly not lay such doings to my charge.
M’opposerait-il la grandeur de sa puissance? Ne jetterait-il pas au moins les yeux sur moi?
7 There would an upright one argue with him; and I should be allowed to escape for ever by my judge.
Alors l’innocent discuterait avec lui, et je m’en irais absous pour toujours par mon juge.
8 But, lo, I go eastward—and he is not there; and to the west— and I cannot perceive him;
Mais si je vais à l’orient, il n’y est pas; à l’occident, je ne l’aperçois pas.
9 When he doth great things at the north, I behold him not; he hideth himself in the south—and I see him not.
Est-il occupé au septentrion, je ne le vois pas; se cache-t-il au midi, je ne puis le découvrir.
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: were he to probe me, I should come forth as gold.
Cependant il connaît les sentiers où je marche; qu’il m’examine, je sortirai pur comme l’or.
11 On his steps my foot hath held fast: his way have I kept, and swerved not.
Mon pied a toujours foulé ses traces; je me suis tenu dans sa voie sans dévier.
12 From the commandment of his lips have I also not moved away: as a fixed statute for me have I treasured up the sayings of his mouth.
Je ne me suis pas écarté des préceptes de ses lèvres; j’ai fait plier ma volonté aux paroles de sa bouche.
13 But he is unchangeably one, and who can turn him? And what his will desireth, even that he doth.
Mais il a une pensée: qui l’en fera revenir? Ce qu’il désire, il l’exécute.
14 For he will bring to completion what hath been destined for me: and like these hath he many other things with him.
Il accomplira donc ce qu’il a décrété à mon sujet, et de pareils desseins, il en a beaucoup.
15 Therefore am I terrified at his presence: I will reflect, and be in dread of him.
Voilà pourquoi je me trouble en sa présence; quand j’y pense, j’ai peur de lui.
16 Still God hath made timid my heart, and the Almighty hath terrified me;
Dieu fait fondre mon cœur; le Tout-Puissant me remplit d’effroi.
17 Because I was not destroyed before this darkness, and because he hath not hidden from my face [this] gloom.
Car ce ne sont pas les ténèbres qui me consument, ni l’obscurité dont ma face est voilée.
