Ecclesiastes 12
1 While you are still young, keep thinking about [God], who created you. Do that before [you are old] and you experience many troubles, during the years when you say “I no [longer] enjoy being alive.”
Surtout souviens-toi de ton Créateur aux jours de ta jeunesse, avant qu’arrivent les mauvais jours et que surviennent les années dont tu diras: "Elles n’ont pas d’agrément pour moi";
2 [When you become old], the light from the sun and moon and stars will [seem] dim [to you], and [it will seem that the rain] clouds [always] return [quickly] after it rains.
avant que s’obscurcissent le soleil et la lumière, la lune et les étoiles, et que les nuages remontent aussitôt après la pluie.
3 Then your [arms that you use to protect] [MET] your bodies will shake/tremble, and your [legs that support] [MET] your bodies will become weak. Many of your [teeth that you use to] grind/chew [your food] will fall out, and your [eyes that you use to] look out of windows will not see clearly.
C’Est le moment où fléchissent les gardiens de la maison, où se tordent les lutteurs vigoureux, où les meunières, devenues rares, restent oisives, et où celles qui regardent par les lucarnes voient trouble;
4 Your [ears] [MET] will not hear the noise in the streets, and you will not be able to hear clearly the sound of people grinding grain with millstones. You will be awakened in the morning by hearing the birds singing/chirping, [but] you will not be able to hear well the songs that (the birds/people) sing.
où les portes, ouvrant sur le dehors, se ferment, tandis que s’affaiblit le bruit du moulin, devenu semblable à la voix d’un passereau, et où s’éteignent toutes les modulations du chant;
5 You will be afraid to be in high places and afraid of dangers on the roads that you walk on. [Your hair] will become [white like] [MET] the flowers of almond trees. [When you try to walk], you will drag yourself along like [MET] grasshoppers, and you will no longer desire [to have sex]. Then you will [die and] go to your eternal home, and people who will mourn for you will be in the streets.
où l’on s’effraie de toute montée, où la route est pleine d’alarmes, où l’amandier fleurit, où une sauterelle paraît un pesant fardeau, et où les câpres demeurent impuissantes, car déjà l’homme se dirige vers sa demeure éternelle, et les pleureurs rôdent sur la place.
6 [Think much about God now, because] soon our lives will end, [like] [MET] silver chains or golden bowls that break easily, or like pitchers/jugs that are broken at the water fountain, or like broken pulleys at a well.
N’Attends pas que se rompe la corde d’argent, que se brise la boule d’or, que le seau soit mis en pièces près de la fontaine et que la poulie fracassée roule dans la citerne;
7 Then our corpses will [decay and] become dirt again, and our spirits will return to God, the one who gave us our spirits.
que la poussière retourne à la poussière, redevenant ce qu’elle était, et que l’esprit remonte à Dieu qui l’a donné.
8 [So] I say [again] that it is difficult to understand why everything happens; everything is mysterious.
Vanité des vanités, disait Kohélet, tout est vanité!
9 I was considered to be a very wise man, and I taught the people many things. I assembled/collected and wrote down many proverbs, and I carefully thought about and studied them.
Ce qui témoigne mieux encore que Kohélet était un sage, c’est qu’il ne cessa d’enseigner la science au peuple; il pesa, il scruta et composa de nombreuses sentences.
10 I searched for the right words, and what I have written is reliable and true.
Kohélet s’appliqua à trouver des dictons de prix, des choses écrites avec droiture, des paroles de vérité.
11 The things that [I and other] wise people say [teach people what they should do]; they are like [SIM] (goads/sharp sticks that people use to strike animals to direct where they should go). They are like [SIM] nails that stick out of pieces of wood. They are given to us by [God, who is like] [MET] our shepherd.
Les paroles des sages sont comme des aiguillons, les dires des auteurs de collections, comme des clous bien plantés: tout émane d’un seul et même pasteur.
12 [So], my son, pay careful attention to what I have written, and choose carefully what you read that others have written, [because] writing proverbs/books is endless, and [trying to] study them all will cause you to become exhausted.
Mais, mon fils, sois bien en garde contre ce qui viendrait s’y ajouter: on fait des livres en quantité, à ne pas finir; or, beaucoup méditer, c’est se fatiguer le corps.
13 [Now] you have heard all [that I have told you], and here is the conclusion: Revere God, and obey his commandments, because those commandments summarize everything that people should do.
La conclusion de tout le discours, écoutons-la: "Crains Dieu et observe ses commandements; car c’est là tout l’homme.
14 And do not forget that God will judge everything that we do, good things and bad things, [even] things that we do secretly.
En effet, toutes les actions, Dieu les appellera devant son tribunal, même celles qui sont entièrement cachées, qu’elles soient bonnes ou mauvaises."
