Job 20
1 Alors Sophar de Naama prit la parole et dit:
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 C’est pourquoi mes pensées me suggèrent une réponse, et, à cause de mon agitation, j’ai hâte de la donner.
Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
3 J’ai entendu des reproches qui m’outragent; dans mon intelligence, mon esprit trouvera la réplique.
I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.
4 Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l’homme a été placé sur la terre,
Know you not this of old, since man was placed on earth,
5 le triomphe des méchants a été court, et la joie de l’impie d’un moment?
That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
6 Quand il porterait son orgueil jusqu’au ciel, et que sa tête toucherait aux nues,
Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds;
7 comme son ordure, il périt pour toujours; ceux qui le voyaient disent: « Où est-il? »
Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 Il s’envole comme un songe, et on ne le trouve plus; il s’efface comme une vision de la nuit.
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yes, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
9 L’œil qui le voyait ne le découvre plus; sa demeure ne l’apercevra plus.
The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 Ses enfants imploreront les pauvres, de ses propres mains il restituera ses rapines.
His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
11 Ses os étaient pleins de ses iniquités cachées; elles dormiront avec lui dans la poussière.
His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
12 Parce que le mal a été doux à sa bouche, qu’il l’a caché sous sa langue,
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
13 qu’il l’a savouré sans l’abandonner, et l’a retenu au milieu de son palais:
Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
14 sa nourriture tournera en poison dans ses entrailles, elle deviendra dans son sein le venin de l’aspic.
Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
15 Il a englouti des richesses, il les vomira; Dieu les retirera de son ventre.
He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
16 Il a sucé le venin de l’aspic, la langue de la vipère le tuera.
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
17 Il ne verra jamais couler les fleuves, les torrents de miel et de lait.
He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
18 Il rendra ce qu’il a gagné et ne s’en gorgera pas, dans la mesure de ses profits, et il n’en jouira pas.
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
19 Car il a opprimé et délaissé les pauvres, il a saccagé leur maison, et ne l’a pas rétablie:
Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away an house which he built not;
20 son avidité n’a pu être rassasiée, il n’emportera pas ce qu’il a de plus cher.
Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
21 Rien n’échappait à sa voracité; aussi son bonheur ne subsistera pas.
There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
22 Au sein de l’abondance, il tombe dans la disette; tous les coups du malheur viennent sur lui.
In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come on him.
23 Voici pour lui remplir le ventre: Dieu enverra sur lui le feu de sa colère, elle pleuvra sur lui jusqu’en ses entrailles.
When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath on him, and shall rain it on him while he is eating.
24 S’il échappe aux armes de fer, l’arc d’airain le transperce.
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
25 Il arrache le trait, il sort de son corps, l’acier sort étincelant de son foie; les terreurs de la mort tombent sur lui.
It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yes, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are on him.
26 Une nuit profonde engloutit ses trésors; un feu que l’homme n’a pas allumé le dévore, et consume tout ce qui restait dans sa tente.
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
27 Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s’élèvera contre lui.
The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 L’abondance de sa maison sera dispersée, elle disparaîtra au jour de la colère.
The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
29 Telle est la part que Dieu réserve au méchant, et l’héritage que lui destine Dieu.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.
