Job 12
1 Alors Job prit la parole et dit:
Then Job said [to his three friends],
2 Vraiment vous êtes aussi sages que tout un peuple, et avec vous mourra la sagesse!
“You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.
3 Moi aussi, j'ai de l'intelligence comme vous, je ne vous le cède en rien, et qui ne sait les choses que vous dites?
But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.
4 Je suis la risée de mes amis, moi qui invoquais Dieu et à qui Dieu répondait; leur risée, moi le juste, l'innocent!...
My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.
5 Honte au malheur! C'est la devise des heureux; le mépris attend celui dont le pied chancelle.
Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.
6 La paix cependant règne sous la tente des brigands, la sécurité pour ceux qui provoquent Dieu, et qui n'ont d'autre dieu que leur bras.
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
7 Mais, de grâce, interroge les bêtes, et elles t'instruiront, les oiseaux du ciel, et ils te l'apprendront;
“But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.
8 ou bien parle à la terre, et elle t'enseignera; les poissons même de la mer te le raconteront.
[If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].
9 Qui ne sait, parmi tous ces êtres, que la main de Yahweh a fait ces choses,
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
10 qu'il tient dans sa main l'âme de tout ce qui vit, et le souffle de tous les humains?
He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
11 L'oreille ne discerne-t-elle pas les paroles, comme le palais savoure les aliments?
And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].
12 Aux cheveux blancs appartient la sagesse, la prudence est le fruit des longs jours.
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
13 En Dieu résident la sagesse et la puissance, à lui le conseil et l'intelligence.
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
14 Voici qu'il renverse et l'on ne rebâtit pas; il ferme la porte sur l'homme, et on ne lui ouvre pas.
If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].
15 Voici qu'il arrête les eaux, elles tarissent; il les lâche, elles bouleversent la terre.
When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.
16 A lui la force et la prudence, à lui celui qui est égaré et celui qui égare.
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
17 Il emmène captifs les conseillers des peuples, et il ôte le sens aux juges.
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
18 Il délie la ceinture des rois, et ceint leurs reins d'une corde.
He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
19 Il traîne les prêtres en captivité, et renverse les puissants.
He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.
20 Il ôte la parole aux hommes les plus habiles, et il enlève le jugement aux vieillards.
He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
21 Il verse le mépris sur les nobles, et il relâche la ceinture des forts.
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
22 Il met à découvert les choses cachées dans les ténèbres, et produit à la lumière l'ombre de la mort.
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
23 Il fait croître les nations, et il les anéantit; il les étend et il les resserre.
He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.
24 Il ôte l'intelligence aux chefs des peuples de la terre, et les égare dans des déserts sans chemin;
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
25 ils tâtonnent dans les ténèbres, loin de la lumière; il les fait errer comme un homme ivre.
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
