Job 16
1 Alors Job prit la parole et dit:
Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
2 J’ai souvent entendu de semblables harangues; vous êtes tous d’insupportables consolateurs.
“I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.
3 Quand finiront ces vains discours? Quel aiguillon t’excite à répliquer?
Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?
4 Moi aussi, je saurais parler comme vous, si vous étiez à ma place; j’arrangerais de beaux discours à votre adresse, je secouerais la tête sur vous;
If it were you [three and not I] who were suffering, I could say the things that you are saying; I could make great speeches [to criticize/condemn you], and I could shake my head at you [to ridicule you].
5 je vous encouragerais de la bouche, et vous auriez pour soulagement l’agitation de mes lèvres.
But, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.
6 Si je parle, ma douleur n’est pas adoucie; si je me tais, en est-elle soulagée?
“But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.
7 Aujourd’hui, hélas! Dieu a épuisé mes forces… ô Dieu, tu as moissonné tous mes proches.
God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
8 Tu me garrottes… c’est un témoignage contre moi!… ma maigreur se lève contre moi, en face elle m’accuse.
He has shriveled me up, and people think that shows that I [am a sinner]. And people see that I am only skin and bones, and they think that proves that I [am guilty].
9 Sa colère me déchire et me poursuit, il grince des dents contre moi; mon ennemi darde sur moi ses regards.
Because God is very angry with me and hates me, [it is as though he is a wild animal that] [MET] has gnashed his teeth at me because he is my enemy.
10 Ils ouvrent leur bouche pour me dévorer, ils me frappent la joue avec outrage, ils se liguent tous ensemble pour me perdre.
People gape/stare at me with their mouths open [to sneer at me]; they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me, and they crowd around me to threaten me.
11 Dieu m’a livré au pervers, il m’a jeté entre les mains des méchants.
[It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
12 J’étais en paix, et il m’a secoué, il m’a saisi par la nuque, et il m’a brisé. Il m’a posé en but à ses traits,
Previously, I was living peacefully, but he crushed me; [it is as though] he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces. [It is as though] [MET] he set me up like a target;
13 ses flèches volent autour de moi; il perce mes flancs sans pitié, il répand mes entrailles sur la terre;
people are surrounding me [and shooting arrows at me]. His arrows pierce my kidneys and cause the bile [from my liver] to spill onto the ground, and God does not pity me at all.
14 il me fait brèche sur brèche, il fond sur moi comme un géant.
[It is as though] [MET] I am a wall that he is breaking through; he rushes at me like [SIM] a soldier [attacking his enemies].
15 J’ai cousu un sac sur ma peau, et j’ai roulé mon front dans la poussière.
[“Because I am mourning, ] I wear pieces of rough cloth that I have sewed together, and I sit [here] in the dirt, very depressed/discouraged.
16 Mon visage est tout rouge de larmes, et l’ombre de la mort s’étend sur mes paupières,
My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.
17 quoiqu’il n’y ait pas d’iniquités dans mes mains, et que ma prière soit pure.
[All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
18 Ô terre, ne couvre point mon sang, et que mes cris s’élèvent librement!
[When I die, ] I want the ground [APO] to [act as though I had been murdered and] cry out against those who killed me, and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding [that God act justly toward] me.
19 À cette heure même, voici que j’ai mon témoin dans le ciel, mon défenseur dans les hauts lieux.
But even now, [I know that] there is someone in heaven who will testify for me, and he will say that what I have done is right.
20 Mes amis se moquent de moi, c’est vers Dieu que pleurent mes yeux.
My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.
21 Qu’il juge lui-même entre Dieu et l’homme, entre le fils de l’homme et son semblable!
I pray that [the] one [who knows what I have done] would come to plead with God for me like people plead for their friends.
22 Car les années qui me sont comptés s’écoulent, et j’entre dans un sentier d’où je ne reviendrai pas.
[I say this because] within a few years [I will die]; I will walk along the [to the grave] from which I will never return.”
