Job 20
1 Alors Sophar de Naama prit la parole et dit:
Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, 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 various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.
3 J'ai entendu des reproches qui m'outragent; dans mon intelligence, mon esprit trouvera la réplique.
The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.
4 Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l'homme a été placé sur la terre,
This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,
5 le triomphe des méchants a été court, et la joie de l'impie d'un moment?
That the praise 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,
If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:
7 comme son ordure, il périt pour toujours; ceux qui le voyaient disent: « Où est-il? »
In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has 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.
As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:
9 L'œil qui le voyait ne le découvre plus; sa demeure ne l'apercevra plus.
The eyes that had seen 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 be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow.
11 Ses os étaient pleins de ses iniquités cachées; elles dormiront avec lui dans la poussière.
His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.
12 Parce que le mal a été doux à sa bouche, qu'il l'a caché sous sa langue,
For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
13 qu'il l'a savouré sans l'abandonner, et l'a retenu au milieu de son palais:
He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.
14 sa nourriture tournera en poison dans ses entrailles, elle deviendra dans son sein le venin de l'aspic.
His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.
15 Il a englouti des richesses, il les vomira; Dieu les retirera de son ventre.
The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw 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 head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.
17 Il ne verra jamais couler les fleuves, les torrents de miel et de lait.
(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of 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.
He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.
19 Car il a opprimé et délaissé les pauvres, il a saccagé leur maison, et ne l'a point rétablie:
Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.
20 son avidité n'a pu être rassasiée, il n'emportera pas ce qu'il a de plus cher.
And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.
21 Rien n'échappait à sa voracité; aussi son bonheur ne subsistera pas.
There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:
22 Au sein de l'abondance, il tombe dans la disette; tous les coups du malheur viennent sur lui.
When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon 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.
May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.
24 S'il échappe aux armes de fer, l'arc d'airain le transperce.
He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.
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.
The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon 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 is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.
27 Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s'élèvera contre lui.
The heavens 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 offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s 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 inheritance of his doings from the Lord.
