Job 20
1 Et Tsophar, le Naamathite, répondit et dit:
Then answered Zophar the Na'amathite, and said,
2 C’est pourquoi mes pensées m’inspirent une réponse, et à cause de ceci l’ardeur de mon esprit [agit] en moi:
Even therefore do my inmost thoughts give me an answer, and for this reason do I feel a strong excitement within me.
3 J’entends une réprimande qui me couvre de honte, et mon esprit me répond par mon intelligence.
Reproof which casteth shame on me must I hear; yet out of my understanding will the spirit give me an answer.
4 Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l’homme a été mis sur la terre,
Dost thou know this? from the very beginning of things, from the very time when man was placed upon earth it was,
5 L’exultation des méchants est courte, et la joie de l’impie n’est que pour un moment?
That the triumphal shouting of the wicked is ever of but a recent date, and the joy of the hypocrite endureth only for a moment.
6 Si sa hauteur s’élève jusqu’aux cieux, et que sa tête touche les nuées,
Though his exaltation should mount up to the heavens, and his head should reach unto the clouds;
7 Il périra pour toujours comme ses ordures; ceux qui l’ont vu diront: Où est-il?
Yet when he but turneth round will he vanish for ever; those who have seen him will say, Where is he?
8 Il s’envole comme un songe, et on ne le trouve pas; il s’enfuit comme une vision de la nuit.
Like a dream will he fly away, and men will find him no more; yea, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 L’œil l’a regardé et ne l’aperçoit plus, et son lieu ne le revoit plus.
If an eye have surveyed him, it will not do so again, and it will not behold him any more in his place.
10 Ses fils rechercheront la faveur des pauvres, et ses mains restitueront [ce que] sa violence [a ravi].
His children will suffer oppression from the indigent, and his hands will have to restore his [ill-gotten] wealth.
11 Ses os étaient pleins de sa jeunesse: elle se couchera avec lui sur la poussière.
[Now] his bones are full of his youthful vigor; but it will [suddenly] lie down with him in the dust.
12 Si le mal est doux dans sa bouche, [et] qu’il le cache sous sa langue,
If the evil be sweet in his mouth, he will conceal it under his tongue;
13 S’il l’épargne et ne l’abandonne pas, mais qu’il le retienne dans sa bouche,
He will cherish it, and not forsake it; and hold it back within his palate;
14 Son pain sera changé dans ses entrailles en un fiel d’aspic au-dedans de lui.
His food is thus changed within his bowels, and becometh the venom of asps within him.
15 Il a avalé les richesses, et il les vomira; Dieu les chassera de son ventre.
The wealth which he hath swallowed, will he have to vomit up again; God will drive it out of his belly.
16 Il sucera le venin des aspics, la langue de la vipère le tuera.
The poison of asps will he have to suck; the viper's tongue will slay him.
17 Il ne verra pas des ruisseaux, des rivières, des torrents de miel et de beurre.
He shall not look with pleasure on streams, on flowing brooks of honey and cream.
18 Il rendra le fruit de son travail, et ne l’avalera pas; il le restituera selon sa valeur, et ne s’en réjouira pas.
He restoreth what he hath labored for, and will not swallow it down; however much he may have obtained by toil, he will not have any joy of it.
19 Car il a opprimé, délaissé les pauvres; il a pillé une maison qu’il n’avait pas bâtie.
Because he oppressed and forsook the indigent; because he took violently away a house, shall he not rebuild it;
20 Parce qu’il n’a pas connu de repos dans son désir, il ne sauvera rien de ce qu’il a de plus cher.
Because he knew not quietness in his bosom, shall he not escape through what is the most precious to him.
21 Rien n’a échappé à sa voracité: c’est pourquoi son bien-être ne durera pas.
Nothing was spared from his craving to eat: therefore shall his wealth not prosper.
22 Dans la plénitude de son abondance, il sera dans la détresse; toutes les mains des malheureux viendront sur lui.
In the fulness of his abundance will distress assail him: every hand of [those he] troubled will come against him.
23 Il arrivera que, pour remplir son ventre, [Dieu] enverra sur lui l’ardeur de sa colère, et la fera pleuvoir sur lui dans sa chair.
In order to fill his belly, [God] will send out against him the fury of his wrath, and will rain it upon him for his eating.
24 S’il fuit devant les armes de fer, un arc d’airain le transpercera.
If he flee from the iron weapon, the brazen bow will strike him through.
25 Il arrache [la flèche] et elle sort de son corps, et le fer étincelant de son fiel: les terreurs sont sur lui.
He draweth it, and it cometh out of the body; yea, out of his gall the glittering [arrow] cometh forth: over him come the terrors [of death].
26 Toutes les ténèbres sont réservées pour ses trésors; un feu qu’on ne souffle pas le dévorera, [et] se repaîtra de ce qui reste dans sa tente.
Entire darkness is laid by for his treasures: a fire not urged by blowing will consume him; it will destroy any one that is left in his tent.
27 Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s’élèvera contre lui.
The heavens will lay open his iniquity; and the earth will raise herself up against him.
28 Le revenu de sa maison sera emporté; il s’écoulera au jour de Sa colère.
The product of his house will be banished, flowing away on the day of his wrath.
29 Telle est, de la part de Dieu, la portion de l’homme méchant, et l’héritage qui lui est assigné par Dieu.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and his decreed heritage from God.
