Job 38
1 Et l’Éternel répondit à Job du milieu du tourbillon, et dit:
Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
2 Qui est celui-ci qui obscurcit le conseil par des discours sans connaissance?
“(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
3 Ceins tes reins comme un homme, et je t’interrogerai et tu m’instruiras!
I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
4 Où étais-tu quand j’ai fondé la terre? Déclare-le-moi, si tu as de l’intelligence.
(“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
5 Qui lui a établi sa mesure, – si tu le sais? Ou qui a étendu le cordeau sur elle?
Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
6 Sur quoi ses bases sont-elles assises, ou qui a placé sa pierre angulaire,
What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
7 Quand les étoiles du matin chantaient ensemble, et que tous les fils de Dieu éclataient de joie?
8 Et qui a renfermé la mer dans des portes, quand elle rompit [les bornes] et sortit de la matrice,
“When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
9 Quand je fis de la nuée son vêtement, et de l’obscurité ses langes;
It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
10 Quand je lui découpai ses limites et lui mis des barres et des portes,
I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
11 Et que je dis: Tu viendras jusqu’ici et tu n’iras pas plus loin, et ici s’arrêtera l’orgueil de tes flots?
[I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
12 As-tu, de ta vie, commandé au matin? As-tu montré à l’aube du jour sa place,
“Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
13 Pour qu’elle saisisse les bords de la terre, et que les méchants en soient secoués?
Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
14 Elle se change comme l’argile d’un sceau, et [toutes choses] se présentent parées comme d’un vêtement;
When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
15 Et leur lumière est ôtée aux méchants, et le bras levé est cassé.
When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
16 Es-tu allé aux sources de la mer, et t’es-tu promené dans les profondeurs de l’abîme?
“[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
17 Les portes de la mort se sont-elles découvertes à toi? Et as-tu vu les portes de l’ombre de la mort?
Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
18 Ton regard a-t-il pénétré jusque dans les vastes espaces de la terre? Dis-le, si tu connais tout cela.
Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
19 Où est le chemin vers le séjour de la lumière? et les ténèbres, où est leur place?
“Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
20 Pour que tu les prennes à leur limite, et que tu connaisses les sentiers de leur maison?
Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
21 Tu le sais, car tu étais né alors, et le nombre de tes jours est grand!
I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
22 Es-tu allé aux trésors de la neige, et as-tu vu les trésors de la grêle,
“Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
23 Que j’ai mis en réserve pour le temps de la détresse, pour le jour du combat et de la guerre?
I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
24 Par quel chemin se distribue la lumière, et le vent d’orient se répand-il sur la terre?
And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
25 Qui a découpé des canaux aux torrents de pluie, et un chemin à l’éclair des tonnerres,
Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
26 Pour faire pleuvoir sur une terre où il n’y a personne, sur le désert où il n’y a pas d’hommes;
Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
27 Pour rassasier les lieux désolés et déserts, pour faire germer les pousses de l’herbe?
Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
28 La pluie a-t-elle un père? ou qui engendre les gouttes de la rosée?
Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
29 Du sein de qui sort la glace? et le frimas des cieux, qui l’enfante?
And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
30 Devenues pierre, les eaux se cachent, et la surface de l’abîme se prend.
[In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
31 Peux-tu serrer les liens des Pléiades, ou détacher les cordes d’Orion?
“[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
32 Fais-tu sortir les signes du zodiaque en leurs saisons, et mènes-tu la grande Ourse avec ses filles?
Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
33 Connais-tu les lois des cieux, ou établis-tu leur empire sur la terre?
Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
34 Peux-tu élever ta voix vers les nuages, en sorte que des torrents d’eau te couvrent?
“Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
35 As-tu lancé la foudre, en sorte qu’elle soit allée et t’ait dit: Me voici?
Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
36 Qui a mis la sagesse dans les reins, ou qui donna l’intelligence à l’esprit?
Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
37 Qui a compté les nuages dans [sa] sagesse? et qui verse les outres des cieux,
And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
38 Quand la poussière coule comme du métal en fusion et que les mottes se soudent entre elles?
with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
39 Est-ce toi qui chasses la proie pour la lionne, et qui rassasies l’appétit des lionceaux,
“When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
40 Quand ils sont couchés dans leurs tanières [et] se tiennent aux aguets dans leur fourré?
41 Qui prépare au corbeau sa pâture quand ses petits crient à Dieu [et] qu’ils errent sans nourriture?
Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
