Job 6
1 Et Job répondit et dit:
Then Job spoke again, saying [to Eliphaz],
2 Oh! si mon chagrin était bien pesé, et si on mettait toute ma calamité dans la balance!
“If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,
3 Car maintenant elle pèserait plus que le sable des mers; c’est pourquoi mes paroles sont outrées;
they would be heavier than all the sands [on the shores] of the oceans. That is why I spoke (very rashly/without thinking clearly) [about the day that I was born].
4 Car les flèches du Tout-puissant sont en moi, leur venin boit mon esprit; les frayeurs de Dieu se rangent en bataille contre moi.
[It is as though] Almighty [God] has shot me with arrows. [It is as though] those arrows had poison on their tips, and that poison has gone into my spirit. The things that God has done to me have terrified me.
5 L’âne sauvage brait-il auprès de l’herbe? Le bœuf mugit-il auprès de son fourrage?
Just like a wild donkey does not [complain by] braying when it has plenty of grass to eat, and an ox does not [complain by] bellowing when it has food to eat [MET], [I would not complain if you were really helping/comforting me].
6 Ce qui est insipide, le mange-t-on sans sel? Y a-t-il de la saveur dans le blanc d’un œuf?
People complain [RHQ] when they must eat food which has no salt or other tasteless food [MET], [and that is what your words are like, Eliphaz].
7 Ce que mon âme refusait de toucher est comme ma dégoûtante nourriture.
Just like I do not want to eat food [like that], and I loathe/detests that kind of food [MET], [I do not appreciate what you have said to me].
8 Oh! si ma demande s’accomplissait, et si Dieu m’accordait mon désir,
“I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].
9 S’il plaisait à Dieu de m’écraser, de lâcher sa main et de me retrancher!
I wish that he would crush me [and let me die]. I wish that he would reach out his hand and take away my life.
10 Alors il y aurait encore pour moi une consolation, et, dans la douleur qui ne m’épargne pas, je me réjouirais de ce que je n’ai pas renié les paroles du Saint.
If he would do that, I would be comforted by knowing that in spite of the great pain that I have suffered, I have always obeyed what [God, ] the Holy One, has commanded.
11 Quelle est ma force pour que j’attende, et quelle est ma fin pour que je patiente?
But now I do not have [RHQ] enough strength to endure all these things. And since I have nothing [to hope for] in (the future/this life), it is difficult for me to be patient now [RHQ].
12 Ma force est-elle la force des pierres? Ma chair est-elle d’airain?
I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.
13 N’est-ce pas qu’il n’y a point de secours en moi, et que toute capacité est chassée loin de moi?
So I am not able to help myself, and [it seems that] there is no one to rescue me.”
14 À celui qui est défaillant est due la miséricorde de la part de son ami, sinon il abandonnera la crainte du Tout-puissant.
“When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty [God].
15 Mes frères m’ont trahi comme un torrent, comme le lit des torrents qui passent,
But [you, ] my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks [in the spring]
16 Qui sont troubles à cause des glaces, dans lesquels la neige se cache;
when [the melting] ice and snow make those streams overflow,
17 Au temps où ils se resserrent ils tarissent, quand la chaleur les frappe ils disparaissent de leur lieu:
but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing [in those streams], and the channels dry up.
18 Ils serpentent dans les sentiers de leur cours, ils s’en vont dans le désert, et périssent.
[The caravans of merchants] turn off the path [to search for some water], but there is no water, so they die [in the desert].
19 Les caravanes de Théma les cherchaient du regard, les voyageurs de Sheba s’attendaient à eux;
The men in those caravans search [for some water] because they are sure that they will find some.
20 Ils ont été honteux de leur confiance; ils sont venus là, et ont été confondus.
But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.
21 De même maintenant vous n’êtes rien; vous avez vu un objet de terreur, et vous vous êtes effrayés.
Similarly, you friends have not helped me at all! You have seen that terrible things have happened to me, and you are afraid [that God might do similar things to you].
22 Ai-je dit: Donnez-moi, et de votre richesse faites-moi des présents,
[After I lost all my wealth, ] did I ask any of you for money? [RHQ] Did I plead with any of you to spend some of your money to help me [RHQ]?
23 Et délivrez-moi de la main de l’oppresseur, et rachetez-moi de la main des terribles?
Have I asked any of you to rescue me from my enemies [RHQ]? Have I asked you to save me from those who (oppressed me/treated me badly) [RHQ]? [No!]”
24 Enseignez-moi, et je me tairai; et faites-moi comprendre en quoi je me trompe.
“Answer me [now, and then] I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!
25 Combien sont puissantes les paroles justes! Mais la censure de votre part que reprend-elle?
When people speak what is true, that will not hurt the person who hears it, but what you say, criticizing me, [is not true, so your saying it] proves nothing [RHQ]!
26 Songez-vous à censurer des discours? Mais les paroles d’un désespéré ne sont faites que pour le vent.
I am a man who has nothing to hope for, but you try to correct me, and you think what I say is nothing but wind [RHQ]!
27 Certes, vous tombez sur l’orphelin, et vous creusez [une fosse] pour votre ami.
You do not sympathize with me at all [for all that I am suffering]. [You are heartless!] You would even gamble to see who gets an orphan [as a prize]!
28 Et maintenant, si vous voulez, regardez-moi; vous mentirais-je donc en face?
Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.
29 Revenez, je vous prie; qu’il n’y ait pas d’injustice; oui, revenez encore: ma justice sera là.
Stop [saying that I have sinned, and] stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.
30 Y a-t-il de l’iniquité en ma langue? Mon palais ne discernerait-il pas la méchanceté?
Do you think that I am lying? No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”
