Job 12
1 Job reprit la parole et dit:
Then Job said [to his three friends],
2 Sans doute, vous êtes l’humanité entière, et avec vous mourra la sagesse!
“You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.
3 Moi aussi, j’ai un cœur comme vous, je ne vous le cède en rien: qui ne, peut user d’arguments pareils?
But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.
4 Je suis la risée des amis, moi qui invoque Dieu et à qui il répond; le juste, l’homme intègre est un objet de dérision!
My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.
5 Mépris au malheur! pensent les heureux du monde, voilà ce qui est fait pour ceux dont le pied chancelle!
Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.
6 Elles jouissent de la paix, les tentes des brigands; parfaite est la sécurité de ceux qui bravent le Tout-Puissant et ne reconnaissent d’autre dieu que leur force.
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
7 Toutefois, interroge, de grâce, les bêtes pour qu’elles t’enseignent, les oiseaux du ciel pour qu’ils te mettent au courant.
“But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.
8 Ou bien adresse-toi à la terre pour qu’elle t’instruise, aux poissons de la mer pour qu’ils te donnent leur avis.
[If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].
9 Qui ne sait, parmi tous ces êtres, que la main de l’Eternel a tout fait?
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
10 Il tient en sa main le souffle de tout vivant et l’esprit qui anime tout corps humain.
He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
11 L’Oreille n’apprécie-t-elle pas les paroles, tout comme le palais déguste les aliments?
And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].
12 La sagesse est l’apanage des vieillards, les longs jours vont de pair avec la raison.
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
13 C’Est chez lui que se rencontrent la sagesse et la puissance; à lui appartiennent le conseil et l’intelligence.
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
14 Voyez, il démolit et personne ne peut rebâtir, il referme la porte sur un homme et personne ne peut l’ouvrir.
If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].
15 Il arrête les eaux, et elles tarissent; il les déchaîne, et elles bouleversent la terre.
When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.
16 Ses attributs sont la force et la sagesse; il est le maître de celui qui se fourvoie et du séducteur.
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
17 Il fait marcher dans la démence les conseillers et livre les juges en proie à la folie.
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
18 II dissout l’autorité des rois et fixe une ceinture autour de leurs reins.
He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
19 Il frappé d’insanité les prêtres et culbute les puissants.
He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.
20 Il enlève la parole aux orateurs éprouvés et ôte le jugement aux vieillards.
He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
21 II déverse la honte sur les nobles, et relâche la ceinture des vaillants.
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
22 Du fond des ténèbres, il fait sortir au jour les choses cachées, et met en pleine lumière ce qui était couvert par l’ombre.
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
23 Il grandit les nations, puis il les perd; il les laisse s’étendre, puis il les déporte.
He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.
24 Il ôte l’intelligence aux chefs des nations et les laisse s’égarer dans des solitudes sans route;
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
25 là, ils tâtonnent dans une obscurité qui ne laisse percer aucune lueur; et Dieu les fait tituber comme un ivrogne.
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
