Job 15
1 Eliphaz de Têmân prit la parole et dit:
Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
2 Est-il digne du sage de mettre en avant des raisons futiles, de gonfler son sein de vent?
“If you were truly wise [RHQ], you would not have replied to us by claiming that you know a lot; what you are saying is just a lot of hot air [MET].
3 d’employer des arguments sans valeur et des paroles qui ne servent de rien?
You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
4 Tu en viens à saper la piété, à supprimer les prières au Tout-Puissant!
[By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
5 C’Est ton iniquité qui inspire ta bouche, et ainsi tu adoptes le langage de la mauvaise foi.
[It is as though] your sins are telling you what to say; you talk like people who will not admit that they are wicked.
6 C’Est ta bouche qui te condamne, et non moi; tes propres lèvres témoignent contre toi.
Everything that you say [MTY] shows that you should be punished; so, it is not necessary for me to show that.
7 Es-tu donc, par ta naissance, le premier des hommes? As-tu vu le jour avant les collines?
[“Tell me do you know more than everyone else because you think that] you are the first person who was ever born? [SAR, RHQ] Were you born before the hills [were created]?
8 As-tu entendu ce qui se dit dans le conseil de Dieu? As-tu confisqué à ton profit la sagesse?
Were you listening when God made all his plans? [SAR, RHQ] Or do you think that you are the only person who is wise?
9 Que sais-tu que nous ne sachions? Que comprends-tu qui nous échappe?
(What do you know that we do not know?/You do not know anything that we do not know.) [RHQ] You do not understand [RHQ] anything that is not also clear to us.
10 Parmi nous aussi il est des gens vénérables par l’âge, des vieillards plus riches de jours que ton père.
My friends and I are also wise; we acquired [wisdom] from old gray-haired people, from people who were born before your father was born.
11 Comptes-tu pour rien les consolations de Dieu et la parole qui t’a été dite en douceur?
God wants to comfort you, and to speak gently/kindly to you; (is that not enough for you/do you need more than that)?
12 Pourquoi te laisser emporter par ton cœur? Pourquoi rouler ainsi tes yeux?
Why do you allow yourself to be (carried away/excited) by your emotions? Why are [you very angry, with the result that] your eyes flash?
13 Pourquoi tourner ta mauvaise humeur contre Dieu et laisser échapper de tels discours de ta bouche?
You are angry [IDM] with God, and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.
14 Qu’est-ce donc que l’homme pour se prétendre pur et l’enfant de la femme pour se dire juste?
“(How can any person, [including you, ] be sinless?/No person, [including you], can be sinless.) [RHQ] (How can anyone on the earth be [completely] righteous?/No one on the earth can be [completely] righteous.) [RHQ]
15 Quoi! Même en ses saints il n’a pas confiance, et les cieux ne sont pas sans tache à ses yeux!
Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
16 Que sera-ce de cet être méprisable et corrompu, de l’homme qui boit l’iniquité comme l’eau?
So, he certainly does not [trust] abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people who do evil things [as easily] as they drink water [MET].
17 Je veux t’instruire, écoute-moi; je veux t’exposer ce que j’ai vu;
Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
18 ce que racontent les sages, sans rien dissimuler, comme une tradition de leurs pères,
things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
19 qui furent, seuls, maîtres de ce pays et auxquels nul étranger ne s’est mêlé:
God gave this land to those ancestors, who were truly wise; no one from another country caused them to think wrongly [IDM].
20 "Les tourments remplissent toute la vie du méchant, tout le cours des années mesurées au tyran.
It is wicked people who suffer with great pain all the time that they are alive; that is what happens to those who (oppress/act violently toward) others.
21 Ses oreilles ne cessent d’entendre un bruit terrifiant; en pleine paix, il se voit assaillir par le dévastateur.
They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
22 Il renonce à l’espoir d’échapper aux ténèbres, il se sait prédestiné au glaive.
Wicked people surely know that they will not escape from darkness/death, because [they are sure that someone] is waiting to kill them with a sword.
23 Il erre ça et là pour chercher du pain: il a conscience que des jours sombres se préparent pour lui.
They wander around, searching for food, saying ‘Where can I find some?’ And they know that they will soon experience disasters.
24 La détresse et l’angoisse le jettent dans l’épouvante; elles l’étreignent comme un roi qui monte à l’assaut.
Because they are afraid of those things happening to them, they are afraid and worry that these things will come to them like [the army of] a king comes to attack [their enemies and cause them to suffer] [SIM].
25 C’Est qu’il a dirigé sa main contre Dieu, il s’est élevé contre le Tout-Puissant.
[Those things happen to them] because they (shook their fists/dared to fight) against Almighty God, and thought that they were strong enough to defeat him.
26 C’Est qu’il lui a couru sus, le cou tendu, couvert de toute l’épaisseur de ses boucliers bombés.
They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
27 C’Est qu’il a le visage épaissi par la graisse et le dos arrondi par l’embonpoint.
They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
28 Aussi se fixe-t-il dans des villes en ruines, dans des maisons qui ne sont pas habitables, étant destinées à se changer en décombres.
They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
29 Il ne s’enrichira pas, sa fortune ne subsistera point; tel un arbre sans fruits il n’inclinera pas à terre le sommet de ses branches.
But they will not remain rich very long; Everything that they own will be taken from them; their possessions will all disappear.
30 Il ne sortira plus des ténèbres; ses rejetons seront consumés par le feu; il disparaîtra comme par un souffle de Dieu.
They will not escape from the darkness [of death]; they will be like trees whose branches are burned by fire and whose blossoms are blown away by the wind.
31 Qu’il n’espère rien de la fraude! II a fait fausse route. La déception sera son salaire.
Since they are very foolish, with the result that they trust in things that are really worthless, then things that are worthless will be all that they get.
32 Sa carrière sera achevée avant le temps, et son toit de feuillage ne reverdira plus.
Before they are old, they will wither; they will be like [MET] branches that wither and never become green again.
33 Tel qu’une vigne, il sera dépouillé de ses jeunes grappes; tel qu’un olivier, il jettera ses fleurs.
They will be like [SIM] vines whose grapes fall off before they are ripe, like olive trees whose blossoms fall off before they produce any fruit.
34 Car la bande des pervers est condamnée à la stérilité; le feu dévore les tentes où s’entassent les dons de la corruption.
Wicked/godless people will not have any descendants, and fires will completely burn up the homes of [those who built those homes using] money they received from bribes.
35 Ils conçoivent le mal, ils enfantent le malheur. Leur sein couve la perfidie.
They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
