Job 12
1 Et Job reprenant dit:
Then Job said [to his three friends],
2 Après tout vous êtes des hommes; est-ce qu'avec vous la sagesse périra?
“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 Et moi, j'ai comme vous un cœur.
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 Oui, un homme juste et irréprochable a été livré à la raillerie.
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 Au temps marqué, il devait périr par des mains étrangères; des gens iniques étaient prêts à mettre sa maison au pillage;
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 toutefois que personne ne croie pouvoir faire du mal, puis être rétribué comme l'innocent. Tous ceux qui irritent le Seigneur ne sont pas soudain recherchés.
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
7 Interroge les bêtes des champs et elles te parleront; questionne les oiseaux du ciel et ils t'instruiront.
“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 Raconte tout à la terre, sans rien omettre, et elle te répondra; les poissons de la mer te mettront pareillement sur la voie.
[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 donc ne reconnaît en tous les êtres que la main du Seigneur les a créés?
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
10 N'a-t-il pas en sa main la vie de tout ce qui existe et le souffle de tout homme?
He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
11 L'oreille discerne les paroles; le gosier goûte 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 le fruit de bien du temps; la science est le fruit de bien des existences.
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
13 Toute force, toute sagesse viennent de Dieu; lui seul a l'intelligence et la volonté.
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
14 S'il a démoli, qui rebâtira? S'il a enfermé les hommes qui ouvrira?
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 S'il retient les eaux, la terre se dessèche; s'il les lance toutes à la fois, il la bouleverse et la perd.
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 Toute force, toute puissance viennent de Dieu; lui seul a l'intelligence et le savoir.
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
17 C'est lui qui conduit en captivité les conseillers des peuples; et il trouble l'esprit des juges de la terre.
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
18 Il place les rois sur leurs trônes; il serre la ceinture 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 fait d'un prêtre un captif; il renverse les grands des empires.
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 modifie à propos le langage des fidèles; il connaît la pensée des anciens.
He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
21 Il répand la honte sur les chefs; il guérit les humbles.
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
22 Il dévoile l'abîme des ténèbres; il amène à la lumière l'ombre de la mort.
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
23 Il égare les nations; il les détruit; il abat les peuples ou il les dirige.
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 change le cœur des chefs des peuples; il les fait errer en des chemins qu'ils ne connaissaient pas,
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
25 Où ils marchent à tâtons dans l'obscurité; où il n'y a pas de lumière; où ils sont incertains comme un homme ivre.
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
