Job 9
1 Mais Job répondit, et dit:
Then Job replied,
2 Certainement je sais que cela est ainsi; et comment l'homme [mortel] se justifierait-il devant le [Dieu] Fort?
“Yes, I certainly know that [much of] what you said is true. But (how can anyone say to God, ‘I (am innocent/have not done what is wrong) and prove it?’/no one can say to God ‘I (am innocent/have not done what is wrong) and prove it.’) [RHQ]
3 Si [Dieu] veut plaider avec lui, de mille articles il ne saurait lui répondre sur un seul.
If someone wanted to argue with God [about that], God could ask him 1,000 questions, and that person would not be able to answer any of them!
4 [Dieu] est sage de cœur, et puissant en force. Qui est-ce qui s'est opposé à lui, et s'en est bien trouvé?
God is very wise [IDM] and very powerful; no one who has tried to challenge God has been able to win.
5 Il transporte les montagnes, et quand il les renverse en sa fureur, elles n'en connaissent rien.
He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it. When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
6 Il remue la terre de sa place, et ses piliers sont ébranlés.
He sends earthquakes that shake the ground; he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.
7 Il parle au soleil, et le soleil ne se lève point; et c'est lui qui tient les étoiles sous son cachet.
[Some days] he speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and [some nights] he prevents the stars from shining.
8 C'est lui seul qui étend les cieux; qui marche sur les hauteurs de la mer;
He alone (stretched out/put in place) the sky; he alone puts his feet on the waves (OR, on the huge sea monster).
9 Qui a fait le chariot, et l'Orion, et la Poussinière, et les signes qui sont au fond du Midi;
He put in their places [the clusters/groups of stars that are called] The Dipper/Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars in the southern sky.
10 Qui fait des choses si grandes qu'on ne les peut sonder; et tant de choses merveilleuses, qu'on ne les peut compter.
Only he does great things that we cannot understand; he does more marvelous things than we are able to count.
11 Voici, il passera près de moi, et je ne le verrai point; et il repassera, et je ne l'apercevrai point.
He passes by where I am, but I do not see him; he moves further on, but I do not see him go.
12 Voilà, s'il ravit, qui le lui fera rendre? et qui est-ce qui lui dira: Que fais-tu?
If he [wants to] snatch something away, no one [RHQ] can hinder him; no one dares to ask him, ‘Why are you doing that?’ [RHQ]
13 Dieu ne retire point sa colère, et les hommes superbes qui viennent au secours, sont abattus sous lui.
God will not very easily stop being angry; he defeated [MTY] those who [tried to] help Rahab, [the great sea monster].
14 Combien moins lui répondrais-je, moi et arrangerais-je mes paroles contre lui?
“So, [if God took me to court], what could I say [MTY] to answer him?
15 Moi, je ne lui répondrai point, quand même je serais juste, [mais] je demanderai grâce à mon juge.
Even though I (would be innocent/would not have done what is wrong), I would not be able to answer him. All I could do would be to request God, my judge/accuser, to act mercifully toward me.
16 Si je l'invoque, et qu'il me réponde, [encore] ne croirai-je point qu'il ait écouté ma voix.
If I summoned him to [come to the courtroom] and he said that he would come, I would not believe that he would pay attention to what I would say.
17 Car il m'a écrasé du milieu d'un tourbillon, et il a ajouté plaie sur plaie, sans que je l'aie mérité.
He sends storms to batter me, and he bruises me many times (without any reason to do that/even though I am innocent).
18 Il ne me permet point de reprendre haleine, mais il me remplit d'amertumes.
[It is as though] he will not let me get/catch my breath, because he causes me to suffer all the time.
19 S'il est question de savoir qui est le plus fort; voilà, il est fort; et [s'il est question d'aller] en justice, qui est-ce qui m'y fera comparaître?
If I would try to (wrestle with/fight against) him, [there is no way that I could defeat him, ] [because] he is stronger than I am. If I would request him to appear in court, there is no one who could [RHQ] force him to go there.
20 Si je me justifie, ma propre bouche me condamnera; [si je me fais] parfait, il me convaincra d'être coupable.
Even though I was innocent, what I would say would cause him to say that I must be punished [MTY]; even though I had not done anything wrong, he would prove that I am guilty.
21 Quand je serais parfait, je ne me soucierais pas de vivre, je dédaignerais la vie.
“I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important. I despise continuing to remain alive.
22 Tout revient à un; c'est pourquoi j'ai dit qu'il consume l'homme juste et le méchant.
But it doesn’t matter, because God will get rid of [all of us, ] both those who are innocent and those who are wicked.
23 [Au moins] si le fléau [dont il frappe] faisait mourir tout aussitôt; [mais] il se rit de l'épreuve des innocents.
When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die, God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.
24 [C'est par lui que] la terre est livrée entre les mains du méchant; c'est lui qui couvre la face des juges de la [terre]; et si ce n'est pas lui, qui est-ce donc?
God has allowed wicked people to control [what happens in] the world. [It is as though] he has caused judges to be blindfolded, [with the result that they cannot judge fairly]. If it is not God who has put wicked people in control, who has done it?
25 Or mes jours ont été plus vite qu'un courrier; ils s'en sont fuis, et n'ont point vu de bien.
“My days go by very quickly, like a fast runner; [it is as though] they run away, and nothing good happens to me on those days.
26 Ils ont passé [comme] des barques de poste; comme un aigle qui vole après la proie.
My life goes by very rapidly, like a boat made from reeds sailing swiftly, or like an eagle that swoops down to seize a small animal.
27 Si je dis: J'oublierai ma plainte, je renoncerai à ma colère, je me fortifierai;
If I smile and say [to God], ‘I will forget what I am complaining about; I will stop looking sad and try to be cheerful/happy,’
28 Je suis épouvanté de tous mes tourments. Je sais que tu ne me jugeras point innocent.
then I become afraid because of all that I am suffering, because I know that God does not consider that I am innocent.
29 Je serai [trouvé] méchant; pourquoi travaillerais-je en vain?
He will (condemn me/declare that I should be punished), so why should I keep trying in vain [to defend myself]?
30 Si je me lave dans de l'eau de neige, et que je nettoie mes mains dans la pureté,
If I washed myself with snow or cleansed my hands with lye/soap [to get rid of my guilt],
31 Alors tu me plongeras dans un fossé, et mes vêtements m'auront en horreur.
he would still throw me into a filthy pit; as a result [it would be as though] even my clothes would detest me.
32 Car il n'est pas comme moi un homme, pour que je lui réponde, [et] que nous allions ensemble en jugement.
“God is not a human, as I am, so there is no way that I could answer him [to prove that I am innocent] if we went together to have a trial [in a courtroom].
33 [Mais] il n'y a personne qui prît connaissance de la cause qui serait entre nous, [et] qui mît la main sur nous deux.
There is no one to (mediate/hear us and decide who is right), no one who has authority over both of us [IDM].
34 Qu'il ôte [donc] sa verge de dessus moi, et que la frayeur que j'ai de lui ne me trouble plus.
I wish/desire that he would stop punishing [MTY] me, and that he would not continue to terrify me.
35 Je parlerai, et je ne le craindrai point; mais dans l'état où je suis je ne suis point à moi-même.
If he did that, I would declare [that I am innocent] without being afraid of him, because I know that I really have not [done what is wrong like God thinks that I have].”
