Job 12
1 Et Job, répondant, dit:
Then Job said [to his three friends],
2 Ainsi vous, vous êtes les seuls hommes, 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 J’ai cependant un cœur comme vous, et je ne vous suis pas inférieur; qui, en effet, ignore ce que vous savez?
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 Celui qui est raillé par son ami comme moi invoquera Dieu, et Dieu l’exaucera; car la simplicité du juste est tournée en 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 C’est une lampe méprisée dans les pensées des riches, mais préparée pour un temps marqué.
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 Les tentes des voleurs sont dans l’abondance, et ils provoquent audacieusement Dieu, quoique ce soit lui qui ait mis toutes choses en leurs mains.
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
7 Certes, interroge les bêtes, et elles te l’enseigneront; et les volatiles du ciel, et ils te l’indiqueront.
“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 Parle à la terre, et elle te répondra; et les poissons de la mer te le raconteront.
[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 ignore que la main du Seigneur a fait toutes ces choses?
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
10 C’est dans sa main qu’est l’âme de tout vivant, et l’esprit de toute chair d’homme.
He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
11 Est-ce que l’oreille ne discerne pas les paroles, et le palais de celui qui mange la saveur des 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 Dans les vieillards est la sagesse, et dans une longue vie la prudence.
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
13 En Dieu sont la sagesse et la force; c’est lui qui possède le conseil et la prudence.
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
14 S’il détruit, il n’y a personne pour édifier; s’il enferme un homme, nul ne pourra lui 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 S’il retient les eaux, tout se desséchera; et, s’il les lâche, elles ravageront 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 En lui sont la force et la sagesse: il connaît et celui qui trompe et celui qui est trompé.
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
17 Il amène les conseillers à une fin insensée, et les juges à l’étourdissement.
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
18 Il délie le baudrier des rois, et ceint leurs reins d’une corde.
He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
19 Il fait que les prêtres vont sans gloire, et il renverse les grands;
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 Changeant le langage des hommes véridiques, et enlevant la science des 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 Il verse le mépris sur les princes, en relevant ceux qui avaient été opprimés.
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
22 C’est lui qui découvre les profondeurs des ténèbres, et produit à la lumière l’ombre de la mort.
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
23 C’est lui qui multiplie les nations et les perd, et qui, après les avoir renversées, les rétablit entièrement.
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 C’est lui qui change le cœur des princes du peuple de la terre; qui les trompe, afin qu’ils marchent par où il n’y a point de voie.
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
25 Ils tâtonneront comme dans les ténèbres, et ils ne marcheront pas à la lumière, et il les fera chanceler comme des hommes ivres.
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
