Job 20
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:
Alors Sophar de Naama prit la parole et dit:
2 In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.
C'est pourquoi mes pensées me suggèrent une réponse, et, à cause de mon agitation, j'ai hâte de la donner.
3 The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.
J'ai entendu des reproches qui m'outragent; dans mon intelligence, mon esprit trouvera la réplique.
4 This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:
Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l'homme a été placé sur la terre,
5 that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.
le triomphe des méchants a été court, et la joie de l'impie d'un moment?
6 If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
Quand il porterait son orgueil jusqu'au ciel, et que sa tête toucherait aux nues,
7 in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”
comme son ordure, il périt pour toujours; ceux qui le voyaient disent: « Où est-il? »
8 Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.
Il s'envole comme un songe, et on ne le trouve plus; il s'efface comme une vision de la nuit.
9 The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.
L'œil qui le voyait ne le découvre plus; sa demeure ne l'apercevra plus.
10 His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.
Ses enfants imploreront les pauvres, de ses propres mains il restituera ses rapines.
11 His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.
Ses os étaient pleins de ses iniquités cachées; elles dormiront avec lui dans la poussière.
12 For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
Parce que le mal a été doux à sa bouche, qu'il l'a caché sous sa langue,
13 He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.
qu'il l'a savouré sans l'abandonner, et l'a retenu au milieu de son palais:
14 His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.
sa nourriture tournera en poison dans ses entrailles, elle deviendra dans son sein le venin de l'aspic.
15 The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.
Il a englouti des richesses, il les vomira; Dieu les retirera de son ventre.
16 He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
Il a sucé le venin de l'aspic, la langue de la vipère le tuera.
17 (May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)
Il ne verra jamais couler les fleuves, les torrents de miel et de lait.
18 He will be repaid for all he has done, yet he will not be consumed; according to the multitude of his schemes, so also will he suffer.
Il rendra ce qu'il a gagné et ne s'en gorgera pas, dans la mesure de ses profits, et il n'en jouira pas.
19 For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.
Car il a opprimé et délaissé les pauvres, il a saccagé leur maison, et ne l'a point rétablie:
20 And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.
son avidité n'a pu être rassasiée, il n'emportera pas ce qu'il a de plus cher.
21 Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.
Rien n'échappait à sa voracité; aussi son bonheur ne subsistera pas.
22 When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.
Au sein de l'abondance, il tombe dans la disette; tous les coups du malheur viennent sur lui.
23 May his stomach be filled, so that God may send forth the fury of his wrath to him and may rain down his battle upon him.
Voici pour lui remplir le ventre: Dieu enverra sur lui le feu de sa colère, elle pleuvra sur lui jusqu'en ses entrailles.
24 He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,
S'il échappe aux armes de fer, l'arc d'airain le transperce.
25 which had been drawn and had issued forth from its sheath, glittering in its bitterness: the horrible ones will go forth and approach over him.
Il arrache le trait, il sort de son corps, l'acier sort étincelant de son foie; les terreurs de la mort tombent sur lui.
26 All darkness has been hidden in his secrecy. A fire that has not been set will devour him; he will be thrown down and forsaken in his tabernacle.
Une nuit profonde engloutit ses trésors; un feu que l'homme n'a pas allumé le dévore, et consume tout ce qui restait dans sa tente.
27 The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.
Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s'élèvera contre lui.
28 The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
L'abondance de sa maison sera dispersée, elle disparaîtra au jour de la colère.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.
Telle est la part que Dieu réserve au méchant, et l'héritage que lui destine Dieu.
