Job 20
1 Et Tsophar, le Naamathite, répondit et dit:
Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said,
2 C’est pourquoi mes pensées m’inspirent une réponse, et à cause de ceci l’ardeur de mon esprit [agit] en moi:
For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.
3 J’entends une réprimande qui me couvre de honte, et mon esprit me répond par mon intelligence.
I have to give ear to arguments which put me to shame, and your answers to me are wind without wisdom.
4 Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l’homme a été mis sur la terre,
Have you knowledge of this from early times, when man was placed on the earth,
5 L’exultation des méchants est courte, et la joie de l’impie n’est que pour un moment?
That the pride of the sinner is short, and the joy of the evil-doer but for a minute?
6 Si sa hauteur s’élève jusqu’aux cieux, et que sa tête touche les nuées,
Though he is lifted up to the heavens, and his head goes up to the clouds;
7 Il périra pour toujours comme ses ordures; ceux qui l’ont vu diront: Où est-il?
Like the waste from his body he comes to an end for ever: those who have seen him say, Where is he?
8 Il s’envole comme un songe, et on ne le trouve pas; il s’enfuit comme une vision de la nuit.
He is gone like a dream, and is not seen again; he goes in flight like a vision of the night.
9 L’œil l’a regardé et ne l’aperçoit plus, et son lieu ne le revoit plus.
The eye which saw him sees him no longer; and his place has no more knowledge of him.
10 Ses fils rechercheront la faveur des pauvres, et ses mains restitueront [ce que] sa violence [a ravi].
His children are hoping that the poor will be kind to them, and his hands give back his wealth.
11 Ses os étaient pleins de sa jeunesse: elle se couchera avec lui sur la poussière.
His bones are full of young strength, but it will go down with him into the dust.
12 Si le mal est doux dans sa bouche, [et] qu’il le cache sous sa langue,
Though evil-doing is sweet in his mouth, and he keeps it secretly under his tongue;
13 S’il l’épargne et ne l’abandonne pas, mais qu’il le retienne dans sa bouche,
Though he takes care of it, and does not let it go, but keeps it still in his mouth;
14 Son pain sera changé dans ses entrailles en un fiel d’aspic au-dedans de lui.
His food becomes bitter in his stomach; the poison of snakes is inside him.
15 Il a avalé les richesses, et il les vomira; Dieu les chassera de son ventre.
He takes down wealth as food, and sends it up again; it is forced out of his stomach by God.
16 Il sucera le venin des aspics, la langue de la vipère le tuera.
He takes the poison of snakes into his mouth, the tongue of the snake is the cause of his death.
17 Il ne verra pas des ruisseaux, des rivières, des torrents de miel et de beurre.
Let him not see the rivers of oil, the streams of honey and milk.
18 Il rendra le fruit de son travail, et ne l’avalera pas; il le restituera selon sa valeur, et ne s’en réjouira pas.
He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading.
19 Car il a opprimé, délaissé les pauvres; il a pillé une maison qu’il n’avait pas bâtie.
Because he has been cruel to the poor, turning away from them in their trouble; because he has taken a house by force which he did not put up;
20 Parce qu’il n’a pas connu de repos dans son désir, il ne sauvera rien de ce qu’il a de plus cher.
There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight.
21 Rien n’a échappé à sa voracité: c’est pourquoi son bien-être ne durera pas.
He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end.
22 Dans la plénitude de son abondance, il sera dans la détresse; toutes les mains des malheureux viendront sur lui.
Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him.
23 Il arrivera que, pour remplir son ventre, [Dieu] enverra sur lui l’ardeur de sa colère, et la fera pleuvoir sur lui dans sa chair.
God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain.
24 S’il fuit devant les armes de fer, un arc d’airain le transpercera.
He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him;
25 Il arrache [la flèche] et elle sort de son corps, et le fer étincelant de son fiel: les terreurs sont sur lui.
He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears.
26 Toutes les ténèbres sont réservées pour ses trésors; un feu qu’on ne souffle pas le dévorera, [et] se repaîtra de ce qui reste dans sa tente.
All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent.
27 Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s’élèvera contre lui.
The heavens make clear his sin, and the earth gives witness against him.
28 Le revenu de sa maison sera emporté; il s’écoulera au jour de Sa colère.
The produce of his house is taken away into another country, like things given into the hands of others in the day of wrath.
29 Telle est, de la part de Dieu, la portion de l’homme méchant, et l’héritage qui lui est assigné par Dieu.
This is the reward of the evil man, and the heritage given to him by God.
