Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
Alors Sophar de Naama prit la parole et dit:
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for [this] I make haste.
C'est pourquoi mes pensées me suggèrent une réponse, et, à cause de mon agitation, j'ai hâte de la donner.
3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
J'ai entendu des reproches qui m'outragent; dans mon intelligence, mon esprit trouvera la réplique.
4 Knowest thou [not] this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l'homme a été placé sur la terre,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked [is] short, and the joy of the hypocrite [but] for a moment?
le triomphe des méchants a été court, et la joie de l'impie d'un moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
Quand il porterait son orgueil jusqu'au ciel, et que sa tête toucherait aux nues,
7 [Yet] he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where [is] he?
comme son ordure, il périt pour toujours; ceux qui le voyaient disent: « Où est-il? »
8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
Il s'envole comme un songe, et on ne le trouve plus; il s'efface comme une vision de la nuit.
9 The eye also [which] saw him shall [see him] no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
L'œil qui le voyait ne le découvre plus; sa demeure ne l'apercevra plus.
10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
Ses enfants imploreront les pauvres, de ses propres mains il restituera ses rapines.
11 His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
Ses os étaient pleins de ses iniquités cachées; elles dormiront avec lui dans la poussière.
12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;
Parce que le mal a été doux à sa bouche, qu'il l'a caché sous sa langue,
13 [Though] he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
qu'il l'a savouré sans l'abandonner, et l'a retenu au milieu de son palais:
14 [Yet] his meat in his bowels is turned, [it is] the gall of asps within him.
sa nourriture tournera en poison dans ses entrailles, elle deviendra dans son sein le venin de l'aspic.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
Il a englouti des richesses, il les vomira; Dieu les retirera de son ventre.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
Il a sucé le venin de l'aspic, la langue de la vipère le tuera.
17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
Il ne verra jamais couler les fleuves, les torrents de miel et de lait.
18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow [it] down: according to [his] substance [shall] the restitution [be], and he shall not rejoice [therein].
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 Because he hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor; [because] he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
Car il a opprimé et délaissé les pauvres, il a saccagé leur maison, et ne l'a point rétablie:
20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
son avidité n'a pu être rassasiée, il n'emportera pas ce qu'il a de plus cher.
21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
Rien n'échappait à sa voracité; aussi son bonheur ne subsistera pas.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
Au sein de l'abondance, il tombe dans la disette; tous les coups du malheur viennent sur lui.
23 [When] he is about to fill his belly, [God] shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain [it] upon him while he is eating.
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 shall flee from the iron weapon, [and] the bow of steel shall strike him through.
S'il échappe aux armes de fer, l'arc d'airain le transperce.
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon 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 [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left 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 heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s'élèvera contre lui.
28 The increase of his house shall depart, [and his goods] shall flow away in the day of his 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 heritage appointed unto him by God.
Telle est la part que Dieu réserve au méchant, et l'héritage que lui destine Dieu.
