Job 12
1 Et Job reprit et dit:
Then Job said [to his three friends],
2 En vérité vous êtes tout un peuple, 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 Moi aussi, j'ai du sens comme vous, je ne vous le cède point! Et de qui ces choses sont-elles ignorées?
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 De mon ami je suis la risée, quand j'invoque Dieu et qu'il m'exauce; la risée! un juste! un innocent!
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 Au malheur le mépris, dans l'idée des heureux! il est près de celui dont le pied chancelle.
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 tranquilles sont pour les destructeurs, et la sécurité, pour ceux qui bravent le Seigneur, et qui se font un Dieu de leur bras.
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
7 Mais interroge les brutes, pour qu'elles t'instruisent, et les oiseaux des cieux, pour qu'ils l'expliquent!
“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 ou parle à la terre, pour qu'elle t'instruise! et les poissons de la mer te 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 Entre eux tous, qui pourrait ignorer que la main de l'Éternel a fait ces choses?
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
10 Il tient en sa main l'âme de tout ce qui vit, et l'esprit de tout corps 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'ouïe ne discerne pas les discours, de même que le palais goûte les 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 Les vieillards ont de la sagesse, et l'âge avancé, de l'intelligence.
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
13 Chez Lui se trouve sagesse et puissance, Il a conseil et intelligence.
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
14 Voici, Il détruit, et on ne relève pas. Enferme-t-Il un homme, il n'est pas élargi.
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 Voici, Il retient les eaux, et elles sèchent; Il les envoie, et elles bouleversent 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 Chez lui se trouvent force et sagesse, Il est maître de celui qui erre, et de celui qui fait errer;
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
17 Il emmène les conseillers captifs, et fait délirer les juges;
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
18 Il relâche l'autorité des rois, et enchaîne leurs reins d'une ceinture;
He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
19 Il emmène les prêtres captifs, et Il renverse les puissants;
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 Il ôte la parole aux hommes éprouvés, et retire le jugement aux 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 nobles, et délie la ceinture des forts;
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
22 produit les secrets hors des ténèbres, et fait sortir au jour l'ombre de mort;
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
23 Il élève les peuples, et les perd; Il disperse les peuples, et les rétablit;
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 Il ôte le sens aux chefs des peuples, et les égare dans des déserts sans chemins;
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
25 ils tâtonnent dans l'obscurité, sans clarté, Il leur donne le vertige, comme à l'homme ivre.
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
