Livre de Job 23

BIBLES DES PEUPLES	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Job prit alors la parole:	1 Again Job answered and said:
2 Aujourd’hui encore ma plainte est rebelle: ma main ne peut la bloquer dans ma bouche!	2 Though I know my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy upon me in my groanings.
3 Ah, si je savais où le trouver, j’irais jusqu’à sa demeure!	3 Oh, that today I might find him, that I might come to his judgment seat!
4 J’exposerais ma cause devant lui, je lui dirais tous mes arguments.	4 I would set out my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments;
5 Je verrais ce qu’il me répondrait et je pourrais comprendre sa réponse.	5 I would learn the words with which he would answer, and understand what he would reply to me.
6 Mettrait-il toute sa force dans le débat? Non! Lui m’écouterait.	6 Even should he contend against me with his great power, yet, would that he himself might heed me!
7 Il verrait l’innocence de celui qui l’attaque, et je serais pour toujours libéré de mon juge.	7 There the upright man might reason with him, and I should once and for all preserve my rights.
8 Mais je peux aller à l’orient, il n’y est pas, à l’occident, je ne l’y verrai pas!	8 But if I go to the east, he is not there; or to the west, I cannot perceive him;
9 J’ai cherché au nord sans le trouver, retournant au midi je ne l’ai pas vu.	9 Where the north enfolds him, I behold him not; by the south he is veiled, and I see him not.
10 Il me connaît pourtant, que je marche ou m’arrête: s’il m’éprouve au creuset, je passerai avec l’or.	10 Yet he knows my way; if he proved me, I should come forth as gold.
11 Car j’ai maintenu mon pied sur son sentier, j’ai suivi sa route, je n’en suis pas sorti.	11 My foot has always walked in his steps; his way I have kept and have not turned aside.
12 Je n’ai pas ignoré ses commandements, j’ai gardé en moi toutes ses paroles.	12 From the commands of his lips I have not departed; the words of his mouth I have treasured in my heart.
13 Mais s’il veut quelque chose, qui l’en empêchera? Ce qu’il a désiré, il le fera.	13 But he had decided, and who can say him nay? What he desires, that he does.
14 Il fera jusqu’au bout ce qu’il a décrété, ce ne sera qu’une fois de plus.	14 For he will carry out what is appointed for me; and many such things may yet be in his mind.
15 Voilà pourquoi il m’effraie; quand j’y pense, j’ai peur de lui.	15 Therefore am I dismayed before him; when I take thought, I fear him.
16 Mais si Dieu me fait perdre cœur, si le Puissant me terrifie,	16 Indeed God has made my courage fail; the Almighty has put me in dismay.
17 je ne me suis pas tu pour autant dans le noir, en dépit des ténèbres qui voilent mon visage.	17 Yes, would that I had vanished in darkness, and that thick gloom were before me to conceal me.