Livre de Job 23

BIBLES DES PEUPLES	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Job prit alors la parole:	1 Job spoke next. He said:
2 Aujourd’hui encore ma plainte est rebelle: ma main ne peut la bloquer dans ma bouche!	2 My lament is stil rebellious; despite my groans, his hand is just as heavy.
3 Ah, si je savais où le trouver, j’irais jusqu’à sa demeure!	3 Wil no one help me to know how to travel to his dwel ing?
4 J’exposerais ma cause devant lui, je lui dirais tous mes arguments.	4 I should set out my case to him, advancing any number of grievances.
5 Je verrais ce qu’il me répondrait et je pourrais comprendre sa réponse.	5 Then I could learn his defence, every word of it, taking note of everything he said to me.
6 Mettrait-il toute sa force dans le débat? Non! Lui m’écouterait.	6 Would he put al his strength into this debate with me? No, he would only have to give his attention tome,
7 Il verrait l’innocence de celui qui l’attaque, et je serais pour toujours libéré de mon juge.	7 to recognise his opponent as upright and so I should win my case for ever.
8 Mais je peux aller à l’orient, il n’y est pas, à l’occident, je ne l’y verrai pas!	8 If I go to the east, he is not there; or to the west, I stil cannot see him.
9 J’ai cherché au nord sans le trouver, retournant au midi je ne l’ai pas vu.	9 If I seek him in the north, he is not to be found, invisible as ever, if I turn to the south.
10 Il me connaît pourtant, que je marche ou m’arrête: s’il m’éprouve au creuset, je passerai avec l’or.	10 And yet he knows every step I take! Let him test me in the crucible: I shall come out pure gold.
11 Car j’ai maintenu mon pied sur son sentier, j’ai suivi sa route, je n’en suis pas sorti.	11 My footsteps have fol owed close in his, I have walked in his way without swerving;
12 Je n’ai pas ignoré ses commandements, j’ai gardé en moi toutes ses paroles.	12 I have not neglected the commandment of his lips, in my heart I have cherished the words of hismouth.
13 Mais s’il veut quelque chose, qui l’en empêchera? Ce qu’il a désiré, il le fera.	13 But once he has made up his mind, who can change it? Whatever he plans, that he carries out.
14 Il fera jusqu’au bout ce qu’il a décrété, ce ne sera qu’une fois de plus.	14 No doubt, then, but he wil carry out my sentence, like so many other decrees that he has made.
15 Voilà pourquoi il m’effraie; quand j’y pense, j’ai peur de lui.	15 That is why I am ful of fear before him, and the more I think, the greater grows my dread of him.
16 Mais si Dieu me fait perdre cœur, si le Puissant me terrifie,	16 God has undermined my courage, Shaddai has filled me with fear.
17 je ne me suis pas tu pour autant dans le noir, en dépit des ténèbres qui voilent mon visage.	17 The darkness having failed to destroy me, I am plunged back into obscurity by him!