1 Sais-tu quand les chamois font leurs petits? As-tu observé les biches en travail? | 1 Do you know at what time the wild goats have given birth among the rocks, or do you observe the deer when they go into labor? |
2 As-tu compté les mois de leur portée et connais-tu l’époque de leur délivrance? | 2 Have you numbered the months since their conception, and do you know at what time they gave birth? |
3 Alors elles s’accroupissent pour mettre bas: voici qu’elles déposent leurs petits. | 3 They bend themselves for their offspring, and they give birth, and they emit roars. |
4 Ils prennent des forces, ils grandissent au désert, ils partent: ils ne reviendront plus vers elles. | 4 Their young are weaned and go out to feed; they depart and do not return to them. |
5 Qui a lâché en liberté l’âne sauvage et l’a allégé de ses liens? | 5 Who has set the wild ass free, and who has released his bonds? |
6 Je ne lui ai donné de maison que la steppe, il demeure dans la plaine salée. | 6 I have given a house in solitude to him, and his tabernacle is in the salted land. |
7 Il se moque du trafic de la ville, il n’entend pas les cris de l’ânier, | 7 He despises the crowded city; he does not pay attention to the bellow of the tax collector. |
8 mais il explore la montagne, son pâturage, toujours à la recherche d’herbes vertes. | 8 He looks around the mountains of his pasture, and he searches everywhere for green plants. |
9 Est-ce que le buffle voudra te servir et rester pour la nuit dans ton étable? | 9 Will the rhinoceros be willing to serve you, and will he remain in your stall? |
10 Tu lui passeras peut-être une corde au cou, pour qu’il herse ton champ derrière toi? | 10 Can you detain the rhinoceros with your harness to plough for you, and will he loosen the soil of the furrows behind you? |
11 Tu devrais lui faire confiance: il est si fort! il ferait bien la besogne à ta place. | 11 Will you put your faith in his great strength, and delegate your labors to him? |
12 Peux-tu compter sur lui au retour, pour qu’il dépose le grain sur ton aire. | 12 Will you trust him to return to you the seed, and to gather it on your drying floor? |
13 L’aile de l’autruche est joyeuse, son pennage est de plumes gracieuses. | 13 The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk. |
14 Mais elle abandonne ses œufs sur la terre: - le sol se chargera de les chauffer! - | 14 When she leaves eggs behind in the earth, will you perhaps warm them in the dust? |
15 oubliant qu’un pied peut les écraser, qu’une bête des champs peut les briser. | 15 She forgets that feet may trample them, or that the beasts of the field may shatter them. |
16 Elle traite ses petits comme s’ils n’étaient pas siens: peu lui importe qu’elle ait peiné pour rien! | 16 She is hardened against her young, as if they were not hers; she has labored in vain, with no fear compelling her. |
17 C’est que Dieu l’a privée de sagesse, l’intelligence n’est pas son lot. | 17 For God has deprived her of wisdom; neither has he given her understanding. |
18 Mais dès qu’elle se lève et s’élance, elle se rit du cheval et de son cavalier. | 18 Yet, when the time is right, she raises her wings on high; she ridicules the horse and his rider. |
19 Est-ce toi qui donnes au cheval sa vigueur, qui revêts son cou d’une crinière, | 19 Will you supply strength to the horse, or envelope his throat with neighing? |
20 et le fais bondir comme la sauterelle? Son fier hennissement répand la terreur. | 20 Will you alarm him as the locusts do? His panic is revealed by the display of his nostrils. |
21 Il piaffe dans la vallée, joyeux de sa force, il s’élance au devant des armes. | 21 He digs at the earth with his hoof; he jumps around boldly; he advances to meet armed men. |
22 Il se moque de la peur, il ne s’effraie pas et ne recule pas devant l’épée. | 22 He despises fear; he does not turn away from the sword. |
23 Il soutient les chocs du carquois, les étincelles de la lance et du javelot. | 23 Above him, the quiver rattles, the spear and the shield shake. |
24 Frémissant d’impatience, il dévore l’espace, il ne tient plus en place s’il entend la trompette. | 24 Seething and raging, he drinks up the earth; neither does he pause when the blast of the trumpet sounds. |
25 Dès que sonne la trompe, pour lui c’est: “Allons-y!”, de loin il a flairé la bataille, le chambard des chefs et les cris de guerre. | 25 When he hears the bugle, he says, “Ha!” He smells the battle from a distance, the exhortation of the officers, and the battle cry of the soldiers. |
26 Est-ce toi qui as prévu l’envol du faucon, lorsqu’il déploie ses ailes vers le midi? | 26 Does the hawk grow feathers by means of your wisdom, spreading her wings towards the south? |
27 Est-ce sur ton ordre que l’aigle s’élève, ou qu’il a bâti son nid là-haut? | 27 Will the eagle lift herself up at your command and make her nest in steep places? |
28 Il s’installe sur son rocher, il y passe la nuit dans sa forteresse, sur une dent de roche. | 28 She dwells among the rocks, and she lingers among broken boulders and inaccessible cliffs. |
29 De là il guette sa proie; de loin ses yeux l’apercevront, | 29 From there, she looks for food, and her eyes catch sight of it from far away. |
30 il nourrira de sang ses petits. Où que tombe le corps, aussitôt il est là. | 30 Her young will drink blood, and wherever the carcass will be, she is there immediately. |
| 31 And the Lord continued, and he said to Job: |
| 32 Will he who contends with God be so easily silenced? Certainly, he who argues with God must also respond to him. |
| 33 Then Job answered the Lord, saying: |
| 34 What could I possibly answer, since I have been speaking thoughtlessly? I will place my hand over my mouth. |
| 35 One thing I have spoken, which I wish I had not said; and another, to which I will add no more. |