Job 20

1Alors Sophar de Naama prit la parole et dit :

2C’est pourquoi mes pensées me suggèrent une réponse, et, à cause de mon agitation, j’ai hâte de la donner.

3J’ai entendu des reproches qui m’outragent ; dans mon intelligence, mon esprit trouvera la réplique.

4Sais-tu bien que, de tout temps, depuis que l’homme a été placé sur la terre,

5le triomphe des méchants a été court, et la joie de l’impie d’un moment ?

6Quand il porterait son orgueil jusqu’au ciel, et que sa tête toucherait aux nues,

7comme son ordure, il périt pour toujours ; ceux qui le voyaient disent : « Où est-il ? »

8Il s’envole comme un songe, et on ne le trouve plus ; il s’efface comme une vision de la nuit.

9L’œil qui le voyait ne le découvre plus ; sa demeure ne l’apercevra plus.

10Ses enfants imploreront les pauvres, de ses propres mains il restituera ses rapines.

11Ses os étaient pleins de ses iniquités cachées ; elles dormiront avec lui dans la poussière.

12Parce que le mal a été doux à sa bouche, qu’il l’a caché sous sa langue,

13qu’il l’a savouré sans l’abandonner, et l’a retenu au milieu de son palais :

14sa nourriture tournera en poison dans ses entrailles, elle deviendra dans son sein le venin de l’aspic.

15Il a englouti des richesses, il les vomira ; Dieu les retirera de son ventre.

16Il a sucé le venin de l’aspic, la langue de la vipère le tuera.

17Il ne verra jamais couler les fleuves, les torrents de miel et de lait.

18Il rendra ce qu’il a gagné et ne s’en gorgera pas, dans la mesure de ses profits, et il n’en jouira pas.

19Car il a opprimé et délaissé les pauvres, il a saccagé leur maison, et ne l’a point rétablie :

20son avidité n’a pu être rassasiée, il n’emportera pas ce qu’il a de plus cher.

21Rien n’échappait à sa voracité ; aussi son bonheur ne subsistera pas.

22Au sein de l’abondance, il tombe dans la disette ; tous les coups du malheur viennent sur lui.

23Voici pour lui remplir le ventre : Dieu enverra sur lui le feu de sa colère, elle pleuvra sur lui jusqu’en ses entrailles.

24S’il échappe aux armes de fer, l’arc d’airain le transperce.

25Il arrache le trait, il sort de son corps, l’acier sort étincelant de son foie ; les terreurs de la mort tombent sur lui.

26Une 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.

27Les cieux révéleront son iniquité, et la terre s’élèvera contre lui.

28L’abondance de sa maison sera dispersée, elle disparaîtra au jour de la colère.

29Telle est la part que Dieu réserve au méchant, et l’héritage que lui destine Dieu.

1Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit:

2[Idcirco cogitationes meæ variæ succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur.

3Doctrinam qua me arguis audiam, et spiritus intelligentiæ meæ respondebit mihi.

4Hoc scio a principio, ex quo positus est homo super terram,

5quod laus impiorum brevis sit, et gaudium hypocritæ ad instar puncti.

6Si ascenderit usque ad cælum superbia ejus, et caput ejus nubes tetigerit,

7quasi sterquilinium in fine perdetur, et qui eum viderant, dicent: Ubi est?

8Velut somnium avolans non invenietur: transiet sicut visio nocturna.

9Oculus qui eum viderat non videbit, neque ultra intuebitur eum locus suus.

10Filii ejus atterentur egestate, et manus illius reddent ei dolorem suum.

11Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiæ ejus, et cum eo in pulvere dormient.

12Cum enim dulce fuerit in ore ejus malum, abscondet illud sub lingua sua.

13Parcet illi, et non derelinquet illud, et celabit in gutture suo.

14Panis ejus in utero illius vertetur in fel aspidum intrinsecus.

15Divitias quas devoravit evomet, et de ventre illius extrahet eas Deus.

16Caput aspidum suget, et occidet eum lingua viperæ.

17(Non videat rivulos fluminis, torrentes mellis et butyri.)

18Luet quæ fecit omnia, nec tamen consumetur: juxta multitudinem adinventionum suarum, sic et sustinebit.

19Quoniam confringens nudavit pauperes: domum rapuit, et non ædificavit eam.

20Nec est satiatus venter ejus: et cum habuerit quæ concupierat, possidere non poterit.

21Non remansit de cibo ejus, et propterea nihil permanebit de bonis ejus.

22Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur: æstuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum.

23Utinam impleatur venter ejus, ut emittat in eum iram furoris sui, et pluat super illum bellum suum.

24Fugiet arma ferrea, et irruet in arcum æreum.

25Eductus, et egrediens de vagina sua, et fulgurans in amaritudine sua: vadent et venient super eum horribiles.

26Omnes tenebræ absconditæ sunt in occultis ejus; devorabit eum ignis qui non succenditur: affligetur relictus in tabernaculo suo.

27Revelabunt cæli iniquitatem ejus, et terra consurget adversus eum.

28Apertum erit germen domus illius: detrahetur in die furoris Dei.

29Hæc est pars hominis impii a Deo, et hæreditas verborum ejus a Domino.]

1Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

2Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

3The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

4This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

5That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

6If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

7In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he?

8As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

9The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

10His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow.

11His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

12For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

13He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

14His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.

15The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

16He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

17(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)

18He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.

19Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

20And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

21There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

22When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

23May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

24He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

25The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.

26All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.

27The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

28The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.