Job 23

1Alors Job prit la parole et dit :

2Oui, aujourd’hui ma plainte est amère, et pourtant ma main retient mes soupirs.

3Oh ! Qui me donnera de savoir où le trouver, d’arriver jusqu’à son trône !

4Je plaiderais ma cause devant lui, et je remplirais ma bouche d’arguments.

5Je saurais les raisons qu’il peut m’opposer, je verrais ce qu’il peut avoir à me dire.

6M’opposerait-il la grandeur de sa puissance ? Ne jetterait-il pas au moins les yeux sur moi ?

7Alors l’innocent discuterait avec lui, et je m’en irais absous pour toujours par mon juge.

8Mais si je vais à l’orient, il n’y est pas ; à l’occident, je ne l’aperçois pas.

9Est-il occupé au septentrion, je ne le vois pas ; se cache-t-il au midi, je ne puis le découvrir.

10Cependant il connaît les sentiers où je marche ; qu’il m’examine, je sortirai pur comme l’or.

11Mon pied a toujours foulé ses traces ; je me suis tenu dans sa voie sans dévier.

12Je ne me suis pas écarté des préceptes de ses lèvres ; j’ai fait plier ma volonté aux paroles de sa bouche.

13Mais il a une pensée : qui l’en fera revenir ? Ce qu’il désire, il l’exécute.

14Il accomplira donc ce qu’il a décrété à mon sujet, et de pareils desseins, il en a beaucoup.

15Voilà pourquoi je me trouble en sa présence ; quand j’y pense, j’ai peur de lui.

16Dieu fait fondre mon cœur ; le Tout-Puissant me remplit d’effroi.

17Car ce ne sont pas les ténèbres qui me consument, ni l’obscurité dont ma face est voilée.

1Respondens autem Job, ait:

2[Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.

3Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium ejus?

4Ponam coram eo judicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus:

5ut sciam verba quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.

6Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.

7Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum.

8Si ad orientem iero, non apparet; si ad occidentem, non intelligam eum.

9Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum; si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.

10Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum quod per ignem transit.

11Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus: viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.

12A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.

13Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem ejus: et anima ejus quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.

14Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.

15Et idcirco a facie ejus turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.

16Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.

17Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.]

1Then Job answered, and said:

2Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning.

3Who will grant me that I might know and find him, and come even to his throne?

4I would set judgment before him, and would fill my mouth with complaints.

5That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

6I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.

7Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.

8But if I go to the east, he appeareth not; if to the west, I shall not understand him.

9If to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not take hold on him: if I turn myself to the right hand, I shall not see him.

10But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire:

11My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it.

12I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.

13For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever is soul hath desired, that hath he done.

14And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.

15And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear.

16God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.

17For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.