Parallel
Job 21
Louis Segond 1910 · Berean Standard Bible
Écoutez, écoutez mes paroles,
“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
Laissez-moi parler, je vous prie;
Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
Est-ce contre un homme que se dirige ma plainte?
Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
Quand j’y pense, cela m’épouvante,
When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
Pourquoi les méchants vivent-ils?
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
Leur postérité s’affermit avec eux et en leur présence,
Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Dans leurs maisons règne la paix, sans mélange de crainte;
Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
Leurs taureaux sont vigoureux et féconds,
Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
Ils laissent courir leurs enfants comme des brebis,
They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
Ils chantent au son du tambourin et de la harpe,
singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
Ils passent leurs jours dans le bonheur,
They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace (note: Or in an instant).
Ils disaient pourtant à Dieu: Retire-toi de nous;
Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
Qu’est-ce que le Tout-Puissant, pour que nous le servions?
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
Quoi donc! Ne sont-ils pas en possession du bonheur?
Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
Mais arrive-t-il souvent que leur lampe s’éteigne,
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
Qu’ils soient comme la paille emportée par le vent,
Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
Est-ce pour les fils que Dieu réserve le châtiment du père?
It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
C’est lui qui devrait contempler sa propre ruine,
Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.
Car, que lui importe sa maison après lui,
For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
Est-ce à Dieu qu’on donnera de la science,
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
L’autre meurt, l’amertume dans l’âme,
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
Et tous deux se couchent dans la poussière,
But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
Je sais bien quelles sont vos pensées,
Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
Vous dites: Où est la maison de l’homme puissant?
For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
Mais quoi! N’avez-vous point interrogé les voyageurs,
Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
Au jour du malheur, le méchant est épargné;
Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
Qui lui reproche en face sa conduite?
Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
Les mottes de la vallée lui sont légères;
The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
Pourquoi donc m’offrir de vaines consolations?
So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”