Job 41
La Bible du Semeur
41 Vois, devant lui, ╵tout espoir de le vaincre ╵est illusoire.
A sa vue seule, ╵on sera terrassé.
2 Nul n’aura assez de courage ╵pour l’exciter.
Qui donc alors ╵pourrait me tenir tête ?
3 Qui m’a prêté ╵pour que j’aie à lui rendre ?
Tout est à moi ╵sous l’étendue du ciel[a].
4 Je ne veux pas ╵me taire sur ses membres,
et je dirai sa force, ╵et la beauté ╵de sa constitution.
5 Qui a ouvert ╵par-devant son habit[b] ?
Qui a franchi ╵les deux rangs de ses dents ?
6 Qui a forcé ╵les battants de sa gueule ?
Ses crocs aigus ╵font régner la terreur.
7 Majestueuses ╵sont ses rangées d’écailles,
et tels des boucliers ╵scellés entre eux,
8 serrées les unes ╵contre les autres,
de sorte qu’aucun souffle ╵ne pourrait se glisser entre elles :
9 soudées ensemble, ╵chacune à sa voisine,
elles se tiennent ╵et sont inséparables.
10 Il éternue : ╵c’est un jet de lumière[c].
Ses yeux ressemblent ╵aux lueurs de l’aurore[d].
11 Des étincelles ╵jaillissent de sa gueule,
ce sont des gerbes ╵de flammes qui s’échappent.
12 De ses narines ╵la fumée sort en jets
comme d’une marmite ╵ou d’un chaudron bouillant.
13 Son souffle embrase ╵comme un charbon ardent
et, de sa gueule, ╵une flamme jaillit.
14 C’est dans son cou ╵que sa vigueur réside,
et la terreur ╵danse au-devant de lui.
15 Qu’ils sont massifs, ╵les replis de sa peau !
Soudés sur lui, ╵ils sont inébranlables.
16 Son cœur est dur, ╵figé comme une pierre
il est durci ╵comme une meule à grain.
17 Quand il se dresse[e], ╵les plus vaillants ont peur.
Ils se dérobent, ╵saisis par l’épouvante.
18 L’épée l’atteint ╵sans trouver nulle prise[f],
et il en va de même de la lance, ╵de la flèche ou du javelot.
19 Pour lui, le fer ╵est comme de la paille,
il prend le bronze ╵pour du bois vermoulu.
20 Les traits de l’arc ╵ne le font jamais fuir
et les cailloux ╵qu’on lance avec la fronde ╵ne sont pour lui ╵que des fétus de paille.
21 Oui, la massue ╵est pour lui un fétu de paille,
et il se rit ╵du sifflement des lances.
22 Son ventre, armé ╵de tessons acérés,
est une herse ╵qu’il traîne sur la boue.
23 Les eaux profondes, ╵il les fait bouillonner ╵comme un chaudron.
Il transforme le lac, ╵lorsqu’il y entre, ╵en un brûle-parfum.
24 Sur son passage ╵son sillage étincelle.
Les flots paraissent ╵couverts de cheveux blancs.
25 Nul n’est son maître ╵ici-bas sur la terre.
Il fut créé ╵pour ne rien redouter.
26 Il brave tous les grands colosses.
Il est le roi ╵des plus fiers animaux.
Footnotes
- 41.3 Cité en Rm 11.35.
- 41.5 Sa carapace est comparée à une cuirasse couvrant son corps.
- 41.10 Par sa respiration et ses éternuements, de fines gouttelettes sont projetées en l’air ; éclairées par les rayons du soleil, elles font l’effet de jets de lumière.
- 41.10 Dans l’écriture hiéroglyphique, l’aurore est représentée par des yeux de crocodile.
- 41.17 Autre traduction : Devant sa majesté.
- 41.18 Autre traduction : Pour celui qui l’approche, l’épée ne sert à rien.
Job 41
World English Bible
41 “Can you draw out Leviathan[a] with a fish hook,
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope into his nose,
or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will he make many petitions to you,
or will he speak soft words to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you,
that you should take him for a servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird?
Or will you bind him for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him?
Will they part him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,
or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay your hand on him.
Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain.
Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Everything under the heavens is mine.
12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who will come within his jaws?
14 Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth is terror.
15 Strong scales are his pride,
shut up together with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another,
that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined to one another.
They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.
18 His sneezing flashes out light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches.
Sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,
as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 His breath kindles coals.
A flame goes out of his mouth.
22 There is strength in his neck.
Terror dances before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together.
They are firm on him.
They can’t be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone,
yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid.
They retreat before his thrashing.
26 If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail;
nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27 He counts iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow can’t make him flee.
Sling stones are like chaff to him.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble.
He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot.
He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 He makes a path shine after him.
One would think the deep had white hair.
33 On earth there is not his equal,
that is made without fear.
34 He sees everything that is high.
He is king over all the sons of pride.”
Footnotes
- 41:1 Leviathan is a name for a crocodile or similar creature.
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