Job 14
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 14
Everyone Born of Woman . . .[a]
1 “Everyone born of woman
has life that is short and filled with troubles.
2 He blossoms like a flower and soon begins to wither;
as fleeting as a shadow, he does not endure.
3 Is it upon a creature like this that you fix your gaze
and bring him before you to be judged?
4 “Can a man be found who has avoided defilement?
There is no such person.
5 The extent of his life has already been determined,
and the number of his months is known to you;
you have established the limits that he cannot pass.
6 Turn your gaze away from him and leave him alone
so that, like a hired laborer, he may complete his days.
7 “At least for a tree there is always hope:
if it is cut down, it may sprout once again,
and its new shoots may burst with life.
8 Although its roots age in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 once it scents water it will begin to bud
and put forth branches like a sapling.
10 “But when a man dies, he remains lifeless;
what is his fate once he expires?
11 As occurs when the waters of a lake recede
or a river ceases to flow and runs dry,
12 so men lie down and never rise again;
until the heavens cease to exist, they will not awaken
or be stirred out of their slumber.
Hide Me in the Netherworld[b]
13 “How I wish you would hide me in the netherworld
and shelter me until your wrath has subsided
while designating a time to call me to mind.
14 If one who dies were permitted to live once again,
I would willingly endure all the days of my service
waiting for my relief to arrive.
15 You would call and I would answer you;
you would long to see once again the creature you have made.
16 You would count my every step
but not watch for any evidence of sin in me.
17 You would store up all my transgressions in a bag,
and you would cover over my guilt.
18 “But as a mountain eventually falls
and a rock is removed from its place,
19 as the waters wear away the stones
and cloudbursts wash away the soil,
so you destroy the hope of man.
20 You crush him once for all and he disappears;
you alter his appearance and send him away.
21 If his sons are honored, he is unaware of it;
if they are disgraced, he does not know it.
22 He is cognizant only of the pains his flesh endures,
and he grieves for no one except himself.”
Footnotes
- Job 14:1 Thoroughly unclean, humans cannot attain true purity, i.e., moral perfection. This wretchedness is precisely their excuse before God. And if the universe can be shaken and then renewed, for humans there is no revival; they remain buried in death forever. Survival in the subterranean netherworld is nothing more than a diminished existence. Human beings thus hasten toward their end without hope. What reason is there for God to pursue them?
- Job 14:13 An astounding proposition is put forth: Job desires to descend to the netherworld as in a provisional hiding place or refuge (Ps 139:7-12; Isa 26:20) to escape the divine wrath and wait there for the Lord to remember the creature [he has] made and grant him forgiveness. Job dreams of immortality and suffers because he no longer enjoys the friendship of his God.
Job 14
La Bible du Semeur
Job demande à Dieu d’abréger ses souffrances
14 L’homme né de la femme,
ses jours sont limités ╵et pleins de troubles !
2 Il est comme une fleur ╵qui sort de terre et que l’on coupe.
Il fuit comme une ombre furtive, ╵et il ne dure pas.
3 Et c’est cet homme ╵que tu épies,
et, devant toi, ╵tu me traînes[a] en justice.
4 Peut-on tirer le pur ╵de ce qui est impur ?
Personne ne le peut.
5 Puisque tu as fixé ╵le nombre de ses jours, ╵et que toi, tu connais ╵le nombre de ses ans,
puisque tu as fixé ╵le terme de sa vie ╵qu’il ne franchira pas,
6 détourne tes regards de lui, ╵accorde-lui quelque répit
pour qu’il jouisse de son repos ╵comme le salarié[b].
7 Car un arbre, du moins, ╵conserve une espérance :
s’il est coupé, ╵il peut renaître encore,
il ne cesse d’avoir ╵de nouveaux rejetons.
8 Sa racine peut bien ╵vieillir dans le terrain
et sa souche périr, ╵enfouie dans la poussière,
9 dès qu’il flaire de l’eau, ╵voilà qu’il reverdit
et produit des rameaux ╵comme une jeune plante.
10 Mais lorsque l’homme meurt, ╵il reste inanimé.
Quand l’être humain expire, ╵où donc est-il alors ?
11 L’eau disparaît des mers,
les rivières tarissent ╵et restent desséchées,
12 et l’homme, quand il meurt, ╵ne se relève plus ;
jusqu’à ce que le ciel s’éclipse ╵il ne se réveillera pas,
il ne sortira pas ╵de son dernier sommeil.
13 Si seulement, ô Dieu, ╵tu voulais me tenir caché ╵dans le séjour des morts,
m’y abriter ╵jusqu’au jour où, enfin, ╵ta colère sera passée !
Si seulement tu me fixais ╵un terme après lequel ╵tu penserais à moi !
14 Mais l’homme une fois mort, ╵va-t-il revivre ?
Alors, tous les jours de service ╵que je dois accomplir
j’attendrais que le temps ╵de ma relève arrive.
15 Toi, tu m’appellerais ╵et je te répondrais,
et tu soupirerais ╵après ta créature.
16 Alors que maintenant ╵tu comptes tous mes pas !
Tu ne resterais plus ╵à l’affût de mes fautes.
17 Ainsi mon crime ╵serait scellé[c] dans un sachet,
tu couvrirais mes fautes ╵d’une couche de plâtre.
18 La montagne s’écroule ╵et se disloque,
le rocher se détache ╵du lieu qu’il occupait.
19 L’eau érode les pierres
et son ruissellement ╵entraîne le terreau.
De même, tu anéantis ╵l’espoir de l’homme.
20 Tu le terrasses sans retour, ╵et il s’en va.
Oui, tu le défigures[d], ╵puis tu le congédies.
21 Que ses enfants soient honorés, ╵lui, il n’en saura rien.
Ou qu’ils soient abaissés, ╵lui, il l’ignorera.
22 Il ne peut que souffrir ╵du mal qui l’atteint en son corps
et s’affliger ╵du malheur qu’il ressent.
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