Job 3
La Bible du Semeur
Discours de Job et de ses trois amis
Job maudit le jour de sa naissance
3 Après cela, Job prit la parole et se mit à maudire le jour de sa naissance[a]. 2 Il parla en ces termes :
3 Que périsse le jour ╵où je fus enfanté
et la nuit qui a dit : ╵« Un garçon est conçu ! »
4 Ce jour, ╵qu’il se change en ténèbres,
que Dieu là-haut ╵ne s’en occupe plus,
oui, que nulle clarté ╵ne rayonne sur lui !
5 Qu’une profonde obscurité, ╵et d’épaisses ténèbres, ╵le réclament pour elles !
Que des nuées pèsent sur lui,
que des éclipses de soleil[b] ╵le chargent d’épouvante !
6 Oh ! que l’obscurité ╵saisisse cette nuit,
qu’elle n’ait pas sa place ╵au milieu des jours de l’année
et qu’elle n’entre point ╵dans le compte des mois !
7 Que cette nuit-là soit stérile
et que nul cri de joie ╵n’y résonne jamais.
8 Oui, que cette nuit-là ╵fasse l’objet d’incantations ╵de ceux qui maudissent les jours
et savent réveiller ╵le grand monstre marin[c] !
9 Que les ténèbres masquent ╵ses astres du matin !
Oui, qu’elle attende en vain ╵la lumière du jour
et qu’elle ne voie pas ╵l’aurore s’éveiller,
10 pour n’avoir pas fermé ╵le ventre maternel
et n’avoir pas caché ╵le malheur à mes yeux !
11 Pourquoi ne suis-je donc pas mort ╵dans le sein de ma mère ?
Pourquoi n’ai-je pas expiré ╵en sortant de ses flancs ?
12 Pourquoi ai-je trouvé ╵deux genoux accueillants
et une mère ╵pour me donner le sein ?
13 Car maintenant ╵je serais couché, et tranquille,
je dormirais ╵je me reposerais
14 en compagnie des rois ╵et des grands de la terre
qui s’étaient fait bâtir ╵de vastes monuments ╵dont il ne reste que des ruines,
15 avec les chefs des princes, ╵ceux qui détenaient l’or
et entassaient l’argent ╵dans leurs demeures.
16 Je n’existerais pas ╵tel l’avorton ╵enfoui sous terre,
tel un enfant ╵qui n’a pas vu le jour.
17 Là, ceux qui sont méchants ╵cessent de tourmenter,
et ceux qui sont à bout de forces ╵peuvent se reposer.
18 Les prisonniers, de même, ╵se trouvent là paisibles
car ils n’entendent plus ╵la voix de l’oppresseur,
19 petits et grands sont là,
et de son maître ╵l’esclave est affranchi.
20 Pourquoi, oui, pourquoi donc ╵donne-t-il la lumière ╵à ceux qui souffrent ?
Pourquoi donner la vie ╵aux hommes accablés ?
21 Ils attendent la mort ╵et elle ne vient pas,
alors qu’ils la recherchent ╵plus que tous les trésors,
22 ils seraient pleins de joie ╵et ils jubileraient
s’ils trouvaient le tombeau.
23 Pourquoi donner la vie ╵à l’homme qui ne voit ╵aucune route à suivre
parce que Dieu lui-même ╵le cerne de tous les côtés ?
24 Car mes gémissements ╵ont remplacé mon pain
et mes cris de douleur ╵déferlent comme l’eau.
25 Tout ce que je redoute, ╵c’est cela qui m’arrive,
les maux que je craignais ╵ont tous fondu sur moi.
26 Je n’ai plus de tranquillité, ╵pas de relâche, ╵pas de repos.
Je suis sans cesse en proie ╵à de nouveaux tourments.
Footnotes
- 3.1 Voir Jr 20.14-18.
- 3.5 éclipses de soleil: selon une légère variante d’orthographe. Objet de terreur, souvent mauvais présage. D’autres traduisent : sombres événements, ténèbres.
- 3.8 En 40.25 à 41.26, ce monstre marin (en hébreu : léviathan) sert à décrire le crocodile. Au Ps 74.14, il désigne l’Egypte, et en Es 27.1 l’ennemi de Dieu, la puissance maléfique qui se cache derrière le paganisme et qu’on retrouve dans les récits mythologiques du Moyen-Orient ancien. Ce monstre marin est aussi appelé Rahav en hébreu (note 9.13 ; Ps 89.11 ; Es 51.9) ou tannîn (Ps 74.13 ; Es 51.9). Job livre ainsi « sa » nuit à ceux qui possèdent les pouvoirs occultes les plus inquiétants.
Job 3
New Century Version
Job Curses His Birth
3 After seven days Job cried out and cursed the day he had been born, 2 saying:
3 “Let the day I was born be destroyed,
and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’
4 Let that day turn to darkness.
Don’t let God care about it.
Don’t let light shine on it.
5 Let darkness and gloom have that day.
Let a cloud hide it.
Let thick darkness cover its light.
6 Let thick darkness capture that night.
Don’t count it among the days of the year
or put it in any of the months.
7 Let that night be empty,
with no shout of joy to be heard.
8 Let those who curse days curse that day.
Let them prepare to wake up the sea monster Leviathan.
9 Let that day’s morning stars never appear;
let it wait for daylight that never comes.
Don’t let it see the first light of dawn,
10 because it allowed me to be born
and did not hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why didn’t I die as soon as I was born?
Why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did my mother’s knees receive me,
and my mother’s breasts feed me?
13 If they had not been there,
I would be lying dead in peace;
I would be asleep and at rest
14 with kings and wise men of the earth
who built places for themselves that are now ruined.
15 I would be asleep with rulers
who filled their houses with gold and silver.
16 Why was I not buried like a child born dead,
like a baby who never saw the light of day?
17 In the grave the wicked stop making trouble,
and the weary workers are at rest.
18 In the grave there is rest for the captives
who no longer hear the shout of the slave driver.
19 People great and small are in the grave,
and the slave is freed from his master.
20 “Why is light given to those in misery?
Why is life given to those who are so unhappy?
21 They want to die, but death does not come.
They search for death more than for hidden treasure.
22 They are very happy
when they get to the grave.
23 They cannot see where they are going.
God has hidden the road ahead.
24 I make sad sounds as I eat;
my groans pour out like water.
25 Everything I feared and dreaded
has happened to me.
26 I have no peace or quietness.
I have no rest, only trouble.”
Iyov 3
Orthodox Jewish Bible
3 After this opened Iyov his mouth, and cursed his yom.
2 And Iyov spoke, and said,
3 Let the yom perish wherein I was born, and halailah in which it was said, There is a gever born.
4 Let that yom be choshech; let not Elohim regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let choshech and the tzalmavet (shadow of death) claim it; let an anan dwell upon it; let the blackness of the yom terrify it.
6 As for that lailah, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the yamim of the shanah, let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Hinei, let that lailah be barren; let no joyful shout come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the yam, who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
9 Let the kokhavim of the dawn thereof be dark; let it look for ohr, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the shachar,
10 Because it shut not up the dalatot of my mother’s womb, nor hid amal (tzoros) from mine eyes.
11 Why did I not come to mot at birth? Why did I not perish when I came out of the beten (belly, womb)?
12 Madua (why) were there birkayim to receive me? Or why the shadayim that from them I should nurse?
13 For atah (now) I would be lying still and quiet, have slept and been at rest,
14 With melachim and yo’atzim of ha’aretz, which build ruins for themselves;
15 Or with sarim (princes) that had zahav, who filled their batim (houses) with kesef;
16 Or as a hidden stillborn—I had not been!—as olelim which never saw ohr.
17 There the resha’im cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the asirim (prisoners, captives) rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 The katon and gadol are there; and the eved is free from his adon.
20 Why is ohr given to him that is in misery, and chayyim unto the bitter in nefesh;
21 Which long for mavet, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the kever?
23 Why is ohr given to a gever whose derech is hidden, and whom Elohim hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh instead of lechem, and my groanings are poured out like the mayim.
25 For the pachad (terror) which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I dreaded is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; and rogez (tzoros, turmoil) came.
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