Job 31

Louis Segond 1910 (LSG) · Français

1 J’avais fait un pacte avec mes yeux, Et je n’aurais pas arrêté mes regards sur une vierge. 2 Quelle part Dieu m’eût-il réservée d’en haut ? Quel héritage le Tout-Puissant m’eût-il envoyé des cieux ? 3 La ruine n’est-elle pas pour le méchant, Et le malheur pour ceux qui commettent l’iniquité ? 4 Dieu n’a-t-il pas connu mes voies ? N’a-t-il pas compté tous mes pas ? 5 Si j’ai marché dans le mensonge, Si mon pied a couru vers la fraude, 6 Que Dieu me pèse dans des balances justes, Et il reconnaîtra mon intégrité ! 7 Si mon pas s’est détourné du droit chemin, Si mon cœur a suivi mes yeux, Si quelque souillure s’est attachée à mes mains, 8 Que je sème et qu’un autre moissonne, Et que mes rejetons soient déracinés ! 9 Si mon cœur a été séduit par une femme, Si j’ai fait le guet à la porte de mon prochain, 10 Que ma femme tourne la meule pour un autre, Et que d’autres la déshonorent ! 11 Car c’est un crime, Un forfait que punissent les juges ; 12 C’est un feu qui dévore jusqu’à la ruine, Et qui aurait détruit toute ma richesse. 13 Si j’ai méprisé le droit de mon serviteur ou de ma servante Lorsqu’ils étaient en contestation avec moi, 14 Qu’ai-je à faire, quand Dieu se lève ? Qu’ai-je à répondre, quand il châtie ? 15 Celui qui m’a créé dans le ventre de ma mère ne l’a-t-il pas créé ? Le même Dieu ne nous a-t-il pas formés dans le sein maternel ? 16 Si j’ai refusé aux pauvres ce qu’ils demandaient, Si j’ai fait languir les yeux de la veuve, 17 Si j’ai mangé seul mon pain, Sans que l’orphelin en ait eu sa part, 18 Moi qui l’ai dès ma jeunesse élevé comme un père, Moi qui dès ma naissance ai soutenu la veuve ; 19 Si j’ai vu le malheureux manquer de vêtements, L’indigent n’avoir point de couverture, 20 Sans que ses reins m’aient béni, Sans qu’il ait été réchauffé par la toison de mes agneaux ; 21 Si j’ai levé la main contre l’orphelin, Parce que je me sentais un appui dans les juges ; 22 Que mon épaule se détache de sa jointure, Que mon bras tombe et qu’il se brise ! 23 Car les châtiments de Dieu m’épouvantent, Et je ne puis rien devant sa majesté. 24 Si j’ai mis dans l’or ma confiance, Si j’ai dit à l’or : Tu es mon espoir ; 25 Si je me suis réjoui de la grandeur de mes biens, De la quantité des richesses que j’avais acquises ; 26 Si j’ai regardé le soleil quand il brillait, La lune quand elle s’avançait majestueuse, 27 Et si mon cœur s’est laissé séduire en secret, Si ma main s’est portée sur ma bouche ; 28 C’est encore un crime que doivent punir les juges, Et j’aurais renié le Dieu d’en haut ! 29 Si j’ai été joyeux du malheur de mon ennemi, Si j’ai sauté d’allégresse quand les revers l’ont atteint, 30 Moi qui n’ai pas permis à ma langue de pécher, De demander sa mort avec imprécation ; 31 Si les gens de ma tente ne disaient pas : Où est celui qui n’a pas été rassasié de sa viande ? 32 Si l’étranger passait la nuit dehors, Si je n’ouvrais pas ma porte au voyageur ; 33 Si, comme les hommes, j’ai caché mes transgressions, Et renfermé mes iniquités dans mon sein, 34 Parce que j’avais peur de la multitude, Parce que je craignais le mépris des familles, Me tenant à l’écart et n’osant franchir ma porte… 35 Oh ! qui me fera trouver quelqu’un qui m’écoute ? Voilà ma défense toute signée : Que le Tout-Puissant me réponde ! Qui me donnera la plainte écrite par mon adversaire ? 36 Je porterai son écrit sur mon épaule, Je l’attacherai sur mon front comme une couronne ; 37 Je lui rendrai compte de tous mes pas, Je m’approcherai de lui comme un prince. 38 Si ma terre crie contre moi, Et que ses sillons versent des larmes ; 39 Si j’en ai mangé le produit sans l’avoir payée, Et que j’aie attristé l’âme de ses anciens maîtres ; 40 Qu’il y croisse des épines au lieu de froment, Et de l’ivraie au lieu d’orge ! Fin des paroles de Job.

Ce commentaire est en anglais, tel qu’il a été publié. Le texte biblique ci-dessus n’est pas modifié.

Commentaire — pas le texte biblique

Job 31:1-4

Job 31:1-40.

1. Job proceeds to prove that he deserved a better lot. As in the twenty-ninth chapter, he showed his uprightness as an emir, or magistrate in public life, so in this chapter he vindicates his character in private life.

1-4. He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his senses.

think--rather, "cast a (lustful) look." He not merely did not so, but put it out of the question by covenanting with his eyes against leading him into temptation (Pr 6:25; Mt 5:28).

Job 31:5

5. Job's abstinence from evil deeds.

vanity--that is, falsehood (Psa 12:2).

Job 31:6

6. Parenthetical. Translate: "Oh, that God would weigh me ... then would He know," &c.

Job 31:8

8. Apodosis to Job 31:5, 7; the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (Le 26:16; Am 9:14; Psa 128:2).

offspring--rather, "what I plant," my harvests.

Job 31:9-12

9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.

deceived--hath let itself be seduced (Pr 7:8; Ge 39:7-12).

laid wait--until the husband went out.

Job 31:13-23

13-23. Job affirms his freedom from unfairness towards his servants, from harshness and oppression towards the needy.

despise the cause--refused to do them justice.

Job 31:24-25

24-25. Job asserts his freedom from trust in money (1Ti 6:17). Here he turns to his duty towards God, as before he had spoken of his duty towards himself and his neighbor. Covetousness is covert idolatry, as it transfers the heart from the Creator to the creature (Col 3:5). In Job 31:26, 27 he passes to overt idolatry.

Job 31:26

26. If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) because he shined; or to the moon because she walked, &c. Sabaism (from tsaba, "the heavenly hosts") was the earliest form of false worship. God is hence called in contradistinction, "Lord of Sabaoth." The sun, moon, and stars, the brightest objects in nature, and seen everywhere, were supposed to be visible representatives of the invisible God. They had no temples, but were worshipped on high places and roofs of houses (Eze 8:16; De 4:19; 2Ki 23:5, 11). The Hebrew here for "sun" is light. Probably light was worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun, &c. This worship prevailed in Chaldea; wherefore Job's exemption from the idolatry of his neighbors was the more exemplary. Our "Sun-day," "Mon-day," or Moon-day, bear traces of Sabaism.

Job 31:27

27. enticed--away from God to idolatry.

kissed ... hand--"adoration," literally means this. In worshipping they used to kiss the hand, and then throw the kiss, as it were, towards the object of worship (1Ki 19:18; Ho 13:2).

Job 31:28

28. The Mosaic law embodied subsequently the feeling of the godly from the earliest times against idolatry, as deserving judicial penalties: being treason against the Supreme King (De 13:9; 17:2-7; Eze 8:14-18). This passage therefore does not prove Job to have been subsequent to Moses.

Job 31:30

30. mouth--literally, "palate." (See on Job 6:30).

wishing--literally, "so as to demand his (my enemy's) soul," that is, "life by a curse." This verse parenthetically confirms Job 31:30. Job in the patriarchal age of the promise, anterior to the law, realizes the Gospel spirit, which was the end of the law (compare Le 19:18; De 23:6, with Mt 5:43, 44).

Job 31:31

31. That is, Job's household said, Oh, that we had Job's enemy to devour, we cannot rest satisfied till we have! But Job refrained from even wishing revenge (1Sa 26:8; 2Sa 16:9, 10). So Jesus Christ (Lu 9:54, 55). But, better (see Job 31:32), translated, "Who can show (literally, give) the man who was not satisfied with the flesh (meat) provided by Job?" He never let a poor man leave his gate without giving him enough to eat.

Job 31:32

32. traveller--literally, "way," that is, wayfarers; so expressed to include all of every kind (2Sa 12:4).

Job 31:33

33. Adam--translated by Umbreit, "as men do" (Ho 6:7, where see Margin). But English Version is more natural. The very same word for "hiding" is used in Ge 3:8, 10, of Adam hiding himself from God. Job elsewhere alludes to the flood. So he might easily know of the fall, through the two links which connect Adam and Abraham (about Job's time), namely, Methuselah and Shem. Adam is representative of fallen man's propensity to concealment (Pr 28:13). It was from God that Job did not "hide his iniquity in his bosom," as on the contrary it was from God that "Adam" hid in his lurking-place. This disproves the translation, "as men"; for it is from their fellow men that "men" are chiefly anxious to hide their real character as guilty. Magee, to make the comparison with Adam more exact, for my "bosom" translates, "lurking-place."

Job 31:34

34. Rather, the apodosis to Job 31:33, "Then let me be fear-stricken before a great multitude, let the contempt, &c., let me keep silence (the greatest disgrace to a patriot, heretofore so prominent in assemblies), and not go out," &c. A just retribution that he who hides his sin from God, should have it exposed before man (2Sa 12:12). But Job had not been so exposed, but on the contrary was esteemed in the assemblies of the "tribes"--("families"); a proof, he implies, that God does not hold him guilty of hiding sin (Job 24:16, contrast with Job 29:21-25).

Job 31:35

35. Job returns to his wish (Job 13:22; 19:23). Omit "is"; "Behold my sign," that is, my mark of subscription to the statements just given in my defense: the mark of signature was originally a cross; and hence the letter Tau or T. Translate, also "Oh, that the Almighty," &c. He marks "God" as the "One" meant in the first clause.

adversary--that is, he who contends with me, refers also to God. The vagueness is designed to express "whoever it be that judicially opposes me"--the Almighty if it be He.

had written a book--rather, "would write down his charge."

Job 31:36

36. So far from hiding the adversary's "answer" or "charge" through fear,

I would take it on my shoulders--as a public honor (Is 9:6).

a crown--not a mark of shame, but of distinction (Is 62:3).

Job 31:37

37. A good conscience imparts a princely dignity before man and free assurance in approaching God. This can be realized, not in Job's way (Job 42:5, 6); but only through Jesus Christ (He 10:22).

Job 31:38

38. Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Ge 4:10; Ha 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Is 5:8).

furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, "If I paid not the laborer for tillage"; as Job 31:39, "If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four clauses in Job 31:38, 39, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare Jas 5:4, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare "Lord of Sabaoth" with Job 31:26 here.

Job 31:39

39. lose ... life--not literally, but "harassed to death"; until he gave me up his land gratis [Maurer]; as in Jud 16:16; "suffered him to languish" by taking away his means of living [Umbreit] (1Ki 21:19).

Job 31:40

40. thistles--or brambles, thorns.

cockle--literally, "noxious weeds."

The words ... ended--that is, in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to them. At Job 31:37 would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But Job 31:38-40 are naturally added by one whose mind in agitation recurs to its sense of innocence, even after it has come to the usual stopping point; this takes away the appearance of rhetorical artifice. Hence the transposition by Eichorn of Job 31:38-40 to follow Job 31:25 is quite unwarranted.

Astuce : touchez un numéro de verset pour voir le commentaire de ce verset.