Exodus 4
1 And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord.
Moïse prit la parole et dit: "Mais certes, ils ne me croiront pas et ils n’écouteront pas ma voix, parce qu’ils diront: L’Éternel ne t’est point apparu."
2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.
Le Seigneur lui dit: "Qu’as-tu là à la main?" Il répondit: "Une verge."
3 And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it.
Il reprit: "Jette-la à terre!" Et il la jeta à terre et elle devint un serpent. Moïse s’enfuit à cette vue.
4 And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: (and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand: )
Le Seigneur dit à Moïse: "Avance la main et saisis sa queue!" Il avança la main et le saisit et il redevint verge dans sa main.
5 So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.
"Ceci leur prouvera qu’il s’est révélé à toi, l’Éternel, le Dieu de leurs pères, le Dieu d’Abraham, d’Isaac et de Jacob."
6 Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow.
Le Seigneur lui dit encore: "Mets ta main dans ton sein." Il mit sa main dans son sein, l’en retira et voici qu’elle était lépreuse, blanche comme la neige.
7 And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. (And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.)
II reprit: "Replace ta main dans ton sein." Il remit sa main dans son sein, puis il l’en retira et voici qu’elle avait repris sa carnation.
8 And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign.
"Eh bien! s’ils n’ont pas croyance en toi, s’ils sont sourds à la voix du premier prodige, ils devront céder à la voix du dernier.
9 And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.
Que s’ils restent incrédules en présence de ces deux prodiges et s’ils n’écoutent pas ta voix, tu prendras des eaux du fleuve et tu les répandras à terre et ces eaux que tu auras prises du fleuve deviendront du sang sur la terre."
10 And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.
Moïse dit à l’Éternel: "De grâce, Seigneur! je ne suis habile à parler, ni depuis hier, ni depuis avant-hier, ni depuis que tu parles à ton serviteur; car j’ai la bouche pesante et la langue embarrassée."
11 And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
L’Éternel lui répondit: "Qui a donné une bouche à l’homme? qui le fait muet ou sourd, clairvoyant ou aveugle, si ce n’est moi, l’Éternel?
12 So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.
Va donc, je seconderai ta parole et je t’inspirerai ce que tu devras dire."
13 And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send.
Il repartit: "De grâce, Seigneur! donne cette mission à quelque autre!"
14 And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.
Le courroux de l’Éternel s’alluma contre Moïse et il dit: "Eh bien! c’est Aaron ton frère, le Lévite, que je désigne! Oui, c’est lui qui parlera! Déjà même il s’avance à ta rencontre et à ta vue il se réjouira dans son cœur.
15 Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.
Tu lui parleras et tu transmettras les paroles à sa bouche; pour moi, j’assisterai ta bouche et la sienne et je vous apprendrai ce que vous aurez à faire.
16 And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.
Lui, il parlera pour toi au peuple, de sorte qu’il sera pour toi un organe et que tu seras pour lui un inspirateur.
17 And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs.
Cette même verge, tu l’auras à la main, car c’est par elle que tu opéreras les miracles."
18 And Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my relations in Egypt and see if they are still living. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
Là-dessus Moïse s’en retourna chez Jéthro, son beau-père et lui dit: "Je voudrais partir, retourner près de mes frères qui sont en Égypte, afin de voir s’ils vivent encore." Jéthro répondit à Moïse: "Va en paix."
19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were attempting to take your life.
L’Éternel dit à Moïse, en Madian: "Va, retourne en Égypte; tous ceux-là sont morts qui en voulaient à ta vie."
20 And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass and went back to the land of Egypt: and he took the rod of God in his hand.
Moïse emmena sa femme et ses enfants, les plaça sur un âne et reprit le chemin du pays d’Égypte. Moïse tenait la verge divine à la main.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go.
L’Éternel dit à Moïse: "Maintenant que tu te disposes à rentrer en Egypte, sache que tous les miracles dont je t’aurai chargé, tu les accompliras devant Pharaon mais moi je laisserai s’endurcir son cœur et il ne renverra point le peuple.
22 And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons:
Alors tu diras à Pharaon: ‘Ainsi parle l’Éternel: Israël est le premier-né de mes fils;
23 And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship; and you did not let him go: so now I will put the first of your sons to death.
or, je t’avais dit: Laisse partir mon fils, pour qu’il me serve et tu as refusé de le laisser partir. Eh bien! moi, je ferai mourir ton fils premier-né.’"
24 Now on the journey, at the night's resting-place, the Lord came in his way and would have put him to death.
Pendant ce voyage, il s’arrêta dans une hôtellerie; le Seigneur l’aborda et voulut le faire mourir.
25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cutting off the skin of her son's private parts, and touching his feet with it, she said, Truly you are a husband of blood to me.
Séphora saisit un caillou, retrancha l’excroissance de son fils et la jeta à ses pieds en disant: "Est-ce donc par le sang que tu es uni à moi?"
26 So he let him go. Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision.
Le Seigneur le laissa en repos. Elle dit alors: "Oui, tu m’es uni par le sang, grâce à la circoncision!"
27 And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the waste land and you will see Moses. So he went and came across Moses at the mountain of God, and gave him a kiss.
L’Éternel dit à Aaron: "Va au-devant de Moïse, dans le désert." Il y alla; il le rencontra sur la montagne et l’embrassa.
28 And Moses gave Aaron an account of all the words of the Lord which he had sent him to say, and of all the signs which he had given him orders to do.
Moïse fit part à Aaron de toutes les paroles dont l’Éternel l’avait chargé et de tous les prodiges qu’il lui avait donné mission d’accomplir.
29 Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel:
Alors Moïse et Aaron partirent et assemblèrent tous les anciens des enfants d’Israël.
30 And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people.
Et Aaron dit toutes les paroles que l’Éternel avait adressées à Moïse et il opéra les prodiges à la vue du peuple.
31 And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.
Et le peuple y eut foi; ils comprirent que l’Éternel s’était souvenu des enfants d’Israël, qu’il avait considéré leur misère et ils courbèrent la tête et se prosternèrent.
