Nehemiah 4
1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the city wall, he was very angry. He was enraged/furious. He made fun of us Jews.
Mais il arriva que Samballat, ayant appris que nous rebâtissions la muraille, fut fort indigné et fort irrité. Et il se moqua des Juifs,
2 While his colleagues and officials of the army troops who had come from Samaria were listening, he said, “What do these feeble/pathetic Jews [think they] are doing? Do they think that if they offer enough/many sacrifices, [their gods will hear them and enable] them to finish building the wall in one day? The stones [that were in the wall previously have been weakened by] being burned in a fire. Those stones that they are pulling out of the rubbish/garbage heaps—do they think that they can make them strong again?” [RHQ]
Et dit, en la présence de ses frères et des gens de guerre de Samarie: Que font ces Juifs languissants? Les laissera-t-on faire? Sacrifieront-ils? Achèveront-ils maintenant? De ces monceaux de décombres feront-ils renaître les pierres, quand elles sont brûlées?
3 Tobiah was [standing] beside Sanballat. He said, “That stone wall [that they are building] is very weak; so if even a fox climbed up on it, the wall would fall down!”
Et Tobija, Ammonite, qui était auprès de lui, dit: Quoi qu'ils bâtissent, si un renard montait, il romprait leur muraille de pierre.
4 Then I prayed. I said, “Our God, hear us, because they are ridiculing us! Cause the words of their insults to fall back on them! Allow their enemies to come and capture them and force them to go to a foreign land!
O notre Dieu! écoute, car nous sommes en mépris! Fais retourner sur leur tête l'opprobre dont ils nous couvrent, et livre-les au pillage dans un pays de captivité;
5 They are guilty; they have [said things that] caused you to be angry while the people here who are building the wall are listening; so punish them!”
Ne couvre point leur iniquité, et que leur péché ne soit point effacé en ta présence; car ils ont offensé ceux qui bâtissent.
6 But after some time, we finished building the wall around the whole city, up to half as high as the first wall had been. We were able to do that because we worked very hard.
Nous rebâtîmes donc la muraille, et toute la muraille fut fermée jusqu'à la moitié de sa hauteur; et le peuple prenait à cœur le travail.
7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the men from Arabia, the people from the Ammon [people-group] and from Ashdod [city] heard that the work on the wall was continuing and that we were filling in the gaps in the wall, they became very angry.
Mais quand Samballat, Tobija, les Arabes, les Ammonites et les Asdodiens eurent appris que la muraille de Jérusalem se relevait, et qu'on avait commencé à fermer les brèches, ils furent fort en colère.
8 They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.
Et ils se liguèrent tous ensemble pour venir faire la guerre contre Jérusalem, et pour y porter le trouble.
9 But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.
Alors nous priâmes notre Dieu, et nous mîmes des gardes contre eux, de jour et de nuit, pour nous garantir d'eux.
10 Then the people of [MTY] Judah started to say, “The men who are working [on the wall] are becoming very tired. There is a lot of [heavy] rubble that we must remove; we ourselves cannot finish the work.
Et Juda disait: Les forces des ouvriers faiblissent; et il y a beaucoup de décombres; nous ne pourrons pas bâtir la muraille!
11 “Besides, our enemies are saying, ‘Before the Jews see us, we will swoop down on them and kill them and stop their work [on the wall]!’”
Et nos ennemis disaient: Ils ne sauront et ne verront rien, jusqu'à ce que nous entrions au milieu d'eux. Nous les tuerons, et nous ferons cesser l'ouvrage.
12 The Jews who were living near our enemies came and told us many times, “You should leave the city and go to other places, in order that your enemies will not attack you!”
Mais il arriva que les Juifs qui habitaient près d'eux, vinrent, jusqu'à dix fois, nous dire leur dessein, de tous les lieux d'où ils revenaient vers nous.
13 So I put guards at the places where the wall was not very high yet and at places where there were gaps in the wall. I put guards to protect each of their family groups. I gave the guards daggers, spears, and bows [and arrows].
Je plaçai donc dans le bas, derrière la muraille, aux endroits découverts, le peuple, par familles, avec leurs épées, leurs javelines et leurs arcs.
14 Then after I inspected everything, I summoned the leaders and [other] officials and [many of] the other people, and I said to them, “Do not be afraid of our enemies! Think about [what] Yahweh, who is great and glorious, [can do]! And fight to protect your friends, your families, and your homes!”
Puis je regardai; et je me levai, et je dis aux principaux, aux magistrats, et au reste du peuple: Ne les craignez point; souvenez-vous du Seigneur, qui est grand et redoutable, et combattez pour vos frères, vos fils et vos filles, vos femmes et vos maisons.
15 Our enemies heard that we knew what they were planning to do and that God had (spoiled their plans/prevented them from doing what they planned). [But we were sure that God would defend us, ] so we all started to work on the wall again.
Or, après que nos ennemis eurent appris que nous avions été avertis, Dieu dissipa leur conseil; et nous retournâmes tous aux murailles, chacun à son travail.
16 But after that, only half of the men who were working for me worked on the wall. The others stood there on guard, holding their spears, shields, bows [and arrows], and [wearing their] coats made of metal plates. [To encourage the people] were building the wall, their leaders stood behind them.
Depuis ce jour-là une moitié de mes gens travaillait à l'œuvre et l'autre moitié était armée de lances, de boucliers, d'arcs et de cuirasses; et les chefs suivaient chaque famille de Juda.
17 Those who carried [baskets of supplies on their heads/shoulders] and those who built the wall did their work with one hand, and held a weapon with the other hand.
Ceux qui bâtissaient la muraille, et ceux qui portaient ou chargeaient les fardeaux, travaillaient d'une main, et de l'autre ils tenaient une arme.
18 All those who were building [the wall] had a dagger fastened to their side. The man who would blow the trumpet [if our enemies attacked] was standing at my side.
Car chacun de ceux qui bâtissaient, avait les reins ceints d'une épée; c'est ainsi qu'ils bâtissaient; et celui qui sonnait de la trompette était près de moi.
19 Then I said to the officials, the other important men, and the other people, “This wall is very long, and we are far apart from each other along the wall.
Je dis aux principaux, aux magistrats, et au reste du peuple: L'ouvrage est considérable et étendu, et nous sommes dispersés sur la muraille, loin l'un de l'autre;
20 If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”
En quelque lieu donc que vous entendiez le son de la trompette, rassemblez-vous-y vers nous; notre Dieu combattra pour nous.
21 So we continued to work. Half of the men continued to hold their spears all day, from when the sun rose [in the morning] until the stars appeared [at night].
C'est ainsi que nous travaillions; et la moitié des gens tenait des javelines depuis le point du jour, jusqu'à ce que les étoiles parussent.
22 At that time, I also said to the people, “Tell every worker and his helper that they must stay inside Jerusalem at night. By doing that, they can guard us at night, and they can work [on the wall] during the daytime.”
En ce temps-là je dis aussi au peuple: Que chacun passe la nuit dans Jérusalem, avec son serviteur, afin qu'ils nous servent la nuit pour faire le guet, et le jour pour travailler.
23 During that time, none of us ever took off our clothes (OR, we wore our clothes all the time)—I and my relatives and my workers and the guards who were with me. And we had our weapons with us, in our hands.
Et pour moi, mes frères, mes serviteurs et les gens de la garde qui me suivent, nous ne quitterons point nos habits, chacun aura son épée et de l'eau.
