Nehemiah 5

1 [Later, ] many of the men and their wives protested loudly about what [some of] the [other] Jews were doing.

Et il s'éleva une grande plainte des gens du peuple et de leurs femmes contre leurs frères les Juifs.

2 Some/One of them said, “We have many children. So we need a lot of grain to be able to eat and continue to live.”

Il y en avait qui disaient: " Nous, nos fils et nos filles, nous sommes nombreux; recevons du blé, afin que nous mangions et que nous vivions. "

3 Others said, “The fields and vineyards and houses that we own, it has been necessary for us to (mortgage them/promise to give them to someone if we do not pay back to him the money he has loaned us) in order to get money to buy grain, during this (famine/time where there is not much food).”

Il y en avait qui disaient: " Nous engageons nos champs, nos vignes et nos maisons pour recevoir du blé durant la famine. "

4 Others said, “We have [needed to] borrow money to pay the taxes that the king [commanded us to pay] on our fields and our vineyards.

Il y en avait qui disaient: " Nous avons, pour payer le tribut du roi, emprunté de l'argent sur nos champs et nos vignes.

5 We are Jews just like [IDM] they are. Our children are ([just as good as/equal with)] their children. But we have needed to sell some of our children to become slaves [in order to pay what we owe]. We have already sold some of our daughters to become slaves. Our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us, so now we do not have [the money to pay what we owe, and we are forced to sell our children to get money to pay those debts].”

Et maintenant, notre chair est comme la chair de nos frères, nos enfants sont comme leurs enfants; et voici que nous soumettons à la servitude nos fils et nos filles, et il y a de nos filles qui sont déjà servantes!... Et nous n'y pouvons rien, car nos champs et nos vignes sont à d'autres. "

6 I was very angry when I heard these things that they were complaining about.

Je fus très irrité lorsque j'entendis leurs plaintes et ces paroles.

7 So I thought about what I could do about it. I told the leaders and officials [who were responsible for this work], “You are charging interest to your own relatives [when they borrow money from you]!” Then I called together a large group of people,

Et, après avoir réfléchi en moi-même, j'adressai des réprimandes aux grands et aux magistrats, et je leur dis: " Vous prêtez donc à intérêt, chacun à votre frère! " Et, ayant réuni à cause d'eux une grande assemblée,

8 and I said to their [leaders], “Some of our Jewish relatives have been forced to sell themselves to become slaves of people who have come from other countries. As much as we have been able to, we have been buying them back [out of slavery]. But now you are forcing your own relatives to sell themselves to you, their fellow Jews, as slaves!” [When I said that to them, ] they were silent. There was nothing that they could say [because they knew that what I said was true].

je leur dis: " Nous avons racheté selon notre pouvoir nos frères les Juifs qui étaient vendus aux nations, et vous vendriez vous-mêmes vos frères, et c'est à nous qu'ils seraient vendus!... " Ils se turent, ne trouvant rien à répondre.

9 Then I said to them, “What you are doing is terrible [EUP]! You certainly ought to [RHQ] obey God and do what is right! If you did that, our enemies who do not revere Yahweh [would see that we are doing what is right and] would not ridicule us.

J'ajoutai: " Ce n'est pas une bonne action que vous faites là! Ne devriez-vous pas marcher dans la crainte de notre Dieu, pour éviter l'insulte des nations, nos ennemies?

10 My fellow Jews and I and my servants have lent money and grain to people [without charging interest]. So you all should stop charging interest on these loans.

Moi aussi, mes frères et mes serviteurs, nous leur avons prêté de l'argent et du blé. Faisons l'abandon de cette dette.

11 Also, you must give back to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive tree orchards, and their houses that you have taken from them. You must also give back to them the interest that you charged them when they borrowed money, grain, wine, and [olive] oil from you, and you must do it today!”

Rendez-leur donc aujourd'hui leurs champs, leurs vignes, leurs oliviers et leurs maisons, et le centième de l'argent, du vin nouveau et de l'huile que vous avez exigé d'eux comme intérêt. "

12 The leaders replied, “We will do what you have said. We will return to them everything that we forced them to give to us, and we will not require that they give us anything more.” Then I summoned the priests, and I forced the leaders to vow in front of them that they would do what they had promised to do.

Ils répondirent: " Nous le rendrons, et nous ne leur demanderons plus rien; nous ferons ce que tu dis. " J'appelai alors les prêtres, et je leur fis jurer qu'ils agiraient selon cette parole.

13 I shook out the folds of my robe and said to them, “If you do not do what you have just now promised to do, I hope/desire that God will shake you like I am shaking my robe. He will take away your homes and everything else that you own.” They all replied, “Amen/May it be so!” And they praised Yahweh. Then they did what they had promised to do.

Et je secouai mon manteau, en disant: " Que Dieu secoue ainsi hors de sa maison et de ses biens tout homme qui n'aura pas tenu cette parole, et qu'ainsi cet homme soit secoué et laissé à vide! " Toute l'assemblée dit: " Amen! " et loua Yahweh; et le peuple agit selon cette parole.

14 I was appointed to be the governor of Judea in the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was the king [of Persia]. For the next twelve years, until he had been ruling for almost 32 years, neither I nor my officials accepted [the money that we were allowed/entitled to receive to buy] food because of my being the governor.

Depuis le jour où le roi me chargea d'être leur gouverneur dans le pays de Juda, savoir depuis la vingtième année jusqu'à la trente-deuxième année du roi Artaxerxès, pendant douze ans, ni moi ni mes frères n'avons mangé le pain du gouverneur.

15 The men who were governors before I became the governor had burdened the people by requiring them to pay a lot of taxes. They had forced each person to pay to them 40 silver coins every day, in addition to giving food and wine to them. Even their servants/officials oppressed the people. But I did not do that, because I revered God.

Les anciens gouverneurs qui m'avaient précédé accablaient le peuple et recevaient de lui du pain et du vin, outre quarante sicles d'argent; leurs serviteurs mêmes opprimaient le peuple; mais moi, je n'ai point agi de la sorte, par crainte de Dieu.

16 I also continued to work on the wall, and I did not take land from people [who were unable to pay back the money that they had borrowed from me]. All those who worked for me joined me to work on the wall.

Et même, je me suis appliqué à l'œuvre de cette muraille; nous n'avons acheté aucun champ, et tous mes gens étaient là rassemblés pour l'œuvre.

17 Also, every day I was responsible to feed 150 Jewish officials, and also [official] visitors who came from nearby countries.

J'avais à ma table cent cinquante hommes, Juifs et magistrats, outre ceux qui venaient à nous des nations d'alentour.

18 Each day I [told my servants to] serve [us the meat from] one ox, six very good sheep, and chickens. And every ten days I gave them a large new supply of wine. But I knew that the people were burdened [by paying lots of taxes], so I did not accept [the money that I was entitled/allowed to receive to buy all this] food because of my being the governor.

Voici ce qu'on préparait pour chaque jour: un bœuf, six moutons choisis, de la volaille étaient préparés à mes frais, et, tous les dix jours, tout le vin nécessaire, en abondance. Malgré cela, je n'ai pas réclamé le pain du gouverneur, parce que les travaux pesaient lourdement sur ce peuple.

19 My God, do not forget me, and reward me because of all that I have done for these people.

Souvenez-vous en ma faveur, ô mon Dieu, de tout ce que j'ai fait pour ce peuple!