2 Chroniques 14
1 Abija se coucha avec ses pères, et on l'enterra dans la ville de David; et Asa, son fils, régna à sa place. De son vivant, le pays fut tranquille pendant dix ans.
When Abijah died, he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. His son Asa became the king. While Asa was ruling, there was peace in Judah for ten years.
2 Asa fit ce qui est bon et droit aux yeux de l'Éternel, son Dieu.
Asa did things that Yahweh his God considers to be right and good.
3 Il fit disparaître les autels étrangers et les hauts lieux, brisa les colonnes, abattit les mâts d'ashère,
His workers got rid of the altars to worship foreign gods that were on the high hills. They smashed the sacred stone pillars and cut down the poles for worshiping [the goddess] Asherah.
4 et ordonna à Juda de chercher l'Éternel, le Dieu de ses pères, et d'obéir à sa loi et à ses ordres.
Asa commanded the people of Judah to worship [only] Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped, and to obey his laws and commands.
5 Il fit disparaître de toutes les villes de Juda les hauts lieux et les images du soleil, et le royaume fut tranquille devant lui.
His workers destroyed all the shrines on the hilltops and the altars for burning incense [to idols] in every town in Judah. As a result, there was peace while Asa ruled the kingdom [of Judah].
6 Il bâtit des villes fortes en Juda; car le pays était tranquille, et il n'y eut pas de guerre en ces années-là, parce que Yahvé lui avait donné du repos.
His workers built cities and constructed walls around them. No army attacked Judah during that time, because Yahweh enabled them to have peace.
7 Car il dit à Juda: « Bâtissons ces villes et faisons des murs autour d'elles, avec des tours, des portes et des barres. Le pays est encore devant nous, car nous avons cherché Yahvé notre Dieu. Nous l'avons cherché, et il nous a donné du repos de tous côtés. » Ils construisirent donc et prospérèrent.
Asa said to the people of Judah, “We should protect these towns by building walls around them, with watchtowers and gates that have bars. This country still belongs to us because we have requested Yahweh our God to help us. We requested him for his help, and he has given us peace in our entire country.” So they built buildings and prospered.
8 Asa avait une armée de trois cent mille hommes de Juda, portant des boucliers et des lances, et de deux cent quatre-vingt mille hommes de Benjamin, portant des boucliers et tirant de l'arc. Tous ces hommes étaient de vaillants guerriers.
Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah. They all carried large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin [in his army]. They carried [smaller] shields, and bows [and arrows]. They were all brave soldiers.
9 Zérah, l'Éthiopien, sortit contre eux avec une armée d'un million de soldats et trois cents chars, et il arriva à Maréscha.
Zerah, a man from Ethiopia/Sudan, marched with a huge army and 300 chariots to attack [the army of Judah and Benjamin]. They went as far as [the town of] Mareshah [about 25 miles/southwest of Jerusalem].
10 Asa sortit à sa rencontre, et ils se rangèrent en bataille dans la vallée de Zephatha, à Maréscha.
Asa went [with his army] to fight against them, and both armies took their positions in the Zephathah Valley.
11 Asa cria à Yahvé, son Dieu, et dit: « Yahvé, il n'y a personne d'autre que toi pour nous aider, entre le puissant et le faible. Secours-nous, Yahvé notre Dieu, car nous comptons sur toi, et c'est en ton nom que nous sommes venus contre cette multitude. Yahvé, tu es notre Dieu. Ne laisse pas l'homme l'emporter sur toi ».
Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God, saying, “Yahweh, there is no one like you who can help those who have very little power to resist a mighty army. Yahweh our God, help us, because we are relying on you; and trusting in you we have come [to fight] against this huge army. Yahweh, you are our God; do not allow anyone to defeat you.”
12 Et Yahvé frappa les Éthiopiens devant Asa et devant Juda, et les Éthiopiens s'enfuirent.
Then Yahweh enabled Asa and the army of Judah to defeat the army from Ethiopia. They fled,
13 Asa et le peuple qui était avec lui les poursuivirent jusqu'à Gerar. Les Éthiopiens tombèrent en si grand nombre qu'ils ne purent se relever, car ils furent détruits devant Yahvé et devant son armée. L'armée de Juda emporta un très gros butin.
and Asa and his army pursued them [to the southwest] as far as Gerar. A huge number of the soldiers from Ethiopia were killed, with the result that those [who were not killed] were unable to fight any more. They were greatly defeated by Yahweh and his army, and the men of Judah carried away a great amount of their possessions.
14 Ils frappèrent toutes les villes des environs de Gerar, car la crainte de l'Éternel les saisit. Ils pillèrent toutes les villes, car il y avait là beaucoup de butin.
The men of Judah were able to destroy the people in villages near Gerar because Yahweh had caused the people there to become terrified [and unable to fight]. The army of Judah took away all the valuable things from those villages.
15 Ils frappèrent aussi les tentes de ceux qui avaient du bétail et emportèrent en abondance des moutons et des chameaux, puis ils retournèrent à Jérusalem.
They also attacked the places where the local people who took care of domestic animals had set up their tents, and they took away big herds of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
