2 Chroniques 16
1 La trente-sixième année du règne d’Asa, Baësha, roi d’Israël, monta contre Juda; et il bâtit Rama, afin de ne permettre à personne de sortir de chez Asa, roi de Juda, ou d’entrer vers lui.
When Asa had been ruling [Judah] for almost 36 years, King Baasha of Israel went [with his army] to attack Judah. They [captured the town of] Ramah [north of Jerusalem] and started to build a wall around [it], in order to prevent any people from entering or leaving the area in Judah that was ruled by King Asa [because the only road into Judah from Israel went through Ramah].
2 Et Asa tira l’argent et l’or des trésors de la maison de l’Éternel et de la maison du roi, et envoya vers Ben-Hadad, roi de Syrie, qui habitait à Damas, disant:
So Asa told his workers to take all the silver and gold that was in the storerooms of the temple and in his own palace, and take and give it to Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, who was ruling in Damascus. [He sent him a message, ] saying
3 Il y a alliance entre moi et toi, et entre mon père et ton père; voici, je t’envoie de l’argent et de l’or: va, romps ton alliance avec Baësha, roi d’Israël, afin qu’il s’en aille d’auprès de moi.
“I want there to be a peace treaty between me and you, like there was between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you [a lot of] silver and gold. So please cancel the treaty that you have made with Baasha, the king of Israel, in order that he will take his soldiers away from attacking mine, [because he will be afraid of your army].”
4 Et Ben-Hadad écouta le roi Asa, et envoya les chefs de ses troupes contre les villes d’Israël, et ils frappèrent Ijon, et Dan, et Abel-Maïm, et tous les entrepôts des villes de Nephthali.
Ben-Hadad agreed to do what King Asa [suggested]. He sent the commanders of his armies [with their soldiers] to attack some of the towns in Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maacah and all the cities in the area belonging to the tribe of Naphtali where supplies were kept.
5 Et il arriva, quand Baësha l’apprit, qu’il se désista de bâtir Rama, et fit cesser ses travaux.
When Baasha heard about that, he [commanded his troops to] stop fortifying Ramah and doing other work there.
6 Et le roi Asa prit tout Juda, et ils emportèrent les pierres de Rama, et les bois avec lesquels Baësha bâtissait; et il en bâtit Guéba et Mitspa.
Then King Asa gathered all the men of Judah, and they took away from Ramah all the stones and timber that Baasha’s men had been using [to build the wall around that town]. They took those materials to [the town of] Geba and [the city of] Mizpah [north of Jerusalem] and built walls around them.
7 Et en ce temps-là Hanani, le voyant, vint vers Asa, roi de Juda, et lui dit: Parce que tu t’es appuyé sur le roi de Syrie, et que tu ne t’es pas appuyé sur l’Éternel, ton Dieu, à cause de cela, l’armée du roi de Syrie est échappée de ta main.
At that time the prophet Hanani went to King Asa and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria and not on Yahweh our God, you missed your opportunity to destroy the army of the king of Syria.
8 Les Éthiopiens et les Libyens n’étaient-ils pas une armée nombreuse, avec des chars et des cavaliers en très grand nombre? Et quand tu t’appuyais sur l’Éternel, il les livra entre tes mains.
The huge armies from Ethiopia and Libya with all their chariots and soldiers [riding] on horses [were certainly very powerful. But] when you relied on Yahweh, he enabled your army to defeat them.
9 Car les yeux de l’Éternel parcourent toute la terre, afin qu’il se montre fort, en faveur de ceux qui sont d’un cœur parfait envers lui. En cela, tu as agi follement; car désormais tu auras des guerres.
That happened because Yahweh sees [what is happening] all over the earth, and he strengthens those who completely trust him. You have done a very foolish thing, so from now on other armies will be fighting your army.”
10 Et Asa s’irrita contre le voyant, et le mit en prison; car il était indigné contre lui à cause de cela. Et en ce temps-là, Asa opprima quelques-uns du peuple.
Asa was very angry with the prophet because of what the prophet had said. So he [commanded his officials to] put Hanani in prison. At that same time, he started to treat some of his people very cruelly.
11 Et voici, les actes d’Asa, les premiers et les derniers, voici, ils sont écrits dans le livre des rois de Juda et d’Israël.
All the things that Asa did while he was ruling, from the time he started to rule until he died, are written in the scroll containing the record of the [activities of the] kings of Judah and Israel.
12 Et la trente-neuvième année de son règne, Asa fut malade des pieds, jusqu’à ce que son mal fut extrêmement grand; et dans sa maladie aussi, il ne rechercha pas l’Éternel, mais les médecins.
When Asa had been ruling for almost 39 years, he was afflicted with a disease in his feet. The disease was very severe, but in spite of that, he did not request help from Yahweh. Instead he sought help only from doctors.
13 Et Asa s’endormit avec ses pères, et mourut la quarante et unième année de son règne.
When he had been ruling for almost 40 years, he died.
14 Et on l’enterra dans son sépulcre, qu’il s’était creusé dans la ville de David; et on le coucha dans un lit qu’on remplit d’aromates et d’un mélange d’épices composé selon l’art du parfumeur; et on en brûla pour lui en très grande abondance.
He was buried in the tomb that his workers had made for him in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. They laid his corpse on a bed covered with spices and various perfumes that had been mixed together. They also lit a huge fire to honor him.
