Juges 8
1 Et les hommes d’Éphraïm lui dirent: Que nous as-tu fait, de ne pas nous avoir appelés lorsque tu es allé faire la guerre contre Madian? Et ils contestèrent fortement avec lui.
Then the descendants of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you acted toward us like this? When you went out to fight against the people of Midian, why did you not summon us [to help you]?” They rebuked Gideon severely.
2 Et il leur dit: Qu’ai-je fait maintenant en comparaison de vous? Les grappillages d’Éphraïm ne sont-ils pas meilleurs que la vendange d’Abiézer?
But Gideon replied, “I have done [RHQ] very little compared with what you have done! My small clan of descendants of Abiezer only started the battle, but [your very large group of] descendants of Ephraim [helped me to finish the task very well. It is like] the final grapes of the harvest being much better than the first grapes that are picked.
3 Dieu a livré en votre main les princes de Madian, Oreb et Zeëb; et qu’ai-je pu faire en comparaison de vous? Alors leur esprit s’apaisa envers lui, quand il [leur] eut dit cette parole.
God enabled you to defeat Oreb and Zeeb, the generals of the army from Midian. That is [RHQ] much more important than what I did!” After Gideon told them that, they no longer resented what he had done.
4 Et Gédéon vint au Jourdain, [et] le passa, lui et les 300 hommes qui étaient avec lui, fatigués, mais poursuivant toujours.
Then Gideon and his 300 men [went east and] crossed the Jordan [River]. Although they were very tired, they continued to pursue their enemies.
5 Et il dit aux hommes de Succoth: Donnez, je vous prie, des pains au peuple qui me suit, car ils sont fatigués; et je poursuis Zébakh et Tsalmunna, rois de Madian.
When they arrived at Succoth [town], Gideon said to the town leaders, “Please give my men some food! They are very tired. We are pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6 Et les principaux de Succoth dirent: La paume de Zébakh et celle de Tsalmunna sont-elles déjà en ta main, que nous donnions du pain à ton armée?
But the leaders of Succoth replied, “You have not caught [RHQ] Zebah and Zalmunna yet. So why should we give food to your troops [now? Catch them first, and then we will give you food].”
7 Et Gédéon dit: À cause de cela, dès que l’Éternel aura livré Zébakh et Tsalmunna en ma main, je broierai votre chair avec des épines du désert et avec des chardons.
Gideon replied, “[Because you said that], after Yahweh enables us to defeat Zebah and Zalmunna, we will return. And then we will make whips from thorns from the desert, and with them we will rip the flesh off your bones!”
8 Et de là il monta à Penuel, et leur parla de la même manière. Et les hommes de Penuel lui répondirent comme les hommes de Succoth avaient répondu.
From there, Gideon [and his 300 men] went to Peniel and asked for food there, but the people gave him the same answer.
9 Et il parla de même aux hommes de Penuel, en disant: Quand je reviendrai en paix, je démolirai cette tour.
So he said to the men of Peniel, “After I defeat those kings, I will return and tear down this tower!”
10 Et Zébakh et Tsalmunna étaient à Karkor, et leurs camps avec eux, environ 15 000 [hommes], tous ceux qui restaient de tout le camp des fils de l’orient; car il en était tombé 120 000 hommes tirant l’épée.
By that time, Zebah and Zalmunna had gone to Karkor [town] with 15,000 troops. They were all that were left of the armies that had come from the east. 120,000 of their men had already been killed.
11 Et Gédéon monta par le chemin de ceux qui habitent dans les tentes, à l’orient de Nobakh et de Jogbeha, et il frappa le camp; et le camp était en sécurité.
Gideon [and his men] went east along the road on which caravans travel. They went past Nobah and Jogbehah [villages] and arrived at the enemy camp by surprise.
12 Et Zébakh et Tsalmunna s’enfuirent, et il les poursuivit, et prit les deux rois de Madian, Zébakh et Tsalmunna, et mit tout leur camp en déroute.
Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon’s men pursued them and captured them and all their warriors.
13 Et Gédéon, fils de Joas, revint de la bataille, de la montée de Hérès.
After that, Gideon and his men [took Zebah and Zalmunna with them and] started to return, going through Heres Pass.
14 Et il saisit un jeune garçon d’entre les hommes de Succoth, et l’interrogea; et le [garçon] lui mit par écrit les principaux de Succoth et ses anciens, 77 hommes.
There he captured a young man from Succoth, and demanded that he write down the names of all of the leaders in the town. The young man wrote down seventy-seven names.
15 Et il vint vers les hommes de Succoth, et dit: Voici Zébakh et Tsalmunna, au sujet desquels vous m’avez insulté, disant: La paume de Zébakh et celle de Tsalmunna sont-elles déjà en ta main, que nous donnions du pain à tes hommes fatigués?
Then Gideon and his men returned to Succoth and said to those leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you made fun of me and said ‘You have not [RHQ] caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet! After you catch them, we will give your exhausted men some food.’”
16 Et il prit les anciens de la ville, et des épines du désert et des chardons, et enseigna par eux les hommes de Succoth.
Then Gideon’s men took the town leaders and whipped them with whips made from briers from the desert, to teach them [that they deserved to be punished for not giving them any food].
17 Et il démolit la tour de Penuel, et tua les hommes de la ville.
Then [they went to] Peniel and tore down the tower, and killed all the men in the town.
18 Et il dit à Zébakh et à Tsalmunna: Comment étaient les hommes que vous avez tués à Thabor? Et ils dirent: Comme toi, tels ils étaient; chacun d’eux comme la figure d’un fils de roi.
Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed near Tabor [Mountain], what did they look like?” They replied, “They were like you; they all looked like they were sons of a king.”
19 Et il dit: C’étaient mes frères, fils de ma mère. L’Éternel est vivant, si vous les aviez laissés vivre, je ne vous tuerais pas!
Gideon replied, “They were my brothers! Just as surely as Yahweh lives, I would not kill you if you had not killed them.”
20 Et il dit à Jéther, son premier-né: Lève-toi, tue-les. Mais le jeune garçon ne tirait pas son épée, parce qu’il avait peur, car il était encore un jeune garçon.
Then he turned to his oldest son, Jether. He said to him, “Kill them!” But Jether was only a boy, and he was afraid, so he did not pull out his dagger [to kill them].
21 Et Zébakh et Tsalmunna dirent: Lève-toi, toi-même, et jette-toi sur nous; car tel qu’est l’homme, telle est sa force. Et Gédéon se leva et tua Zébakh et Tsalmunna, et prit les petites lunes qui étaient aux cous de leurs chameaux.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Do not ask a young boy to do the work that a man should do!” So Gideon killed both of them. Then he took the gold ornaments from the necks of their camels.
22 Et les hommes d’Israël dirent à Gédéon: Domine sur nous, et toi et ton fils, et le fils de ton fils; car tu nous as sauvés de la main de Madian.
Then a group of Israeli men [came to] Gideon and said to him, “You be our ruler! [We want] you and your son and your grandsons [to] be our rulers, because you rescued us from the Midian army.”
23 Et Gédéon leur dit: Je ne dominerai point sur vous, et mon fils ne dominera point sur vous; l’Éternel dominera sur vous.
But Gideon replied, “No, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.”
24 Et Gédéon leur dit: Je vous ferai une demande: Donnez-moi chacun de vous les anneaux de son butin. Car [les Madianites] avaient des anneaux d’or, parce qu’ils étaient Ismaélites.
Then he said, “I request only one thing. I request that each of you give me one earring from the things you captured after the battle.” [All the men descended from Ishmael wore gold earrings.]
25 Et ils dirent: Nous les donnerons volontiers. Et ils étendirent un manteau, et y jetèrent chacun les anneaux de son butin.
They replied, “We will be glad to give earrings to you!” So they spread a cloth [on the ground], and each man threw on it one gold earring that he had taken [from a man he had killed in the battle].
26 Et le poids des anneaux d’or qu’il avait demandés fut de 1 700 [sicles] d’or, sans les petites lunes, et les pendants d’oreille, et les vêtements de pourpre dont étaient couverts les rois de Madian, et sans les colliers qui étaient aux cous de leurs chameaux.
The weight of all the earrings was (43 pounds/19.4 kg.). That did not include other things [that they gave to Gideon]—the other ornaments or the pendants or the clothes that the kings of Midian wore or the gold chains that were on the necks of their camels.
27 Et Gédéon en fit un éphod, et le mit dans sa ville, dans Ophra; et tout Israël se prostitua là après celui-ci; et cela devint un piège pour Gédéon et pour sa maison.
Gideon made/decorated a sacred vest from the gold, and later he put it in his hometown, Ophrah. But soon the Israeli people started to worship the vest. So it became like a trap [MET] for the people, [causing them to worship it instead of worshiping only God].
28 Et Madian fut humilié devant les fils d’Israël; et il ne leva plus sa tête. Et le pays fut en repos 40 ans, aux jours de Gédéon.
That is how the Israelis defeated the people from Midian. The people of Midian did not become strong enough to attack Israel again. So while Gideon was alive, there was peace in the land for 40 years.
29 Et Jerubbaal, fils de Joas, s’en alla, et habita dans sa maison.
Gideon went back home to live there.
30 Et Gédéon eut 70 fils, issus de ses reins, car il eut beaucoup de femmes.
He had many wives, and they bore him seventy sons.
31 Et sa concubine qui était à Sichem, elle aussi, lui enfanta un fils; et il lui donna le nom d’Abimélec.
He also had a slave wife in Shechem [town], who bore him a son whom he named Abimelech.
32 Et Gédéon, fils de Joas, mourut dans une bonne vieillesse, et fut enterré dans le sépulcre de Joas, son père, à Ophra des Abiézerites.
Gideon died when he was very old. They buried his body in the grave where his father Joash was buried, at Ophrah, in the land belonging to the descendants of Abiether.
33 Et quand Gédéon fut mort, il arriva que les fils d’Israël retournèrent et se prostituèrent après les Baals, et ils s’établirent Baal-Berith pour dieu.
But as soon as Gideon died, the Israelis [stopped worshiping God and started worshiping the images of the god Baal, like] [MET] adultresses [leave their husbands and go to sleep with other men]. They made a [statue of a] new god called Baal-Berith.
34 Et les fils d’Israël ne se souvinrent pas de l’Éternel, leur Dieu, qui les avait délivrés de la main de tous leurs ennemis tout à l’entour;
They forgot about Yahweh, the one who had rescued them from all their enemies that surrounded them.
35 et ils n’usèrent pas de bonté envers la maison de Jerubbaal, [qui est] Gédéon, selon tout le bien qu’il avait fait à Israël.
And even though Gideon had done many good things for the Israelis, they were not kind to Gideon’s family.
