Néhémie 6

1 Et il arriva que, lorsque Sanballat, et Tobija, et Guéshem, l’Arabe, et le reste de nos ennemis, apprirent que j’avais bâti la muraille et qu’il n’y restait aucune brèche, quoique jusqu’à ce temps-là je n’aie pas posé les battants aux portes,

Now it happened that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem, an Arab, and our other enemies, had heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no interruption remaining in it, (even though, at that time, I had not set up the double doors at the gates, )

2 Sanballat et Guéshem m’envoyèrent dire: Viens et rencontrons-nous ensemble dans les villages de la vallée d’Ono. Mais ils pensaient à me faire du mal.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying: “Come, and let us strike a pact together in the villages, on the plain of Ono.” But they were thinking that they would do me harm.

3 Et je leur envoyai des messagers, disant: Je fais un grand travail et je ne puis descendre. Pourquoi le travail cesserait-il pendant que je le quitterais et que je descendrais vers vous?

Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot descend, lest perhaps it may be neglected when I go out and descend to you.”

4 Et ils m’envoyèrent dire la même chose quatre fois, et je leur répondis de la même manière.

Then they sent to me, with this same word, four times. And I responded to them with the same word as before.

5 Et Sanballat m’envoya son serviteur, une cinquième fois, de la même manière, une lettre ouverte à la main.

And Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time, with the former word, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner:

6 Il y était écrit: On entend dire parmi les nations, et Gashmu le dit, que toi et les Juifs vous pensez à vous révolter; c’est pour cela que tu bâtis la muraille; et, d’après ces dires, c’est toi qui deviendras leur roi.

“It has been heard among the Gentiles, and Geshem has said it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and because of this, you are building the wall and thinking to raise yourself as a king over them. For this reason,

7 Et même tu as établi des prophètes pour proclamer et dire de toi dans Jérusalem: Il y a un roi en Juda! Et maintenant, on fera entendre au roi ces mêmes choses; viens donc maintenant, et tenons conseil ensemble.

you also have stationed prophets, who preach about you in Jerusalem, saying: ‘There is a king in Judea!’ But the king will hear about these words. Therefore, come now, so that we may go to counsel together.”

8 Et je lui envoyai dire: Aucune des choses dont tu parles n’a eu lieu; mais tu les inventes dans ton propre cœur.

And I sent to them, saying: “There has been nothing done according to these words, which you have spoken. For you are inventing these things from your own heart.”

9 Car ils voulaient tous nous effrayer, disant: Leurs mains se lasseront du travail, et il ne se fera pas. Maintenant donc, fortifie mes mains!

For all these men wished to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work, and that we would cease. For this reason, I strengthened my hands all the more.

10 Et moi, je vins à la maison de Shemahia, fils de Delaïa, fils de Mehétabeël (et il s’était enfermé); et il dit: Rencontrons-nous dans la maison de Dieu, à l’intérieur du temple, et fermons les portes du temple, car ils vont venir pour te tuer, et c’est de nuit qu’ils vont venir pour te tuer.

And I entered into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, in secret. And he said: “Let us consult together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple. And let us close the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you, and they will arrive in the night to put you to death.”

11 Et je dis: Un homme comme moi fuirait-il? Et quel homme comme moi entrerait dans le temple et vivrait? Je n’entrerai pas.

And I said: “How could anyone like me flee? And who like me should enter the temple, so that he may live? I will not enter.”

12 Et je reconnus que, voici, ce n’était pas Dieu qui l’avait envoyé, car il prononçait cette prophétie contre moi, et Tobija et Sanballat le soudoyaient.

And I understood that God had not sent him, but he had spoken to me as if he were prophesying, and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 C’est pour cela qu’il était payé, pour que j’aie peur et que je fasse ainsi et pèche, et qu’ils aient de quoi me faire un mauvais renom, afin de me couvrir d’opprobre.

For he had accepted money, so that I would be afraid, and would sin, and so that they would have some evil with which to rebuke me.

14 Souviens-toi, ô Dieu, de Tobija et de Sanballat selon ces œuvres qu’ils ont faites; et aussi de Noadia, la prophétesse, et du reste des prophètes qui voulaient m’effrayer!

Remember me, O Lord, because of Tobiah and Sanballat, because of their works of this kind. Then, too, Noadiah, a prophetess, and the rest of the prophets, would have made me afraid.

15 Et la muraille fut achevée le vingt-cinquième [jour du mois] d’Élul, en 52 jours.

Now the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days.

16 Et il arriva que, lorsque tous nos ennemis l’apprirent, toutes les nations qui nous environnaient craignirent et furent fort abaissées à leurs propres yeux, et elles reconnurent que cette œuvre avait été faite de par notre Dieu.

Then it happened that, when all our enemies had heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they were downcast within themselves. For they knew that this work had been accomplished by God.

17 En ces jours-là aussi, des nobles de Juda envoyèrent lettres sur lettres à Tobija, et celles de Tobija leur arrivaient;

But also, in those days, many letters were being sent by the nobles of the Jews to Tobiah, and were arriving from Tobiah to them.

18 car plusieurs en Juda lui avaient prêté serment, car il était gendre de Shecania, fils d’Arakh, et Jokhanan, son fils, avait pris la fille de Meshullam, fils de Bérékia.

For there were many in Judea who had sworn an oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and because Jehohanan, his son, had married the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

19 Ils disaient aussi devant moi ses bonnes actions, et ils lui rapportaient mes paroles. Tobija envoyait des lettres pour m’effrayer.

Moreover, they praised him before me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters, so that he might make me afraid.