1 Rois 3
1 Salomon s’allia avec Pharaon, roi d’Egypte: il épousa la fille de Pharaon et l’installa dans la Cité de David, jusqu’à ce qu’il eût achevé de bâtir sa propre maison, le temple du Seigneur et le mur d’enceinte de Jérusalem.
Solomon went to see the king of Egypt. Solomon [made an agreement with him to] marry his daughter. They also made an alliance/agreement [that their armies would not attack each other]. Then Solomon brought the king’s daughter to live in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. [She lived there] until Solomon’s workers had finished building his house and the temple of Yahweh and the wall around Jerusalem.
2 Cependant, le peuple sacrifiait sur les hauts-lieux, parce qu’aucune maison n’avait encore été, jusque-là, édifiée en l’honneur de l’Eternel.
[At that time] the temple of Yahweh had not yet been built, so the Israeli people were still offering sacrifices at many other places of worship.
3 Salomon aima le Seigneur, se conformant aux instructions de son père David; seulement, il offrait des sacrifices et brûlait de l’encens sur les hauts-lieux.
Solomon loved Yahweh, and he obeyed all the instructions that his father David had given him. But he also offered sacrifices and burned incense at various altars.
4 Le roi alla à Gabaon pour y sacrifier, car là était le principal haut-lieu; et sur cet autel, Salomon offrit mille holocaustes.
One day the king went to Gibeon [city] to offer a sacrifice there, because that was where the most famous/important altar was. In previous years he had offered hundreds of sacrifices on that altar.
5 Etant à Gabaon, Salomon vit, dans un songe nocturne, apparaître le Seigneur, qui lui dit: "Demande; que dois-je te donner?"
That night, Yahweh appeared to him in a dream. He asked Solomon, “What would you like me to give to you?”
6 Salomon répondit: "Tu as témoigné à ton serviteur, à mon père David, une grande faveur, parce qu’il a marché devant toi avec sincérité, justice et droiture de cœur; et tu lui as continué cette faveur insigne en lui donnant un fils, son successeur sur le trône, comme il l’est aujourd’hui.
Solomon replied, “You always greatly and faithfully loved my father David, who served you [well]. You did that because he (was faithful to/faithfully obeyed) you and acted righteously and honestly toward you. And you have showed how greatly and faithfully you loved him by giving to him me, his son, and now I am ruling [MTY] as he did [before he died].
7 Maintenant donc, Eternel, mon Dieu, tu m’as fait régner, moi ton serviteur, à la place de David, mon père, et je suis un tout jeune homme, inhabile à me conduire.
“Now, Yahweh my God, you have appointed me to be the king like my father was. But I am [very young, like] a little child [MET]. I do not know how to lead/rule my people at all [IDM].
8 Et ton serviteur est entouré d’un peuple qui est le tien, que tu as élu, peuple nombreux dont la multitude est incalculable.
I am here among the people whom you have chosen. They are a very large group of people; there are very, very many of them, with the result that no one can count them [DOU].
9 Donne donc à ton serviteur un cœur intelligent, capable de juger ton peuple, sachant distinguer le bien du mal; autrement, qui pourrait gouverner un peuple aussi considérable que celui-ci?"
So please enable me to think clearly, in order that I may rule your people [well]. Enable me to know what is good and what is evil. [If you do not do that, ] I will never [RHQ] be able to rule this great group of people who belong to you.”
10 Ce discours plut au Seigneur, satisfait de la demande exprimée par Salomon
Yahweh was very pleased that Solomon had requested that.
11 et Dieu lui dit: "Parce que tu as fait une telle demande, parce que tu n’as demandé ni de longs jours, ni des richesses, ni la vie de tes ennemis, que tu as seulement demandé l’intelligence afin de savoir rendre la justice,
God said to him, “You did not request that you live for many years or that you become very rich or that you be able to kill all your enemies. Instead, you have requested that I enable you to be wise, in order that you will be able to know [and to do] what is right [while you govern these people].
12 j’acquiesce à ton désir je te donne un tel esprit de sagesse et d’intelligence, que ton pareil n’a pas existé avant toi ni ne se verra après toi.
So, I will certainly do what you requested. I will enable you to be very wise [DOU]. The result will be that no one who has lived before you or who will live after you will be as [wise as] you are.
13 Mais je te donne, de plus, ce que tu n’as pas demandé: la richesse et la gloire, en quoi ne t’égalera aucun des rois, pendant toute la durée de ta vie.
I will also give you things that you did not request: I will enable you to become very rich and honored, as long as you live. You will be richer and more honored than any other king.
14 Et si tu marches dans mes voies, fidèle à mes lois et à mes préceptes, comme a fait David, ton père, je prolongerai tes jours."
If you conduct your life [IDM] as I want you to, and if you obey all my laws and commandments, as your father David did, I will enable you to live for many years.”
15 Salomon s’éveilla et vit que c’était un songe. De retour à Jérusalem, il se présenta devant l’arche d’alliance du Seigneur, offrit des holocaustes et des sacrifices rémunératoires, et donna un festin à tous ses serviteurs.
Then Solomon awoke, and he realized that [God had spoken to him in] a dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of [the Sacred Tent where] the Sacred Chest [was], and he offered many sacrifices that were completely burned [on the altar] and offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Then he made a feast for all his officials.
16 En ce temps-là, deux femmes de mauvaise vie vinrent se présenter devant le roi.
One day two prostitutes came and stood in front of King Solomon.
17 Et l’une de ces femmes dit "Ecoute-moi, Seigneur! Moi et cette femme nous habitons la même maison; j’y ai donné naissance à un enfant, étant avec elle.
One of them said, “Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was there in the house.
18 Trois jours après ma délivrance, cette femme a également accouché. Or, nous vivons ensemble, nul étranger n’habite avec nous la maison, nous deux seules y demeurons.
Three days after my baby was born, this woman also gave birth to a baby. Only the two of us were in the house; there was no one else there.
19 Pendant la nuit, l’enfant de cette femme est mort, parce qu’elle s’était couchée sur lui.
“But one night this woman’s baby died because she [accidentally] rolled on top of her baby [while sleeping and smothered it].
20 Mais elle s’est levée au milieu de la nuit, a enlevé mon fils d’auprès de moi, tandis que ta servante était endormie, l’a couchée sur son sein, et son fils qui était mort, elle l’a déposé entre mes bras.
So she got up at midnight and took my baby boy who was lying beside me while I was sleeping. She carried him to her bed and brought her dead baby and put it in my bed.
21 Comme je me disposais, le matin, à allaiter mon enfant, voici, il était mort! Je l’examinai attentivement quand il fit grand jour, et ce n’était pas là le fils que j’avais enfanté.
When I awoke the next morning and was ready to nurse my baby, I saw that it was dead. But when I looked at it closely in the morning light, I saw that it was not my baby!”
22 Non pas! dit l’autre femme, mon fils est vivant, et c’est le tien qui est mort! Point du tout, reprit la première, c’est le tien qui est mort, celui qui vit est le mien!" C’Est ainsi qu’elles discutaient devant le roi.
But the other woman said, “That is not true! The baby that is alive is mine, and the baby that is dead is yours!” Then the first woman said, “No, the dead baby is yours, and the one that is alive is mine!” And they continued to argue in front of the king.
23 Le roi dit alors: "L’Une dit: Cet enfant qui vit est le mien, et c’est le tien qui est mort; l’autre dit: Non, c’est le tien qui est mort, celui qui vit est le mien."
Then the king said, “Both of you are saying, ‘My baby is the one that is alive and the one that is dead is yours.’”
24 Le roi ajouta: "Apportez-moi un glaive;" et l’on présenta un glaive au roi.
So he said to one of his servants, “Bring me a sword.” So the servant brought a sword to the king.
25 Et le roi dit: "Coupez en deux parts l’enfant vivant, et donnez-en une moitié à l’une de ces femmes, une moitié à l’autre."
Then the king said to the servant, “Cut the baby that is alive into two parts. Give one part to each of the women.”
26 La mère de l’enfant vivant, dont les entrailles étaient émues de pitié pour son fils, s’écria, parlant au roi: "De grâce, seigneur! Qu’on lui donne l’enfant vivant, qu’on ne le fasse pas mourir!" Mais l’autre disait: "Ni toi ni moi ne l’aurons: coupez!"
But the woman whose baby was alive loved her baby very much, so she said to the king, “No, Your Majesty! Do not allow him to kill the baby! Give her the child that is alive!” But the other woman said to the king, “No, cut it in half. Then it will not be her baby or my baby.”
27 Le roi reprit alors la parole et dit: "Donnez-lui l’enfant vivant et gardez-vous de le faire mourir: celle-ci est sa mère."
Then the king said to the servant, “Do not kill the baby. Give the baby to the woman who said ‘Do not cut the baby in half,’ because she is truly the baby’s mother.”
28 Tout Israël eut connaissance du jugement que le roi avait rendu, et ils furent saisis de respect pour le roi; car ils comprirent qu’une sagesse divine l’inspirait dans l’exercice de la justice.
All the Israeli people heard about what the king had decided, and they revered him. They realized that God had truly enabled him to be very wise, to judge people’s matters fairly.
