Proverbes 6
1 Mon fils, si tu t’es porté garant pour ton prochain, si tu as engagé ta parole pour un étranger,
My son, if someone has borrowed money from a friend or a stranger, and if you have promised that you will pay the money back if that person is unable to pay back the money he borrowed,
2 tu es pris au piège de tes promesses; tu es devenu le prisonnier de ta parole.
you may be trapped by what you have agreed to do, [because if the one who borrowed the money is not able to pay it back, you will have to pay it]. What you have said that you will do will be like a snare to you.
3 Fais donc ceci, mon fils, pour recouvrer ta liberté, puisque tu es tombé au pouvoir d’autrui: va, insiste avec énergie et livre un assaut à ton prochain.
So, my son, I will tell you what you should do to escape from your difficulty, so that the moneylender does not get control over your [wealth: ] Humbly go to your friend and plead with him [to cancel the agreement]!
4 N’Accorde pas de sommeil à tes yeux ni de repos à tes paupières.
Do not wait until tomorrow; [go immediately]! Do not rest until you [go and talk with him].
5 Dégage-toi, comme le cerf de la main du chasseur, comme le passereau de la main de l’oiseleur.
Save yourself, like a deer that escapes from a deer hunter [or] like a bird that flees from a bird hunter.
6 Va trouver la fourmi, paresseux, observe ses façons d’agir et deviens sage:
You lazy individual, learn something from [watching] the ants. Become wise from observing what they do.
7 elle n’a ni maître, ni surveillant, ni supérieur;
They do not have a king or a governor or any [other] person who rules them [and forces them to work],
8 et elle prépare sa nourriture durant l’été, elle amasse ses provisions au temps de la moisson!
[but] they work hard [all] during the summer, gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.
9 Jusqu’à quand, paresseux, resteras-tu couché? Quand sortiras-tu de ton sommeil?
[But], you lazy loafer, how long will you [continue to] sleep [RHQ]? Are you never going to get up from sleeping [and go to work]?
10 "Ah! dormir encore un peu, rester un peu assoupi, entrelacer un peu les mains pour reposer!"
You sleep a for a little time; [you say, “I will take] just a short nap.” You lie down and fold/lay your hands [across your chest] and rest;
11 Cependant, la pauvreté s’introduit chez toi comme un rôdeur, et la misère comme un guerrier armé.
and suddenly you will become poor. It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.
12 Un personnage ignoble, un homme inique, c’est celui qui a recours au langage tortueux,
[I will describe for you what] worthless and evil people [are like]. They constantly lie;
13 qui cligne des yeux, frappe des pieds, fait des signes avec ses doigts,
by winking their eyes and moving their feet and making signs with their fingers, they signal [to their friends what they are intending/planning to do].
14 et, le cœur plein d’artifices, passe son temps à méditer le mal, à déchaîner la discorde.
They plan to do evil things. They constantly cause strife/trouble.
15 Aussi le malheur fond-il soudain sur lui; d’un coup, il est brisé et sans retour.
But disasters will hit them suddenly; they will be crushed/ruined and nothing will be able to heal them.
16 Il est six choses que l’Eternel déteste et sept qu’il a en horreur:
There are six, [maybe] seven, kinds of people that Yahweh hates. [They are]:
17 les yeux hautains, la langue mensongère, les mains qui répandent le sang innocent;
People who show by their eyes that they are very proud; people who lie [MTY]; people [SYN] who kill others [SYN] who have done nothing wrong;
18 le cœur qui ourdit des desseins pervers, les pieds impatients de courir au mal,
people who plan to do evil deeds; people [SYN] who run quickly to do wrong things;
19 le faux témoin qui exhale le mensonge, enfin l’homme qui déchaîne la discorde entre frères.
people who easily tell lies in court; and people who cause strife between family members.
20 Mon fils, sois fidèle aux recommandations de ton père, ne délaisse pas l’enseignement de ta mère.
My son, obey my commands, and do not ignore what your mother has taught you.
21 Porte-les constamment attachés à ton cœur, noués à ton cou.
Remember the things that we have said. Those things should be [like a beautiful necklace] around your neck.
22 Qu’ils te guident dans tes marches, veillent sur ton repos et te soient un sujet d’entretien à ton réveil.
[If you follow our advice, it will be as though] what we have taught you [PRS] will lead you, wherever you go. When you sleep, they will protect you. And when you wake up in the morning, they will teach/instruct you.
23 Car le devoir est un flambeau, la doctrine une lumière, les dictées de la morale un gage de vie.
These commands and what we teach you [will be like] a lamp to light your path [MET]. When we rebuke you and correct/punish you, we will be showing you the road to having [a good] life.
24 C’Est ainsi que tu seras protégé contre la femme vicieuse, contre la langue mielleuse de l’étrangère.
Heeding [PRS] these commands and things that we have taught you will enable you to keep away from immoral women and from [listening to] the enticing words of an adulterous woman.
25 Ne convoite pas sa beauté en ton cœur, ne te laisse pas prendre à la séduction de ses paupières.
[Even] if such a woman is beautiful and has lovely eyes, do not desire to go with her. Do not let her persuade you to go with her (with her eyes/by the way she looks at you).
26 Car pour une courtisane on peut être réduit à une miche de pain; une femme adultère prend dans ses filets un gibier de prix.
[Do not forget that] you can hire a prostitute for only a loaf of bread, but [if you sleep with] another man’s wife, (it may cost you/you may lose) your life.
27 Peut-on attiser du feu dans son sein, sans que les vêtements soient consumés?
Can you carry hot coals in your pocket and not be burned [RHQ]?
28 Peut-on marcher sur des charbons ardents, sans se brûler les pieds jusqu’au vif?
Can you walk on burning coals and not scorch/burn your feet?
29 Il en est ainsi de celui qui approche de la femme de son prochain; il ne restera pas indemne, celui qui la touche.
[No]! And in the same way, anyone who (sleeps with/has sex with) another man’s wife will [suffer for doing that]. [He will certainly] [LIT] be punished severely.
30 On ne méprise pas le voleur qui commet un larcin pour assouvir sa faim.
We do not despise a thief if he steals some food because he is very hungry.
31 Mais s’il est pris, il devra payer au septuple, donner tous les biens de sa maison.
But [if he steals something and then] is caught [by the police], he will have to pay back (seven times as much as/much more than) he stole. He may need to sell everything that is in his house [to get enough money to pay it back].
32 Commettre un adultère c’est être insensé qui veut se perdre agit ainsi.
[But] a man who commits adultery with some woman is very foolish, [because] he is destroying his own self/soul [by what he is doing].
33 Il ne recueillera que souffrances et déshonneur; sa honte sera ineffaçable.
[That woman’s husband] will wound him badly, and [other people] will despise him. His shame will never end.
34 Car la jalousie exaspère la fureur du mari: il sera sans pitié au jour de la vengeance.
Because that woman’s husband will (be jealous/not want anyone else to sleep with her), he will become furious, and when he gets revenge, he will not act mercifully [toward the man who slept with his wife].
35 Il ne se laissera apaiser par aucune rançon; il se montrera inexorable, dusses-tu prodiguer les présents.
And he will not accept any bribe/money, even if it is a big bribe, to (appease him/cause him to stop being angry).
