Deutéronome 21
1 Si, en la terre que le Seigneur te donne pour héritage, on trouve le cadavre d'un homme frappé à mort dans les champs, et si l'on ignore qui a porté le coup,
“Suppose someone has been murdered in a field in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, and you do not know who killed that person.
2 Tes anciens et tes juges sortiront et mesureront à quelle distance sont les villes au milieu desquelles on aura trouvé le corps.
[If that happens], your elders and judges must go out to where that person’s corpse was found and measure the distance from there to each of the nearby towns.
3 On verra quelle est la ville la plus proche du cadavre; alors, les anciens de cette ville prendront, parmi les bœufs, une génisse, non encore soumise au joug;
Then the elders in the town that is closest to where the corpse was found must select a young cow that has never been used for doing work.
4 Puis, ils feront descendre la génisse en un ravin inculte, et, dans ce ravin, ils trancheront les muscles du cou de la génisse,
They must take it to a place near a stream where the ground has never been plowed or planted. They must break its neck there in that valley.
5 Ensuite, viendront les prêtres et les lévites choisis par le Seigneur Dieu pour se tenir auprès de lui et pour bénir en son nom, car c'est à eux qu'il appartient de condamner et d'absoudre.
The priests must go there also, because Yahweh our God has chosen them from the tribe of Levi to serve him and to be his representatives [MTY] when they bless people. And he has also chosen them to settle disputes in which someone has been injured.
6 Tous les anciens de la ville la plus proche du cadavre se laveront les mains sur la tête de la génisse immolée dans le ravin.
The elders from the closest town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken,
7 Puis, ils diront: Nos mains n'ont pas versé ce sang, et nos yeux n'ont rien vu.
and they must say, ‘We did not murder this person [MTY], and we did not see who did it.
8 Seigneur, soyez propice au peuple d'Israël que vous avez délivré; faites que le sang innocent ne tombe pas sur le peuple d'Israël; et pour eux le cri du sang innocent sera apaisé
Yahweh, forgive us, your Israeli people whom you rescued [from Egypt]. Do not consider (us to be guilty/that we should be punished because) of murdering someone who (is innocent/had not done something that is wrong). Instead, forgive us.’
9 Et tu auras effacé du milieu du peuple la tache du sang innocent, si tu as fait ce qui est bon et agréable devant le Seigneur.
By doing that, you will be doing what Yahweh considers to be right, and you will not be considered to be guilty for murdering that person.”
10 Si tu vas en guerre contre des ennemis, si le Seigneur te les ayant livrés, tu t'empares de leurs richesses,
“When you [soldiers] go to fight against your enemies, and Yahweh our God enables you to defeat them [IDM], and (they become your prisoners/you capture them),
11 Et si tu vois parmi le butin une femme qui soit belle; si tu la désires et si tu la prends pour femme,
one of you may see among them a beautiful woman that he likes, and he may want to marry her.
12 Tu la conduiras en ta demeure, tu lui raseras la tête, tu lui couperas les ongles,
He should take her to his home, and there she must shave [all the hair off] her head and cut her fingernails [to signify that now she does not belong to her people-group any more, but instead she is becoming an Israeli].
13 Tu lui ôteras les vêtements de la captivité; elle restera en ta maison pendant un mois, elle pleurera son père et sa mère; après cela tu t'approcheras d'elle, tu auras commerce avec elle; elle sera ta femme.
She must take off the clothes that she was wearing when she was captured, [and put on Israeli clothes]. She must stay in that man’s house and mourn for a month because of [leaving] her parents. After that, he will be allowed to marry her.
14 Et si tu ne la veux plus, tu la renverras libre, parce que tu l'auras humiliée, et tu ne la vendras pas à prix d'argent, et tu ne la mépriseras point.
Later, if he no longer is pleased with her, he will be permitted to allow her to leave him. But because she was forced to have sex with him, he will not be allowed to treat her like a slave [and sell her to someone else].”
15 Si un homme a deux femmes, l'une bien-aimée, l'autre haïe, et qu'elles enfantent, la détestée comme la bien-aimée, et que le fils premier-né soit de la femme haïe;
“Suppose that a man has two wives, but he likes one of them and dislikes the other one. And suppose that they both give birth to sons, and the oldest son is the child of the woman that he does not like.
16 Le jour où l'homme fera le partage de ses biens, il ne pourra transmettre le droit d'aînesse au fils de la bien-aimée, au mépris du fils premier-né, provenant de la femme haïe.
On the day when that man decides how he will divide his possessions for his sons to possess [after he dies], he must not favor the son of the wife that he loves by giving him [a bigger share, ] the share that the older son should receive.
17 Il reconnaîtra celui-ci comme son premier-né, et lui donnera double part dans tous ses biens, parce qu'il est l'aîné des enfants et que cette double part appartient au droit d'aînesse.
He must give to the older son, the son of the wife whom he does not like, twice as much of his possessions. That son is his firstborn son, and he must be given the share that he should receive because of his being that man’s firstborn son.”
18 Si un homme a un fils indocile, querelleur, sourd à la voix de son père et de sa mère; s'ils le réprimandent sans qu'il les écoute,
“Suppose there is a boy who is very stubborn and always (rebelling against/disobeying) [his parents], and who will not heed what they say to him. And suppose that they punish him but he still does not pay attention to what they tell him [MTY].
19 Son père et sa mère, l'ayant pris avec eux, le conduiront auprès des anciens devant la porte de la ville,
If that happens, his parents must take him to the (gate of/central meeting place in) the city where he lives and have him stand in front of the elders of the city.
20 Et ils diront aux hommes de leur ville: Notre fils que voici est désobéissant et querelleur; sourd à notre voix, il court les festins et s'enivre;
Then the parents must say to the elders of that city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and always rebelling against us. He will not pay attention to what we tell him [MTY]. He wastes a lot of money (OR, eats too much food) and gets drunk.’
21 Alors, les hommes de la ville le lapideront; il mourra et vous aurez déraciné parmi tous le mal, et les autres enfants indociles l'apprenant auront crainte.
Then all the elders of that city must execute him by throwing stones at him. By doing that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you. And everyone in Israel will hear [about what happened] and they will be afraid [to do what he did].”
22 Si un homme coupable d'un crime capital est mis à mort, et que vous l'ayez pendu à une potence,
“If someone is executed for having committed a crime for which he deserves to die, and you hang his corpse on a post,
23 Que son corps n'y passe point la nuit; enterrez-le le même jour dans une fosse, car tout homme pendu a une potence est maudit de Dieu; ne souillez donc pas la terre que Dieu vous donne en héritage.
you must not allow his corpse to remain there all night. You must bury it on the day that he died, because [God] has cursed anyone whose corpse is allowed to remain on a post. [You must bury the corpse that day], in order that you do not defile the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.”
