Genèse 41
1 Deux ans après, le Pharaon eut un songe: il lui sembla se tenir près du fleuve.
Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile [River].
2 Il crut voir en sortir sept vaches extrêmement belles et grasses en leur chair, qui se mirent à paître dans la prairie.
Suddenly seven healthy fat cows come up out of the river. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
3 Après celles-là, il sortit du fleuve sept autres vaches, laides et maigres, qui se mirent à paître à côté des autres sur la rive.
Soon seven other cows, unhealthy-looking and thin, came up behind them from the Nile [River]. They stood alongside the fat cows that were on the riverbank.
4 Mais les sept vaches laides et maigres dévorèrent les sept autres belles et grasses, et le Pharaon s'éveilla.
Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.
5 Il eut ensuite un second songe: c'étaient sept épis sortant d'une même tige, beaux et choisis.
The king went to sleep again, and he had another dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain that were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and all growing on one stalk.
6 Et après ceux-là poussèrent sept épis maigres et amincis par le vent.
After that, the king saw that seven other heads of grain sprouted on that (OR, on another) stalk. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.
7 Les sept épis maigres et amincis par le vent mangèrent les épis choisis et pleins. Et le Pharaon s'éveilla: le songe était fini.
Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven ripe full heads. Then the king woke up. He realized that he had been dreaming.
8 Lorsque le jour parut, son âme fut troublée; il envoya mander tous les interprètes de l'Égypte et tous les sages; il leur raconta ses songes, et il n'y eut là personne pour les expliquer au Pharaon.
But the next morning he was worried about the meaning of the dream. So he summoned all the magicians and wise men who lived in Egypt. He told them what he had dreamed, but none of them could tell him the meaning of the two dreams.
9 Alors, le grand échanson parla au Pharaon, disant: Je me souviens aujourd'hui de ma faute.
Then the chief drink-server said to the king, “Now I remember something that I should have told you! I made a mistake by forgetting to tell it to you.
10 Le Pharaon était irrité contre ses serviteurs, et il nous avait mis en prison dans la maison du chef des cuisines, moi et le grand panetier.
One time you were angry with two of us. So you put me and the chief baker in the prison in the house of the captain of the palace guards.
11 Et nous eûmes chacun un songe en la même nuit; le grand panetier et moi séparément, nous eûmes chacun un songe.
While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.
12 Or, il y avait là, avec nous, un jeune Hébreu, serviteur du chef des cuisines; nous lui dîmes nos songes, et il les interpréta.
There was a young Hebrew man there with us. He was a servant of the captain of the palace guards. We told him what we had dreamed, and he told us what our dreams meant. He told each of us the meaning of our dreams.
13 Et, selon son interprétation, il nous advint à moi d'être rétabli dans mon office, et au grand panetier d'être suspendu à une croix.
And what happened was exactly the same as the meanings that he told us: You said I could have my previous job again, but the other man was killed by being hanged. [The Hebrew man’s name was Joseph].”
14 Le Pharaon envoya aussitôt mander Joseph. Ses gens l'amenèrent, le rasèrent, lui passèrent une autre robe, et il entra vers le Pharaon.
When the king heard that, he told some servants to bring Joseph to him, and they quickly brought Joseph out of the prison. Joseph shaved and put on better clothes, and then he went and stood in front of the king.
15 Et le Pharaon dit à Joseph: J'ai eu un songe, et il n'est ici personne pour l'interpréter; or, j'ai ouï dire que des songes t'ayant été racontés, tu en avais donné l'interprétation.
The king said to Joseph, “I had two dreams, and no one can tell me what they mean. But someone told me that when you hear someone tell about a dream he has had, you can tell that person what the dream means.”
16 Joseph répondit au Pharaon: Sans l'aide de Dieu il ne peut être donné au Pharaon de réponse salutaire.
But Joseph replied to the king, “No, I cannot do that. It is God who knows the meaning of dreams, but he will enable me to tell you their meaning, and they will mean something good.”
17 Et le Pharaon dit à Joseph: En mon sommeil, il me sembla me tenir sur les bords du fleuve.
The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile [River].
18 Je crus voir sortir du fleuve sept vaches extrêmement belles et grasses en leur chair, qui se mirent à paître dans la prairie.
Suddenly seven healthy fat cows came up out of the river, and they started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
19 Derrière elles, il sortit du fleuve sept autres vaches, mauvaises, laides et maigres, telles que dans toute l'Égypte je n'en ai jamais vu de plus laides.
Soon seven other cows, ugly and thin ones, came up behind them from the river. I never saw such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt!
20 Et les sept vaches laides et maigres mangèrent les sept premières, qui étaient belles et grasses.
The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first.
21 Celles-ci entrèrent dans leurs entrailles; et il ne parut point qu'elles eussent été ainsi absorbées dans leur ventre, car l'aspect des maigres resta ce qu'il était d'abord; et, après m'être éveillé, je me rendormis.
But afterwards, no one would have known that the thin cows ate them, because they were just as ugly as they were before. Then I woke up.
22 Ensuite, j'eus dans mon sommeil une nouvelle vision: il me sembla que sept épis se levaient sur une même tige, beaux et pleins.
Then I had another dream. I saw seven heads of grain. They were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and they were all growing on one stalk.
23 Et sept autres épis, maigres et amincis par le vent, poussèrent après ceux-là.
Then [to my surprise] I saw seven other heads of grain that sprouted. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.
24 Puis, les sept épis maigres et amincis par le vent mangèrent les sept épis beaux et pleins. J'ai parlé aux interprètes, et il ne s'est trouvé parmi eux personne pour me donner une explication.
The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain to me what they meant.”
25 Joseph répondit au Pharaon: Le songe du Pharaon est un seul et même songe; Dieu a montré au Pharaon ce qu'il doit faire.
Then Joseph said to the king, “Both your dreams have the same meaning. God is revealing to you in your dreams what he is about to do.
26 Les sept vaches grasses sont sept années, les sept épis pleins sont sept années aussi; le songe du Pharaon est un seul et même songe.
The seven healthy cows represent seven years. The seven good heads of grain also represent seven years. The two dreams both have the same meaning.
27 Les sept vaches maigres qui sortent du fleuve après les premières, sont sept années, et les sept épis maigres, amincis par le vent, sont sept années: il y aura sept années de famine.
The seven thin ugly cows that came up behind them and the seven worthless heads of grain that were dried up by the hot east wind each represent seven years (of famine/when food will be very scarce).
28 C'est ce que je viens de dire au Pharaon: Dieu lui a montré ce qu'il veut faire.
It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do.
29 Pendant sept années, il y aura grande abondance en toute la terre d'Égypte.
There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt,
30 Ensuite, viendront sept années de famine, et l'on oubliera l'abondance qu'il y aura eu en toute l'Égypte; la famine épuisera toute la terre.
but after that there will be seven years (of famine/when food will be very scarce). Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward will ruin the country.
31 Et l'abondance ne laissera pas de traces sur la terre à cause de la famine qui viendra après elle; car cette famine sera terrible.
The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible.
32 Si le songe du Pharaon s'est produit deux fois, c'est pour signifier qu'il est véritablement la parole de Dieu, et que Dieu est près de l'accomplir.
The reason God gave to you two dreams is that he [wants you to know] that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.
33 Maintenant donc, choisis un homme intelligent et sage, et mets-le à la tête de l'Égypte.
“Now I suggest that you should choose a man who is wise and can make good decisions. I suggest that you appoint him to direct the affairs of the whole country.
34 Que le Pharaon agisse: qu'il institue des chefs de canton en la contrée, et que ces chefs envoient tous les produits de l'Égypte, pendant les sept années d'abondance.
You should also appoint supervisors over the country, in order that they can arrange to collect one-fifth of all the grain that is harvested during the seven years when food is plentiful.
35 Qu'ainsi l'on réunisse toutes les denrées de ces bonnes années qui vont venir, que l'on amoncelle tout le blé sous la main du Pharaon et que des vivres soient gardés dans les villes.
They should collect this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. You should supervise them as they store it in the cities.
36 Ces vivres conservés seront pour l'Égypte, pendant les sept années de famine qui viendront en la contrée, et elle ne sera pas consumée par le fléau.
This grain should be stored so that it can be eaten during the seven years when there will be a famine here in Egypt, so that the people in this country will not die from hunger.”
37 Ce discours fut agréable au Pharaon et à tous ses serviteurs.
The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan.
38 Et le Pharaon dit à tous ses serviteurs: où pourrons-nous trouver un pareil homme en qui soit l'esprit de Dieu?
So the king said to them, “(Can we find any other man like Joseph, a man to whom God has given his Spirit?/It is not likely that we will find another man like this man, one to whom God has given his Spirit!)” [RHQ]
39 Il dit aussi à Joseph: Puisque Dieu t'a fait voir toutes ces choses, il n'y a pas d'homme plus sage et plus intelligent que toi.
Then the king said to Joseph, “Because God has revealed all this to you, it seems to me that there is no one who is as wise as you and who can decide wisely about things.
40 Tu seras à la tête de ma maison, mon peuple entier obéira à ta parole, je ne serai au-dessus de toi que par le trône.
So I will put you in charge of everything in my palace. All the people here in Egypt must obey what you command. Only because I am king [MTY] will I have more authority than you.”
41 Et le Pharaon dit à Joseph: Je te mets aujourd'hui à la tête de toute la terre d'Égypte.
Then the king said to Joseph, “I am now putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.”
42 Puis, le Pharaon ôtant l'anneau de sa main, le mit à la main de Joseph; il le revêtit d' une robe du lin le plus fin, et lui passa autour du cou un collier d'or.
The king took from his finger the ring that had his seal on it, and he put it on Joseph’s finger. He put robes made of fine linen on him, and he put a gold chain around his neck.
43 Il le fit monter sur un char, le second de ses chars, et il fit proclamer par un héraut qu'il l'avait mis à la tête de l'Égypte.
Then he arranged for Joseph to ride around in the chariot [that showed that he was] the second-most important man in the country. When Joseph rode in the chariot, men shouted to the people who were on the road in front of him, “Get off the road!” So the king put Joseph in charge of everything in the country.
44 Ensuite, il dit à Joseph: Je suis le Pharaon, nul sans ta volonté ne lèvera la main dans la terre d'Égypte.
The king said to Joseph, “I am the king, but no one in the whole land of Egypt will do anything [IDM] if you do not permit them to do it.”
45 Le Pharaon changea le nom de Joseph en celui de Psonthomphanech, et il lui donna pour femme Aseneth, fille de Pétéphrès, prêtre d'Héliopolis.
The king gave Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave him Asenath to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in a temple in On [city]. Then Joseph became known (OR, traveled) through all the land of Egypt.
46 Joseph avait trente ans, lorsqu'il comparut devant le roi d'Égypte; il s'éloigna du Pharaon, et il parcourut tout le royaume.
Joseph was 30 years old when he started to work for the king of Egypt. To do his work, he left the king’s palace and traveled throughout Egypt.
47 Pendant les sept années d'abondance la terre fut couverte de gerbes.
During the next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food.
48 Il recueillit alors tous les vivres de ces sept années, pendant lesquelles il y eut abondance en la terre d'Égypte, et il les plaça dans les villes: en chaque ville, les vivres des champs d'alentour.
As Joseph supervised them, his helpers collected one-fifth of all the grain that was produced during those years, and stored it in the cities. In each city, he had his helpers store up the grain that was grown in the fields that surrounded that city.
49 Joseph amoncela du blé, innombrable comme le sable de la mer.
Joseph had them store up a huge amount of grain. It looked as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. There was so much grain that after a while they stopped keeping records of how much grain was stored, because there was more grain than they could measure.
50 Cependant, avant que vinssent les sept années de famine, deux fils naquirent de Joseph et d'Aseneth, fille de Pétephréès, prêtre d'Héliopolis.
Before the seven years of famine started, Joseph’s wife Asenath gave birth to two sons.
51 Joseph donna au premier-né le nom de Manassé, parce que, dit-il, Dieu m'a fait oublier toutes mes peines et toutes celles de mon père.
Joseph named the first one Manasseh, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘forget]’, because, he said, “God has caused me to forget all my troubles and all my father’s family.”
52 Il appela le second Ephraïm, parce que dit-il, Dieu m'a grandi dans mon humiliation.
He named his second son Ephraim, [which means ‘to have children]’, because, he said, “God has given me children here in this land where I have suffered.”
53 Et les sept années d'abondance qui furent en la terre d'Égypte s'écoulèrent.
Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended.
54 Et les sept années de famine commencèrent à venir, comme avait dit Joseph. Et la famine régnait sur toute la terre, mais il y avait du pain dans toute l'Égypte.
Then the seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had predicted. There was also a famine in all the other nearby lands, but although the crops did not grow, there was food everywhere in Egypt, because of the grain they had stored up in the cities.
55 Et toute l'Égypte eut faim; le peuple cria devant le Pharaon pour avoir du pain. Et le Pharaon dit à tous les Égyptiens: Allez à Joseph, et faites ce qu'il vous dira.
When all the people of [MTY] Egypt had eaten all of their own food and were still hungry, they begged the king for food. So the king told all the people of Egypt, “Go to Joseph, and do what he tells you to do.”
56 La famine était sur la face de toute la terre; Joseph ouvrit donc tous les magasins de blé, et il en vendit à tous les Égyptiens.
When the famine was very bad throughout the whole country, Joseph ordered his helpers to open the storehouses. Then they sold the grain in the storehouses to the people of Egypt, because the famine was very severe all over Egypt.
57 De tous les pays on venait en Égypte acheter à Joseph; car la famine régnait sur toute la terre.
And people from many [HYP] nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere [HYP].
