Genèse 49
1 Alors, Jacob appela ses fils, et il leur dit: Venez tous, que je vous annonce ce qui vous arrivera dans les derniers jours.
Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,
2 Venez tous, et écoutez-moi, fils de Jacob: écoutez Israël, écoutez votre père.
“Gather around me in order that I can tell you what will happen in the future. My sons, come and listen to me. I am your father, [Jacob, whom God named] Israel.
3 Ruben, mon premier-né, toi ma force, et la tête de mes enfants, dur à supporter, dur par ton orgueil,
Reuben, you are my oldest son. You were born when I was young and energetic/strong. You are prouder and stronger than all the rest of my sons.
4 Tu t'es répandu comme une eau qui déborde: tu ne croîtras plus: car tu es entré dans la couche de ton père, et tu as souillé le lit où tu étais monté.
But you were as uncontrollable as a flood [SIM]. So now you will not be my most important son, because you climbed up onto my bed, and had sex with [MTY] my (concubine/slave who had become one of my wives). Your doing that caused me, your father, to have great shame.
5 Siméon et Lévi, frères, ont accompli ensemble l'iniquité de leur dessein:
Simeon and Levi, you have both acted like criminals. You use your swords to act violently.
6 Que mon âme n'entre point dans leur conseil, que mon cœur ne s'émeuve point dans leurs réunions; car, en leur colère, ils ont tué des hommes; en leur fureur, ils ont tranché les nerfs du taureau.
I do not want to be with you when you make evil plans [DOU]. I do not want to join you in your meetings, because you killed people when you became very angry, and you (hamstrung/cut the tendons in the legs of) oxen just to (have fun/see them suffer).
7 Maudite soit leur fureur, parce qu'elle est obstinée; maudite soit leur colère, parce qu'elle s'est endurcie; je les partagerai en Jacob; je les disperserai en Israël.
God says, ‘I will (curse/cause bad things to happen to) them for being very angry, for acting very cruelly when they were very furious. I will scatter their descendants [MTY] throughout Israel land.’
8 Juda, que tes frères chantent tes louanges; tu poseras tes mains sur le dos de tes ennemis, et les fils de ton père se prosterneront devant toi.
Judah, your [older and younger] brothers will praise you. They will bow down before you, because you will thoroughly defeat [MTY] your enemies.
9 Lionceau de lion, Juda, par ton rejeton, mon fils, tu seras élevé; tu t'étendras pour dormir, comme un lion et comme un lionceau: qui le réveillera?
Judah is like a young lion [SIM] that has returned to its den satisfied after eating the animals that it has killed. He is like a lion that lies down and stretches out after eating; no one would dare to disturb it [RHQ].
10 Les chefs ne cesseront jamais de sortir de Juda, ni les souverains de son sang, jusqu'à ce qu'advienne ce qui lui est réservé; c'est lui qui sera l'attente des nations.
There will always be a ruler [MTY] from the descendants of Judah [MTY]. Each one will hold a scepter/staff to show that he has authority as a king. He will do that until the one to whom the scepter belongs comes, the one to whom the nations will bring tribute and show that they will obey him.
11 Il attachera à la vigne son ânesse, et au sarment le poulain de son ânesse, puis il lavera sa robe dans le vin, et son manteau dans le sang de la grappe.
The grapevines of Judah’s descendants will produce grapes very abundantly. As a result, they will not object to tying their young donkeys to the grapevines in order that the donkeys can eat the leaves of the grapevines. [Wine will be very plentiful, with the result that] they could wash their cloaks in wine that is as red as blood [MET].
12 Ses yeux, plus que le vin, inspireront la joie, et il aura des dents plus blanches que le lait.
Their eyes will be red because of [drinking too much] wine, but their teeth will be very white because of drinking much milk [from the cows].
13 Zabulon demeurera près de la mer, vers le port des navires, et il s'étendra jusqu'à Sidon.
Zebulun, your descendants will live by the seashore where there will be a safe harbor for ships. Their land will extend north as far as Sidon [city].
14 Issachar a convoité le bien; il s'est fixé au milieu des autres parts;
Issachar, your descendants will be like strong donkeys that are lying down on the ground between their loads, [so tired that they cannot get up]!
15 Il a vu que la stabilité est bonne, que la terre est grasse, il a consacré ses bras au travail; il est devenu laboureur.
They will see that their resting place is good, and that the land pleases them very much. But they will bend their backs to carry heavy loads and be forced to work for others.
16 Dan jugera son peuple aussi bien qu'aucune autre tribu d'Israël.
Dan, although your tribe will be small, their leaders will rule their people just like the leaders of other tribes of Israel will rule their people.
17 Et que Dan devienne comme un serpent sur la route, couché dans le sentier; qu'il morde les jambes du cheval, et le cavalier tombera à la renverse.,
Your descendants will be like snakes at the side of a road, like poisonous snakes lying beside a path. They will strike the heels of horses that pass by, causing the riders to fall backwards [as the horses rear up on their hind legs].”
18 Attendant du Seigneur le salut.
Then Jacob prayed, “Yahweh, I am waiting for you to rescue me [from my enemies].”
19 Quant à Gad, l'incursion des ennemis l'assaillira; elle s'attaquera à ses pieds.
[Then Jacob continued telling his sons what would happen in the future. He said], “Gad, your tribe/descendants will be attacked by a group of bandits, but your tribe/descendants will pursue and attack them [MTY].
20 Aser, son pain sera gras, et il donnera, même aux rois, des délices.
Asher, your descendants will eat good-tasting food; they will produce food that is delicious enough for kings to eat.
21 Nephthali s'étale comme un rejeton plein de beauté dans ses branches.
Naphtali, your descendants will be like deer [MET] that are (free to/not tied down and can) run wherever they wish. They will give birth to children who are good-looking like (fawns/baby deer) [MET].
22 Joseph est un fils d'accroissement, c'est mon fils prospère et bien-aimé: ô mon fils le plus jeune, reviens près de moi.
Joseph, you will have many descendants [MET]. Their children will be as many as the fruit on a vine near a spring of water, whose branches extend over a wall.
23 Se concertant contre lui, ils ont fait l'injustice, et les maîtres de l'arc se sont attaqués à lui.
Their enemies will attack them fiercely, and shoot at them with bows and arrows and pursue them.
24 Et leurs arcs ont été brisés par la force; et leurs bras ont été paralysés par la main du Dieu tout-puissant de Jacob; Israël en a été fortifié par le Dieu de ton père.
But they will hold their bows steady and their arms will remain strong, because of the power [MTY] of my mighty God, because of Yahweh who guides and provides for me [MET] like a shepherd guides and provides for his sheep. The people of Israel will [ask Yahweh to protect them], [like people hide under] a huge [overhanging] to be protected.
25 Et mon Dieu t'a secouru; du haut des cieux il a répandu sur toi la bénédiction du ciel et la bénédiction de la terre productrice de toutes choses: à cause de la bénédiction des mamelles et des entrailles,
God, the one whom I worship, will help your descendants. God Almighty will bless them by sending them rain from the sky and by giving them water from deep/far below the ground. He will give them many cattle and children [MET] (OR, and their cattle will have many offspring).
26 De la bénédiction de ton père et de ta mère. Joseph a été fortifié, et il a été béni plus que les montagnes immuables, plus que les collines éternelles: ces bénédictions subsisteront sur la tête de Joseph, et sa tête s'est élevée au-dessus de la tête de ses frères.
The blessings that I want God to give you are great ones. They are greater than the blessings that come from the eternal mountains, greater than the ones that come from the everlasting hills. Joseph, I pray that these blessings will (be given to you/come upon your head), because you are the leader of your [older] brothers [and younger brother].
27 Benjamin, loup ravissant; le matin il mange encore, et au soir on lui donne de la nourriture.
Benjamin, your descendants will be like [MET] vicious/fierce wolves: In the morning they will kill their enemies like a wolf devours (its prey/the animals that it has killed), and in the evening they will divide among their warriors the spoils that they seized from their enemies.”
28 Tels étaient les fils de Jacob. Leur père leur dit ces choses; il les bénit, et il donna à chacun sa bénédiction.
Those twelve sons are the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. That is what their father said to them as he blessed them, telling to each one words that were appropriate for him.
29 Et il leur dit: Je vais me réunir à mon peuple; ensevelissez-moi avec mes pères, dans la caverne d'Ephron l'Hettéen,
Then Jacob said to his sons, “I will soon die. Bury my body where some of my ancestors are buried, in the cave that is in the field that was bought from Ephron, who belonged to the Heth people-group.
30 Dans la caverne double qui fait face à Membré, en la terre de Chanaan, et Qu'Abraham a achetée d'Ephron l'Hettéen, pour en faire une sépulture.
That field is in the Machpelah area, east of Mamre [town], in Canaan. My grandfather Abraham bought it from Ephron to use as a burial place.
31 Là sont ensevelis Abraham et sa femme Sarra, Isaac et sa femme Rébécca, et enfin Lia.
That is where they buried him and his wife Sarah. That is where they buried my father Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And that is where I buried my wife Leah.
32 Ils sont ensevelis dans le champ et la caverne achetés des fils de Het.
That field and the cave in it were bought from the Heth people-group; so that is where I want you to bury me.”
33 Et Jacob cessa de donner ses ordres à ses fils, puis, ayant ramené ses pieds sur sa couche, il défaillit, et il se réunit à son peuple.
When Jacob finished giving those instructions to his sons, he lay down on his bed again. Then he died [IDM].
