Jérémie 44
1 Et Sédécias, fils de Josias, régna à la place de Joakim, et il fut mis sur le trône par Nabuchodonosor, roi de Babylone.
[This is] the message that Yahweh gave me concerning the Jews who were living in [northern] Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpenes, and Memphis [cities], and in the Pathros [region in southern Egypt]:
2 Et ni lui, ni ses serviteurs, ni le peuple de cette terre, n'écoutèrent les paroles du Seigneur, qu'il avait dites par la bouche de Jérémie.
“This is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say: ‘You saw the disaster that I caused [the people in] Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah to experience. Those towns are now ruined and deserted.
3 Et le roi Sédécias envoya Joachal, fils de Sélémias, et Sophonie, le prêtre, fils de Maasie, auprès de Jérémie, disant: Prie maintenant pour nous le Seigneur!
[That happened] because I was extremely angry with them on account of their being very wicked. They burned incense to other gods and worshiped them. They were gods that you [previously] did not know about, and your ancestors also [did not know about them].
4 Et Jérémie allait et venait au milieu de la ville; car on ne l'avait pas enfermé dans la prison;
Many times I sent my prophets who served me, to say to them, “Do not do those abominable things that I hate!”
5 Et l'armée du Pharaon sortit de l'Égypte, et les Chaldéens apprirent cette nouvelle, et ils s'éloignèrent de Jérusalem.
But my people would not pay any attention [DOU] [to what I said to them]. They would not turn away from their wicked behavior, or stop burning incense to [worship/honor] other gods.
6 Et la parole du Seigneur vint à Jérémie, disant:
So I poured out my anger [MTY] on them. I punished people on the streets of Jerusalem and on the [other] towns in Judah. It caused those towns to be ruined and deserted, and they are still like that.’
7 Ainsi parle le Seigneur: Voici ce que tu diras au roi de Juda qui a envoyé des gens auprès de toi pour me consulter: Voilà que l'armée du Pharaon vient à votre secours; mais elle retournera en Égypte.
So now [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], ask you: ‘Why are you causing yourselves to experience these disasters? [Do you not realize that because of what you are doing], soon there will be no more men or women or children or infants left among you [who have come here to Egypt] from Judah?
8 Les Chaldéens, à leur tour, reviendront, et ils assiégeront cette ville, et ils la prendront, et ils la brûleront par le feu.
Why are you [RHQ] provoking me and causing me to be very angry by burning incense to the idols that you have made here in Egypt? [If you continue doing this, ] you will destroy yourselves, and you will cause yourselves to be people whom all the nations on the earth will curse and despise.
9 Car voici ce que dit le Seigneur: Ne faites point de conjectures en vos âmes, disant: Les Chaldéens partiront et s'éloigneront de nous; car ils ne s'en iront pas;
Have you forgotten [how I punished] your ancestors for the wicked things that they did, and [how I punished] the kings and queens of Judah for what they did, and you and your wives for the sins that you committed in the streets of Jerusalem and [the other towns] in Judah?
10 Et quand même vous écraseriez toute l'armée des Chaldéens qui vous font la guerre, quand même il n'en resterait qu'un petit nombre d'hommes blessés, ils se lèveront chacun en sa province, et ils brûleront cette ville par le feu.
Up until this day you have not humbled yourselves or revered me. You have not obeyed the laws and decrees [DOU] that I gave to you and your ancestors.’
11 Et il arriva que, lorsque l'armée des Chaldéens se fut éloignée de Jérusalem, en face de l'armée de Pharaon,
Therefore, this is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say: ‘I am determined to cause all of you to experience disasters and to get rid of every one of you.
12 Jérémie sortit de Jérusalem, et alla en la terre de Benjamin, pour y acheter un champ, au milieu du peuple.
[You] people from Judah who have survived were determined to come and live here in Egypt. So I will get rid of all of you here in Egypt. Every one of you will die, including those who are important and those who are not important. [Some of] you will be killed by [your enemies’] swords, [some will die] from famines. You will become [people whom others] curse, be horrified about, and make fun of.
13 Comme il passait la porte de Benjamin, un homme avec qui il logeait, Sarvias, fils de Sélémias, fils d'Ananie, l'arrêta, disant: Tu t'enfuis chez les Chaldéens?
I will punish you here in Egypt like I punished [others in] Jerusalem, [some of whom were killed] by [their enemies’] swords and [some of whom] died from famines or diseases.
14 Et il répondit: C'est faux, je ne m'enfuis pas chez les Chaldéens. Mais Sarvias ne l'écouta point, et il l'arrêta, et il le conduisit devant les princes.
You people who did not die in Judah fled here to Egypt, hoping that [some day] you would return to Judah. But very few [HYP] of you will survive and escape. You are longing/wanting to remain alive and return to Judah, but only a very few of you will escape and be able to do that.’”
15 Et les princes se mirent en colère contre Jérémie, et ils le frappèrent, et l'envoyèrent en la maison de Jonathan le scribe; car ils en avaient fait une prison.
Then a large group of the people who had started to live in northern Egypt and southern Egypt, including all the men who knew that their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, said this to me:
16 Ainsi Jérémie fut mis dans la basse-fosse, au cachot, et il y demeura plusieurs jours.
“You are saying that [MTY] Yahweh gave messages to you, but we will not pay any attention to your messages!
17 Et Sédécias l'envoya chercher, et il le questionna secrètement, disant: Est-ce la parole du Seigneur? Et Jérémie répondit: C'est sa parole; tu seras livré aux mains du roi de Babylone.
We will certainly do everything that we said that we would do. We will burn incense to [worship our goddess Astarte, ] the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out offerings [of wine] to her, just like we and our ancestors and our kings and [their] officials have [always] done in the streets of Jerusalem and in the [other] towns in Judah. At that time, we had plenty of food, and we were prosperous and we did not have any troubles.
18 Et Jérémie dit au roi: Quel tort ai-je fait à toi et à tes serviteurs, et à tout ce peuple, pour que vous me mettiez en prison?
But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and giving her offerings [of wine], we have had many troubles, and [some of our people] have been killed by [our enemies’] swords and [some have died] from hunger.”
19 Et où sont vos prophètes qui vous prophétisaient, disant: Le roi de Babylone ne marchera pas contre cette terre?
And [the women said], “[Furthermore], we burned incense and poured out [wine] offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and we also made small cakes that resembled her idol, to offer to her. But our husbands certainly knew about [and approved of] [RHQ] what we were doing!”
20 Et maintenant, ô roi mon maître, que mon appel à ta compassion tombe devant ta face! Pourquoi me renvoyer en la maison de Jonathan le scribe? Fais que je n'y meure point!
Then I said to all the men and women who had answered me,
21 Et le roi donna ses ordres; et on le mit dans la prison ordinaire, et on lui donna, outre la viande que l'on cuisait, un pain par jour, jusqu'à ce que le pain manquât dans la ville; et Jérémie demeura dans le préau de la prison.
“Do not think [RHQ] that Yahweh did not know that you and your ancestors and your kings and their officials and all the other people in Judah were burning incense to [worship/honor] idols in the streets of Jerusalem and in the [other] towns in Judah!
It was because Yahweh could no longer endure/tolerate your wicked actions and the detestable things that you were doing that he caused your land to be [a place whose name people say when they] curse someone, a land that is ruined and which has no one living in it. And your land is still like that.
It is because you burned incense to [worship/honor] idols and committed [other] sins against Yahweh that you experienced [all] those disasters. It is because you have not obeyed him or his laws and decrees and commandments.”
[Then] I said to all of them, including the women, “All you [people of] Judah who are [here] in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh.
This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says [to you Israeli men]: ‘You and your wives have said that you would continue to do what you promised, to burn incense and pour out wine to the [goddess whom you call] the Queen of Heaven. [And you have proved by your actions that you intend to continue to do that]. So go ahead and continue doing what you have promised to do [for her].’
But now, all you people from Judah who are [now] living [here] in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh. He says, ‘I have solemnly declared, using my great name, that [soon] none of [you] people from Judah who are here in Egypt will ever again use my name. [There will be none of you who, when you solemnly promise to do something, ] will ever again say, “[I will do it as surely] as Yahweh lives.”
Because I will be watching over you, not to cause good things to happen to you but to cause things to happen that will harm you. [Almost] everyone [HYP] from Judah who is [now here] in Egypt will experience being [killed by their enemies’] swords, or dying from famine.
[Only a very] few [of you] will not die, and will return to Judah. [When that happens], all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words (were true/were fulfilled), theirs or mine.’
And Yahweh [also] says, ‘I will do something that will prove to you that everything that I have said will happen, and that I will punish you [here] in this place.
I will cause Hophra, the king of Egypt, to be captured by his enemies who want to kill him, just like I caused King Zedekiah of Judah to be captured by [the soldiers of] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’” [And that is what happened several years later].
