Néhémie 4

1 Or, lorsque Sanaballat apprit que nous relevions les remparts, il le trouva mauvais, s'en courrouça grandement, et se moqua fort des Juifs.

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the city wall, he was very angry. He was enraged/furious. He made fun of us Jews.

2 Et il dit devant ses frères (c'est-à-dire devant l'armée samaritaine): Il est donc vrai que les Juifs réédifient leur ville?

While his colleagues and officials of the army troops who had come from Samaria were listening, he said, “What do these feeble/pathetic Jews [think they] are doing? Do they think that if they offer enough/many sacrifices, [their gods will hear them and enable] them to finish building the wall in one day? The stones [that were in the wall previously have been weakened by] being burned in a fire. Those stones that they are pulling out of the rubbish/garbage heaps—do they think that they can make them strong again?” [RHQ]

3 Et Tobias l'Ammonite s'approcha de lui, et il dit à la multitude: Est-ce qu'ils sacrifieront et mangeront en ce lieu? Est-ce qu'un renard en sautant ne renversera pas leur muraille de pierres?

Tobiah was [standing] beside Sanballat. He said, “That stone wall [that they are building] is very weak; so if even a fox climbed up on it, the wall would fall down!”

4 Écoutez, ô notre Dieu, car nous sommes un sujet de raillerie; faites retomber ces outrages sur leurs têtes, et qu'eux-mêmes soient un sujet de raillerie en la terre où nous avons été captifs.

Then I prayed. I said, “Our God, hear us, because they are ridiculing us! Cause the words of their insults to fall back on them! Allow their enemies to come and capture them and force them to go to a foreign land!

5 Ne couvrez pas leur iniquité.

They are guilty; they have [said things that] caused you to be angry while the people here who are building the wall are listening; so punish them!”

6 Cependant, nous continuâmes à rebâtir le mur; et lorsque tout le mur fut bouché jusqu’à mi-hauteur, le peuple eut de nouveau du cœur à l’ouvrage.

But after some time, we finished building the wall around the whole city, up to half as high as the first wall had been. We were able to do that because we worked very hard.

7 Or, lorsque Sanaballat, et Tobias, et les Arabes et les Ammonites, apprirent que les murs de Jérusalem reprenaient leur forme, et que leurs brèches commençaient à se fermer, ils le trouvèrent fort mauvais.

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the men from Arabia, the people from the Ammon [people-group] and from Ashdod [city] heard that the work on the wall was continuing and that we were filling in the gaps in the wall, they became very angry.

8 Et ils se réunirent tous ensemble pour marcher contre Jérusalem, et la faire disparaître.

They all planned to come and fight against the people of Jerusalem [MTY] and to cause trouble.

9 Alors, nous priâmes notre Dieu, et nous mîmes, nuit et jour, des gardes, à cause d'eux.

But we prayed to our God [to protect us], and we put men [around the walls] to guard [the city] day and night.

10 Et Juda dit: La force des ennemis est brisée; mais le monceau de ruines est énorme, et nous ne pourrons bâtir les remparts.

Then the people of [MTY] Judah started to say, “The men who are working [on the wall] are becoming very tired. There is a lot of [heavy] rubble that we must remove; we ourselves cannot finish the work.

11 Et nos oppresseurs dirent: Ils ne sauront, ils ne verront que lorsque nous arriverons au milieu d'eux, et nous les massacrerons, et nous ferons cesser l'œuvre.

“Besides, our enemies are saying, ‘Before the Jews see us, we will swoop down on them and kill them and stop their work [on the wall]!’”

12 Et les Juifs qui habitaient dans le voisinage, vinrent, et nous dirent: Ils arrivent de toutes parts contre nous.

The Jews who were living near our enemies came and told us many times, “You should leave the city and go to other places, in order that your enemies will not attack you!”

13 Alors, je plaçai tout le peuple en bas, au pied des remparts, sous des abris, par familles, avec leurs épées, leurs javelines et leurs arcs.

So I put guards at the places where the wall was not very high yet and at places where there were gaps in the wall. I put guards to protect each of their family groups. I gave the guards daggers, spears, and bows [and arrows].

14 Et je regardai, me levai, et dis aux nobles, aux capitaines, à tout le reste du peuple: Ne craignez point leur face; souvenez-vous de notre Dieu grand et redoutable; combattez pour vos frères, vos fils, vos filles, vos femmes et vos foyers.

Then after I inspected everything, I summoned the leaders and [other] officials and [many of] the other people, and I said to them, “Do not be afraid of our enemies! Think about [what] Yahweh, who is great and glorious, [can do]! And fight to protect your friends, your families, and your homes!”

15 Et aussitôt que nos ennemis apprirent qu'ils nous avaient été signalés, Dieu dissipa leurs conseils, et nous retournâmes aux remparts, chacun à son ouvrage.

Our enemies heard that we knew what they were planning to do and that God had (spoiled their plans/prevented them from doing what they planned). [But we were sure that God would defend us, ] so we all started to work on the wall again.

16 Et, à partir de ce jour, la moitié de ceux que j'avais attirés fit l'œuvre; l'autre moitié se rangea derrière les remparts avec des javelines, des boucliers, des arcs et des cuirasses; leurs chefs se tenant derrière toute la maison de Juda,

But after that, only half of the men who were working for me worked on the wall. The others stood there on guard, holding their spears, shields, bows [and arrows], and [wearing their] coats made of metal plates. [To encourage the people] were building the wall, their leaders stood behind them.

17 Et derrière ceux qui bâtissaient; ceux qui transportaient les matériaux ne quittaient point leurs armes; d'une main ils faisaient leur tâche, de l'autre ils tenaient un trait.

Those who carried [baskets of supplies on their heads/shoulders] and those who built the wall did their work with one hand, and held a weapon with the other hand.

18 Et chaque travailleur avait autour des reins son épée, et ils édifiaient, et celui qui sonnait de la trompette était auprès d'eux.

All those who were building [the wall] had a dagger fastened to their side. The man who would blow the trumpet [if our enemies attacked] was standing at my side.

19 Et je dis aux nobles, aux capitaines et au reste du peuple: L'œuvre est grande et de longue étendue, et nous, sommes dispersés sur le rempart, chacun loin de son frère.

Then I said to the officials, the other important men, and the other people, “This wall is very long, and we are far apart from each other along the wall.

20 N'importe où vous entendrez la trompette, accourez tous en ce lieu, et notre Dieu combattra avec nous.

If you hear the man blowing the trumpet, gather around us at that place. [Remember that] our God will fight for us!”

21 Ainsi, nous continuâmes nos travaux; la moitié de nous ne quitta point ses javelines, depuis les premières lueurs du jour jusqu'au lever des étoiles.

So we continued to work. Half of the men continued to hold their spears all day, from when the sun rose [in the morning] until the stars appeared [at night].

22 Et, en ce temps-là, je dis au peuple: Que chacun, avec son serviteur, demeure au milieu de Jérusalem; la nuit on veillera, le jour on se mettra au travail.

At that time, I also said to the people, “Tell every worker and his helper that they must stay inside Jerusalem at night. By doing that, they can guard us at night, and they can work [on the wall] during the daytime.”

23 Et j'étais là, et les hommes de garde se tenaient derrière moi, et nul de nous n'ôtait ses vêtements.

During that time, none of us ever took off our clothes (OR, we wore our clothes all the time)—I and my relatives and my workers and the guards who were with me. And we had our weapons with us, in our hands.