2 Rois 6
1 Les fils des prophètes dirent à Élisée: Voici, le lieu où nous sommes assis devant toi est trop étroit pour nous.
One day a group of prophets said to Elisha, “Look, this place where we meet together with you is very small.
2 Allons jusqu’au Jourdain; nous prendrons là chacun une poutre, et nous nous y ferons un lieu d’habitation. Élisée répondit: Allez.
Allow us to go to the Jordan [River and cut down some trees to make] logs to build a new meeting place.” So Elisha said, “Okay, go.”
3 Et l’un d’eux dit: Consens à venir avec tes serviteurs. Il répondit: J’irai.
One of them said to Elisha, “Please come with us.” So Elisha replied, “Okay, I will go with you.”
4 Il partit donc avec eux. Arrivés au Jourdain, ils coupèrent du bois.
So they went together. When they reached the Jordan [River], they cut down some trees.
5 Et comme l’un d’eux abattait une poutre, le fer tomba dans l’eau. Il s’écria: Ah! Mon seigneur, il était emprunté!
But while one of them was cutting down a tree, suddenly the axe head [separated from the handle and] fell into the water. He cried out to Elisha, “O, Master, what shall I do? [The axe is not mine]; I borrowed it!”
6 L’homme de Dieu dit: Où est-il tombé? Et il lui montra la place. Alors Élisée coupa un morceau de bois, le jeta à la même place, et fit surnager le fer.
Elisha replied, “Where did it fall into the water?” After the man showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick, and threw it into the water, and caused the iron axe head to float [on top of the water].
7 Puis il dit: Enlève-le! Et il avança la main, et le prit.
Elisha said, “Take it out of the water.” So the man reached his hand down and picked up the axe head.
8 Le roi de Syrie était en guerre avec Israël, et, dans un conseil qu’il tint avec ses serviteurs, il dit: Mon camp sera dans un tel lieu.
Whenever the king of Syria [prepared to send his army to] fight against Israel, he first consulted his officers, and then told them where they should set up their tents.
9 Mais l’homme de Dieu fit dire au roi d’Israël: Garde-toi de passer dans ce lieu, car les Syriens y descendent.
But each time, Elisha would send a message to warn the king of Israel, [telling him where the army of Syria was planning to attack them, ] saying, “Be sure that your army does not go near that place, because the army of Syria has set up their tents there.”
10 Et le roi d’Israël envoya des gens, pour s’y tenir en observation, vers le lieu que lui avait mentionné et signalé l’homme de Dieu. Cela arriva non pas une fois ni deux fois.
So the king of Israel would send [messengers] to warn [the people who lived in] that place, and the people would remain on guard. That happened several times.
11 Le roi de Syrie en eut le cœur agité; il appela ses serviteurs, et leur dit: Ne voulez-vous pas me déclarer lequel de nous est pour le roi d’Israël?
The king of Syria was very upset/disturbed/angry about that. So he summoned his army officers and said to them, “[Obviously] one of you is (betraying us/revealing our plans) to the king of Israel. Which one of you is doing it?”
12 L’un de ses serviteurs répondit: Personne! Ô roi mon seigneur; mais Élisée, le prophète, qui est en Israël, rapporte au roi d’Israël les paroles que tu prononces dans ta chambre à coucher.
One of his officers answered, “Your Majesty, it is not one of us. Elisha the prophet [knows what we plan to do, and he] tells the king of Israel everything. He even knows what you say in your own bedroom!”
13 Et le roi dit: Allez et voyez où il est, et je le ferai prendre. On vint lui dire: Voici, il est à Dothan.
The king of Syria replied, “Go and find out where he is, and I will send [some men there] to capture him.” Someone told him, “People say that he is in Dothan [town north of Samaria].”
14 Il y envoya des chevaux, des chars et une forte troupe, qui arrivèrent de nuit et qui enveloppèrent la ville.
So the king sent a large group of soldiers [to Dothan] with horses and chariots. They arrived at night and surrounded the town.
15 Le serviteur de l’homme de Dieu se leva de bon matin et sortit; et voici, une troupe entourait la ville, avec des chevaux et des chars. Et le serviteur dit à l’homme de Dieu: Ah? Mon seigneur, comment ferons-nous!
Early the next morning, Elisha’s servant got up and went outside the house. He saw the soldiers of Syria with their horses and chariots surrounding the town. So he went inside [the house and reported it to Elisha] and exclaimed, “O, sir! What are we going to do?”
16 Il répondit: Ne crains point, car ceux qui sont avec nous sont en plus grand nombre que ceux qui sont avec eux.
Elisha replied, “Do not be afraid! Those who will be helping us will be more than those who will be helping them!”
17 Élisée pria, et dit: Éternel, ouvre ses yeux, pour qu’il voie. Et l’Éternel ouvrit les yeux du serviteur, qui vit la montagne pleine de chevaux et de chars de feu autour d’Élisée.
Then he prayed, “Yahweh, I request that you open my servant’s eyes in order that he can see [what is out there]!” So Yahweh enabled the servant to look out and see that surrounding the hill on which the town [was built] was a huge number of horses, and chariots made of fire!
18 Les Syriens descendirent vers Élisée. Il adressa alors cette prière à l’Éternel: Daigne frapper d’aveuglement cette nation! Et l’Éternel les frappa d’aveuglement, selon la parole d’Élisée.
When the army of Syria prepared to attack Elisha, he prayed again, saying, “Yahweh, cause all these soldiers to become blind!” Yahweh answered his prayer and caused them to be unable to see clearly.
19 Élisée leur dit: Ce n’est pas ici le chemin, et ce n’est pas ici la ville; suivez-moi, et je vous conduirai vers l’homme que vous cherchez. Et il les conduisit à Samarie.
Then Elisha went to them and said, “You are not on the right road; this is not the city that you are searching for. I will take you to the man whom you are searching for.” But he led them to Samaria, [the capital of Israel]!
20 Lorsqu’ils furent entrés dans Samarie, Élisée dit: Éternel, ouvre les yeux de ces gens, pour qu’ils voient! Et l’Éternel ouvrit leurs yeux, et ils virent qu’ils étaient au milieu de Samarie.
As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha prayed again, saying, “Yahweh, now enable these soldiers to see correctly again!” So Yahweh enabled them to see correctly, and they were surprised to see that they were inside Samaria [city].
21 Le roi d’Israël, en les voyant, dit à Élisée: Frapperai-je, frapperai-je, mon père?
When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Sir, shall I [tell my soldiers to] kill them? Shall we kill all of them?”
22 Tu ne frapperas point, répondit Élisée; est-ce que tu frappes ceux que tu fais prisonniers avec ton épée et avec ton arc? Donne-leur du pain et de l’eau, afin qu’ils mangent et boivent; et qu’ils s’en aillent ensuite vers leur maître.
Elisha replied, “No, you must not kill them. If your army captured many of your enemies in a battle, you would certainly not [RHQ] kill them. Give these men something to eat and drink, and then allow them to return to their king.”
23 Le roi d’Israël leur fit servir un grand repas, et ils mangèrent et burent; puis il les renvoya, et ils s’en allèrent vers leur maître. Et les troupes des Syriens ne revinrent plus sur le territoire d’Israël.
So the king of Israel did that. He told his servants to provide a big feast for them. And when they had eaten and drunk plenty, he sent them away. They returned to the king of Syria [and told him what had happened]. So for a while after that, soldiers from Syria stopped raiding/attacking towns in Israel.
24 Après cela, Ben-Hadad, roi de Syrie, ayant rassemblé toute son armée, monta et assiégea Samarie.
But some time later, Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, assembled his entire army, and they went to Samaria and surrounded the city [for a long time].
25 Il y eut une grande famine dans Samarie; et ils la serrèrent tellement qu’une tête d’âne valait quatre-vingts sicles d’argent, et le quart d’un kab de fiente de pigeon cinq sicles d’argent.
Because of that, after a while there was hardly any food left inside the city, with the result that eventually a donkey’s head, [which was usually worthless, ] cost eighty pieces of silver, and (one cup/0.3 liter) of dove’s dung cost five pieces of silver.
26 Et comme le roi passait sur la muraille, une femme lui cria: Sauve-moi, ô roi, mon seigneur!
One day when the king of Israel was walking on top of the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Your Majesty, help me!”
27 Il répondit: Si l’Éternel ne te sauve pas, avec quoi te sauverais-je? Avec le produit de l’aire ou du pressoir?
He replied, “If Yahweh will not help you, I certainly cannot [RHQ] help you. I certainly [RHQ] do not have any wheat or wine!
28 Et le roi lui dit: Qu’as-tu? Elle répondit: Cette femme-là m’a dit: Donne ton fils! Nous le mangerons aujourd’hui, et demain nous mangerons mon fils.
What is your problem?” She replied, “Several days ago, that woman [over there] said to me, ‘[Because we have nothing left to eat, ] let’s kill your son today, in order that we can eat his flesh. Then tomorrow we can [kill] my son [and] eat his flesh.’
29 Nous avons fait cuire mon fils, et nous l’avons mangé. Et le jour suivant, je lui ai dit: Donne ton fils, et nous le mangerons. Mais elle a caché son fils.
So we [killed my son and cut his body up and] boiled his flesh and ate it. The next day, I said to her, ‘Now give your son to me, in order that we can [kill him and cook his flesh and] eat it.’ But she has hidden her son!”
30 Lorsque le roi entendit les paroles de cette femme, il déchira ses vêtements, en passant sur la muraille; et le peuple vit qu’il avait en dedans un sac sur son corps.
When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his robe [to show that he was very distressed]. The people who were standing close to the wall were able to see that the king was wearing rough cloth underneath his robe [because he was very distressed].
31 Le roi dit: Que Dieu me punisse dans toute sa rigueur, si la tête d’Élisée, fils de Schaphath, reste aujourd’hui sur lui!
The king exclaimed, “I wish/hope that God will strike me dead if I do not cut off the head of Elisha today, [because he is the one who has caused these terrible things to happen to us]!”
32 Or Élisée était assis dans sa maison, et les anciens étaient assis auprès de lui. Le roi envoya quelqu’un devant lui. Mais avant que le messager soit arrivé, Élisée dit aux anciens: Voyez-vous que ce fils d’assassin envoie quelqu’un pour m’ôter la tête? Écoutez! Quand le messager viendra, fermez la porte, et repoussez-le avec la porte: le bruit des pas de son maître ne se fait-il pas entendre derrière lui?
So the king sent an officer to get Elisha. Before the officer arrived, Elisha was sitting in his house with some Israeli elders who were talking with him. Elisha said to them, “That murderer, [the king of Israel, ] is sending someone here to kill me. Listen: When he arrives, shut the door and do not allow him to come in. And the king will be coming right behind that officer!”
33 Il leur parlait encore, et déjà le messager était descendu vers lui, et disait: Voici, ce mal vient de l’Éternel; qu’ai-je à espérer encore de l’Éternel?
And while he was still speaking, the king and the officer arrived. The king said, “It is Yahweh who has caused us to have all this trouble/suffering. (Why should I wait any longer [RHQ] for him to do something [to help us]?/It is useless for me to wait any longer for him [to help us]!)”
