Genèse 38
1 En ce temps-là, Juda s’éloigna de ses frères, et se retira vers un homme d’Adullam, nommé Hira.
About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite.
2 Là, Juda vit la fille d’un Cananéen, nommé Schua; il la prit pour femme, et alla vers elle.
There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.
3 Elle devint enceinte, et enfanta un fils, qu’elle appela Er.
So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.
4 Elle devint encore enceinte, et enfanta un fils, qu’elle appela Onan.
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.
5 Elle enfanta de nouveau un fils, qu’elle appela Schéla; Juda était à Czib quand elle l’enfanta.
Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.
6 Juda prit pour Er, son premier-né, une femme nommée Tamar.
Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7 Er, premier-né de Juda, était méchant aux yeux de l’Éternel; et l’Éternel le fit mourir.
But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.
8 Alors Juda dit à Onan: Va vers la femme de ton frère, prends-la, comme beau-frère, et suscite une postérité à ton frère.
Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”
9 Onan, sachant que cette postérité ne serait pas à lui, se souillait à terre lorsqu’il allait vers la femme de son frère, afin de ne pas donner de postérité à son frère.
But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.
10 Ce qu’il faisait déplut à l’Éternel, qui le fit aussi mourir.
What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.
11 Alors Juda dit à Tamar, sa belle-fille: Demeure veuve dans la maison de ton père, jusqu’à ce que Schéla, mon fils, soit grand. Il parlait ainsi dans la crainte que Schéla ne mourût comme ses frères. Tamar s’en alla, et elle habita dans la maison de son père.
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
12 Les jours s’écoulèrent, et la fille de Schua, femme de Juda, mourut. Lorsque Juda fut consolé, il monta à Thimna, vers ceux qui tondaient ses brebis, lui et son ami Hira, l’Adullamite.
After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.
13 On en informa Tamar, et on lui dit: Voici ton beau-père qui monte à Thimna, pour tondre ses brebis.
When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”
14 Alors elle ôta ses habits de veuve, elle se couvrit d’un voile et s’enveloppa, et elle s’assit à l’entrée d’Énaïm, sur le chemin de Thimna; car elle voyait que Schéla était devenu grand, et qu’elle ne lui était point donnée pour femme.
she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
15 Juda la vit, et la prit pour une prostituée, parce qu’elle avait couvert son visage.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.
16 Il l’aborda sur le chemin, et dit: Laisse-moi aller vers toi. Car il ne connut pas que c’était sa belle-fille. Elle dit: Que me donneras-tu pour venir vers moi?
Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.
17 Il répondit: Je t’enverrai un chevreau de mon troupeau. Elle dit: Me donneras-tu un gage, jusqu’à ce que tu l’envoies?
“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”
18 Il répondit: Quel gage te donnerai-je? Elle dit: Ton cachet, ton cordon, et le bâton que tu as à la main. Il les lui donna. Puis il alla vers elle; et elle devint enceinte de lui.
“What pledge should I give you?” he asked. She answered, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.
19 Elle se leva, et s’en alla; elle ôta son voile, et remit ses habits de veuve.
Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again.
20 Juda envoya le chevreau par son ami l’Adullamite, pour retirer le gage des mains de la femme. Mais il ne la trouva point.
Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.
21 Il interrogea les gens du lieu, en disant: Où est cette prostituée qui se tenait à Énaïm, sur le chemin? Ils répondirent: Il n’y a point eu ici de prostituée.
He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered.
22 Il retourna auprès de Juda, et dit: Je ne l’ai pas trouvée, et même les gens du lieu ont dit: Il n’y a point eu ici de prostituée.
So Hirah returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, ‘No shrine prostitute has been here.’”
23 Juda dit: Qu’elle garde ce qu’elle a! Ne nous exposons pas au mépris. Voici, j’ai envoyé ce chevreau, et tu ne l’as pas trouvée.
“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”
24 Environ trois mois après, on vint dire à Juda: Tamar, ta belle-fille, s’est prostituée, et même la voilà enceinte à la suite de sa prostitution. Et Juda dit: Faites-la sortir, et qu’elle soit brûlée.
About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”
25 Comme on l’amenait dehors, elle fit dire à son beau-père: C’est de l’homme à qui ces choses appartiennent que je suis enceinte; reconnais, je te prie, à qui sont ce cachet, ces cordons et ce bâton.
As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?”
26 Juda les reconnut, et dit: Elle est moins coupable que moi, puisque je ne l’ai pas donnée à Schéla, mon fils. Et il ne la connut plus.
Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.
27 Quand elle fut au moment d’accoucher, voici, il y avait deux jumeaux dans son ventre.
When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb.
28 Et pendant l’accouchement il y en eut un qui présenta la main; la sage-femme la prit, et y attacha un fil cramoisi, en disant: Celui-ci sort le premier.
And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. “This one came out first,” she announced.
29 Mais il retira la main, et son frère sortit. Alors la sage-femme dit: Quelle brèche tu as faite! Et elle lui donna le nom de Pérets.
But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez.
30 Ensuite sortit son frère, qui avait à la main le fil cramoisi; et on lui donna le nom de Zérach.
Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.
