Néhémie 6

1 Je n’avais pas encore posé les battants des portes, lorsque Sanballat, Tobija, Guéschem, l’Arabe, et nos autres ennemis apprirent que j’avais rebâti la muraille et qu’il n’y restait plus de brèche.

Now it happened that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem, an Arab, and our other enemies, had heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no interruption remaining in it, (even though, at that time, I had not set up the double doors at the gates, )

2 Alors Sanballat et Guéschem m’envoyèrent dire: Viens, et ayons ensemble une entrevue dans les villages de la vallée d’Ono. Ils avaient médité de me faire du mal.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying: “Come, and let us strike a pact together in the villages, on the plain of Ono.” But they were thinking that they would do me harm.

3 Je leur envoyai des messagers avec cette réponse: J’ai un grand ouvrage à exécuter, et je ne puis descendre; le travail serait interrompu pendant que je le quitterais pour aller vers vous.

Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot descend, lest perhaps it may be neglected when I go out and descend to you.”

4 Ils m’adressèrent quatre fois la même demande, et je leur fis la même réponse.

Then they sent to me, with this same word, four times. And I responded to them with the same word as before.

5 Sanballat m’envoya ce message une cinquième fois par son serviteur, qui tenait à la main une lettre ouverte.

And Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time, with the former word, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner:

6 Il y était écrit: Le bruit se répand parmi les nations et Gaschmu affirme que toi et les Juifs vous pensez à vous révolter, et que c’est dans ce but que tu rebâtis la muraille. Tu vas, dit-on, devenir leur roi,

“It has been heard among the Gentiles, and Geshem has said it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and because of this, you are building the wall and thinking to raise yourself as a king over them. For this reason,

7 tu as même établi des prophètes pour te proclamer à Jérusalem roi de Juda. Et maintenant ces choses arriveront à la connaissance du roi. Viens donc, et consultons-nous ensemble.

you also have stationed prophets, who preach about you in Jerusalem, saying: ‘There is a king in Judea!’ But the king will hear about these words. Therefore, come now, so that we may go to counsel together.”

8 Je fis répondre à Sanballat: Ce que tu dis là n’est pas; c’est toi qui l’inventes!

And I sent to them, saying: “There has been nothing done according to these words, which you have spoken. For you are inventing these things from your own heart.”

9 Tous ces gens voulaient nous effrayer, et ils se disaient: Ils perdront courage, et l’œuvre ne se fera pas. Maintenant, ô Dieu, fortifie-moi!

For all these men wished to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work, and that we would cease. For this reason, I strengthened my hands all the more.

10 Je me rendis chez Schemaeja, fils de Delaja, fils de Mehétabeel. Il s’était enfermé, et il dit: Allons ensemble dans la maison de Dieu, au milieu du temple, et fermons les portes du temple; car ils viennent pour te tuer, et c’est pendant la nuit qu’ils viendront pour te tuer.

And I entered into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, in secret. And he said: “Let us consult together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple. And let us close the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you, and they will arrive in the night to put you to death.”

11 Je répondis: Un homme comme moi prendre la fuite! Et quel homme tel que moi pourrait entrer dans le temple et vivre? Je n’entrerai point.

And I said: “How could anyone like me flee? And who like me should enter the temple, so that he may live? I will not enter.”

12 Et je reconnus que ce n’était pas Dieu qui l’envoyait. Mais il prophétisa ainsi sur moi parce que Sanballat et Tobija lui avaient donné de l’argent.

And I understood that God had not sent him, but he had spoken to me as if he were prophesying, and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 En le gagnant ainsi, ils espéraient que j’aurais peur, et que je suivrais ses avis et commettrais un péché; et ils auraient profité de cette atteinte à ma réputation pour me couvrir d’opprobre.

For he had accepted money, so that I would be afraid, and would sin, and so that they would have some evil with which to rebuke me.

14 Souviens-toi, ô mon Dieu, de Tobija et de Sanballat, et de leurs œuvres! Souviens-toi aussi de Noadia, la prophétesse, et des autres prophètes qui cherchaient à m’effrayer!

Remember me, O Lord, because of Tobiah and Sanballat, because of their works of this kind. Then, too, Noadiah, a prophetess, and the rest of the prophets, would have made me afraid.

15 La muraille fut achevée le vingt-cinquième jour du mois d’Élul, en cinquante-deux jours.

Now the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days.

16 Lorsque tous nos ennemis l’apprirent, toutes les nations qui étaient autour de nous furent dans la crainte; elles éprouvèrent une grande humiliation, et reconnurent que l’œuvre s’était accomplie par la volonté de notre Dieu.

Then it happened that, when all our enemies had heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they were downcast within themselves. For they knew that this work had been accomplished by God.

17 Dans ce temps-là, il y avait aussi des grands de Juda qui adressaient fréquemment des lettres à Tobija et qui en recevaient de lui.

But also, in those days, many letters were being sent by the nobles of the Jews to Tobiah, and were arriving from Tobiah to them.

18 Car plusieurs en Juda étaient liés à lui par serment, parce qu’il était gendre de Schecania, fils d’Arach, et que son fils Jochanan avait pris la fille de Meschullam, fils de Bérékia.

For there were many in Judea who had sworn an oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and because Jehohanan, his son, had married the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

19 Ils disaient même du bien de lui en ma présence, et ils lui rapportaient mes paroles. Tobija envoyait des lettres pour m’effrayer.

Moreover, they praised him before me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters, so that he might make me afraid.