Exode 1
1 Voici les noms des fils d’Israël qui entrèrent en Égypte avec Jacob: chacun y entra avec sa maison:
The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him along with their families were
2 Ruben, Siméon, Lévi, Juda.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
3 Issachar, Zabulon et Benjamin,
Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,
4 Dan et Nephtali, Gad et Aser.
Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
5 Ainsi toutes les âmes de ceux qui sont issus de Jacob étaient soixante-dix; mais Joseph était en Egypte.
Altogether there were 70 people [who went with] Jacob. That included his [sons, his grandsons, and two great-grandsons]. [His son] Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Joseph mort, et tous ses frères, et toute cette génération,
[Eventually] Joseph and his [older and younger] brothers and everyone [else in their family who lived] (in that generation/at that time) died.
7 Les enfants d’Israël s’accrurent et se multiplièrent, comme s’ils eussent germé; et devenus extrêmement forts, ils remplirent la terre.
But Jacob’s descendants kept giving birth to many children [IDM]. The number [of his descendants] kept becoming larger and larger. As a result, there were so many of them that they were everywhere in Egypt (OR, that they [became a threat] to the Egyptians).
8 Cependant il s’éleva en Égypte un nouveau roi qui ne connaissait pas Joseph;
Then [several hundred years later], a new king began to rule [MTY] in Egypt. He did not know [what] Joseph [had done for the people of Egypt long ago].
9 Et il dit à son peuple: Voici que le peuple des enfants d’Israël est nombreux et plus fort que nous.
He said to his people, “Look [at what has happened]! The Israeli people have become so numerous and so powerful that they [now might conquer] us!
10 Venez, opprimons-le par prudence, de peur qu’il ne se multiplie, et que, s’il s’élève contre nous une guerre, il ne se joigne à nos ennemis, et que, nous vaincus, il ne sorte de la terre.
We must find a way to control them! If we do not do that, their population will continue to grow. Then, if enemies [PRS] attack us, they will join with our enemies and fight against us, and they will escape from [our] land.”
11 Il préposa donc sur eux des chefs de travaux, pour les accabler de charges: et ils bâtirent à Pharaon les villes des tentes, Phithom et Ramessès.
So [the king and his officials] put supervisors over the Israeli people to cause them to suffer very much by [forcing them] to work very hard. They forced [the Israeli people to] build [two] cities, Pithom and Ramses, in which to store [supplies for the king/government].
12 Mais plus on les opprimait, plus ils se multipliaient et croissaient.
But the more cruelly they treated the [Israeli people], the bigger the Israeli [population] grew, and they became more numerous all over [the land]. So the Egyptian people began to be afraid of the Israeli people.
13 Et les Égyptiens haïssaient les enfants d’Israël et les affligeaient en leur insultant.
They forced the Israeli people to work very hard,
14 Et ils rendaient leur vie amère par des ouvrages pénibles de mortier et de briques, et par toute espèce de servitude dont ils les accablaient dans des ouvrages de terre.
and by making them slaves, they made their lives miserable. They [forced them] to [build many buildings with] mortar and bricks. [They also forced them to do] other work in the fields. [In making them do all this work, the Egyptian officials treated them] ruthlessly/cruelly.
15 Or le roi d’Égypte parla aux sages-femmes des Hébreux, dont l’une se nommait Séphora et l’autre Shua,
There were two Hebrew (midwives/women who helped the women when they were giving birth). [Hebrew means the same as Israeli.] The names of the women were Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to [those two women],
16 Leur ordonnant: Quand vous accoucherez les femmes des Hébreux, et que le temps de l’enfantement sera venu, si c’est un garçon, tuez-le; si c’est une fille, conservez-la.
“When you help the Hebrew women when they are giving birth [MTY], if [the baby that is born] is a boy, you must kill it. If [the baby] is a girl, you (may let it live/do not have to kill them).”
17 Mais les sages-femmes craignirent Dieu, et ne firent pas selon l’ordre du roi d’Egypte; mais elles conservaient les garçons.
But the midwives feared/revered God. So they did not do what the king told them to do. They allowed the baby boys to live.
18 Appelées devant lui, le roi dit: Qu’est-ce que vous avez voulu faire, en conservant les garçons?
So the king summoned the [two] midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”
19 Elles répondirent: Les femmes des Hébreux ne sont pas comme les femmes égyptiennes; car elles savent accoucher elles-mêmes; aussi avant que nous venions vers elles, elles enfantent.
[One of] the midwives replied to the king, “[You need to realize that] the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. The Hebrew women are very strong/healthy. They give birth [to their babies] before we can get to them [to help them].”
20 Et Dieu fit du bien aux sages-femmes; et le peuple s’accrut et se fortifia extrêmement.
So God acted kindly toward the midwives, and the [Hebrew] people became even more numerous and strong.
21 Et parce que les sages-femmes craignirent Dieu, il leur bâtit des maisons.
Furthermore, because the midwives feared/revered God, he enabled them also to give birth to children.
22 Pharaon commanda donc à tout son peuple, disant: Tout ce qui naîtra du sexe masculin, jetez-le dans le fleuve; tout ce qui naîtra du féminin, conservez-le.
Then the king commanded all (the [Egyptian] people/his [advisors]): “You must throw into the Nile [River] every baby boy born that the [Hebrew women] give birth to! But you can allow the baby girls to live.”
