Genèse 37
1 Mais Jacob habita dans la terre de Chanaan, dans laquelle son père avait été comme étranger.
Jacob continued to live in the Canaan region where his father had lived previously.
2 Et voici ses générations: Joseph, lorsqu’il avait seize ans, paissait le troupeau de son père, avec ses frères, étant encore enfant: et il était avec les fils de Bala et de Zelpha, femmes de son père; et il accusa ses frères auprès de son père d’un crime détestable.
(This is/I will now tell you) what happened to Jacob’s family. When his son Joseph was 17 years old, he was taking care of the flocks of sheep and goats with some of his older brothers. They were sons of his father’s (concubines/female slaves that he had taken to be his secondary wives). Joseph sometimes told his father about bad things that his brothers were doing.
3 Or Israël aimait Joseph par-dessus tous ses fils, parce que c’est dans sa vieillesse qu’il l’avait engendré: et il lui fit une tunique d’un tissu de diverses couleurs.
Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other children, because Joseph had been born when Jacob was an old man. Jacob made for Joseph a long pretty robe that had long sleeves.
4 Ses frères donc voyant qu’il était aimé par son père plus que tous ses autres frères, le haïssaient, et ne pouvaient rien lui dire avec douceur.
When Joseph’s older brothers realized that their father loved him more than he loved any of them, they hated him. They never spoke kindly to him.
5 Il arriva aussi qu’il raconta à ses frères un songe qu’il avait vu; prétexte qui fut la semence d’une plus grande haine.
One night Joseph had a dream. He told his brothers about the dream.
6 Il leur dit donc: Ecoutez mon songe que j’ai vu:
He said to them, “Listen to the dream I had!
7 Je croyais que nous étions à fier des gerbes dans le champ, et que ma gerbe se levait et se tenait comme debout, et que les vôtres, étant autour, se prosternaient devant ma gerbe.
In the dream, we were tying up bundles of wheat in the field. Suddenly my bundle stood up straight, and surprisingly, your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it!”
8 Ses frères lui répondirent: Est-ce que tu seras notre roi? ou serons-nous soumis à ta puissance? Ainsi ce prétexte de songes et de discours fournit un aliment à leur envie et à leur haine.
His brothers said to him, “Do you think that some day you will rule over us? Are you [saying that some day] you are going to be our king?” [RHQ] They hated him even more than before because of what he had told them about his dream.
9 Il vit encore un autre songe qu’il raconta à ses frères, disant: J’ai vu en songe comme le soleil et la lune et onze étoiles se prosterner devant moi.
Later he had another dream, and again he told his older brothers about it. He said, “Listen to this! I had another dream. In this dream, the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me!”
10 Lorsqu’il l’eut rapporté à son père et à ses frères, son père le reprit, et dit: Que veut dire ce songe que tu as vu? est-ce que moi, ta mère et tes frères, nous nous prosternerons devant toi sur la terre?
He also told his father about it. His father rebuked him, saying “What are you suggesting by that dream [RHQ]? Do you think it means that your mother and I and your older brothers will some day bow down to the ground in front of you?” [RHQ]
11 Ainsi ses frères lui portaient envie, mais son père considérait la chose en silence.
Joseph’s older brothers were furious/angry with him, but his father just kept thinking about what the dream meant.
12 Et comme ses frères s’étaient arrêtés à Sichem pour paître les troupeaux de leur père,
One day Joseph’s older brothers went to take care of their father’s sheep and goats that were eating grass near Shechem.
13 Israël lui dit: Tes frères paissent les brebis dans les pâturages de Sichem: viens, je t’enverrai vers eux. Joseph répondant:
Some time later, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are taking care of the sheep and goats near Shechem [RHQ]. I am going to send you there to see them.” Joseph replied, “Okay.”
14 Je suis prêt, il lui dit: Va, et vois si tout va bien pour tes frères et pour les troupeaux, et rapporte-moi ce qui se fait. Envoyé de la vallée d’Hébron, il vint à Sichem:
Jacob said, “Go and see if they are doing okay, and if the flocks are doing okay. Then come back and give me a report.” So Jacob sent Joseph from [the valley where they were living], the valley where Hebron is located, [to go north] to find his brothers. When Joseph arrived near Shechem [city],
15 Et un homme le trouva errant dans la campagne, et lui demanda ce qu’il cherchait.
while he was wandering around in the fields looking/searching for his brothers, a man saw him and asked him, “Whom are you looking/searching for?”
16 Et lui répondit: Ce sont mes frères que je cherche; dis-moi où ils paissent les troupeaux.
Joseph replied, “I am looking for my older brothers. Can you tell me where they are taking care of their sheep and goats?”
17 Et cet homme lui dit: Ils sont partis d’ici; et je les ai entendus, disant: Allons à Dothaïn. Joseph alla donc après ses frères, et il les trouva à Dothaïn.
The man replied, “They are not here any more. I heard one of them saying, ‘Let’s take the sheep and goats and go to Dothan [town].’” So Joseph left there and went north, and found his older brothers near Dothan.
18 Lorsque ceux-ci l’eurent vu de loin, avant qu’il approchât d’eux, ils projetèrent de le tuer:
But they saw him when he was still far away, and they decided to kill him.
19 Et ils se disaient mutuellement: Voici le songeur qui vient;
They said to each other [things like], “Here comes that dreamer!”
20 Venez, tuons-le, et jetons-le dans une vieille citerne; nous dirons: Une bête sauvage l’a dévoré; et alors on verra ce que lui servent ses songes.
and “Hey, let’s kill him, and then throw his body into one of the pits/cisterns. Then we will tell people that a ferocious/wild animal attacked and killed him and ate him. And then we will (find out whether his dreams come true/make sure that his dreams do not come true)!”
21 Mais entendant cela, Ruben s’efforçait de le sauver de leurs mains, et disait:
Reuben heard what they were saying, so he tried to persuade them not to kill [MTY] Joseph. He said, “No, we should not kill him.
22 Ne tuez pas son âme et ne versez pas son sang; mais jetez-le dans cette citerne qui est dans le désert, et conservez vos mains pures. Or il disait cela, voulant l’arracher de leurs mains, et le rendre à son père.
Do not even shed his blood! We can throw him into this pit/cistern in the desert, but we should not harm him [MTY].” He said that, and then left them, planning to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.
23 Aussitôt donc qu’il fut arrivé près de ses frères, ils le dépouillèrent de sa tunique longue, tissue de diverses couleurs.
So when Joseph arrived where his older brothers were, they seized him and ripped off his pretty robe with long sleeves.
24 Et ils le jetèrent dans la vieille citerne, où il n’y avait pas d’eau.
Then they took him and threw him into the pit/cistern. But the pit/cistern was dry; there was no water in it.
25 Puis s’asseyant pour manger du pain, ils virent des voyageurs Ismaélites qui venaient de Galaad, et leurs chameaux portant des aromates, de la résine et du stacté en Égypte.
After they sat down to eat some food, they looked up and saw a (caravan/group [of traders]), descendants of Ishmael, coming from the Gilead area. Their camels were loaded with bags of spices and nice-smelling resins. They were going down to Egypt to sell those things there.
26 Juda dit alors à ses frères: Que nous servira si nous tuons notre frère et nous cachons son sang?
Judah said to his [older and younger] brothers, “If we kill our younger brother and hide his body, (what will we gain?/we will not gain anything!) [RHQ]
27 Il vaut mieux qu’il soit vendu aux Ismaélites, et que nos mains ne soient pas souillées; car il est notre frère et notre chair. Ses frères acquiescèrent à ses discours.
So, instead of harming him, let’s sell him to these men who are descendants of Ishmael. Don’t forget, he is our own younger brother!” So they all agreed to do that.
28 Et des marchands Madianites passant, ils le retirèrent de la citerne, et le vendirent vingt pièces d’argent aux Ismaélites qui le menèrent en Égypte.
When those traders from the Midian area came near, Joseph’s brothers pulled him up out of the pit/cistern. Then they sold him to the men from Midian for 20 pieces of silver. The traders then took Joseph to Egypt.
29 Cependant Ruben étant revenu à la citerne, n’y trouva pas l’enfant;
When Reuben returned to the pit/cistern, he saw that his younger brother was not there. He was so grieved that he tore his clothes.
30 Alors, ses vêtements déchirés, il retourna vers ses frères et dit: L’enfant ne paraît pas, et moi, où irai-je?
He went back to his [younger] brothers and said, “The boy is not in the pit/cistern! What can I do now?” [RHQ]
31 Ils prirent donc sa tunique et la trempèrent dans le sang d’un chevreau qu’ils avaient tué,
[Joseph’s brothers did not dare to tell their father what they had done. So, they decided to invent a story about what had happened]. They got Joseph’s robe. Then they killed a goat and dipped the robe in the goat’s blood.
32 Envoyant des gens pour la porter à leur père, et pour lui dire: Nous l’avons trouvée; vois si c’est la tunique de ton fils, ou non.
They took that pretty robe back to their father and said, “We found this robe! Look at it. Is it your son’s robe?”
33 Quand le père l’eut reconnue, il dit: C’est la tunique de mon fils; une bête farouche et cruelle l’a dévoré, une bête a dévoré Joseph.
He recognized it, and he said, “Yes, it is my son’s robe! Some ferocious/wild animal must have attacked and killed him! I am sure that the animal has torn Joseph to pieces!”
34 Et, ses vêtements déchirés, il se couvrit d’un cilice, pleurant son fils pendant longtemps.
Jacob was so grieved that he tore his clothes. He put on (sackcloth/clothes that people wear when they are mourning for someone who has died). He mourned/cried for his son for many days.
35 Or, tous ses enfants s’étant rassemblés pour adoucir la douleur de leur père, il ne voulut pas recevoir de consolation, mais il dit: Je descendrai pleurant vers mon fils dans l’enfer. Et lui persévérant dans son pleur, (Sheol h7585)
All of his children came to try to comfort him, but he did not pay attention to what they said. He said, “No, I will still be mourning/crying when I die and go to be with my son.” So Joseph’s father continued to cry because of what had happened to his son. (Sheol h7585)
36 Les Madianites vendirent Joseph en Égypte à Putiphar, eunuque de Pharaon, chef des soldats.
In the meantime, the men/traders from Midian took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, who was one of the king’s officials. He was the captain of the soldiers who protected the king.
