Genèse 41
1 Après deux ans, Pharaon vit un songe. Il croyait qu’il était debout sur le bord du fleuve,
Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile [River].
2 Duquel montaient sept vaches extrêmement belles et grasses; et elles paissaient dans les marécages.
Suddenly seven healthy fat cows come up out of the river. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
3 Sept autres vaches aussi sortaient du fleuve, hideuses et consumées de maigreur; et elles paissaient sur la rive même du fleuve, dans des lieux verdoyants;
Soon seven other cows, unhealthy-looking and thin, came up behind them from the Nile [River]. They stood alongside the fat cows that were on the riverbank.
4 Et elles dévorèrent celles dont la beauté et l’embonpoint étaient merveilleux. Pharaon s’étant réveillé,
Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.
5 S’endormit de nouveau et vit un autre songe: Sept épis poussaient sur une seule tige, pleins et beaux.
The king went to sleep again, and he had another dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain that were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and all growing on one stalk.
6 Et autant d’autres épis grêles et frappés par un vent brûlant se levaient aussi,
After that, the king saw that seven other heads of grain sprouted on that (OR, on another) stalk. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.
7 Dévorant toute la beauté des premiers. Pharaon s’éveillant après son sommeil,
Then the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven ripe full heads. Then the king woke up. He realized that he had been dreaming.
8 Et, le matin venu, frappé d’épouvante, il envoya vers tous les devins de l’Égypte et tous les sages; et les ayant mandés, il leur raconta le songe, et il n’y en avait aucun qui put l’interpréter.
But the next morning he was worried about the meaning of the dream. So he summoned all the magicians and wise men who lived in Egypt. He told them what he had dreamed, but none of them could tell him the meaning of the two dreams.
9 Alors enfin le grand échanson, se souvenant, dit: Je confesse ma faute.
Then the chief drink-server said to the king, “Now I remember something that I should have told you! I made a mistake by forgetting to tell it to you.
10 Le roi irrité contre ses serviteurs ordonna que moi et le grand panetier fussions ramenés dans la prison du chef des soldats,
One time you were angry with two of us. So you put me and the chief baker in the prison in the house of the captain of the palace guards.
11 Où dans une seule nuit nous vîmes chacun un songe, présage des choses futures.
While we were there, one night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.
12 Il y avait là un jeune Hébreu, serviteur du même chef des soldats, et auquel ayant raconté nos songes,
There was a young Hebrew man there with us. He was a servant of the captain of the palace guards. We told him what we had dreamed, and he told us what our dreams meant. He told each of us the meaning of our dreams.
13 Nous entendîmes tout ce que dans la suite l’événement confirma; car moi je fus rendu à ma charge, et lui fut suspendu à une croix.
And what happened was exactly the same as the meanings that he told us: You said I could have my previous job again, but the other man was killed by being hanged. [The Hebrew man’s name was Joseph].”
14 Aussitôt par l’ordre du roi, on tondit Joseph qu’on avait tiré de la prison, et, ses vêtements changés, on le lui présenta.
When the king heard that, he told some servants to bring Joseph to him, and they quickly brought Joseph out of the prison. Joseph shaved and put on better clothes, and then he went and stood in front of the king.
15 Le roi lui dit: J’ai vu des songes, et il n’y a personne qui puisse les expliquer: j’ai appris que tu les interprètes très sagement.
The king said to Joseph, “I had two dreams, and no one can tell me what they mean. But someone told me that when you hear someone tell about a dream he has had, you can tell that person what the dream means.”
16 Joseph répondit: Sans moi, Dieu répondra des choses favorables à Pharaon.
But Joseph replied to the king, “No, I cannot do that. It is God who knows the meaning of dreams, but he will enable me to tell you their meaning, and they will mean something good.”
17 Pharaon raconta donc ce qu’il avait vu: Je croyais que j’étais debout sur la rive du fleuve,
The king said to Joseph, “In my first dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile [River].
18 Et que sept vaches sortaient du fleuve, extrêmement belles et aux chairs grasses; elles paissaient l’herbe verte dans les marécages.
Suddenly seven healthy fat cows came up out of the river, and they started eating the grass that was on the riverbank.
19 Et voilà que sept autres vaches les suivaient, si difformes et si maigres, que jamais je n’en vis de telles dan s la terre d’Égypte.
Soon seven other cows, ugly and thin ones, came up behind them from the river. I never saw such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt!
20 Or celles-ci ayant dévoré et consumé les premières,
The thin ugly cows ate the seven fat cows that came up first.
21 Ne donnèrent aucun signe de satiété; mais elles demeuraient engourdies dans la même maigreur et la même laideur. M’étant éveillé et de nouveau assoupi,
But afterwards, no one would have known that the thin cows ate them, because they were just as ugly as they were before. Then I woke up.
22 Je vis un songe: sept épis poussaient sur une seule tige, pleins et très beaux.
Then I had another dream. I saw seven heads of grain. They were full of kernels of grain and ripe, and they were all growing on one stalk.
23 Sept autres aussi, grêles et frappés par un vent brûlant s’élevaient d’un chaume;
Then [to my surprise] I saw seven other heads of grain that sprouted. They were thin and had been dried up by the hot east wind.
24 Ils dévorèrent la beauté des premiers. J’ai raconté le songe aux devins, et il n’y a personne qui puisse l’expliquer.
The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain to me what they meant.”
25 Joseph répondit: Le songe du roi est un: ce que Dieu doit faire, il l’a montré à Pharaon.
Then Joseph said to the king, “Both your dreams have the same meaning. God is revealing to you in your dreams what he is about to do.
26 Les sept vaches belles et les sept épis pleins sont sept années d’abondance, et ont dans le songe la même signification.
The seven healthy cows represent seven years. The seven good heads of grain also represent seven years. The two dreams both have the same meaning.
27 Pareillement, les sept vaches maigres et décharnées qui sont montées après les premières, et les sept épis grêles et frappés d’un vent brûlant, sont sept années d’une famine qui doit venir.
The seven thin ugly cows that came up behind them and the seven worthless heads of grain that were dried up by the hot east wind each represent seven years (of famine/when food will be very scarce).
28 Ces années s’accompliront dans cet ordre:
It will happen just as I have told you, because God has revealed to you what he is about to do.
29 Voilà que viendront dans toute la terre d’Égypte sept années d’une grande fertilité,
There will be seven years in which there will be plenty of food throughout the land of Egypt,
30 Que suivront sept autres années d’une si grande stérilité, que toute l’abondance précédente sera livrée à l’oubli; car la famine doit consumer toute la terre.
but after that there will be seven years (of famine/when food will be very scarce). Then people will forget all the years when there was plenty of food, because the famine that will come afterward will ruin the country.
31 Et la grandeur de la disette doit détruire la grandeur de l’abondance.
The people will forget how plentiful food was previously, because the famine will be very terrible.
32 Mais le songe que vous avez vu en second lieu, et qui se rapporte à la même chose, c’est un signe certain que la parole de Dieu aura son effet et qu’elle s’accomplira promptement.
The reason God gave to you two dreams is that he [wants you to know] that this will happen, and he will cause it to happen very soon.
33 Maintenant donc, que le roi choisisse un homme sage et habile, et qu’il le prépose sur la terre d’Égypte;
“Now I suggest that you should choose a man who is wise and can make good decisions. I suggest that you appoint him to direct the affairs of the whole country.
34 Afin qu’il établisse des intendants dans toutes les provinces; et que la cinquième partie des fruits des sept années d’abondance,
You should also appoint supervisors over the country, in order that they can arrange to collect one-fifth of all the grain that is harvested during the seven years when food is plentiful.
35 Qui déjà maintenant vont venir, il l’amasse dans les greniers: et que tout le blé soit mis sous la puissance de Pharaon, et gardé dans les villes;
They should collect this amount of grain during those seven years that are coming, when there will be plenty of food. You should supervise them as they store it in the cities.
36 Et qu’il soit tenu prêt pour la famine des sept ans qui pèsera sur l’Égypte, et que le pays ne soit pas consumé par la disette.
This grain should be stored so that it can be eaten during the seven years when there will be a famine here in Egypt, so that the people in this country will not die from hunger.”
37 Ce conseil plut à Pharaon et à tous ses ministres;
The king and his officials thought that this would be a good plan.
38 Et il leur demanda: Pourons-nous trouver un tel homme qui soit plein de l’esprit de Dieu?
So the king said to them, “(Can we find any other man like Joseph, a man to whom God has given his Spirit?/It is not likely that we will find another man like this man, one to whom God has given his Spirit!)” [RHQ]
39 Il dit donc à Joseph: Puisque Dieu t’a montré tout ce que tu as dit, pourrai-je trouver quelqu’un plus sage que toi, et même semblable à toi?
Then the king said to Joseph, “Because God has revealed all this to you, it seems to me that there is no one who is as wise as you and who can decide wisely about things.
40 C’est toi qui seras préposé sur ma maison, et au commandement de ta bouche, tout le peuple obéira; et c’est par le trône royal seulement que j’aurai sur toi la préséance.
So I will put you in charge of everything in my palace. All the people here in Egypt must obey what you command. Only because I am king [MTY] will I have more authority than you.”
41 Pharaon dit encore à Joseph: Voici que je t’établis sur toute la terre d’Égypte.
Then the king said to Joseph, “I am now putting you in charge of the whole country of Egypt.”
42 Et il ôta l’anneau de sa main, et le mit à la main de Joseph: il le revêtit aussi d’une robe de fin lin, et lui mit autour du cou un collier d’or.
The king took from his finger the ring that had his seal on it, and he put it on Joseph’s finger. He put robes made of fine linen on him, and he put a gold chain around his neck.
43 Il le fit monter sur son second char, un héraut criant que tous devant lui fléchissent le genou, et sussent qu’il était préposé sur toute la terre d’Égypte.
Then he arranged for Joseph to ride around in the chariot [that showed that he was] the second-most important man in the country. When Joseph rode in the chariot, men shouted to the people who were on the road in front of him, “Get off the road!” So the king put Joseph in charge of everything in the country.
44 Le roi dit aussi à Joseph: Moi je suis Pharaon, mais sans ton commandement nul ne remuera la main ou le pied dans toute la terre d’Égypte.
The king said to Joseph, “I am the king, but no one in the whole land of Egypt will do anything [IDM] if you do not permit them to do it.”
45 Et il changea son nom, et il l’appela en langue égyptienne Sauveur du monde. Il lui donna pour femme Aseneth, fille de Putiphar, prêtre d’Héliopolis. Joseph sortit donc pour visiter la terre d’Égypte.
The king gave Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave him Asenath to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in a temple in On [city]. Then Joseph became known (OR, traveled) through all the land of Egypt.
46 (Or il avait trente ans, quand il fut présenté au roi Pharaon), et il fit le tour de toutes les provinces de l’Égypte.
Joseph was 30 years old when he started to work for the king of Egypt. To do his work, he left the king’s palace and traveled throughout Egypt.
47 Cependant arriva la fertilité des sept années, et les blés, mis en gerbes, furent recueillis dans les greniers de l’Égypte.
During the next seven years, the land produced abundant crops, so there was plenty of food.
48 Toute l’abondance des grains fut mise aussi en réserve dans chacune des villes.
As Joseph supervised them, his helpers collected one-fifth of all the grain that was produced during those years, and stored it in the cities. In each city, he had his helpers store up the grain that was grown in the fields that surrounded that city.
49 Et si grande fut l’abondance du froment, qu’il égalait le sable de la mer, et que la quantité surpassait toute mesure.
Joseph had them store up a huge amount of grain. It looked as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. There was so much grain that after a while they stopped keeping records of how much grain was stored, because there was more grain than they could measure.
50 Or il naquit à Joseph, avant que la famine vînt, deux fils que lui enfanta Aseneth, fille de Putiphar, prêtre d’Héliopolis.
Before the seven years of famine started, Joseph’s wife Asenath gave birth to two sons.
51 Il appela le premier-né du nom de Manassé, disant: Dieu m’a fait oublier toutes mes peines, et la maison de mon père.
Joseph named the first one Manasseh, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘forget]’, because, he said, “God has caused me to forget all my troubles and all my father’s family.”
52 Et il appela le second du nom d’Ephraïm, disant: Dieu m’a fait croître dans la terre de ma pauvreté.
He named his second son Ephraim, [which means ‘to have children]’, because, he said, “God has given me children here in this land where I have suffered.”
53 Ainsi, les sept années de la fertilité de l’Égypte étant passées,
Finally the seven years in which there was plenty of food ended.
54 Commencèrent à venir les sept années de disette que Joseph avait prédites; et dans tout l’univers la famine prévalut; mais dans toute la terre d’Égypte il y avait du pain.
Then the seven years of famine started, just as Joseph had predicted. There was also a famine in all the other nearby lands, but although the crops did not grow, there was food everywhere in Egypt, because of the grain they had stored up in the cities.
55 Or, l’Égypte affamée, le peuple cria à Pharaon, demandant des vivres. Pharaon leur répondit: Allez à Joseph, et tout ce qu’il vous dira, faites-le.
When all the people of [MTY] Egypt had eaten all of their own food and were still hungry, they begged the king for food. So the king told all the people of Egypt, “Go to Joseph, and do what he tells you to do.”
56 Cependant la famine augmentait chaque jour sur toute la terre; et Joseph ouvrit tous les greniers; et il vendait du blé aux Égyptiens, car la famine pesait aussi sur eux.
When the famine was very bad throughout the whole country, Joseph ordered his helpers to open the storehouses. Then they sold the grain in the storehouses to the people of Egypt, because the famine was very severe all over Egypt.
57 Et toutes les provinces venaient en Égypte pour acheter des vivres, et tempérer le mal de la disette.
And people from many [HYP] nearby countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was very severe everywhere [HYP].
