Jérémie 51
1 Parole qui vint à Jérémie sur tous les Juifs demeurant en la terre d'Égypte; sur ceux établis à Magdolos et à Taphnès, et en la terre de Pathurès, disant:
“Yahweh says this: See, I am about to stir up a wind of destruction against Babylon and against those who live in Leb Kamai.
2 Voici ce que dit le Seigneur Dieu d'Israël: Vous avez vu tous les maux que j'ai amenés sur Jérusalem et sur les villes de Juda; et voilà qu'elles sont vides de leurs habitants,
I will send foreigners to Babylon. They will scatter her and devastate her land, for they will come against her from all around on the day of disaster.
3 Parce qu'ils m'ont exaspéré de leur méchanceté en allant brûler de l'encens pour d'autres dieux, que jadis vous ne connaissiez pas.
Do not let the archers bend their bows; do not let them put on armor. Do not spare her young men; set her whole army apart for destruction.
4 Et je vous ai envoyé de bonne heure mes serviteurs les prophètes, disant: Ne faites point cette œuvre de souillure que je hais.
For the wounded people will fall in the land of the Chaldeans; those who are killed will fall in her streets.
5 Mais ils ne m'ont point écouté, et ils ne m'ont point prêté l'oreille pour se détourner du mal, et cesser de brûler de l'encens pour d'autres dieux.
For Israel and Judah are not forsaken by their God, by Yahweh of hosts, although their land is filled with offenses committed against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Et ma colère est tombée sur eux; elle s'est enflammée contre les portes de Juda et dans les rues de Jérusalem; et elles sont devenues désertes et inhabitables, comme elles le sont encore.
Flee from the midst of Babylon; let each man save himself. Do not perish in her iniquity. For it is the time of Yahweh's vengeance. He will repay all of it to her.
7 Et aujourd'hui voici ce que dit le Seigneur tout-puissant: Pourquoi faites-vous un si grand mal à vos âmes? C'est donc pour faire périr, au milieu de Juda, homme, femme, adolescent, enfant à la mamelle; pour qu'il ne reste plus rien de vous;
Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of Yahweh that made all the world drunk; nations drank her wine and became insane.
8 Pour que vous m'irritiez par les œuvres de vos mains, par l'encens brûlé à des dieux étrangers en la terre d'Égypte, où vous êtes allés demeurer; pour que vous mouriez, maudits et outragés parmi toutes les nations de la terre?
Babylon will fall suddenly and be destroyed. Wail for her! Give her medicine for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
9 Avez-vous oublié les péchés de vos pères, les péchés des rois de Juda, les péchés de vos princes et les péchés de vos femmes, qui ont été commis dans la terre de Juda et dans les rues de Jérusalem?
'We wished to heal Babylon, but she is not healed. Let us all leave her and go away, to our own land. For her guilt reaches up to the heavens; it is piled up to the clouds.
10 Et jusqu'à ce jour ils n'ont point cessé de pécher et ils n'ont point gardé mes commandements, que j'avais donnés à leurs pères.
Yahweh has declared our innocence. Come, let us tell in Zion the deeds of Yahweh our God.'
11 A cause de cela, ainsi parle le Seigneur: Voilà que je tourne ma face contre vous,
Sharpen the arrows and take up the shields. Yahweh is stirring up the spirit of the king of the Medes in a plan to destroy Babylon. This is for Yahweh's vengeance, vengeance for the destruction of his temple.
12 Pour détruire tous ces restes qui sont en Égypte; et ils tomberont par le glaive et par la faim, et ils périront du petit au grand, et ils seront outragés, et perdus, et maudits.
Lift up a banner over Babylon's walls; make the watch strong; set up watchmen; prepare the ambushes; for the LORD will do what he has said concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 Et je visiterai ceux qui sont établis en la terre d'Égypte, comme j'ai visité Jérusalem, avec le glaive et la famine.
You people who live by many streams of water, you people who are rich with treasures, your end has come. The thread of your life is now cut short.
14 Et nul ne sera sauvé des restes de Juda qui sont comme passagers en Égypte; et nul ne reviendra en la terre de Juda, où en leur âme ils espéraient revenir; ils n'en reviendront pas, sauf ceux qui déjà se sont échappés.
Yahweh of hosts has sworn by his own life, 'I will fill you with men, like a swarm of locusts, and they will raise a battle cry against you.'
15 Alors tous les hommes qui savaient que leurs femmes brûlaient de l'encens, toutes ces femmes en grand nombre et tout le peuple établi à Pathurès en la terre d'Égypte, répondirent à Jérémie, disant:
He has made the earth by his power; he set in place the world by his wisdom. By his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16 Quant aux paroles que tu nous dis au nom du Seigneur, nous ne t'écouterons pas;
When he thunders, there is the roar of waters in the heavens, for he brings up the mist from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for rain and sends out wind from his storehouses.
17 Car nous ferons et nous accomplirons toute parole sortie de notre bouche, en brûlant de l'encens à la reine du ciel, et en lui offrant des libations, comme nous avons fait, comme ont fait nos pères, nos rois et nos princes dans les villes de Juda et dans les rues à Jérusalem. Aujourd'hui nous nous rassasions de pain, et nous sommes heureux, et nous n'avons point vu de malheurs:
Every man has become ignorant, without knowledge. Every metalworker is put to shame by his idols. For his cast images are frauds, and there is no life in them.
18 Et dès que nous avons cessé de brûler de l'encens la reine du ciel, nous avons été tous amoindris, et nous avons péri par le glaive et la famine.
They are useless, the work of mockers; they will perish at the time of their punishment.
19 Et si nous avons brûlé de l'encens à la reine du ciel, si nous lui avons offert des libations, est-ce que nous préparions pour elle, sans le consentement de nos maris, des gâteaux et des libations?
But God, the portion of Jacob, is not like these, for he is the molder of all things. Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; Yahweh of hosts is his name.
20 Et Jérémie dit à tout le peuple, aux hommes dans la force de l'âge, et aux femmes, et à tout le peuple qui lui répondait de la sorte:
You are my war hammer, my weapon for battle. With you I will smash nations and destroy kingdoms.
21 Le Seigneur ne s'est-il point souvenu de l'encens que vous brûliez dans les villes de Juda et dans les rues de Jérusalem, vous et vos pères, et vos rois, et vos princes, et tout le peuple de la terre? Et ces péchés ne sont-ils pas montés jusqu'à son cœur?
With you I will smash horses and their riders; with you I will smash chariots and their drivers.
22 Et le Seigneur n'a pu vous supporter à cause de la malice de vos œuvres, et des abominations que vous commettiez. Et votre terre est devenue déserte, sans chemin, sans bénédiction, telle qu'elle est encore aujourd'hui,
With you I will smash each man and woman; with you I will smash the old and the young. With you I will smash the young men and the virgin girls.
23 En punition de ce que vous avez brûlé de l'encens et péché contre le Seigneur. Et vous n'avez point écouté la voix du Seigneur, et vous n'avez point marché en ses commandements, en sa loi, en ses témoignages; et ces malheurs vous sont arrivés.
With you I will smash the shepherds and their flocks; with you I will smash the plowmen and their teams. With you I will smash the governors and officials.
24 Et Jérémie dit encore au peuple et aux femmes: Écoutez la parole du Seigneur:
For in your sight I will pay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all of the evil that they did in Zion—this is Yahweh's declaration.
25 Voici ce que dit le Seigneur Dieu d'Israël: Vous femmes, vous avez parlé de votre propre bouche, et vous avez agi de vos propres mains, disant: Nous remplirons publiquement nos vœux en brûlant de l'encens à la reine du ciel, et en lui offrant des libations.
See, I am against you, mountain of destruction—this is Yahweh's declaration—which destroys the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.
26 A cause de cela, écoutez la parole du Seigneur: O vous, vous hommes de Juda établis en Égypte, voilà que j'ai juré par mon nom très grand, dit le Seigneur, que mon nom ne sera plus en la bouche d'aucun homme de Juda pour qu'il dise: Vive le Seigneur! en toute la terre d'Égypte.
So they will not take from you any stone to construct a building's corner or foundation; for you will become an everlasting devastation—this is Yahweh's declaration.
27 J'ai veillé sur eux pour les affliger, non pour leur faire du bien; et tous les hommes de Juda demeurant en la terre d'Égypte périront par le glaive et la famine, jusqu'à qu'ils aient tous disparu.
Lift up a banner over the earth. Blow the trumpet over the nations. Call the nations to attack her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander to attack her; bring up horses like swarming locusts.
28 Et ceux qui auront échappé au glaive, c'est qu'ils seront retournés en la terre de Juda; il y en aura un très petit nombre; mais le reste de Juda, établi en la terre d'Égypte pour y demeurer, connaîtra quel est celui dont la parole est stable.
Prepare the nations to attack her: The kings of the Medes and his governors, all of his officials and all the lands under his rule.
29 Et tel est pour vous un signe que je vous visiterai pour votre malheur:
For the land will shake and be in anguish, since Yahweh's plans continue against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a wasteland where there is no inhabitant.
30 Ainsi dit le Seigneur: Voilà que je livre Vaphrès, roi d'Égypte, aux mains de son ennemi et aux mains de celui qui en veut à sa vie; de même que j'ai livré Sédécias, roi de Juda, aux mains de Nabuchodonosor, roi de Babylone, son ennemi, qui en voulait à sa vie.
The soldiers in Babylon have stopped fighting; they stay in their strongholds. Their strength has failed; they have become women—her homes are on fire, the bars of her gates are broken.
31 Parole que Jérémie le prophète dit à Baruch, fils de Nérias, lorsqu'il écrivit ces paroles, en un livre, de la bouche de Jérémie, la quatrième année du règne de Joakim, fils de Josias, roi de Juda.
A messenger runs to proclaim to another messenger, and a runner tells another runner to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been taken from end to end.
32 Voici ce que le Seigneur dit sur toi, Baruch:
So the fords over the river are seized; the enemy is burning the reed marshes, and Babylon's fighting men are confused.
33 Parce que tu as dit: Hélas! hélas! le Seigneur m'envoie douleur sur douleur; je me suis couché gémissant, et je n'ai point trouvé de repos;
For Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor. It is time to trample her down. In a little while the time of harvest will come to her.
34 Dis-lui: Ainsi parle le Seigneur: Voilà que je vais abattre ceux que j'ai édifiés; et ceux que j'ai plantés je les arracherai.
'Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, he has driven me into confusion and has made me an empty pot. Like a monster he has swallowed me, he has filled his stomach with my delicious foods, and then he has spit me out.'
35 Après cela, demanderas-tu beaucoup pour toi? Ne demande rien; car j'amène des maux sur toute chair, dit le Seigneur; mais à toi je te donnerai la vie, et ce sera pour toi comme un butin en tout lieu où tu iras.
The one who lives in Zion will say, 'May the violence done to me and my flesh be on Babylon.' Jerusalem will say, 'May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea.'
Therefore Yahweh says this: See, I am about to plead your case and bring about vengeance for you. For I will dry up Babylon's waters and make her springs run dry.
Babylon will become heaps of rubble, a den of jackals, a horror, an object of hissing, where there are no inhabitants.
The Babylonians will roar together like young lions. They will growl like lion cubs.
When they become hot with greed, I will make a feast for them; I will make them drunk so they become happy, and then sleep an unending sleep and not wake up—this is Yahweh's declaration—
I will send them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
How Babylon has been captured! So the praise of all the earth is seized. How Babylon has become a ruined place among the nations.
The sea has come up over Babylon! She is covered with its roaring waves.
Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land that no one inhabits, and no human being passes through.
So I will punish Bel in Babylon; I will bring out from his mouth what he swallowed, and the nations will no longer flow to him with their offerings. The walls of Babylon will fall.
Go out from her midst, my people. Let each of you save his own life from the fury of my wrath.
Do not let your hearts be timid or fear the news that is heard in the land, for the news will come one year. After it in the next year there will be news, and violence will be in the land. Ruler will be against ruler.
Therefore, see, days are coming when I will punish the carved idols of Babylon. All of her land will be ashamed, and all of her slaughtered ones will fall in her midst.
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them will rejoice over Babylon. For destroyers will come for her from the north—this is Yahweh's declaration.
As Babylon has made the killed of Israel fall, so the killed of all her land will fall in Babylon.
Survivors of the sword, go away! Do not stay still. Call Yahweh to mind from far away; let Jerusalem come to mind.
We are ashamed, for we have heard insults; reproach has covered our faces, for foreigners have entered the holy places of Yahweh's house.
Therefore, see, days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when I will punish her carved idols, and the wounded people will groan in all of her land.
For even if Babylon went up to the heavens or fortified her highest fortresses, destroyers would come from me to her—this is Yahweh's declaration.
A shout of distress came from Babylon, a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.
For Yahweh is destroying Babylon. He is causing her loud voice to perish. Their enemies roar like the waves of many waters; their noise becomes very strong.
For the destroyers have come against her—against Babylon!—and her warriors have been captured. Their bows are broken, for Yahweh is the God of vengeance; he will surely carry out this repayment.
For I will make her princes, her sages, her officials, and her soldiers drunk, and they will sleep in an unending sleep and never wake up —this is the King's declaration: Yahweh of hosts is his name.
Yahweh of hosts says this: The thick walls of Babylon will be completely demolished, and her high gates will be burned. Then the peoples coming to her aid will labor uselessly; everything that the nations try to do for her will be burned up.”
This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was a chief officer.
For Jeremiah had written in a scroll about all the disaster that was going to come on Babylon—all these words that were written about Babylon.
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you go to Babylon, then you will see and you will read these words aloud.
Then you will say, 'Yahweh, you yourself have declared that you would destroy this place, and that no man or animal will live in it, and it will be desolate forever.'
Then when you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.
Say, 'Babylon will sink like this. It will not arise because of the disaster that I am sending against it, and they will fall.'” Jeremiah's words end here.
