Genèse 49
1 Et Jacob fit venir ses fils et dit: Rassemblez-vous, je vais vous découvrir ce qui vous arrivera dans les temps à venir!
Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,
2 Réunissez-vous, et écoutez, fils de Jacob, écoutez Israël, votre père.
“Gather around me in order that I can tell you what will happen in the future. My sons, come and listen to me. I am your father, [Jacob, whom God named] Israel.
3 Ruben, tu es mon premier-né, ma vigueur, et les prémices de ma virilité; tu as la prééminence du rang, la prééminence de la force.
Reuben, you are my oldest son. You were born when I was young and energetic/strong. You are prouder and stronger than all the rest of my sons.
4 Toi qui bous comme les eaux, tu perdras ton rang! car tu es monté au lit de ton père, tu l'as profané!… c'est dans ma couche qu'il est monté!
But you were as uncontrollable as a flood [SIM]. So now you will not be my most important son, because you climbed up onto my bed, and had sex with [MTY] my (concubine/slave who had become one of my wives). Your doing that caused me, your father, to have great shame.
5 Siméon et Lévi sont des frères; leurs glaives furent instruments de violence.
Simeon and Levi, you have both acted like criminals. You use your swords to act violently.
6 Que mon âme n'entre point en leur conseil, que ma personne ne se joigne point à leur ligue! Dans leur courroux ils ont tué des hommes, et dans leur passion coupé les nerfs des taureaux.
I do not want to be with you when you make evil plans [DOU]. I do not want to join you in your meetings, because you killed people when you became very angry, and you (hamstrung/cut the tendons in the legs of) oxen just to (have fun/see them suffer).
7 Maudit soit leur courroux, car il fut violent, et leur fureur, car elle fut cruelle! Je les distribuerai dans Jacob et les disséminerai dans Israël.
God says, ‘I will (curse/cause bad things to happen to) them for being very angry, for acting very cruelly when they were very furious. I will scatter their descendants [MTY] throughout Israel land.’
8 Juda, c'est toi que tes frères loueront; ta main saisit le col de tes ennemis, les fils de ton père s'inclineront devant toi.
Judah, your [older and younger] brothers will praise you. They will bow down before you, because you will thoroughly defeat [MTY] your enemies.
9 Juda est un jeune lion, après la capture, tu reviens, mon fils! il se replie, il se rase comme le lion, comme la lionne, qui le fera lever?
Judah is like a young lion [SIM] that has returned to its den satisfied after eating the animals that it has killed. He is like a lion that lies down and stretches out after eating; no one would dare to disturb it [RHQ].
10 Le sceptre ne se retire point de Juda, ni le bâton de l'empire d'entre ses pieds, jusqu'à ce qu'il entre à Silo, et que les peuples lui rendent obéissance.
There will always be a ruler [MTY] from the descendants of Judah [MTY]. Each one will hold a scepter/staff to show that he has authority as a king. He will do that until the one to whom the scepter belongs comes, the one to whom the nations will bring tribute and show that they will obey him.
11 Il attache son âne à la vigne, et au noble cep le poulain de son ânesse; il baigne son habit dans le vin, et son manteau dans le sang du raisin;
The grapevines of Judah’s descendants will produce grapes very abundantly. As a result, they will not object to tying their young donkeys to the grapevines in order that the donkeys can eat the leaves of the grapevines. [Wine will be very plentiful, with the result that] they could wash their cloaks in wine that is as red as blood [MET].
12 le vin fait étinceler ses yeux, et le lait blanchit ses dents.
Their eyes will be red because of [drinking too much] wine, but their teeth will be very white because of drinking much milk [from the cows].
13 Zabulon habite la plage de la mer, il habite la plage des navires, et ses confins atteignent à Sidon.
Zebulun, your descendants will live by the seashore where there will be a safe harbor for ships. Their land will extend north as far as Sidon [city].
14 Issaschar, âne robuste, repose entre les parcs,
Issachar, your descendants will be like strong donkeys that are lying down on the ground between their loads, [so tired that they cannot get up]!
15 et voyant la beauté de son lieu de son repos, et les agréments de la contrée, il présente son épaule au fardeau, et fait le service des corvées.
They will see that their resting place is good, and that the land pleases them very much. But they will bend their backs to carry heavy loads and be forced to work for others.
16 Dan juge son peuple, comme chacune des tribus d'Israël.
Dan, although your tribe will be small, their leaders will rule their people just like the leaders of other tribes of Israel will rule their people.
17 Dan est un serpent sur le chemin, un céraste sur le sentier, il mord les pâturons des chevaux, et le cavalier tombe à la renverse.
Your descendants will be like snakes at the side of a road, like poisonous snakes lying beside a path. They will strike the heels of horses that pass by, causing the riders to fall backwards [as the horses rear up on their hind legs].”
18 C'est ton salut que j'attends, Éternel!…
Then Jacob prayed, “Yahweh, I am waiting for you to rescue me [from my enemies].”
19 Gad est assailli par des escadrons, mais il assaille l'arrière-garde.
[Then Jacob continued telling his sons what would happen in the future. He said], “Gad, your tribe/descendants will be attacked by a group of bandits, but your tribe/descendants will pursue and attack them [MTY].
20 D'Asser sort le pain savoureux, il fournit les friandises des rois.
Asher, your descendants will eat good-tasting food; they will produce food that is delicious enough for kings to eat.
21 Nephthali est une biche élancée: il prononce des discours élégants.
Naphtali, your descendants will be like deer [MET] that are (free to/not tied down and can) run wherever they wish. They will give birth to children who are good-looking like (fawns/baby deer) [MET].
22 Joseph est le rameau d'un arbre fécond, le rameau d'un arbre fécond près d'une source, ses jets franchissent la muraille.
Joseph, you will have many descendants [MET]. Their children will be as many as the fruit on a vine near a spring of water, whose branches extend over a wall.
23 On le provoque, on tire, et les archers le poursuivent;
Their enemies will attack them fiercely, and shoot at them with bows and arrows and pursue them.
24 mais son arc reste ferme et ses mains ont force et souplesse. Que la main du Héros de Jacob, du lieu où réside le Berger et le Rocher d'Israël,
But they will hold their bows steady and their arms will remain strong, because of the power [MTY] of my mighty God, because of Yahweh who guides and provides for me [MET] like a shepherd guides and provides for his sheep. The people of Israel will [ask Yahweh to protect them], [like people hide under] a huge [overhanging] to be protected.
25 la main du Dieu de ton père, qui fut ton aide, du Tout-Puissant qui t'a béni, répande les bénédictions du ciel exhaussé, les bénédictions des ondes de la couche inférieure, les bénédictions des mamelles et de la maternité.
God, the one whom I worship, will help your descendants. God Almighty will bless them by sending them rain from the sky and by giving them water from deep/far below the ground. He will give them many cattle and children [MET] (OR, and their cattle will have many offspring).
26 La bénédiction de ton père est supérieure à la bénédiction des monts élevés, aux attraits des coteaux éternels: qu'elle repose sur la tête de Joseph, sur le front du prince de ses frères!
The blessings that I want God to give you are great ones. They are greater than the blessings that come from the eternal mountains, greater than the ones that come from the everlasting hills. Joseph, I pray that these blessings will (be given to you/come upon your head), because you are the leader of your [older] brothers [and younger brother].
27 Benjamin est le loup qui déchire; le matin il dévore une proie, et le soir il partage le butin.
Benjamin, your descendants will be like [MET] vicious/fierce wolves: In the morning they will kill their enemies like a wolf devours (its prey/the animals that it has killed), and in the evening they will divide among their warriors the spoils that they seized from their enemies.”
28 Tels sont tous ceux qui forment les tribus d'Israël, douze en nombre, et telles sont les paroles que leur adressa leur père; et c'est ainsi qu'il les bénit, leur donnant à chacun une bénédiction particulière.
Those twelve sons are the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. That is what their father said to them as he blessed them, telling to each one words that were appropriate for him.
29 Et il leur laissa ses instructions en ces termes: Je vais être recueilli auprès de mon peuple; vous me donnerez la sépulture à côté de mes pères dans la grotte du champ de Ephron le Héthien,
Then Jacob said to his sons, “I will soon die. Bury my body where some of my ancestors are buried, in the cave that is in the field that was bought from Ephron, who belonged to the Heth people-group.
30 dans la grotte du champ de Macpéla à l'orient de Mamré au pays de Canaan, qu'Abraham a achetée de Ephron le Héthien, avec le champ comme propriété sépulcrale;
That field is in the Machpelah area, east of Mamre [town], in Canaan. My grandfather Abraham bought it from Ephron to use as a burial place.
31 c'est là qu'ont reçu la sépulture Abraham et Sarah, sa femme; c'est là qu'ont reçu la sépulture Isaac et Rebecca, sa femme, et c'est là que j'ai donné la sépulture à Léa,
That is where they buried him and his wife Sarah. That is where they buried my father Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And that is where I buried my wife Leah.
32 dans le champ acheté des enfants de Heth, et dans la grotte qui s'y trouve.
That field and the cave in it were bought from the Heth people-group; so that is where I want you to bury me.”
33 Et lorsque Jacob eut achevé de donner ses ordres à ses fils, il assembla ses pieds sur le lit, et il expira et fut recueilli auprès de ses pères.
When Jacob finished giving those instructions to his sons, he lay down on his bed again. Then he died [IDM].
