Nahum 3
1 Malheur à la cité sanguinaire, toute pleine de fraude, de violence, qui ne renonce pas à la rapine!
Terrible things will happen to [Nineveh], that city [that is full of people who] murder [MTY] and lie. [The city is] full of things that were seized [from other countries by their soldiers]; [their armies] continually [LIT] have acted brutally towards people whom they conquered.
2 Entendez les fouets, et entendez le roulement des roues et les chevaux galopant et les chars bondissant.
But [now listen to the enemy soldiers coming to attack Nineveh]; [listen to them] cracking their whips, and [listen to the] rattle of [their chariot] wheels! [Listen to] their galloping horses and their chariots as they bounce along!
3 La cavalerie est en course, l'épée jette des flammes et la lance l'éclair; c'est une masse de tués et une foule de morts et une infinité de cadavres, on heurte contre des cadavres.
[Look at their] flashing swords and glittering spears as the horsemen race forward! Many [people of Nineveh will be] killed; [there will be] piles of corpses, [with the result that] people will stumble over them.
4 C'est à cause des nombreuses prostitutions de la prostituée attrayante, enchanteresse, qui vendait les peuples par ses prostitutions et les familles par ses enchantements.
All [that will happen] because [Nineveh is like] [MET] a beautiful prostitute [who lures men to where they will be ruined]; [Nineveh is a beautiful city] which has attracted/enticed [people of] other nations [to come there]. [The people of Nineveh] taught those people [of other nations rituals of] magic, and caused them to become their slaves.
5 Voici, j'en veux à toi, dit l'Éternel des armées, je retrousserai les pans de ta robe par-dessus ton visage, et ferai voir aux peuples ta nudité et aux royaumes ton ignominie;
[So] the Commander of the armies of angels says to [the people of Nineveh]: “I am your enemy, and I will [cause the people in other] nations to see you [completely] humiliated like [MET] [women who have committed adultery are humiliated by] having their skirts lifted high, [with the result that] people can see their naked [bodies].
6 et je jetterai sur toi des ordures et te ferai honte et t'exposerai en spectacle.
I will cause rubbish/garbage to be thrown at you; I will show [others] that I despise you very much, and I will cause you to be publicly ridiculed.
7 Et qui te verra, te fuira et dira: « Ninive est détruite; qui la plaindrait? Où te chercherai-je des consolateurs? »
All those who see you will turn their backs to you and say, ‘Nineveh is ruined, but absolutely no one [RHQ] will mourn for it.’ No one will regret Nineveh being destroyed!”
8 Es-tu meilleure que No-Ammon qui était assise sur le fleuve, que les eaux entouraient, dont une mer était le fossé et une mer la muraille?
Your city is certainly [RHQ] no safer than Thebes [city] was. [Thebes was an important city] beside the Nile [River]; the river was [like] [SIM] a wall that protected the city [DOU].
9 L'Ethiopie était sa force, avec les innombrables Égyptiens; les Phytes et les Libyens étaient tes auxiliaires.
[The rulers of] Ethiopia and Egypt helped Thebes; there was no limit to their power. [The governments of the nearby countries of] Put and Libya were also allies of Thebes.
10 Elle aussi s'en est allée captive en exil; ses enfants aussi furent écrasés à tous les carrefours; et on tira ses nobles au sort, et tous ses grands furent liés de chaînes.
But Thebes was captured, and [its people were] (exiled/forced to go to other countries). Their babies were dashed to pieces in the streets [of the city]. [Enemy soldiers] (cast lots/threw small marked stones) to decide who would get each official in Thebes [to become his slave]. All the leaders of Thebes were fastened/tied by chains.
11 Toi aussi tu boiras ton soûl [du calice], tu. te cacheras, toi aussi tu chercheras un abri contre l'ennemi.
You [people of Nineveh] will similarly become dazed and drunk, and you will search for places to hide [to escape] from your enemies.
12 Tous tes remparts sont des figuiers portant des primeurs; les secoue-t-on, elles tombent dans la bouche de qui veut en manger.
[Your enemies will cause] the walls around your city to fall down like [SIM] the first figs that fall from fig trees [each year]. [Your city will be captured easily, like] [MET] [figs that fall] into the mouths [HYP] of those who shake the fig trees.
13 Voici, tes armées seront des femmes au milieu de toi, à tes ennemis s'ouvrent les portes de ton pays, et le feu dévore tes verrous.
Look at your soldiers! They will be [as weak/helpless as] [MET] women! The gates of your city will be opened wide [to allow] your enemies [to enter them], [and then] the bars of those gates will be burned.
14 Fais ta provision d'eau pour le siège, fortifie tes remparts, broie la glaise et foule l'argile, répare les fours à briques!
Store up water [now to use when] your enemies surround the city! Repair the forts! Dig up clay and trample it [to make it soft], and put it into molds to make bricks [to repair the walls]!
15 Là le feu te dévorera, l'épée te détruira, te dévorera comme l'attelabe, quand tu serais nombreuse comme l'attelabe, nombreuse comme la sauterelle.
[Nevertheless, your enemies] will burn your [city]; they will kill you with their swords; they will kill you like [SIM] locusts [destroy crops].
16 Tu as plus de marchands qu'il n'y a d'étoiles au ciel; l'attelabe déploie ses ailes et prend son vol.
In your [city] there are now very many merchants; [it seems that] there are more of them than there are stars. But [when your city is being destroyed, those merchants will take the valuable things and disappear] [like] [SIM] locusts that strip the leaves from plants and [then] fly away.
17 Tes princes sont nombreux comme les sauterelles, et tes chefs comme les locustes qui se posent sur les murailles au temps froid: le soleil se lève-t-il, elles fuient, et on ignore le lieu où elles sont.
Your leaders are [also] like a swarm of [SIM] locusts [DOU] that crowd together on the stone fences/walls on a cold day, and [then] fly away when the sun comes up, and no one knows where they have gone.
18 Tes bergers sommeillent, roi d'Assur, tes généraux reposent; ton peuple est disséminé sur les montagnes, et nul ne le rassemble.
O King of Assyria, your officials will [all] be dead [EUP]; your important people will lie down and rest [forever]. Your people will be scattered over the mountains, and there will no one to gather them [together].
19 Point de remède à ta blessure! ta plaie est incurable. Tous ceux qui ouïront parler de toi, battront des mains sur toi; car sur qui ne s'est pas étendue ta méchanceté incessamment?
You [are like someone who] has a wound that cannot be healed; [it will be] a wound that causes him to die. And all those who hear about what has happened to you will clap their hands [joyfully]. [They will say, ] “Everyone has [RHQ] suffered because he continually was [very] cruel to us.”
