2 Kings 3
1 After Jehoshaphat had been ruling Judah for almost 18 years, Ahab’s son Joram became the king of Israel. He ruled in Samaria [city] for twelve years.
Or, Joram, fils d’Achab, régna sur Israël dans Samarie, la dix-huitième année de Josaphat, roi de Juda; et il régna douze ans.
2 He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil, but he did not do as much evil as his father and mother had done, and he got rid of the pillar [for worshiping] Baal which his father had made.
Et il fit le mal devant le Seigneur, mais non comme son père et sa mère, car il détruisit les statues de Baal qu’avait faites son père.
3 But he committed the sins that [King] Jeroboam had committed and which led the Israeli people to sin, and he did not stop committing those sins.
Cependant il resta attaché aux péchés de Jéroboam, fils de Nabath, qui avait fait pécher Israël, et il ne s’en éloigna point.
4 Mesha, the king of Moab, raised sheep. [Every year] he was forced to give 100,000 lambs and the wool from 100,000 rams to the king of Israel, [because his kingdom was controlled by the king of Israel].
Or Mésa, roi de Moab, nourrissait des troupeaux nombreux, et payait au roi d’Israël cent mille agneaux et cent mille béliers avec leurs toisons.
5 But after King Ahab died, Mesha rebelled against the king of Israel.
Mais, lorsqu’Achab fut mort, il rompit le traité qu’il avait fait avec le roi d’Israël.
6 So King Joram left Samaria and gathered together all his soldiers.
Le roi Joram sortit donc en ce jour-là de Samarie, et il recensa tout Israël.
7 Then he sent this message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. So will your army join my army and fight against the army of Moab?” Jehoshaphat replied, “Yes, we will help you. We are ready to do whatever you want us to. My soldiers and my horses are ready to help you.”
Et il envoya à Josaphat, roi de Juda, disant: Le roi de Moab s’est retiré de moi; venez avec moi pour combattre contre lui. Josaphat répondit: Je monterai: qui est à moi est à vous; mon peuple est votre peuple, et mes chevaux, vos chevaux.
8 He asked, “On which road shall we march to attack them?” Joram replied, “We will go [south to Jerusalem, where your army will join us. Then we will all go south of the Dead Sea, and then turn north] through the Edom Desert.”
il ajouta: Par quel chemin monterons-nous? Et Joram répondit: Par le désert d’Idumée.
9 So the king of Israel [and his army] went with the kings of Judah and Edom [and their armies]. They marched for seven days. Then there was no water left for their soldiers or for their animals that carried supplies.
Le roi d’Israël et le roi de Juda et le roi d’Edom marchèrent donc, et ils firent des circuits dans le chemin durant sept jours: et il n’y avait point d’eau pour l’armée, et pour les bêtes qui les suivaient.
10 The king of Israel exclaimed, “This is a terrible situation! [It seems that] Yahweh will allow the three of us to be captured by [the army of] [MTY] Moab!”
Alors le roi d’Israël dit: Hélas! hélas! hélas! le Seigneur nous a assemblés, trois rois, pour nous livrer entre les mains de Moab.
11 Jehoshaphat said, “Is there a prophet here who can ask Yahweh for us [what we should do]?” One of Joram’s army officers said, “Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here. He was Elijah’s assistant.” [IDM]
Et Josaphat demanda: Y a-t-il ici un prophète du Seigneur, afin que nous implorions le Seigneur par lui? Et un des serviteurs du roi d’Israël répondit: Il y a ici Élisée, fils de Saphat, qui versait de l’eau sur les mains d’Élie.
12 Jehoshaphat said, “[It will be good to ask him, because] he speaks what Yahweh tells him to say.” So those three kings went to Elisha.
Et Josaphat dit: La parole du Seigneur est en lui. Et le roi d’Israël descendit vers lui, ainsi que Josaphat, roi de Juda, et le roi d’Edom.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you come to me [RHQ]? Go and ask those prophets that your father and mother consulted!” But Joram replied, “No, [we want you to ask Yahweh, because it seems that] Yahweh is going to allow us three kings to be captured by the army of Moab.”
Or Élisée dit au roi d’Israël: Qu’importe à moi et à vous? Allez aux prophètes de votre père et de votre mère. Et le roi d’Israël lui dit: Pourquoi le Seigneur a-t-il assemblé ces trois rois pour les livrer entre les mains de Joab?
14 Elisha replied, “I serve Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels in heaven. As surely as he lives, if I did not respect Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not even think about doing anything to help you.
Et Élisée lui dit: Il vit, le Seigneur des armées, en la présence duquel je suis! si je ne respectais la personne de Josaphat, roi de Juda, je n’aurais pas même fait attention à vous, et je ne vous aurais pas regardé.
15 But, bring a musician to me.” [So they did that]. And when the musician played [on his harp], the power of Yahweh came on Elisha.
Mais maintenant amenez-moi un joueur de psaltérion. Et pendant que le joueur de psaltérion chantait, la main du Seigneur fut sur Élisée, et il dit:
16 He said, “Yahweh says that he will cause this dry stream-bed to be full of water.
Voici ce que dit le Seigneur: Faites du lit de ce torrent des fosses et des fosses.
17 The result will be that your soldiers and your animals that carry supplies and your livestock will have plenty of water to drink.
Car voici ce que dit le Seigneur: Vous ne verrez pas de vent,’ni de pluie, et ce lit sera rempli d’eau, et vous boirez, vous, et vos familles et vos bêtes.
18 That is not difficult for Yahweh to do. [But he will do more than that]. He will also enable you to defeat [the army of] Moab.
Et ceci est peu aux yeux du Seigneur: de plus, il livrera les Moabites entre vos mains.
19 You will conquer all their beautiful cities, cities that have high walls around them. You must cut down all their fruit trees, stop water from flowing from their springs, and ruin their fertile fields by covering them with rocks.”
Et vous attaquerez vivement toute cité fortifiée, toute ville importante; vous couperez par le pied tout arbre fruitier; vous boucherez toutes les sources d’eaux; et tout champ le plus fertile, vous le couvrirez de pierres.
20 The next morning, at the time when they offered the sacrifices [of grain], they were surprised to see water flowing from Edom and covering the ground.
Il arriva donc le matin, quand on a coutume d’offrir le sacrifice, que des eaux venaient sur la voie d’Edom, et la terre fut remplie d’eaux.
21 When the people of Moab heard that the three kings had come [with their armies] to fight against them, all the men who were able to fight in battles, from the youngest men to the oldest ones, were summoned, and they (took their positions/prepared to fight) at the [southern] border of their land.
Or tous les Moabites, apprenant que les rois étaient montés pour combattre contre eux, convoquèrent tous ceux qui étaient ceints par-dessus d’un baudrier, et ils se tinrent sur les frontières.
22 But when they rose early the next morning, they saw that the water across from them appeared to be as red as blood.
Et, se levant de grand matin, et le soleil paraissant déjà vis-à-vis des eaux, les Moabites virent à l’opposite les eaux rouges comme le sang;
23 They exclaimed, “It is blood! The three enemy armies must have fought and killed each other! So let’s go and take everything that they have left!”
Et ils dirent: C’est le sang du glaive; les rois se sont battus l’un contre l’autre, et ils se sont taillés en pièces mutuellement: maintenant, va au butin, Moab.
24 But when they reached the area where the Israeli soldiers had set up their tents, the Israelis attacked the soldiers from Moab and forced them to retreat. The Israeli soldiers pursued the soldiers from Moab and killed many of them.
Et ils marchèrent vers le camp d’Israël; mais Israël, se levant, battit Moab, et Moab s’enfuit devant Israël. Ils vinrent donc ceux qui avaient vaincu, et ils battirent Moab;
25 The Israelis also destroyed their cities. And whenever they passed fertile fields, they threw rocks on those fields, until the fields were covered with rocks. They stopped water from flowing from the springs and cut down the fruit trees. Finally, only [the capital city, ] Kir-Hareseth, remained. The Israeli soldiers who threw stones with slings surrounded the city and attacked it.
Ils détruisirent les villes, et jetant chacun leur pierre, ils remplirent tout champ le plus fertile; ils bouchèrent toutes les sources d’eaux, coupèrent par le pied tous les arbres fruitiers, en sorte qu’il ne resta que les murailles faites d’argile; la ville fut investie par les frondeurs, et en grande partie, abattue.
26 When the king of Moab realized that his army was being defeated, he took with him 700 men who fought with swords, and they tried to force a way through the Israeli lines of soldiers to escape to [get help from] the king of Syria, but they were unable to escape.
Lorsque le roi de Moab eut vu cela, c’est-à-dire que les ennemis avaient prévalu, il prit avec lui sept cents hommes tirant l’épée pour qu’ils se jetassent sur le roi d’Edom; mais ils ne le purent pas.
27 Then the king of Moab took his oldest son, who would have become the next king, and killed him and offered him for a sacrifice [to their god Chemosh], burning him on top of the city wall. The Israeli soldiers were horrified, with the result that they left that city and returned to their own country.
Et alors, saisissant son fils le premier-né qui devait régner après lui, il l’offrit en holocauste sur le mur, et il y eut une grande indignation parmi les enfants d’Israël; et aussitôt ils se retirèrent de lui, et ils retournèrent en leur terre.
