Traduction Masquer
La cité de dieu

CHAPITRE XIV.

DES ANNÉES DE THARÉ, QUI MOURUT A CHARRA.

Or, après la mort de Tharé, qui vécut, dit-on, deux cent cinq ans en Mésopotamie, l’Ecriture commence à parler des promesses que Dieu fit à Abraham; elle s’exprime ainsi:

« Tout le temps de la vie, de Tharé à Charra fut de deux cent cinq ans, puis il mourut¹ ». Il ne faut pas entendre ce passage comme si Tharé avait passé tout ce temps à Charra; l’Ecriture dit seulement qu’il y finit sa vie, qui fut en tout de deux cent cinq ans : on ignorerait autrement combien il a vécu, puisque l’on ne voit point quel âge il avait quand il vint dans cette ville; et il serait absurde de s’imaginer que , dans une généalogie qui énonce si scrupuleusement le temps que chacun a vécu, il fût le seul oublié. Cette omission, il est vrai, a lieu pour quelques-uns; mais c’est qu’ils n’entrent point dans l’ordre de ceux qui composent la série de générations depuis Adam jusqu’à Noé, et depuis Noé jusqu’à Abraham : il n’est aucun de ces derniers dont l’Ecriture ne marque l’âge.

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 14.--Of the Years of Terah, Who Completed His Lifetime in Haran.

On Terah's death in Mesopotamia, where he is said to have lived 205 years, the promises of God made to Abraham now begin to be pointed out; for thus it is written: "And the days of Terah in Haran were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran." ¹ This is not to be taken as if he had spent all his days there, but that he there completed the days of his life, which were two hundred and five years: otherwise it would not be known how many years Terah lived, since it is not said in what year of his life he came into Haran; and it is absurd to suppose that, in this series of generations, where it is carefully recorded how many years each one lived, his age was the only one not put on record. For although some whom the same Scripture mentions have not their age recorded, they are not in this series, in which the reckoning of time is continuously indicated by the death of the parents and the succession of the children. For this series, which is given in order from Adam to Noah, and from him down to Abraham, contains no one without the number of the years of his life.