撒母耳記上 2
1 亞納祈禱說：「我從心裏喜樂於上主，我的頭因上主而高仰；我可開口嘲笑我的敵人，因為我喜樂於你的救助。
Then Hannah prayed, saying, “I rejoice in [what] you, [, have done]. I am strong [MET] because I belong to you. I (laugh at/ridicule) my enemies, because you, Yahweh have rescued me [from being taunted by them].
2 沒有聖者，相似上主；除了你以外，沒有另一位；沒有磐石，相似我們的天主。
There is no one who is holy like you, Yahweh. There is no other god like you. There is no one like you, our God, who can protect us [as though you were putting us beneath] a huge rock [where we can hide from danger].
3 你們別再三說誑言，別口出豪語；上主是全知的天主，人的行為由他衡量。
[You people who oppose God], stop boasting! Yahweh is a God who knows [everything], and he will evaluate/judge everyone’s actions. So don’t speak so arrogantly!
4 壯士的弓已被折斷，衰弱者反而力量倍增。
Yahweh, you break the bows/weapons of mighty soldiers, and you give strength to those who stumble [because of being weak].
5 曾享飽飫的，今傭工求食；曾受饑餓的，今無須勞役；不妊的今生了七子，多產者反而生育停頓。
Many people who previously had plenty to eat, now have to work for other people [to earn money] to buy food, but many who were always hungry are not hungry any more. The woman who did not have any children before, now has given birth to many/seven children, and the woman who had many children before, now is very lonely [because they have all died].
Yahweh, you cause some people to die, and you restore some people who are almost dead. For some people, [it seems that they will soon] go to where the dead people are, but you cause them to become healthy again. (Sheol h7585)
7 上主使人窮，也使人富；貶抑人，也舉揚人；
Yahweh, you cause some people to be poor and you cause some people to be rich, you humble some people and you honor some people.
8 上主由塵埃中提拔卑賤者，從糞土中高舉貧窮者，使他與王侯同席，承受光榮座位；大地的支柱原屬上主，支柱上奠定了世界。
[Sometimes] you lift poor people up so that they are no longer [despondent, sitting in the dust, ] or sitting on heaps of ashes; you cause them to sit next to princes; you cause them to sit on chairs/thrones where people who are highly honored sit. Yahweh, you are the one who laid the foundations of the earth, and you have set the whole world on those foundations.
9 他保護虔誠者的腳步，使惡人在黑暗中滅亡，因為人決不能憑己力獲勝，
You will protect your loyal/faithful people [SYN], but you will cause the wicked to die [EUP] and descend to the dark [place where dead people are]. We do not defeat [our enemies] by our own strength;
10 那與上主敵對的必被粉碎。至高者在天主鳴雷，上主要裁判地極，賜予自己的君王能力，高舉受傅者的冠冕。」
Yahweh, you will break into pieces those who oppose you. You will cause thunder in the sky to show that you (oppose/are angry with) them. Yahweh, you will judge [people everywhere, even those who live in] the most remote places on the earth. You will give strength to the king whom you will appoint, and give him great power [over his enemies].”
11 以後厄耳卡納回了辣瑪本家。幼童卻留在厄里大司祭前，奉事上主。
Then Elkanah [and his family] returned to Ramah, but Samuel, the little boy, stayed to help Eli the priest serve Yahweh.
12 厄里的兩個兒子原是無惡不做的人，不懷念上主，
Eli’s two [, who were also priests, ] were very wicked. They did not revere (OR, respect/obey) Yahweh.
13 也不關心司祭對人民的義務；若有人來殺牲獻祭，到煮祭肉時，司祭的僮僕便來，手持三齒叉，
While the people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices [in the huge pot at the temple], one of Eli’s sons, [would send his servant to come with a large three-pronged fork in his hand].
14 插入鼎裏，鍋裏，甑裏或鑊裏，凡叉上來的，司祭就拿去自用；他們常這樣對待所有到史羅來的以色列人。
[He] would stick the fork into [the meat in] the pot, and whatever meat fastened onto the fork, he would take [and give it] to the priest who sent him. Eli’s sons did this to all the Israeli people who came to Shiloh [to offer sacrifices].
15 甚或在焚化油脂以前，司祭的僮僕來對獻祭的人說：「把肉給司祭去烤罷! 他不向你要熟肉，他要生肉。」
Furthermore, before the fat [on the meat] was [cut off and] and burned [as a sacrifice to Yahweh], the servant of the priest would [sometimes] come to the man who was making the sacrifice and say to him, “Give me some meat [now to take] to the priest for him to roast! He wants raw meat; he does not want boiled meat.”
16 如果人答應說：「先得將油脂焚化，然後你可隨意拿去。」他必答說：「不，應立刻給我；不然，我就來搶。」
If the man said to the servant, “Let the priests [cut off and] burn the fat first; then you can take what you want,” the servant would reply, “No, give it to me now; if you do not give it to me, I will take it forcefully!”
17 這兩個少年人在上主前犯的罪極重，因為輕視了獻於上主的祭品。
Yahweh considered that the young [sons of Eli] were committing a very great sin, because they were treating very disrespectfully the offerings that were being given to Yahweh.
18 撒慕爾幼童穿著細麻的「厄弗得，」在上主面前供職。
As for Samuel, who was still a very young boy, he continued to do work for Yahweh, wearing a little sacred linen vest [like the Supreme Priest wore].
19 他的母親每年給他做一件小外氅，當她同丈夫上來獻年祭時，就給他帶來。
Each year his mother made a [new] little robe for him and took it to him when she went up [to Shiloh] with her husband to offer a sacrifice.
20 厄里祝福厄耳卡納和他的妻子說：「願上主由這婦人再賞你一個兒子，代替獻給上主的這一個! 」然後他們就回了本鄉。
Then Eli would [ask God to] bless Elkanah and his wife, and he would say to Elkanah, “I hope/desire that Yahweh will enable your wife to give birth to other children, to take the place of the one whom she dedicated to Yahweh.” Then Elkanah and his family would return home.
21 上主看顧了亞納她懷孕生了三男二女。撒慕爾幼童在上主前漸漸長大。
And Yahweh was very kind to Hannah, and enabled her to give birth to three [other] sons and two daughters. Their son Samuel grew up while he was doing work for Yahweh [in the Sacred Tent].
22 厄里已經很老。他聽說他的兩個兒子對眾以色列人所做的一切，和他們與社會幕門旁服役的婦女同睡的事，
Eli became very old. He often heard about all the [evil] things that his sons were doing to the Israeli people. He heard that they [sometimes] (slept with/had sex with) the women who worked at the entrance to the tent where [God] spoke to [his people].
23 就對他們說：「你們為什麼作出像我由眾百姓那裏聽來的這些壞事﹖
He said to them, “(It is terrible that you do such things!/Why do you do such things?) [RHQ] Many people keep telling me about the evil things that you do.
24 我兒，不要這樣! 我所聽見的風聲實在不好，你們竟使百姓遠離了上主!
My sons, stop it! The reports [about you] that the people who belong to Yahweh tell others are terrible [EUP]!
25 若得罪人，尚有天主審斷；人若得罪上主，有誰為他求情呢﹖」但是他們仍不聽父親的話，因為上主有意使他們喪亡。
If one person sins against another person, God can (intercede/act as a referee) between them. But if someone sins against Yahweh, no one can [RHQ] (intercede/act as a referee) between them!” But Eli’s sons would not listen to what their father said. This was because Yahweh had decided [that someone should] them.
26 撒慕爾幼童漸漸長大，為上主和人所喜愛。
The boy Samuel continued to grow up, and the things that he did pleased Yahweh and the people.
27 有一位天主的人來到厄里面前對他說：「上主這樣：當你祖先的家人還在埃及法郎家中當奴隸時，我不是再三顯現給他們嗎﹖
One day, a prophet came to Eli and told him, “This is what Yahweh has told me: ‘When your ancestors were slaves of the king of Egypt, I appeared to Aaron.
28 我不是從以色列眾支派中，特選了他們作我的司祭，上我的祭壇焚香獻祭，穿「厄弗得」到我面前來，並將以色列子民的火祭祭品全賜給了你的父家嗎﹖
From all the tribes of the Israeli people, I chose him [and his male descendants] to be priests for me. I appointed them to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear a sacred apron [as they worked] for me. And I declared that they could take [and eat some of the meat] that the Israeli people burned [on the altar].
29 那麼，你為什麼還要嫉視我所規定的犧牲和素祭呢﹖竟重視你的兒子在我以上，用我的人民以色列所獻的最好的一份，養肥了他們﹖
So why do you show disrespect for the sacrifices and offerings that I commanded [the people to bring] to me [RHQ]? You are honoring your sons more than you are honoring me, by allowing them to get fat from eating the best parts of all the sacrifices that the Israeli people bring to me!’
30 因此，請聽上主以色列天主的斷語：我曾許下，你的家和你的父家要在我面前永遠往來，但是現在，──上主的斷語──決不能如此! 只有那光榮我的，我纔光榮他；那輕視我的，必受輕視。
“Therefore, this is what Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [worship], declares: ‘I definitely promised that Aaron and his descendants would continue to serve [IDM] me forever.’ But now I declare this: ‘It will not continue like that! I will honor those who honor me, but I will despise those who despise me.
31 時日快到了，那時我要砍下你的臂膊和你父家的臂膊，使你家裏再沒有權威的長者。
Listen carefully! There will soon be a time when I will cause all the strong [young men] in your family to die. The result will be that no men in your family will [live long enough to] become old men.
32 以後，你要嫉視我賜與以色列人的一切幸福，可是在你家裏永不會再有權威的長者；
You will be distressed and envious as you see the blessings that I will give to [the other people in] Israel. And [I repeat that] no men in your family will ever live long enough to become old men.
33 我也不願將你的人由我的祭壇上盡行消滅，致使你的眼目昏花，心神憂傷；但你家中大多數的人要死在人家的刀下。
There is one of your descendants whom I will spare, and not prevent him from serving me as a priest. But he will become blind, and then he will always be sad and grieving. But all your other descendants will die violently.
34 你的兩個兒子曷弗尼和丕乃哈斯所要遭遇的，為你就是個先兆：他們兩人要在同一天死掉。
And your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day. And that will prove to you [that all that I have said will come true/happen].
35 我要為我興起一位忠信的司祭，他要照我的心意行事，我要給他建立一個堅固的家庭，他一生要在我的受傅者前往來。
‘have chosen another man to be my priest. He is one who will serve me faithfully: He will do everything I want [DOU] him to do. And I will enable him to have many descendants [IDM] who will be priests and will always serve me by helping the king whom I will choose.
36 那時，凡你家中所存留的人，必要叩拜他，為得到一點錢或一片餅說：求你容我參與任何一種司祭職務，使我可以糊口。」
All of your descendants who remain alive will have to go to that priest and ask him to give them money and food, and they will each have to say, “Please allow me to help the other priests, in order that I may [earn some money to] buy some food.”’”
