列王紀下 19
1 希則克雅王一聽這話，就撕破了自己的衣服，穿上苦衣，走進了上主的殿；
When King Hezekiah heard what they reported, he tore his clothes and put on clothes made of rough cloth [because he was very distressed]. Then he went to the temple [to ask God what to do].
2 然後打發厄里雅金家宰，舍布納書記和幾位老司祭，穿著苦衣，去見阿摩茲的兒子依撒意亞先知，
He summoned Eliakim and Shebna and the (older/most important) priests, who were also wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, and told them to talk to me.
3 對他說：「希則克雅這樣說：今天是受苦難，受責罰，受侮辱的日子。因為嬰兒到了要出生的時候，卻沒有產生的力量。
He said to them, “Tell this to Isaiah: ‘King Hezekiah says that we are having great distress/trouble now. [Other nations are causing] us to be insulted and disgraced. We are like [MET] a woman who is about to give birth to a child, but she does not have the strength that she needs to do it.
4 但願上主你的天主聽到那大將軍的一切話，就是他的主上亞述王打發他來，辱罵永生的天主所說的話! 願上主你的天主聽了那些話而加以懲罰! 所以請你為剩下的遺民舉行祈禱罷! 」
Perhaps Yahweh your God has heard everything that the official from Assyria said. Perhaps he knows that his boss/master, the king of Assyria, sent him to insult the all-powerful God, and that Yahweh will rebuke/punish him for what he said.’ And he requests that you pray for the few of us who are still alive [here in Jerusalem].”
5 希則克雅王的臣僕來到了依撒意亞前，
When the messengers from Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6 依撒意亞就對他們說：「你們要這樣對你們的主上說：上主這樣說：你聽到亞述王的僕人們辱罵我的話，不要害怕!
Isaiah said to them, “[Go back to] your boss/master [and] tell him, ‘This is what Yahweh says: Those messengers from the king of Assyria have said evil things about me. But you should not be disturbed because of what they said.
7 我必叫他感到一種怕情，使他一聽到某種消息，就返回本國；我要使他在本國內喪身刀下。」
Listen to this: I will cause Sennacherib to hear a rumor that will worry him, [that a foreign army is about to attack his country]. So he will return to his own country, and there I will cause him to be assassinated by [men using] swords.’”
8 大將軍回去時，正遇見亞述王去攻打里貝納。原來他已聽說君王離開了拉基士。
The official from Assyria found out that the King of Assyria [and his army] had left Lachish [city], and that they were attacking Libnah, [which is a nearby city]. So the official went there [to report to him what had happened in Jerusalem].
9 那時，散乃黑黎布聽人說：雇士王提爾哈卡出來攻打他，就再派使者去見希則克雅，並吩咐說：「
Soon after that, King Sennacherib received a report that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading his army, and was coming to attack them. So before King Sennacherib left Libnah [to fight against the army from Ethiopia], he sent other messengers to King Hezekiah with a letter.
10 你們要這樣對猶大王希則克雅說：不要讓你所依靠的天主哄騙了你說：耶路撒冷決不會落在亞述王手中!
[In the letter] he wrote this to Hezekiah: “Do not allow your god on whom you are relying to deceive you by promising that [the city of] Jerusalem will not be captured by my army [MTY].
11 你必聽說過亞述的列王對各國所行的事，將各國完全消滅了。你還能有救嗎﹖
You have certainly heard what the armies of the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries. Our armies have completely destroyed them. So, (do you think that you will escape?/do not think that your god will save you!) [RHQ]
12 我的祖先所消滅的各民族，如哥倉、哈郎、勒責夫、以及在特拉撒爾的厄登子民，他們的神又何曾救了他們﹖
Did the gods of the nations that were about to be destroyed by the armies of the previous kings of Assyria rescue them? Did those gods rescue the people in the Gozan region and in Haran and Rezeph [cities in northern Syria] and the people of Eden who had been (deported/forced to go) to Tel-Assar [city]? None of the gods of those cities were able to rescue them.
13 哈瑪特王，阿帕得王，色法瓦因城的王，赫納王和依瓦王，他們現今都在那裡﹖」
What happened to the kings of Hamath and Arpad and Sepharvaim and Ivvah [cities] [RHQ]? [Most of them are dead, and the other people were deported]!”
14 希則克雅從使者中接過信來，念了以後，就走進上主的殿，將那信在上主面前展開，
Hezekiah took the letter that the messengers gave him, and he read it. Then he went up to the temple and spread out the letter in front of Yahweh.
15 然後，希則克雅懇求上主說：「上主，坐在革魯賓上面的以色列的天主! 惟獨你是地上萬國的天主，你創造了天地。
Then Hezekiah prayed, “Yahweh, the God whom to whom we Israelis belong, you are seated on your throne above the [statues of] creatures with wings, [above the Sacred Chest]. Only you are truly God. You rule all the kingdoms on this earth. You are the one who created [everything on] the earth and [in] the sky.
16 上主，請你側耳傾聽! 上主，求你睜眼垂視，細聽那打發使者辱罵永生天主的散乃黑黎布的話。
So, Yahweh, please listen to what I am saying, and look [at what is happening]. And listen to what King Sennacherib has said to insult you, the all-powerful God.
17 上主，的確，亞述王曾毀滅了所有的民族和他們的國家，
“Yahweh, it is true that [the armies of] the kings of Assyria have completely destroyed many nations, and ruined their land.
18 將他們的神像投入火中，因為它們不是神，只是人手造成的木石的作品，所以能被消滅。
And they have thrown the idols of those nations into fires and burned them. But [that was not difficult to do, because] they were not gods. They were only statues made of wood and stone, idols that were shaped by humans, [and that is why they were destroyed easily].
19 但是現今，上主我們的天主，求你拯救我們脫離他的手，使地上萬國都知道：惟獨你是上主，天主! 」
So now, Yahweh our God, please rescue us from the power [MTY] [of the king of Assyria], in order that the people in all the kingdoms of the world will know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is truly God.”
20 那時，阿摩茲的兒子依撒意亞打發人去見希則克雅說：「上主以色列的天主這樣說：你既然論亞述王散乃黑黎布向我懇求，我已經俯聽了你。
Then Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong, says: 'I have heard what you prayed to me about Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.
21 這就是上主論他所說的話：熙雍的貞女輕視你，嘲笑你；耶路撒冷的女子在你背後搖頭。
This is what I say to him: “The people of Jerusalem [MTY] despise you and make fun of you. They wag/shake their heads to mock you while you flee from here.
22 你所辱罵，所詛咒的是誰﹖你提高聲音，仰起眼睛攻擊的是誰﹖是攻擊以色列的聖者。
Who do you think that you are despising and ridiculing? Who do you think you were shouting at? Who do you think you were looking at very proudly/arrogantly? It was I, the holy God whom the Israelis worship.
23 你藉你的使者辱罵了吾主，你說：我用我大批的車輛，登上了叢山的極峰，到黎巴嫩的絕頂，砍伐了其中最高的香柏，最好的青松；衝入了它的最深處，走進了果木的林園。
The messengers that you sent made fun of me. You said, 'With my many chariots I have gone to the highest mountains, even to the highest mountains in Lebanon. We have cut down its tallest cedar trees and its nicest pine/cyprus trees. We have been to the most distant/remote peaks and to its dense forests.
24 我掘了井喝了外邦的水，用我的腳掌踏乾了埃及所有的河川。
We have dug wells in other countries and drank water from them. And by marching through [MTY] the streams of Egypt, we dried them all up [HYP]!”’
25 難道你沒有聽說嗎﹖很久以前我所計劃的，昔日我所決定的，現在我就在實現，叫你毀壞堅城，化為廢墟，
[‘But I reply], “Have you never heard that long ago I determined [that those things would happen]? I planned it long ago, and now I have been causing it to happen. I planned that your army would have [the power to] capture many cities that were surrounded by high walls, and cause them to become piles of rubble.
26 使城中的居民軟弱無力，驚慌失措，有如田野的青草，有如青綠的嫩苗，有如屋頂被東風吹焦的小草。
The people who lived in those cities have no power, and as a result they became dismayed and discouraged. They are as frail as plants and grass in the fields, as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses and is scorched by the hot east wind.
27 但是，你或起或坐，或出或入，我都知道，
“But I know [everything about you]. I know when you are in your house and when you go outside; I also know that you are (raging/speaking very angrily) against me.
28 因為你對我的暴怒，和你的狂囂已達到我的耳鼓，所以我要把環子穿在你的鼻子上，把轡頭套在你的嘴上，從你來的路上將你牽回去。
So, because you have raged against me, and because I have heard [MTY] you speak very proudly/arrogantly, [it will be as though] I will put a hook in your nose and an iron (bit/piece of metal) in your mouth [in order that I can lead you where I want you to go], and I will force you to return [to your own country] on the same road on which you came here, [without conquering Jerusalem].” '
29 這是給你的記號：今年你們要吃自然所生的，明年仍要吃自然所生的，第三年你們就要播種收割，栽種葡萄園，吃園中的果實。
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “This is what will happen to prove [that I am telling the truth]: This year and next year you [and your people] will be able to harvest only (wild grain/grain that grows without having been planted). But the following year, you [Israelis] will be able to plant grain and harvest it, and to plant vineyards and eat the grapes that you harvest.
30 猶大家的遺民，仍要向下生根，往上結實，
The people [MTY] in Judah who remain alive will prosper and have many children; they will be like plants whose roots go deep down into the ground and which produce much [MET].
31 因為剩餘的人將由耶路撒冷而出，逃脫的人將由熙雍山而來：萬軍上主的熱誠必要成就這事。
There will be many people in Jerusalem [DOU] who will survive, because Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels in heaven, wants [PRS] it to happen.
32 為此，上主問亞述王這樣說：他決不會進入這城，決不會向這城放射一箭，決不會持盾臨於城下，也決不會起造土堆攻城。
So this is what Yahweh, says about the king of Assyria: ‘His armies will not enter this city; they will not even shoot any arrows into it! His soldiers will not march outside the city gates carrying shields, and they will not even build high mounds of dirt against [the city walls] [to enable them to attack the city].
33 他必要由來路回去，決不能進入這城：上主的斷語。
Their king will return to his own country on the same road on which he came here. He will not enter this city! [That will happen because] I, Yahweh have said it!
34 為了我自己，為了我的僕人達味，我必要保護拯救這城。」
I will defend this city and prevent it from being destroyed. I will do this for the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised to King David, who served me well.'”
35 當天夜裡，上主的使者出來，在亞述營裡殺了十八萬五千人。清晨人們起來，看見遍地都是死屍。
That night, an angel from Yahweh went out to where the army of Assyria had put up their tents, and killed 185,000 of their soldiers! When the rest of their soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw that there were corpses everywhere!
36 亞述王散乃黑黎布於是拔營，起程回國，住在尼尼微。
Then King Sennacherib left and went home to Nineveh, [the capital of Assyria].
37 一日，他在自己的神尼色洛客廟內叩拜的時候，他的兒子阿德辣默肋客和沙勒責爾用劍刺殺了他，然後逃往阿辣辣特地方去了；他的兒子厄撒哈冬繼位為王。
One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. Then they escaped and went to [the] Ararat [region, northwest of Nineveh]. And another of Sennacherib's sons, Esarhaddon, became the king of Assyria.
