阿摩司書 5
1 以色列家! 你們你們應聽這話，應聽我為你們唱的這首哀歌!
Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral lament that I sing about you!
2 「以色列處女已跌倒，不能再起；摔在地上，無人攙扶。
Virgin Israel has fallen, and will never rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, and there is no one to help her up.
3 因為吾主上主這樣論以色列家說：出一千兵的城只生還一百；出一百的，只生還十個。尋求上主者生，作惡者亡。
This is what the Lord says: From a city that sends out a thousand soldiers, only a hundred will return; from a city that sends out a hundred soldiers, only ten will return.
4 因為上主這樣對以色列家說：你們尋求我，才可生存。
This is what the Lord says to the people of Israel: Look to me so you may live!
5 不可往基耳加耳，不不去巴爾估巴，因為基耳加耳必被擄掠，貝特耳必化為烏有。
Do not look to the false gods of Bethel, do not go to the pagan shrines of Gilgal or travel to those of Beersheba. For Gilgal will go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.
6 你們尋求上主，才可生存，免得衪如火衝入若瑟家中，燒毀一切，無人能為以色列家撲滅。
Look to the Lord so you may live! Otherwise he will explode like fire against the descendants of Joseph and no one from Bethel will be able to quench it.
7 是衪創造了昴星和參星，變昏黑為黎明，使白畫為黑夜，召海水傾流於地面，衪名叫「雅威。」
You twist justice and make it bitter, you throw integrity to the ground.
8 衪使滅亡閃擊強者，使毀滅臨於城堡。
The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the darkness into morning, and daytime into night, who calls for the water of the seas, and pours it down as rain upon the earth—the Lord is his name!
9 凡以毒害代替公正，棄正義於地的，是有禍的!
In a flash he cuts down the strong and destroys the fortresses.
10 他們憎恨在城門口主持公道的人，厭惡講真話的人。
You hate anyone who confronts injustice and loathe anyone who speaks honestly.
11 為此，你們既然欺壓窮人，向他們橫征錢糧，你們縱然用方石建築了房屋，卻不得住在裏面；栽植了美麗的葡萄園，卻喝不到園中的酒。
Because you trample down the poor and impose a tax on their grain, building for yourselves impressive houses, you will not live in them, and you will not drink wine from the fine vineyards you have planted.
12 因為我知道你們罪惡多端，過犯重大：欺壓義人，接受賄賂，在城門口冤枉窮人；
For I know the extent of your wrongdoing and your numerous sins. You oppress good people by taking bribes, and you prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.
13 因此明智人在此時緘默不言，因為這是邪惡的時代。
So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.
14 你們應尋求善，不可尋求惡：這樣你們才能生存；上主萬軍的天主也必與你們同在，正如你們所說的。
Do what is right, and not evil, so you may live. Then the Lord God of power will be with you, as you claim he is.
15 你們應惡惡好善，在城門口主張正義，或許萬軍的天主會憐憫若瑟的遺民。」
Hate evil and love good—and make sure justice wins out in your courts. Maybe the Lord God of power will have mercy on those who are left of Jacob's people.
16 為此，萬軍的天主，吾主上主這樣說：「人必在一切廣場上哀悼，人必在各街道上說：哀哉! 哀哉! 並且召農人們來弔信，叫會哭的人來痛哭。
For this is what the Lord, the Lord God of power says: There will be weeping in the city squares and wailing in the streets. They will call even the farmers to grieve, as well as the professional mourners.
17 在所有的葡萄園中，人必哀哭，因為我要在你們中間經過」──上主說。
There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.
18 「那仰望上主日子來臨的人是有福的! 上主的日子為你們有我們什麼好處﹖那是黑暗和無光明之日，
How disastrous it will be for those of you who long for the day of the Lord. Why would you want the day of the Lord to come? It will bring darkness, not light.
19 好似人逃避了獅子，又遇到了狗熊；進到房屋裏，手扶在牆上，卻被蛇咬傷。
It will be like a man running away from a lion only to meet a bear; or a man who goes home and leans his hand on a wall, only to be bitten by a snake.
20 上主的日子豈不是黑暗而沒有光明嗎﹖那日實在幽暗而漆黑!
Isn't the day of the Lord darkness without light? Yes, pitch dark without a glimmer of light.
21 我痛恨厭惡你們的慶節；你們的盛會，我也不喜悅；
I hate, I despise your festivals and take no delight in your religious assemblies.
22 既使你們給我奉獻全燔祭和素祭，我仍不悅納；既使你們獻上肥牲作和平祭，我也不垂顧。
Even though you present me with burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. As for your peace offerings of fattened cattle—I will not even look at them.
23 讓你們喧嚷的歌聲遠離我；你們的琴聲，我也不願再聽；
Stop your noisy worship songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 如願公道如水常流，正義像川流不息的江河!
Rather let justice flow like a river, and doing right like an ever-flowing stream.
25 以色列家! 你們在曠野中四十年，何嘗給我奉獻過q和素祭﹖
Did you bring me sacrifices during those forty years in the desert, people of Israel?
26 你們應抬著自己所造的偶像，即你們的君王撒雇特和你們的星神克汪，
But now you carry idols of Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god that you made for yourselves.
27 因為 必使你們充軍到大馬士革之外，」名叫「萬軍的天主」的上主說。
So I will send you into exile in a land beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of power.
