< 阿摩司書 8 >

1 [神視四:果籃]吾主上主叫我看見這事:看,有一籃熟果子。
Thus did the Lord Eternal show unto me: and, behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.
2 上主說:「亞毛斯,你看見了什麼﹖」我答說:「一籃熟果子。」上主又向我說:「我百姓以色列的結局已成熟,我不再放過她。
And he said, What dost thou see, 'Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come for my people Israel: I will not farther indulge them any more.
3 在那一天,王宮中的歌女必要哀號──吾主上主的斷語──屍體成堆,拋在各處,鴉雀無聲。」
And the songs of the temple shall become a wailing on that day, saith the Lord Eternal: many shall be the dead bodies; in every place shall men throw them down, [saying, ] Be silent.
4 壓榨窮人,使世上弱小絕跡的人哪! 你們應聽。
Hear this, O ye that are greedy to swallow the needy, and to ruin the poor of the land,
5 你們說:「月朔幾時才經過去,好讓我們賣五榖﹖安息日幾時才過去,好讓我們打開糧倉,縮小「厄法,」加重「協刻爾,」用假秤欺人﹖
Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell provision? and the sabbath, that we may open the corn-warehouses, making the ephah small, and increasing the shekel, and cheating with deceitful balances?
6 用銀錢購買窮人,以一雙鞋換取貧人,連麥糠也賣掉﹖」
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and even sell the refuse of the corn?
7 上主指著雅各伯的誇耀說:「我永不會忘了你們的所作所為。
Sworn hath the Lord by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will not forget to eternity all their works.
8 難道不是因此大地才震動,地上 居民才悲號,全地氾濫有如尼羅,退落有如埃及大河﹖
Shall because of this the land not tremble, and mourn every one that dwelleth therein? and shall it not rise up like a stream wholly, and roll onward and sink again like the stream of Egypt?
9 在那一天──吾主上主的斷語──我必使太陽在中午落下,使大地白畫變為黑暗;
And it shall come to pass on that day, saith the Lord Eternal, that I will cause the sun to set at noon, and I will bring darkness over the earth on a bright day;
10 使你們的喜慶變為喪事,使你們的一切樂曲變為哀歌,使你們都腰繫苦衣,頭都剃光;使你們哀悼,如哀悼獨生子,使那一天紿終是愁苦的日子。
And I will change your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and I will bring upon all loins sackcloth, and upon every head baldness; and I will cause [the land] to mourn as one doth for an only son, and its end to be as a day of bitter [complaint].
11 看,那日子一來臨──吾主上主的斷語──我必使飢餓臨於此地,汞是對食物的飢餓,也不是對水的飢渴,而是對聽上主的話的飢渴。
Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord Eternal, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words of the Lord:
12 他們必由這海走到那海,由北至東,去尋求上主的話,卻尋不到。
And they will wander about from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will roam about to seek the word of the Lord; but they shall not find it.
13 那一天,美麗的處女和健壯的青年,必因饑渴而暈眩。
On that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst;
14 那些指著撒馬黎雅的罪過起誓,那些說:「丹,你的神永在,」或說:「貝爾舍巴,你的護守神永在」的人,必要跌倒,再不能起來。
Those that swear by the guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy god liveth, O Dan; and, As liveth the worshipped idol of Beer-sheba', —yea, they shall fall, and never rise up again.

< 阿摩司書 8 >