< 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。
Yahweh showed me [in a vision] a basket full of ripe 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。
He asked me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “A basket of [very] ripe fruit.” He said, “That indicates that it almost the end for my Israeli people. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.
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。」
[Soon, ] instead of singing in the temple, they will be wailing. There will be corpses everywhere [HYP]. So, remain silent (OR, Everyone will be silent). [These things will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it!”
4 壓榨窮人,使世上弱小絕跡的人哪! 你們應聽。
[It is as though] you people trample on needy people, and you destroy the poor people.
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﹖
You habitually say, “We wish that [RHQ] the new moon [festival] would end soon, in order that [restrictions on doing business during the festival will be ended] and we can sell grain. We wish that the Sabbath would end soon, in order that we will again be permitted to sell our wheat”— and [when you sell it], you charge a big price for it, and you cheat people by using scales that do not weigh correctly.
6 用銀錢購買窮人,以一雙鞋換取貧人,連麥糠也賣掉﹖」
You sell wheat that you have swept up from the floor, and as a result it is mixed with dirt. Those who are needy and poor [DOU] and who do not have money [to buy things], you cause them to become your slaves by buying them with the [small amount of] silver [with which you could buy] a pair of sandals!
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。
Yahweh has declared, “Although you are very proud of [being descendants] [MTY] of Jacob, I solemnly declare that I will not forget the [evil things] that you have done.
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﹖
[Because of those evil things], your country will certainly [RHQ] soon be shaken, and all of you will mourn. [It will be as though] it will repeatedly rise and fall like [SIM] the Nile [River] that gets full of water [and overflows it banks] and then settles back into its riverbed.
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;
On the day [when I punish my people], I will cause the sun to set at noontime, and the [entire] earth will be dark in the daytime.
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。
I will cause your [religious] celebrations to become times when you mourn; instead of singing, everyone will be weeping. Because of what I [will do], all of you will wear rough sackcloth and shave your heads [to show that you are sorrowing]. I will cause that time to be like when people mourn after an only son [has died]. All of you will be extremely sad all of that day.”
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。
And Yahweh our God says this: “It will [soon] be the time when I will cause something to be very scarce [MET] throughout the country. But it will not be a time when there is no food or water; it will instead be a time when there will be no messages from me for anyone to hear.
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。
People will stagger from the [Dead] Sea to the [Mediterranean] Sea, and wander from the north to the east, searching for a message from me, but there will not be any.
13 那一天,美麗的處女和健壯的青年,必因饑渴而暈眩。
At that time, even beautiful young women and strong young men will faint because of being very thirsty.
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 who (make oaths/solemnly promise to do something) using the names of their shameful gods of Samaria, and those who solemnly promise to do something [using the name of] the god of Dan, and those who solemnly promise to do something [using the name of] the god of Beersheba, will all die; and they will never live again.”

< 阿摩司書 8 >