以賽亞書 49
1 諸島嶼，請聽我！遠方的人民，請靜聽！上主由母腹中就召叫了我，自母胎中就給我起了名字。
All you people who live on islands [in the ocean] and in other distant areas, pay attention [DOU] to what I will say! Yahweh called/chose me before I was born; he chose/appointed me when I was still in my mother’s womb.
2 他使我的口好似利劍，將我掩護在他的手蔭下，使我像一支磨光的箭，將我隱藏在他的箭囊中。
[When I grew up], he caused my messages to be like [SIM] a sharp sword. He has protected me with his hand [SYN]. [He protects me] [MET] like someone protects sharp arrows in a quiver.
3 他對我說：你是我的僕人，是我驕矜的「以色列。」
He said to me, “You will serve my Israeli [people], and you will cause people to honor me.”
4 但是我說：「我白白勤勞了，我枉費了氣力而毫無益處；但是我的權利是在上主那裏，我的報酬在我的天主面前。」
I replied, “My work has been useless; I have used my strength, but I have accomplished nothing worthwhile; everything that I have done has been (in vain/useless). However, Yahweh can honor me as he pleases; my God is the one who will reward me [as I deserve].”
5 我在上主眼中是光榮的，天主是我的力量。那由母胎形成我作他的僕人，將雅各伯領回到他前，並把以色列聚在他前的上主，如今說：「
Yahweh formed me when I was in [my mother’s] womb in order that I would serve him; he appointed me to bring [the people of] Israel back to himself [DOU]. Yahweh has honored me, and he is the one who has caused me to be strong.
6 你作我的僕人，復興雅各伯支派，領回以色列遺留下的人，還是小事，我更要使你作萬民的光明，使我的救恩達於地極。」
He says to me, “It is not enough for you to serve me by bringing the descendants of Jacob back to worship me again [DOU]; I also want you to be like [MET] a light for the non-Jews; I want you to take my [my message] about how to be saved to [people] all over the world.”
7 上主，以色列的救主和聖者，向那極受輕慢，為列國所憎惡，且作統治者奴役的人這樣說：「列王必要見而起立，諸侯必要見而下拜：這是因為上主忠實可靠，以色列的聖者揀選了你的緣故。」
Yahweh, the one who saves us, the Holy God of us Israeli [people], says to the one who was despised and rejected by the [people of many] nations, the one who is the slave of rulers, “[Some day] kings will stand up to respect you when they see you, and princes will bow down before you because [you serve] me, Yahweh, the one who faithfully [does what I promise]. I am the Holy God to whom you Israelis belong, the one who has chosen you.”
8 上主這樣說：在悅納的時候，我俯允了你；在救恩的日期，我幫助了你；我必保護你，使你作為人民的盟約，復興國家，分得荒蕪的產業，
This is also what Yahweh says: “At a time when it pleases me, I will answer your prayers. On the day when you will be rescued [from your oppressors], I will help you. I will protect you and enable you to establish an agreement with other nations. And by what you do, I will re-establish your nation of Israel and allow you to live/settle again in your land that was abandoned.
9 好向俘虜說：「你們出來罷！」向在黑暗中的人說：「你們出現罷！」他們將在各路上被牧放，他們的牧場是在一切荒嶺上。
I will say to those who were captured [and (exiled/taken to Babylonia)], ‘Leave [Babylonia] and return to your own country!’ And I will say to those who are in dark prisons, ‘Come out into the light!’ When that happens, they will again be like [MET] sheep that eat grass in green pastures, on hills where [previously] there was no grass.
10 他們不餓也不渴，熱風和列日也不損傷他們，因為那憐憫他們的率領著他們，引領他們到水泉傍。
They will not be hungry or thirsty [any more]; the hot sun will not beat upon them again [DOU]. I, Yahweh, will act mercifully toward them and lead them; I will lead them to where there are springs of cool water.
11 我要使我的一切山嶺變為大路，並把我的街道修高。
And I will cause the mountains to become [as though they were] level roads, and I will prepare good highways [for my people to travel on, to return to Jerusalem].
12 看啊！有的由遠方而來，有的由北方和西方而來，還有些由息寧而來。
My people will return from far away; some will come from the north, some from the west, some from southern Egypt.”
13 諸天要歡樂，大地要踴躍，山嶺要歡呼高唱，因為上主安慰了他的百姓，憐恤了他受苦的人們。
[Because of what Yahweh has promised to do], everything should shout joyfully— the sky and the earth and the mountains should sing, because Yahweh comforts his people, and he will pity those who are suffering.
14 熙雍曾說過：「上主離棄了我，吾主忘掉了我。」
[The people of] Jerusalem say, “Yahweh has abandoned us; he has forgotten about us.”
15 婦女豈能忘掉自己的乳嬰﹖出為人母的，豈能忘掉親生的兒子﹖縱然她們能忘掉，我也不能忘掉你啊﹖
But [Yahweh replies], “That is not true! (Can a woman forget the infant that she is nursing?/A woman certainly cannot forget the infant that she is nursing!) [RHQ] (Can she stop being kind to the child to whom she has given birth?/She certainly cannot stop being kind to the child to whom she has given birth!) [RHQ] But even if a woman would do that, I will not forget you!
16 看哪！我已把你刻在我的手掌上，你的城牆時常在我的眼前。
Note that I have written your [names] on the palms of my hands; in my mind I can always see the walls of your city.
17 建築你的工人急速動工，那毀滅你和破壞你的，要離你遠去。
Soon your children will be returning there (OR, Those who rebuild your city will work more quickly than those who destroyed it), and all those who destroyed your city will leave.
18 你舉目四望罷！他們都已集合到你這裏來；我永遠生活－－上主的斷語－－他們必如裝飾品穿戴在你身上，把你裝扮得有如新娘。
You will look around and see all of your children coming back to you. As surely as I live, they will be around you [for you to show to people] like [SIM] a bride shows her wedding ornaments!
19 至於你的廢址，你那荒蕪和遭蹂躪之地，如今為你的居民都太狹小了，因為吞噬你的人已遠離他去。
Your land has been ruined and caused to become desolate/abandoned [DOU], but [some day] it will be filled with people, and those who conquered you will be far away.
20 連你在不孕期中所生的子女也要說給你聽：「這地方為我太狹小了，請給我一個住處罷！」
The children who were born while you were (exiled/in Babylonia) [MET] will return [to Jerusalem] and say, ‘This city is too small for us; We need more space to live in!’
21 那時你心裏會問：「誰給我生育了這些人呢﹖我原是不妊不孕的，【且是流放被逐的，】這些人是誰給我養大的﹖看！我本是孤苦零丁的，他們卻是從那裏來的﹖」
Then you will think to yourselves [MTY], ‘It is amazing that we have [RHQ] all these children! Most of our children were dead, and the rest were exiled. We were left here alone; so we do not know [RHQ] where all these children have come from! Who raised them?'”
22 吾主上主這樣說：「看！我要向列邦高舉我的手，向萬民樹起我的旗幟；他們必要把你的兒子抱在懷中帶來，把你的女兒放在肩上背來。
This is what Yahweh our God says: “Watch! [It is as though] I will lift up my hand to signal to those who are not Israelis. And they will carry your little sons and daughters on their shoulders and bring them back to you.
23 列王要作你的養父，皇后要當你的保姆。他們要在你面前俯伏在地，並要舔去你腳上的塵土；那時你將知道：我是上主；凡仰賴我的，決不會蒙羞。」
Kings will serve you and will tutor/teach your children, and their queens will take care of your young children. They will prostrate themselves in front of you and [humble themselves by] licking the dust off your feet. When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do]; and those who trust in me will never be disappointed.”
24 獵物豈能由勇士手中奪回﹖俘虜豈能由強者手中救出﹖
There is no one [RHQ] who can snatch valuable things from a soldier who has captured those things [in a war]; there is no one [RHQ] who can force a (tyrant/cruel man) to free the people whom he has captured.
25 但是，上主這樣說：「俘虜必要由勇士手中奪回，獵物必要由強者手中救出。我必與同你爭奪的人爭奪，我必拯救你的子孫。
But Yahweh says this: “[Some day], those who have been captured will be freed, and the valuable things that (tyrants/cruel men) have snatched from others will be returned, because I will fight against those who fight against you, and I will rescue your children.
26 我要使壓迫你的人吃自己的肉，喝自己的血如喝新酒。如此，凡有血肉的人都知道我是上主，是你的拯救者，是你的救主，是雅各伯的大能者。」
And I will cause your enemies to destroy themselves [MET] instead of murdering others. When that happens, everyone [in the world] will know that I, Yahweh, am the one who saves you, the one who rescues you from your enemies; everyone will know that I am the mighty God to whom [you descendants of] [MTY] Jacob belong.”
