< 耶利米書 15 >
1 上主對我說:「縱使梅瑟和撒慕爾立在我面前,我的的心仍不轉向這人民;你由我面前將他們驅逐,叫他們離去。
Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
2 假如人對你說:我們往哪裏去﹖你就對他們說:上主這樣說:「該死的就死,該殺的就殺,該挨餓的就挨餓,該被擄去的,就被擄去。
It will happen when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘The LORD says: “Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 我必用四種型罰來懲罰他們──上主的斷語──用刀劍來殺,用野狗來拖,用天空的飛鳥和地上的野獸來吞食,來消滅。
“I will appoint over them four kinds,” says the LORD: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
4 我為了猶大王希則克雅的兒子默納舍在耶路撒冷所行的事,必使他們成為地上萬國所恐怖的對象。
I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 耶路撒冷! 誰還憐恤你,誰還同情你,誰還轉身向你安﹖
For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn you? Who will come to ask of your welfare?
6 你既離棄了我──上主的斷語──轉身背著我,我就只有對你伸出我的手,將你消滅;我對寬恕已感厭倦:
You have rejected me,” says the LORD. “You have gone backward. Therefore I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you. I am weary of showing compassion.
7 我要在這地的城門口,用簸箕將他們簸散,使他們喪失子女;我要消滅我的人民,因為他們不離開自己的行徑。
I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of children. I have destroyed my people. They did not return from their ways.
8 他們的寡婦已多過海邊的沙粒;我要給他們招來午間的破壞者,襲擊英俊勇士的母親,使痛苦和恐怖突然降到她身上。
Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas. I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.
9 生過七個子女的母親,現已身衰氣絕,還是白天,她的太陽已經西落,她只有絕望惆悵;至於他們的遺民,我必使他們在敵人面前死於刀下──上主的斷語。
She who has borne seven languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been disappointed and confounded. I will deliver their residue to the sword before their enemies,” says the LORD.
10 我的母親! 我真不幸! 你竟生了我這與普世對抗相的人。我沒有向人借貸,人也沒有向我借貸,人卻都辱罵我。
Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them curses me.
11 實在,上主,我豈沒有盡力事奉你﹖我豈沒有在災難禍患時向你懇求﹖
The LORD said, “Most certainly I will strengthen you for good. Most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze?
13 [我必使你的財產和寶藏,任人搶奪,為補償你在你全境內犯的罪惡,
I will give your substance and your treasures for a plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.
14 叫你在你不認識的地方,給你的仇敵為奴,因為我的怒火已燃起,必對你們發作] 。
I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn on you.”
15 上主,你都知道,求你回念我,眷顧我,為我報復迫害我的人,不要因你太忍耐,就讓我死去;你該知道:正是為了你,我才受人侮辱。
LORD, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so do not take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.
16 你的話一來到,我就去吞下去;你的話成了我的喜悅,我心中的歡樂,上主,萬軍的天主! 因為我是歸於你名下的,
Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, LORD, God of Armies.
17 我從沒有坐在歡笑者的集會中一同取樂;我卻依你的指示獨自靜坐,因為你使我憤怒填胸。
I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry and rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation.
18 為什麼我的痛苦如此久長,我的創傷不可醫治,痊愈無望﹖你於我好像是一條不常有水,而變化無常的溪流!
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
19 為此上主這樣說:「你若回來,我必讓你回來,使你能在立在我面前;若能發表高尚而非荒謬的思想,你就可作我的口舌,使他們轉向你,而不是你轉向他們。
Therefore the LORD says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them.
20 這樣,我必使你這人民成為一設防的銅牆,他們能攻打擊你,卻不能制勝你,因為有我與你同在,援助你,解救你──上主的斷語──
I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says the LORD.
21 我必解救你脫離惡人的手,由強暴人的掌握中將你贖回」。
“I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.”