耶利米書 5
1 請你們巡行耶路撒冷的街道，觀察注意，在她的廣場上搜尋：若他們能找到一人，一個履正義，追求信實的人，我就寬恕這城。
Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and notice, and search in its broad places, if ye can find one man, if there be one that executeth justice, that searcheth for truth: and I will pardon it.
2 雖然他們起誓說：「上主永在! 」其實他們起的誓仍是虛誓。
And though they say, “As the Lord liveth!” surely they only swear to a falsehood.
3 上主，你的眼睛難道不顧信實﹖你打擊了他們，他們卻毫不覺痛；你使他們挫敗，他們仍拒絕受教，使自己的面孔比火石還要頑硬，不願悔改。
O Lord, are not thy eyes [directed] to the truth? thou didst strike them, but they felt it not; thou didst make an end of them, [yet] they refused to accept correction: they made their faces harder than a rock, they refused to return.
4 我想：「不錯，他們原是無知的平民，不認識上主的道路和衪他們天主的法律。
Yet I myself thought, Oh these are but poor; they are foolish; for they knew not the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their God.
5 我要去問有權勢的人，與他們談論，因為他們知道火道路和他們天主的法律。」哎! 連他們也都折斷了軛，掙斷了繩索。
I had better go unto the great men, and let me speak with them; for these surely know the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their God; but these altogether have broken the yoke, burst the bands.
6 為此，獅子由叢林出來襲擊他們，曠野的豺狼出來傷害他們，豹子潛伏在他們的城旁，凡出來的人都被撕裂，因為他們罪上加罪，失節有增無已。
Therefore slayeth them the lion out of the forest, the wolf of the deserts wasteth them, the leopard lieth in wait against their cities: every one that cometh out thence shall be torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, very numerous are their backslidings.
7 如此，我怎能寬恕你﹖你的子孫離棄了我，奉「非神」發誓。我使他們飽食，他們卻去行淫，群集在妓院裏；
How shall I for this pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by those that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's house.
8 他們像荒淫雄壯的牡馬，各向自己近人的妻室嘶鳴。
As robust horses they rose by times in the morning: every one neighed after the wife of his neighbor.
9 這些事，我怎能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這些火民族，我怎能不親自報復﹖
Shall I not for these things inflict punishment? saith the Lord: and shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged?
10 請你們登上她的牆上頭，加以毀壞，但不要完全毀滅，該除去她的枝條，因為它們不屬於上主。
Scale ye her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: remove her young shoots; for they are not the Lord's.
11 以色列和猶大家，實在對我不忠，達到極點──
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord.
12 上主的斷語。他們否認上主說：「衪不存在! 災禍不會臨到我們身上，我們也決不會見到戰爭和飢荒；
They have denied the Lord, and said, “He existeth not; nor will evil come over us; and the sword and famine shall we not see.
13 先知們不過是一陣風，他們並沒有上主的話；他們這樣只有自作自受。」
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them:” thus shall it be done unto them.
14 為此，上主萬軍火天主這樣說：「因為他們說了這話，我必使我的話在你的口中成為火，使這人民成為木柴，將他們吞滅。
Therefore thus hath said the Lord the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth to be a fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 以色列家! 看，我從遠方給你們引來一個民族──上主的斷語──一個所向無敵的民族，一個支老的民族，一個你們不慬她的語言，也聽不出她說什麼的民族
Lo, I will bring over you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is a most ancient nation, a nation whose language thou wilt not know, and thou wilt not understand what they speak.
16 他們的箭有如張口墳墓；他們都是善戰的勇士。
Their quiver is as an open sepulchre: they are all mighty men.
17 這民族必吃掉你的收穫和食糧，必吃掉你的兒子和女兒，必吃掉你的羊群和牛群，必吃掉你的葡萄和無花果，必以武力蹂躝你依恃的堅城。
And they shall consume thy harvest, and thy bread; they shall consume thy sons and thy daughters; they shall consume thy flocks and thy herds; they shall consume thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall depopulate thy fortified cities, those wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
18 即在那些時日裏──上主的斷語──我也不對你們加以徹底的毀滅。」
Nevertheless even in those days, saith the Lord, will I not make a full end of you.
19 假使有人問：「為什麼上主我們的天主對我們做了這一切的事﹖」你當對他們說：「你們怎樣離棄了我，在你們國內事奉了外邦的神祗，你們也該怎樣在不屬於你們的境內事奉外邦人。」
And it shall come to pass, when ye will say, For what reason hath the Lord our God done all these things unto us? that thou shalt say unto them, In the same manner as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 你們你們將這事通知雅各伯家，轉告猶大說：
Announce this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 「你們愚昧無知，有目不見，有耳不聞的人民，請聽聽這話：
Do now hear this, O sottish people, who have no heart; who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not;
22 你們不敬畏我嗎﹖──上主的斷語──你們在我面前不戰憟嗎﹖是我堆集了沙石作海的界限，作為它永不能越過的界限浪雖然洶湧，仍無能為力；雖怒號澎湃，仍不能越過。」
Will ye not fear me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand as a bound for the sea by an everlasting law, which it can never pass over? and though the waves thereof be upheaved, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.
23 但這內心頑固的心民，竟背叛而離去，
But this people hath a stubborn and a rebellious heart: they have departed [from the right] and have gone their way.
24 從不反心自省：「我們應該敬畏上主，我們的天主，因為衪按時降下雨露、秋霜和春雨；又給我們保持固定的收穫時節。」
And they have not said in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, the early and the latter rain, in its season: the appointed weeks of the harvest doth he ever preserve for us.
25 是你們的過犯混亂了這些時令，是罪惡阻止了你們享這幸福。
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden what is good from you.
26 因為在我的人民中發現惡人；他們像隱伏的捕鳥者在窺探，布下羅網捕捉人。
For there are found among my people wicked men: they lie in wait, as he that layeth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 猶如籠中滿了飛鳥，他們家中也充滿了欺詐，因此成了有勢力，有錢財的人。
As a coop is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore are they become great, and grown rich.
28 他們肥胖紅潤，作奸犯科，不為孤兒辯護；只求自己享受，也不關懷窮人的權利。
They are grown fat, they are stout; yea, they surpass even the deeds of the wicked: they pronounce no [just] sentence, the sentence of the fatherless, that they might prosper; and the cause of the needy do they not judge.
29 像這樣的事，我怎能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這樣的民族，我怎能不親自報復﹖
shall I not for these things inflict punishment? saith the Lord: or shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged?
30 在國內發生了一件恐怖而可憎的事：
An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 先知們說假預言，司祭們爭權奪利，我的人民反以此為樂；到了最後，你們究竟還要作什麼﹖
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so; but what will ye do in the end thereof?
