< 耶利米書 51 >
1 上主這樣說:「看,我必要興起毀滅的颶風,襲擊巴比倫和加色丁的居民,
Thus says YHWH: "Look, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
2 給巴比倫派簸手來簸揚她,掃空她的國土,因為在禍患之日,人必四面向她進攻。」
I will send to Babylon foreigners who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.
3 弓手不要放下自己的弓箭,戰士不要卸下自己的鎧甲,不要憐恤她的青年,卻要殲滅她所有的部隊,
Do not let him who bends the bow bend it; nor not let him rise up in his armor. And do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.
They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5 因為他們的國土,充滿了反抗以色列聖者的罪惡;可是以色列和猶大並未成為寡婦,也未喪失自己的天主,萬軍的上主。
"For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of YHWH of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 你們逃離巴比倫,各救自己的性命,不要因了她的罪過而自遭喪亡,因為現在是上主復仇的時候,上主要對她報復。
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; do not be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of YHWH's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.
7 巴比倫在上主手中,曾是個灌醉大地的金爵,萬民飲了她的酒,萬民纔如此狂亂。
Babylon has been a golden cup in YHWH's hand, who made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8 霎時間,巴比倫傾覆瓦解,你們為她舉哀,拿香料來醫治她的創傷,也許她會痊癒。
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 我們本願治癒巴比倫,但是她卻不痊癒;我們放下她,各自回歸故鄉,因為她罪惡滔天,直達雲霄。
'We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.'
10 上主表彰了我們的正義,來,我們在熙雍稱揚上主我們的天主的偉業。
'YHWH has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of YHWH our God.'
11 磨尖箭矢,裝滿箭囊! 上主已激起瑪待王的銳氣,因為他對巴比倫的計劃,是要將她消滅;是上主報復,為自己的殿宇復仇。
Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: YHWH has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of YHWH, the vengeance of his temple.
12 你們向巴比倫城牆樹立旗幟,加緊防衛,派駐防哨,預設埋伏,因為上主怎樣計劃了,就怎樣實踐他對巴比倫居民所下的斷語。
Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for YHWH has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 啊,你住在多水之旁,富有寶藏;現在到了你的結局,到了切斷你尺度的時刻。
You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14 萬軍的上主指著自己起誓說:「我必用像蝗蟲那麼多的人群填塞你,對你高唱凱歌。」
YHWH of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, "Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you."
15 上主以自己的能力創造了大地,自己的智慧奠定了寰宇,以自己的才智展布了諸天。
He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
16 他一聲號令使天上的水怒號,使雲彩地極上騰,使雷聲霹靂,造成豪雨,使暴風從他的倉庫出發。
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the farthest parts of the earth; he makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
17 人都要自覺愚昧無知;每個銀匠必因自己的刻像感到羞慚,因為所鑄的像,只是「虛無」,沒有息;
Every man has become brutish without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18 是「虛幻」,是愚弄人的作品;懲罰時期一到,必要盡歸滅亡。
They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19 那位作雅各伯產業的,與它們卻完全不同,因為他是萬物的造主,以色列是作他產業的支派;他的名字叫「萬軍的上主」。
The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; YHWH of hosts is his name.
20 巴比倫! 你曾是我的鎚子,作戰的武器;我曾用你粉碎萬民,用你毀滅邦國,
"You are my battle axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and its rider.
22 用你粉碎男子和婦女,用你粉碎老翁和幼童,用你粉少男和少女,
And with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
23 用你粉碎牧人和牲畜,用你粉碎農夫和耕牛,用你粉碎州牧和監督。
and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.
24 但是,如今我要在你們眼前,報復巴比倫和所有的加色丁居民,對熙雍作的一切惡事──上主的斷語──
I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight," says YHWH.
25 好事毀滅的山嶺! 看,我要攻擊你──上主的斷語──是你毀滅了整個大地,我要向你伸出我的手,使你從崖石上滾下,使你成為烈火焚毀的山嶺。
"Look, I am against you, destroying mountain," says YHWH, "which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.
26 人們不再從你那裏鑿取角石或基石,因為你將永遠為荒丘──上主的斷語。
They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever," says YHWH.
27 你們在地上樹立旗幟,在萬民間吹起號角,祝聖萬民向她進攻,召集阿辣辣特和明尼及阿市革納次王國向她進攻,派遣一員大將向他進攻;衝鋒的馬隊,好像刺毛直豎的蚱蜢。
Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm.
28 祝聖萬民:瑪待的君王和他的州牧,他所有的監督以及他整個版圖的民眾,向她進攻。
Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.
29 大地戰慄惶悚,因為上主正在進行攻巴比倫的計劃,使巴比倫地成為無人居住的荒野。
The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of YHWH against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 巴比倫的兵士放棄作戰,留在堡壘中,失去了勇氣,有如婦人;她的房屋已為火焚毀,她的門閂已被折斷。
The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.
31 跑差的,傳信的,都相繼跑去通報巴比倫王,京城四周已被佔領,
One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.
33 因為萬軍的上主,以色列的天主這樣說:「巴比倫女郎有如到了該踐踏的禾場;還有片刻就到收割她的時期。
For thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel: "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.
34 巴比倫王拿步高把我吞食毀滅,使我變成了空器皿;他彷復一條龍,併吞了我,以我的美味滿足了自己的肚腹,然後將我驅逐。
'Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out.
35 熙雍的居民說:「要對巴比倫報復我身受的凌辱! 」耶路撒冷說:「要對加色丁居民報復我的血債! 」
The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,' shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, 'My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,' shall Jerusalem say.
36 為此,上主這樣說:「看,我必為你辯護,報復你的冤仇,乾涸她的河川,枯竭她的泉源。
Therefore thus says YHWH: "Look, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37 巴比倫必成為一堆瓦礫,豺狼的巢穴;令人恐怖嘲笑,無人居住。
Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38 巴比倫人像壯獅一樣,一起怒號,像母獅的幼雛一樣,一起咆哮。
They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' cubs.
39 在他們激昂時,我必給他們擺設盛宴,使他們酣醉昏迷,長眠不醒──上主的斷語──
When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake," says YHWH.
"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41 怎麼,沙客竟陷落了,全地的光榮竟遭受了劫掠﹖怎麼,連巴比倫在萬民中也變得如此悽涼﹖
How is Sheshach taken, and the praise of the whole earth seized. How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations.
The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43 她的城市盡化為野,乾旱淒涼之地,再沒有人居住,再沒有過客。
Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.
44 我必懲罰巴比倫的貝耳,由他口裏奪出他所吞滅的,萬民必不再向他湧來,因為巴比倫的城牆已倒塌。
I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall."
45 我的人民! 你們從她那裏出來,各救自己的性命脫免上主忿怒的烈火。
"My people, go away from the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of YHWH.
46 你們不要膽怯,不要害怕地方上流傳的謠言;因為今年傳來這謠言,明年又另有謠言;地方上常有暴亂,暴君互相傾軋。
Do not let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 看,時日將到,我必懲罰巴比倫的偶像;使她全國飽受恥辱,國內死傷遍地。
Therefore look, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 上天下地和其中所有的一切,必對巴比倫吶喊歡呼,因為從北方必有破壞者來向她進襲──上主的斷語──
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north," says YHWH.
49 為了以色列被剌殺的人,巴比倫也該傾覆,就如全地被刺殺的人,曾為了巴比倫而倒斃。
As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.
50 你們逃脫了刀劍的人! 快走,不要停留;從遠方懷念上主,思戀耶路撒冷。
You who have escaped the sword, go, do not stand still; remember YHWH from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 我們聽到了侮辱,感到恥辱,滿面羞慚,因為外方人闖進了上主殿宇的聖所。
"We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of YHWH's house."
52 為此,看,時日將到──上主斷語──我必懲罰她的偶像,使她國內的人都負傷呻吟;
"Therefore look, the days come," says YHWH, "that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 即使巴比倫爬上諸天,即使她盤據高處不可侵犯,我仍要派破壞者來自她進襲──上主的斷語。
Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come to her," says YHWH.
54 聽從巴比倫發出的喧嚷,從加色丁人地發生的絕大破壞!
"The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans."
55 是上主在毀滅巴比倫,消弭其中嘈雜的聲音;敵人洶湧而來,有如汪洋怒濤,揚聲吶喊。
For YHWH lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:
56 果然,破壞者已來到巴比倫,她的勇士都已被擒,她的弓弩盡被折斷,因為上主是報復的天主,他必嚴厲加以報復。
for the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for YHWH is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.
57 我必使她的諸侯和謀士,州牧和監督以及勇士飲醉,長眠不醒──名為萬軍上主君王的斷語。
"I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up," says the King, whose name is YHWH of hosts.
58 萬軍的上主這樣說:「巴比倫廣闊的城牆要被夷為平地,她高大的城門要被火焚盡:這樣百姓只有白白徒勞,萬民的辛苦,也只有付之一炬。」
Thus says YHWH of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary."
59 以下是瑪赫色雅的孫子,乃黎雅的兒子色辣雅同猶大王漆德克雅,在他為王第四年,同往巴比倫去時,耶肋米亞先知對他吩咐的話,那時辣雅身為行營總督。
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.
60 耶肋米亞在一本書上記錄了要降在巴比倫的一切災禍,所記錄的全是於巴比倫的事。
Jeremiah wrote in a scroll all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 耶肋米亞對色辣雅說:「你一到了巴比倫,就應設法宣讀這一切話,
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,
62 然後說:上主,關於這地你親自說過,要將它消滅,使這地無人居住,成為人和走獸絕跡的荒野。
and say, 'YHWH, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it shall be desolate forever.'
63 你朗誦完了這本書以後,在書上繫上一塊石頭,把書拋在幼發拉的河中,
It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this scroll, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Perath:
64 然後說:巴比倫也要如此沉沒,再也不能由我給她招來的災禍中復興。」耶肋米亞的話至此為止。
and you shall say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary.'" Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.