耶利米書 6
1 本雅明子民，請你們逃出耶路撒冷，在特科亞吹號，在貝特革楞豎立旗幟! 因為有一個災禍，即一個巨大的毀滅，已由北方隱約出現。
Run and hide, descendants of Benjamin, get out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa; light a signal fire in Beth-haccherem, for disaster and terrible destruction is arriving from the north.
2 熙雍女郎仿佛美麗的草場，
Even though she is pretty and delightful, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.
3 牧童領著自己的羊群坰她進發，在她四週張設帳幕，各據一方牧放。
“Shepherds” and their “flocks” will come to attack her; they will set up their tents all around her, each one looking after his own.
4 「請你們備戰，向她進攻；來，讓我們在正午就上前進攻! 我們真不幸! 因為日已偏西，暮影已長!
They get ready for battle against her, saying, “Come on, we'll attack at noon! Oh no, the day is almost over, the evening shadows are growing long.
5 不妨! 就趁夜上去，破壞她的閭闕。」
Come on, we'll attack at night instead and destroy her fortresses!”
6 因為萬軍的上主這樣說：6.「他們該砍伐她的樹木，雀起壁壘，圍攻耶路撒冷，這該受罰的城市，因為在那裏充滿了壓榨。
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Cut down the trees and make a siege ramp to use against Jerusalem. This city needs to be punished because it's full of people mistreating one another.
7 泉源怎樣湧出泉水，她就怎樣湧出邪惡；從那裏只可聽到強暴和迫害，我金看見疾病和瘡痍。
Like a spring gushing out water, so she pours out her evil. The sounds of violence and abuse echo inside her. I see people sick and wounded everywhere.
8 耶路撒冷! 你應接受訓戒，免得我的心疏遠你，使你荒涼，成為沒有人居住的地方。」
I'm warning you, people of Jerusalem, I'm going to give up on you in disgust. I will destroy you and leave your country uninhabited.
9 萬軍的上主這樣說：「你應像收拾葡萄，把以色列的遺民收拾淨盡；又如收割的人 向枝條再伸出你的手來。」
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Even those left in Israel will be taken, just as grapes left on a vine are taken by the one harvesting the grapes who checks the branches again.
10 我應對誰說，應警告誰，使他們聽信我呢﹖看，他們的耳朵遲鈍不靈，不能留心細聽；看，上主的話對他們已成了笑柄，一點也不感興趣
Who can I give this warning to? Who's going to listen to me? Can't you see that they refuse to listen? They can't hear what I'm saying. See how offensive the Lord's message is to them. They don't like it at all.
11 為此，我滿懷上主火憤怒，我已無法再控制：「只得將憤怒發洩在街上的孩童和青年的隊伍身上，因為男人和女人，年長和年老的人，都要被擄去；
But as for me, I'm full of the Lord's anger; I have a hard time keeping it in. The Lord replies, Pour it out on children in the street, and on groups of young people, because both husband and wife are going to be captured—it's everyone, and it doesn't matter how old they are.
12 他們的住它、莊田和妻室，都要歸他人，因為我要向本地的居民伸出我的手──上主的斷語。」
Their houses will be given to others, their fields and wives too, because I'm going to punish everyone living in this country, declares the Lord.
13 實在，從最小的到最的，都貪財圖利；從先知到司祭，都欺詐行事，
Everyone cheats because they're greedy, poor and rich alike. Even prophets and priests—they are all dishonest liars!
14 草率治療我人民的瘡痍說：「好了，好了! 」其實卻沒有好。
They give my wounded people first aid, but they don't really care about them. They tell them, “Don't worry! We have peace!” even as war approaches.
15 他們既彿事可憎，就應當知恥；可是，他們不但毫不知恥，反而連羞愧也不知道是什麼；為此，他們要與倒斃者一同倒斃，在我降罰他們時，都要一厥不振──上主說。
Were they ashamed of the disgusting things they did? No, they weren't ashamed at all, they couldn't even blush. So they will fall just like the others, when I punish them; they will drop down dead, says the Lord.
16 上主這樣說：「你們應站在交叉路口，觀察探問舊路；那一條是好路，就在那路上走，你們的的心靈必獲安寧。」他們卻答說：「我們偏不走。」
This is what the Lord says: Go and stand where the roads divide, and look. Find out which are the old paths. Ask, “What's the right way?” Then follow it and you'll be content. But you refused, saying, “We won't go that way!”
17 我給你們派駐哨兵，你們連注意號聲! 」他們卻答說：「我們偏不注意。
I put watchmen in charge of you and told you, make sure you listen for the trumpet call warning you of danger. But you answered, “We won't listen!”
18 為此，萬民! 你們必需細聽；群眾! 你們應知道他們的遭遇。
So now you other nations can listen and find out what's going to happen to them.
19 大地注意：看，我必給這百姓帶來災禍，作他們失節的的苦果，因為他們沒有聽從我的言辭，拋棄了卜法律。
Earth, you listen too! I am bringing disaster down on this people, the end result of what they themselves planned. It's because they paid no attention to what I said, and rejected my instructions.
20 那些來自舍巴的乳香，出自遠方的香蒲，於我有何用﹖你們的全燔祭不受悅納，你的犧牲不樂我意。
What's the point of offering me frankincense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a far-away land? I don't accept your burnt offerings; I'm not pleased with your sacrifices.
21 為此，上主這樣說：「看，我將這人民設下絆腳石，使父子一起絆倒，使鄰居和朋友同趨滅亡。」
So this is what the Lord says: I'm going to put blocks in front of these people to trip them up. Fathers and sons will fall down dead, friends and neighbors too.
22 上主這樣說：「看，有一個民族從北方前來，有一個強大的異邦從地極興起，
This is what the Lord says: Look! An army is invading from the north; a powerful nation is getting ready to attack all the way from the ends of the earth.
23 緊握弓戈，殘忍無情，像海嘯一般喧嚷，騎著戰馬，萬眾一心，嚴陣準備向你進攻，熙雍女郎! 」
They pick up their bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their war-cries are like the sea roaring, and they ride horses lined up ready to attack you, Daughter of Zion.
24 我們聽到了這消息，束手無策，不勝憂慮，痛苦得有如臨產的婦女。
The people reply, “We've heard the news, and our hands are limp with shock! We're overcome with agony, suffering pain like a woman in labor.
25 你們不要到田間去，不要在路上徘徊，因為敵人正在撕殺，四處令人恐怖。
Don't go to the field! Don't walk down the road! The enemy is armed with swords! Terror is everywhere!”
26 我的女兒──人民──你該穿上麻衣，輾轉於灰塵，悲哀傷心痛哭，如喪獨子，因為劫奪者要突然來襲擊我們!
Oh my people, put on sackcloth and roll around in ashes. Mourn and cry bitterly like you would for an only son, because the destroyer will come down on you suddenly.
27 我立了你作我人民的查察員，原是為叫你認識並考察他們的行徑。
Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals so you can test my people as if they were metal, so you can know what they're made of and how they act.
28 他們盡是極頑固的叛徒，往來散播流言，確是壞透了的破銅爛鐵。
They're all stubborn rebels going around talking slander. They are hard as bronze and iron; they are all corrupt.
29 風箱猛吹，雖有烈火，但鉛仍不溶化；煉工徒然鍛煉，渣滓總煉不掉。
The bellows in the refiner's furnace blow powerfully, burning away the lead. But this refining is pointless, because the wicked are not purified.
30 人都稱他們為「拋棄的銀渣，」因為上主已將他們拋棄。
They are identified as impure silver to be rejected, because the Lord has rejected them.
