耶利米書 9
1 恨不得我的頭髮變成水源，我的眼化為淚泉，好能日夜哭泣我被殺死的女兒──人民!
“Who will provide water for my head, and a fount of tears for my eyes? And then I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 誰能在o石我找一個旅棧，叫我好離開我的人民，離他們而遠去﹖因為都是些亂之徒，是一群反叛；
Who will provide me, in the wilderness, with a lodging place along the road? And then I will forsake my people, and withdraw from them. For they are all adulterers, a union of transgressors.
3 他們彎起像弓的舌頭，使 在地上得勢的，是虛偽而不是誠實，因為他們變本加厲作惡，全不理睬我──上主的斷語。
And they have bent their tongue, like a bow, to send forth lies and not the truth. They have been strengthened upon the earth. And they have gone from one evil to another. But they have not known me, says the Lord.
4 你們應各自提防自己的近人，不要信任弟兄，因為所有的弟兄都愛好欺詐，一般的近人都好說讒言；
Let each one guard himself against his neighbor, and let him have no trust in any brother of his. For every brother will utterly overthrow, and every friend will advance deceitfully.
5 人都欺騙自己的近人，不講實話，使自己的舌頭慣於說謊，謁力行惡，
And a man will deride his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they have labored to commit iniquity.
6 不願悔悟，卻強暴上又加強暴，欺詐上又加欺詐，全不理睬我──上主的斷語。
Your habitation is in the midst of deceit. In their deceitfulness, they have refused to know me, says the Lord.”
7 為此萬軍的上主這樣說：「看，我要將他們淨化，提煉；否則，我將怎樣處理我的女兒──人民──的邪惡﹖
Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them, and I will test them. For what else can I do before the face of the daughter of my people?
8 他們的舌頭像毒箭，好出詐言；嘴上對鄰友說話溫和，心中卻設計陷害。
Their tongue is a wounding arrow; it has spoken deceit. With his mouth, he speaks peace with his friend, and then he secretly lies in ambush for him.
9 為這些事我豈能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這樣的一個民族，我豈能不圖報復﹖
Shall I not visit upon them concerning these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?
10 我要為群山號咷痛哭，為原野高唱哀歌，因為全都被焚毀，沒有人往來，再聽不到牲畜的聲音；自天空的飛鳥到地上的走獸，都逃去無蹤。
I will take up weeping and lamentation over the mountains, and mourning over the beautiful places in the desert. For they have been scorched because no man is passing through them. And they have not heard the voice of any occupant. From the birds of the air, even to the cattle, they have migrated and withdrawn.
11 我要使耶路撒冷成為廢壚，成為豺狼的巢穴；使猶大的城市荒涼，無人居住。
And I will make Jerusalem into piles of sand and into a lair for serpents. And I will make the cities of Judah desolate, so much so that there will be no inhabitant.
12 誰夠聰明，明白這事﹖上主親口吩咐誰公佈這事﹖「為什麼像這地方遭受毀滅，荒蕪得有如無人經過的曠野﹖」
Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom a word from the mouth of the Lord may be given, so that he may announce this: why the land has perished, and has been scorched like a desert, so much so that no one passes through it?”
13 上主說：因為他們離棄了我給他們立的法律，沒有聽從我的聲音，沒有按照法律而行；
And the Lord said: “It is because they have abandoned my law, which I gave to them, and they have not listened to my voice, and they have not walked by it.
14 反而去順從自己頑固的心，追隨祖先教給他們的巴耳神。
And they have gone after the depravity of their own heart, and after Baal, which they learned from their fathers.”
15 為此萬軍的上主，以色列的天主這樣說：看，我必使這人民吃毒艾，飲毒水；
For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed this people with absinthe, and I will give them the water of gall to drink.
16 使他們流離到他們和他們祖先素不相識的民族中；派刀劍追擊他們，直至將他們完全消滅。
And I will disperse them among nations, which they and their fathers have not known. And I will send the sword after them, until they are consumed.”
17 萬軍的上主這樣說：你們應該明白，快召哀悼的婦女來，派人去叫擅長哭泣的女人來，
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Consider and call upon the women mourners, and let them approach. And send to those women who are wise, and let them hurry.
18 叫她們迅速前來，我們啼哭，使我們的眼睛流下眼淚，使我們的睫毛湧出睙水，
‘Let them hasten to take up a lamentation over us. Let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run with water.’
19 因為從熙雍那裏可以聽到哭聲：我們怎樣崩潰了，受了許多多大的恥辱! 竟要離開本國，拋棄我們的家園!
For a voice of lamentation has been heard from Zion: ‘How is it that we have been devastated and greatly confounded? Our tabernacles have been thrown down because we have forsaken the land.’”
20 妳們婦女! 都應聽清上主的話，親耳聆聽衪口授的言詞；教妳們的女兒痛哭，彼此互相學唱哀歌：
“Therefore, listen, O women, to the word of the Lord! And let your ears take up the word of his mouth. And teach your daughters to lament. And let each one teach her neighbor to mourn:
21 因為死亡已從我們的窗戶爬進來，進入了我們的宮殿，殲滅了街上的孩童，和廣場上的青年。
‘For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered our houses to perish the little children from the outdoors, the youths from the streets.’”
22 你應這樣說──上主的斷語──人的屍體僵臥著，好像在田野裏的糞堆；又像遺留在收割者後面無人拾取的麥束。
“Speak: Thus says the Lord: And the corpses of men will fall like manure over the face of the countryside, and like hay behind the back of the reaper, and there will be no one to gather it.”
23 上主這樣說：「智者不應誇耀自己的智慧，力士不應誇耀自己的力量，富人不應誇耀自己的財富。
Thus says the Lord: “The wise man should not glory in his wisdom, and the strong man should not glory in his strength, and the rich man should not glory in his riches.
24 凡要誇耀的，只應該在「知道和認識我」這件事誇耀，因為在地上是我，上主，施行仁慈、公道和正義，因為我喜愛這樣事──上主的斷語。
But he who glories should glory in this: to know me and to know me well. For I am the Lord, who accomplishes mercy and judgment and justice upon the earth. For these things are pleasing to me, says the Lord.
25 看，時日將到──上主的斷語──我要懲罰所有受過割損而仍存有包皮的人，
Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all who are uncircumcised:
26 即埃及、猶大、厄東、阿孟子民、摩阿布和所有住在曠野剃除鬚髮的人，因為這一切民族都未受過割損，至於以色列全家卻是未受過內心的割損」。
upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all who have shaved off their hair, living in the desert. For all the nations are uncircumcised in body, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
