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!
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might 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；
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
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。
“They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh.
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；
“Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go around like a slanderer.
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，
Friends deceive each other, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves committing 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 middle of deceit. Through deceit, they refuse to know me,” says Yahweh.
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﹖
Therefore Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, I will melt them and test them; for how should I deal with 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 deadly arrow. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he waits to ambush 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﹖
Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?
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 weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone.
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。
“I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without 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 wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
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；
Yahweh says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in my ways,
14 反而去順從自己頑固的心，追隨祖先教給他們的巴耳神。
but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.”
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；
Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water 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。
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
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，
Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. Send for the skillful women, that they may come.
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 make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters.
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 wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
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：
Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone teach her neighbor a lamentation.
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 come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men 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, “Yahweh says, “‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester. No one will gather them.’”
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。
Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man 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 let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for I delight in these things,” says Yahweh.
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 come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh:
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」。
Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
