耶利米哀歌 4
1 怎麼! 黃金竟暗淡無光，純金竟變了色! 聖所的石頭都散亂在街頭!
How gold has tarnished! Even pure gold has lost its shine! Jewels from the Temple have been scattered on every street corner.
2 熙雍的子女，原比純金尊貴，怎麼現在竟被看作瓦器，被看作陶人的出品!
Look at how the precious people of Zion, worth their weight in gold, are now valued like cheap clay jars made by a potter!
3 豺狼尚且露出乳房，哺養自己的幼兒；我的女兒──人民，竟然殘暴不仁，好似曠野中的鴕鳥!
Even jackals nurse their young at their breasts, but the women of my people have become cruel, like an ostrich in the desert.
4 嬰兒的舌頭，乾渴得緊貼上顎；幼童飢餓求食，卻無人分給他們。
The nursing babies are so thirsty that their tongues stick to the roof of their mouths. Little children beg for food, but nobody gives them anything.
5 昔日飽享山珍海味，今日竟餓死街頭；一向衣飾華麗，而今卻滿身糞土。
Those who used to eat gourmet food now die starving in the streets. Those who dressed in fine clothes from their childhood now live in heaps of rubbish.
6 我的女兒──人民的罪罰，比索多瑪的還重，索多瑪頃刻間傾覆了，並非假手於人。
Jerusalem's punishment is worse than sinful Sodom's, which was destroyed in a brief moment, without the help of human hands.
7 昔日，她的少年，比雪還潔白，比乳還皎潔；他們的皮膚，比珊瑚還紅潤，他們的身體好似一片青玉。
Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were a healthier red than coral, and they shone like lapis lazuli.
8 而今，他們的容貌，比炭還黑，在街上已辨認不出，皮包骨頭，枯瘦如柴；
But now they look blacker than soot; no one recognizes them in the street. Their skin has shrunk to their bones and is as dry as wood.
9 死於刀下的，比死於饑餓的，即因缺乏田產，日漸衰弱而死的，更為幸運。
Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who slowly waste away in agony because the fields produce no crops.
10 柔情的婦女竟要親手烹食自己的子女；在我的女兒──人民遭受浩劫時，子女竟成了母親的食物。
The hands of loving women have cooked their own children to eat during the destruction of Jerusalem.
11 上主大發震怒，傾洩了他的怒火，火燒熙雍，焚毀了他的基礎。
The Lord has given full expression to his anger. He has poured out his fury. He has started a fire in Zion, and it has burned down her very foundations.
12 地上的君王和世上的居民，誰也不相信：仇敵能進入耶路撒冷的城門。
No king on earth—in fact nobody in all the world—thought that an enemy or attacker could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 這是由於她先知們的罪惡，和她司祭們的過犯：他們在城中心，傾流了義人的血；
But this happened because of the sins of her prophets and the wickedness of her priests, who shed the blood of the innocent right there in the city.
14 他們身染血污，像瞎子一樣，徘徊街頭，叫人不能觸摸他們的衣服。「
They wandered like blind men through the streets, made unclean by this blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
15 不潔! 退避! 」人們喊說：「退避! 不可接近! 」如果他們逃亡，漂流異邦，異邦人又說：「不要讓他們留居此地。」
“Go away! You're unclean!” people would shout at them, “Go away, go away! Don't touch us!” So they ran away and wandered from country to country, but the people there told them, “You can't stay here!”
16 上主的怒容驅散他們，不再垂顧他們；人也不再尊敬司祭，不再敬重長老。
The Lord himself has scattered them; he doesn't bother with them anymore. Nobody respects the priests, and nobody admires the leaders.
17 我們還在望眼欲穿，幻想著我們的救援；我們仍在瞭望台上，期望著那不能施救的異邦。
We wore out our eyes pointlessly looking for help the whole time; we watched from our towers for a nation to come that couldn't save us.
18 敵人正在追蹤我們的足跡，阻止我們在街上行走；我們的結局已近，我們的日子已滿；的確，我們的終期已到。
The enemy tracked our every movement so we couldn't walk through our streets. Our end approached. Our time was up because our end had come.
19 追捕我們的人，比凌空的飛鳥還要快速；他們在山上搜索我們，在曠野裏窺伺我們。
Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us across the mountains and ambushed us in the desert.
20 連我們的氣息──上主的受傅者，也落在他們的陷阱中：我們原希望在他的福蔭下，生活在異邦人中。
The king, the Lord's anointed, our country's “life-breath,” was trapped and captured by them. We had said about him, “Under his protection we will live among the nations.”
21 住在胡茲地的厄東女郎! 你歡欣喜樂罷! 苦爵也要輪到你喝，你將要醉倒，而赤身裸體。
Celebrate and be happy while you can, people of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz, because this cup will be passed to you too. You will get drunk and strip yourself naked.
22 熙雍女郎! 你的罪債已經償還，上主不再使你流徙；厄東女郎! 他必要懲罰你的過犯，揭露你的罪惡。
People of Zion, your punishment is coming to an end—he won't continue your exile for long. But he is going to punish your sins, people of Edom; he will reveal your sins.
