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 is dimmed the gold! changed the most fine gold! Poured out are the stones of the sanctuary, at the top of all the streets.
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!
The precious sons of Zion, they who were weighed against pure gold, How are they accounted as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the 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 wild dogs, draw out the breast, give suck to their whelps—The daughter of my people, hath become cruel, like the ostriches 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 tongue of the suckling, cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst, —Young children, have asked bread, there was none, to break, it to them.
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。
They who used to eat delicacies, are deserted in the streets, —They who used to be carried on crimson, have embraced heaps of refuse.
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。
And the punishment of the daughter of my people hath grown greater than the punishment of Sodom, —which was overthrown as in a moment, when no hands had been laid violently upon her.
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。
Purer were her Nazirites than snow, whiter were they than milk, —more ruddy, in body, than coral, A sapphire, was their beauty of form.
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；
Darker than a coal, is their visage, They are not known in the streets—Their skin shrivelleth on their bones, is withered, become like a stick.
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。
Better are the slain of the sword, than the slain of the famine, —for, these, pine away, stricken through, wanting the produce of the field.
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 compassionate women, have cooked their own children, —they have served as nourishment to them, in the grievous injury of the daughter of my people.
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。
Yahweh hath completed his indignation, hath poured out the glow of his anger; and hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured her 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。
Neither the kings of the earth, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, believed, that an adversary or an enemy, should 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；
[It is] for the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, —who have been pouring out, in her midst, the blood of the righteous!
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 have wandered—blind—in the streets, have defiled themselves with blood; so that men may not touch their garments.
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。」
Turn aside! Unclean! have they cried to them, Turn aside! Turn aside! Do not touch! because they have fled, yea, wandered, Men said among the nations, They will not again tarry;
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 face of Yahweh, hath scattered them, He will look them out no more: The persons of the priests, they have not respected, To the elders, have they shown no favour.
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。
Silly shall our eyes fail, for our help that is vain: In our watchtower, have we watched—for a nation that will not save.
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。
They have laid snares for our steps, that we cannot walk in our own broadways: Drawn near hath our end, Fulfilled are our days, yea arrived hath our end.
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。
Swifter are our pursuers, than the eagles of the heavens, —Over the mountains, have they come hotly after us, In the wilderness, have they lain in wait for us.
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 fragrance of our nostrils, The Anointed of Yahweh, hath been captured in their pits, —of whom we had said—In his shade, shall we 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。
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, thou inhabitress in the and of Uz, —Even unto thee, shall the cup pass along, thou shalt be drunken, and expose thy shame.
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。
Completed is thy punishment, O daughter of Zion, He will no more carry thee away captive—He hath punished thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath stripped the veil from off thy sins.
