那鴻書 3
1 禍哉! 血債的城，滿城欺詐，處處劫掠，搶奪不息。
Woe to the bloody city! Full of lies and plunder, without end is the spoil.
2 聽皮鞭颼颼，車輪隆隆，戰馬奔馳，戰車疾駛，
Hear the crack of the whip, hear the rattle of wheels. Galloping horses, jolting chariots.
3 騎士躍馬，刀劍晃亮，槍矛閃輝，被殺者眾，死者成堆，屍體無邊，人人為屍體絆倒：
Horsemen charging, swords flashing, spears glittering, a multitude of slain, a heap of bodies, no end to the corpses over which people stumble!
4 這都是因那嬌艷妖冶的淫婦，行妖術的女巫的許多淫行所致。她以淫蕩欺騙了列邦，用妖術迷惑了萬民。
‘Because you acted like a whore, bewitching the nations, enticing the peoples,
5 看，我必攻擊你，──萬軍上主的斷語──我必將妳的衣裙掀到妳的臉上，使萬民見到妳的裸體，使列邦看到妳的恥辱：
I am against you, Nineveh’ the Lord of hosts declares. ‘I will strip your clothes and show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
6 我必要將糞溺拋在妳身上侮辱妳，使妳成為鑑戒。
‘I will fling loathsome filth at you, and make you an object of contempt, a spectacle,
7 凡看見妳的，必逃避妳說：「尼尼微終於毀滅了! 」誰會向妳表同情﹖我從哪裏能找到安慰妳人﹖
so that everyone who sees you will flee from you and say: “Nineveh is laid waste, who will mourn for her?”
8 妳哪裏能勝過那位於尼羅上，四面環水的諾阿孟。妳有海洋為屏障，有水為垣牆；
‘Are you any better than Thebes, which stood on the banks of the Nile, with waters around as a rampart, whose wall was the sea of waters?
9 雇士和埃及是好的力量，力大無窮；普特和利比亞是好的助1 ；
Her strength was Ethiopia and Egypt. The Libyans were her helpers, and Put with its countless people.
10 但是好也被擄去，充當俘虜，好的嬰兒也在各街頭被摔死，人抽籤分配好的貴族，用鐵鏈縛住她的縉紳。
Yet she was exiled and made captive. On all corners of the streets her infants were dashed to pieces. Lots were cast for her nobles, all her great ones were bound in chains.
11 妳也要這樣被攻破而消失，妳也要一個安全處為逃避仇敵。
‘You too, Nineveh, will be drunk with fear; you too will seek a place of escape from the foe.
12 好的一切堡壘好像早熟的無花果樹，人一搖動，就落在姇食者的口裏。
All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; if shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
13 看哪! 在妳中間的百姓都是婦女，妳境內的門已為妳的敵人敞開，火已燒毀了妳的門閂。
Your troops are weak as women before your foes; the gates of your land are wide open; your defenses burned down.
14 妳應吸水防備圍困，應鞏固妳的堡壘，踏黏土，踩膠泥，緊握磚型。
‘Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts. Go to the clay pits and tread the clay; take up the brick moulds.
15 火要在那裏燒滅妳，刀劍要殲滅妳， [把妳吞食有如蚱蜢。] 妳盡可增多妳的人數有如蚱蜢，多如飛蝗；
There the fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down. Multiply like the locust or a swarm of grasshoppers.
16 增加妳的商賈，多過天上的星辰! ──蚱蜢一脫殼就飛去了。
Increase the numbers of your merchants until they are more than the stars of heaven,
17 妳的守衛正如蝗蟲，妳的官吏正像一群蚱蜢；冷天蟄伏在牆上，但太陽一昇起，就飛去了，沒有人知道牠們究在何處。
until your watchmen are locusts, and your scribes like grasshoppers, which swarm in the hedges on a cold day; but when the sun rises they fly away, no one knows where.
18 亞述王! 你的牧者已酣睡，你的貴族已永眠，你的人民已散在各山上，無人再能聚集。
‘King of Assyria: your princes slumber, your nobles sleep! Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them!
19 你的瘡痍無法治療，你的創傷是致命傷。凡聽到你這消息的，都朝你鼓掌，因為有誰沒有時常受你虐待﹖
There is no healing for your hurt, your wound is incurable. All who hear of your fate clap their hands in joy, for who has escaped your limitless cruelty?’
