< 羅馬書 11 >
1 再問:莫非天主擯棄了自己的人民嗎?斷然不是! 我自己就是個以色列人,出於亞巴郎的後裔,本雅明支派。
I ask, then, “Has God rejected his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 天主並沒有擯棄祂所預選的人民。難道你們不知道聖經在厄里亞篇上說了什麼,他怎樣向天主抱怨以色列?
God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the first. Have you forgotten the words of scripture in the story of Elijah – how he appeals to God against Israel?
3 『上主呀! 他們殺了你的先知,毀壞了你的祭壇,只剩下了我一個,他們還在謀害我的性命。』
“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have pulled down your altars, and I only am left; and now they are eager to take my life.”
4 然而神諭告訢了他什麼?『我為我自己留下了七千人,他們沒有向巴耳屈過膝。』
But what was the divine response? “I have kept for myself seven thousand who have never bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 同樣,現在也留下了一些殘餘,即天主以恩寵所選拔的人。
And so in our own time, too, there is to be found a remnant of our nation selected by God in love.
6 既是出於恩寵,就不是出於作為,不然,恩寵就不算為恩寵了。
But if in love, then it is not as a result of obedience. Otherwise love would cease to be love.
7 那麼還說什麼呢?以色列全體所尋求的,沒有得到,只有那些蒙選的人得到了;其餘的都頑梗不化了。
What follows from this? Why, that Israel as a nation failed to secure what it was seeking, while those whom God selected did secure it.
8 正如所記載的:『天主賦予了他們沉睡的神,有眼看不見,有耳聽不見,直到今日,仍是如此。』
The rest grew callous; as scripture says – “God has given them a deadness of mind – eyes that are not to see and ears that are not to hear – and it is so to this very day.”
9 達味也說過:『他們的筵席成為他們的陷阱、羅網、絆腳石和應得的報應。
David, too, says – “May their feasts prove a snare and a trap to them – a hindrance and a retribution;
10 願他們的眼睛昏迷,不得看見。願你使他們的脊背常常彎曲。』
may their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; and do you always make their backs to bend.”
11 那麼我再問:他們失足,是要他們永久跌倒嗎?絕對不是! 而是藉著他們的過犯,使救恩臨到外邦人,為刺激他們發憤。
I ask then – “Was their stumbling to result in their fall?” Heaven forbid! On the contrary, through their falling away salvation has reached the Gentiles, to stir the rivalry of Israel.
12 如果因他們的過犯,世界得以致富;因他們的墮落,外邦人得以致富;他們全體歸正,更將怎樣呢?
And, if their falling away has enriched the world, and their failure has enriched the Gentiles, how much more will result from their full restoration!
13 我對你們外邦人說:我既然是外邦人的宗徒,我必要光榮我的職務;
But I am speaking to you who were Gentiles.
14 這樣,或許可激動我的同胞發憤,因而能拯救他們幾個人。
Being myself an apostle to the Gentiles, I exalt my office, in the hope that I may stir my countrymen to rivalry, and so save some of them.
15 如果因他們被遺棄,世界與天主和好了;那麼,他們如果蒙收納,豈不是死而復生嗎?
For, if their being cast aside has meant the reconciliation of the world, what will their reception mean, but life from the dead?
16 如果所獻的初熟的麥麵是聖的,全麵團也成為聖的;如果樹根是聖的,樹枝也是聖的。
If the first handful of dough is holy, so is the whole mass, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 假如有幾條橄欖樹枝被折下來,而你這枝野橄欖樹枝被接上去,同沾橄欖樹根的肥脂,
Some, however, of the branches were broken off, and you, who were only a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and came to share with them the root which is the source of the richness of the cultivated olive.
18 就不可向舊樹枝自誇。如果你想自誇,就該想不是你托著樹根,而是樹根托著你。
Yet do not exult over the other branches. But, if you do exult over them, remember that you do not support the root, but that the root supports you.
19 或者你要說:樹枝被折下來,正是為叫我接上去。
But branches, you will say, were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.
20 不錯,他們因了不信而被折下來,你要因著信,才站得住。你決不可心高氣傲,反應恐懼,
True, it was because of their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is because of your faith that you are standing. Do not think too highly of yourself, but beware.
21 因為天主既然沒有憐惜了那些原有的樹枝,將來也許不憐惜你。
For, if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
22 可是天主又慈善又嚴厲:天主對於跌倒了的人是嚴厲的,對於你卻是慈善的,只要你存留在祂的慈善上;不然你也必要被砍去。
See, then, both the goodness and the severity of God – his severity towards those who fell, and his goodness towards you, provided that you continue to confide in that goodness; otherwise you, also, will be cut off.
23 至於他們,如果他們不固執於無信之中,必會再被接上去,因為天主有能力重新把他們接上去。
And they, too, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has it in his power to graft them in again.
24 其實,如果你這由本生的橄欖樹上被砍下來的,逆著性被接在好橄欖樹上,何況他們那些原生的樹枝,豈不更容易接在自己原來的橄欖樹上麼?
If you were cut off from your natural stock – a wild olive – and were grafted, contrary to the course of nature, on a good olive, much more will they – the natural branches – be grafted back into their parent tree.
25 弟兄們! 免得你們自作聰明,我不願意你們不知道這項奧祕的事,就是只有一部分是執迷不悟的,直到外邦人全數進入天國為止:
My friends, so that you don’t think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognise the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only until the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.
26 那時,全以色列必也獲救,正如經上所載:『拯救者必要來自熙雍,從雅各伯中消除不敬之罪;
And then all Israel will be saved. As scripture says – “From Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.
27 這是我與他們所訂立的盟約:那時我要赦免他們的罪惡。』
And they will see the fulfilment of my covenant, when I have taken away their sins.”
28 照福音來說,他們由於你們的緣故,成了天主的仇人;但照召選來說,由於他們祖先的緣故,他們仍是可愛的,
From the standpoint of the good news, the Jews are God’s enemies for your sake; but from the standpoint of God’s selection, they are dear to him for the sake of the patriarchs.
For God never regrets his gifts or his call.
30 就如你們以前背判了天主,如今卻因了他們的背判而蒙受了憐憫;
Just as you at one time were disobedient to him, but have now found mercy in the day of their disobedience;
31 同樣,因了你們所受的憐憫,他們如今背判,這是為叫他們今後池蒙受憐憫,
so, too, they have now become disobedient in your day of mercy, in order that they also in their turn may now find mercy.
32 因為天主把人都禁錮在背判之中,是為要憐憫眾人。 (eleēsē )
For God has given all alike over to disobedience, that to all alike he may show mercy. (eleēsē )
33 啊! 天主的富饒,上智和知識,是麼高深! 他的決斷是多麼不可探察!
Oh! The unfathomable wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments, how untraceable his ways! Yes –
34 有誰曾知道上主的心意?或者,有誰曾當過祂的顧問?
ho has ever comprehended the mind of the Lord? Who has ever become his counsellor?
Or who has first given to him, so that he may claim a reward?
36 因為萬物都出於祂,依賴祂,而歸於祂。願光榮歸於祂直至永世! 阿們! (aiōn )
For all things are from him, through him, and for him. And to him be all glory for ever and ever! Amen. (aiōn )