耶利米书 38
1 玛坦的儿子示法提雅、巴施户珥的儿子基大利、示利米雅的儿子犹甲、玛基雅的儿子巴施户珥听见耶利米对众人所说的话，说：
At that time, says the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.
2 “耶和华如此说：住在这城里的必遭刀剑、饥荒、瘟疫而死；但出去归降迦勒底人的必得存活，就是以自己命为掠物的，必得存活。
Thus says the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go you and destroy not Israel.
3 耶和华如此说：这城必要交在巴比伦王军队的手中，他必攻取这城。”
The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn you in compassion.
4 于是首领对王说：“求你将这人治死；因他向城里剩下的兵丁和众民说这样的话，使他们的手发软。这人不是求这百姓得平安，乃是叫他们受灾祸。”
For I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall yet take your timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.
5 西底家王说：“他在你们手中，无论何事，王也不能与你们反对。”
For you have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant you, and praise.
6 他们就拿住耶利米，下在哈米勒的儿子玛基雅的牢狱里；那牢狱在护卫兵的院中。他们用绳子将耶利米系下去。牢狱里没有水，只有淤泥，耶利米就陷在淤泥中。
For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, [saying], Arise you, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.
7 在王宫的太监古实人以伯·米勒，听见他们将耶利米下了牢狱（那时王坐在便雅悯门口），
For thus says the Lord to Jacob; Rejoice you, and exult over the head of the nations: make proclamation, and praise you: say, The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.
8 以伯·米勒就从王宫里出来，对王说：
Behold, I bring them from the north, and will gather them from the end of the earth to the feast of the passover: and [the people] shall beget a great multitude, and they shall return hither.
9 “主—我的王啊，这些人向先知耶利米一味地行恶，将他下在牢狱中；他在那里必因饥饿而死，因为城中再没有粮食。”
They went forth with weeping, and I will bring them back with consolation, causing them to lodge by the channels of waters in a straight way, and they shall not err in it: for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 王就吩咐古实人以伯·米勒说：“你从这里带领三十人，趁着先知耶利米未死以前，将他从牢狱中提上来。”
Hear the words of the Lord, you nations, and proclaim [them] to the islands afar off; say, He that scattered Israel will also gather him, and keep him as one that feeds his flock.
11 于是以伯·米勒带领这些人同去，进入王宫，到库房以下，从那里取了些碎布和破烂的衣服，用绳子缒下牢狱去到耶利米那里。
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
12 古实人以伯·米勒对耶利米说：“你用这些碎布和破烂的衣服放在绳子上，垫你的胳肢窝。”耶利米就照样行了。
And they shall come, and shall rejoice in the mount of Sion, and shall come to the good things of the Lord, [even] to a land of corn, and wine, and fruits, and cattle, and sheep: and their soul shall be as a fruitful tree; and they shall hunger no more.
13 这样，他们用绳子将耶利米从牢狱里拉上来。耶利米仍在护卫兵的院中。
Then shall the virgins rejoice in the assembly of youth, and the old men shall rejoice; and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will make them merry.
14 西底家王打发人带领先知耶利米，进耶和华殿中第三门里见王。王就对耶利米说：“我要问你一件事，你丝毫不可向我隐瞒。”
I will expand and cheer with wine the soul of the priests the sons of Levi, and my people shall be satisfied with my good things: thus says the Lord.
15 耶利米对西底家说：“我若告诉你，你岂不定要杀我吗？我若劝戒你，你必不听从我。”
A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing; Rachel would not cease weeping for her children, because they are not.
16 西底家王就私下向耶利米说：“我指着那造我们生命之永生的耶和华起誓：我必不杀你，也不将你交在寻索你命的人手中。”
Thus says the Lord; Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from your tears: for their is a reward for your works; and they shall return from the land of [your] enemies.
17 耶利米对西底家说：“耶和华—万军之 神、以色列的 神如此说：你若出去归降巴比伦王的首领，你的命就必存活，这城也不致被火焚烧，你和你的全家都必存活。
[There shall be] an dwelling [home] for your children.
18 你若不出去归降巴比伦王的首领，这城必交在迦勒底人手中。他们必用火焚烧，你也不得脱离他们的手。”
I have heard the sound of Ephraim lamenting, [and saying], You have chastened me, and I was chastened; I as a calf was not [willingly] taught: turn you me, and I shall turn; for you [are] the Lord my God.
19 西底家王对耶利米说：“我怕那些投降迦勒底人的犹大人，恐怕迦勒底人将我交在他们手中，他们戏弄我。”
For after my captivity I repented; and after I knew, I groaned for the day of shame, and showed you that I bore reproach from my youth.
20 耶利米说：“迦勒底人必不将你交出。求你听从我对你所说耶和华的话，这样你必得好处，你的命也必存活。
Ephraim is a beloved son, a pleasing child to me: for because my words are in him, I will surely remember him: therefore I made haste [to help] him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord.
21 你若不肯出去，耶和华指示我的话乃是这样：
Prepare yourself, O Sion; execute vengeance; look to your ways: return, O virgin of Israel, by the way by which you went, return mourning to your cities.
22 犹大王宫里所剩的妇女必都带到巴比伦王的首领那里。这些妇女必说： 你知己的朋友催逼你， 胜过你； 见你的脚陷入淤泥中， 就转身退后了。
How long, O disgraced daughter, will you turn away? for the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.
23 “人必将你的后妃和你的儿女带到迦勒底人那里；你也不得脱离他们的手，必被巴比伦王的手捉住；你也必使这城被火焚烧。”
For thus says the Lord; They shall yet speak this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn his captivity; blessed be the Lord on his righteous holy mountain!
24 西底家对耶利米说：“不要使人知道这些话，你就不至于死。
And there shall be dwellers in the cities of Juda, and in all his land, together with the husbandman, and [the shepherd] shall go forth with the flock.
25 首领若听见了我与你说话，就来见你，问你说：‘你对王说什么话不要向我们隐瞒，我们就不杀你。王向你说什么话也要告诉我们。’
For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
26 你就对他们说：‘我在王面前恳求不要叫我回到约拿单的房屋死在那里。’”
Therefore I awake, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 随后众首领来见耶利米，问他，他就照王所吩咐的一切话回答他们。他们不再与他说话，因为事情没有泄漏。
Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of man, and the seed of beast.
28 于是耶利米仍在护卫兵的院中，直到耶路撒冷被攻取的日子。
And it shall come to pass, that as I watched over them, to pull down, and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, says the Lord.
In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.
But every one shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him that eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not at all teach every one his [fellow] citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.
Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the moon and the stars for a light by night, and [makes] a roaring in the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; the Lord Almighty is his name:
if these ordinances cease from before me, says the Lord, then shall the family of Israel cease to be a nation before me forever.
Though the sky should be raised to a [greater] height, says the Lord, and though the ground of the earth should be sunk [lower] beneath, yet I will not cast off the family of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.
And the measurement of it shall proceed in front of them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it shall be compassed with a circular wall of choice stones.
And all the Asaremoth even to Nachal Kedron, as far as the corner of the horse-gate eastward, shall be holiness to the Lord; and it shall not fail any more, and shall not be destroyed for ever.
