列王紀下 17
1 猶大王亞哈斯十二年，以拉的兒子何細亞在撒馬利亞登基作以色列王九年。
Elah’s son Hoshea began to rule Israel after King Ahaz had ruled Judah for twelve years. Hoshea ruled in Samaria for nine years.
2 他行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，只是不像在他以前的以色列諸王。
He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil, but he did not do as many evil things as the previous kings of Israel had done.
3 亞述王撒縵以色上來攻擊何細亞，何細亞就服事他，給他進貢。
[The army of] King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked and defeated [the army of] King Hoshea. As a result, the Israelis were forced to pay a lot of tribute/taxes to Assyria each year.
4 何細亞背叛，差人去見埃及王梭，不照往年所行的與亞述王進貢。亞述王知道了，就把他鎖禁，囚在監裏。
But several years later, Hoshea secretly planned to rebel against the rulers of Assyria. He sent messengers to So/Osorkon, the king of Egypt, [asking if his army could help the Israelis fight against the army of Assyria]. Hoshea also stopped paying the tribute/taxes that he had been paying to Assyria every year. But the king of Assyria found out about those things, so he told his officers to put Hoshea in prison.
5 亞述王上來攻擊以色列遍地，上到撒馬利亞，圍困三年。
Then he [brought the army of] Assyria to Israel, and they attacked everywhere in that land. His army surrounded Samaria [city] for three years.
6 何細亞第九年亞述王攻取了撒馬利亞，將以色列人擄到亞述，把他們安置在哈臘與歌散的哈博河邊，並米底亞人的城邑。
Finally, after King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for nine years, the army of Assyria [MTY] [forcefully entered] the city [and] captured [the people]. They took the Israeli people to Assyria and forced some of them to live in Halah [town]. They forced others to live near the Habor River in Gozan district. They forced others to live in the towns where the Mede people-group lived.
7 這是因以色列人得罪那領他們出埃及地、脫離埃及王法老手的耶和華－他們的上帝，去敬畏別神，
Those things happened because the Israeli people had sinned against Yahweh their God. He had rescued their [ancestors] from the power [MTY] of the king of Egypt and brought them [safely] out of Egypt, but later they began to worship other gods.
8 隨從耶和華在他們面前所趕出外邦人的風俗和以色列諸王所立的條規。
They imitated the things that the heathen/pagan people-groups did. Those were the groups that Yahweh had expelled as the Israelis occupied their land. The Israeli people also did the evil things that the kings of Israel (introduced/showed to them).
9 以色列人暗中行不正的事，違背耶和華－他們的上帝，在他們所有的城邑，從瞭望樓直到堅固城，建築邱壇；
The Israeli people also secretly did many things that were not pleasing to Yahweh their God. They built shrines [to worship idols] in all their cities, including small towns and big cities with walls around them.
10 在各高岡上、各青翠樹下立柱像和木偶；
They set up stone pillars [to honor gods], and poles [to worship the goddess] Asherah at the top of every high hill and under every [big] tree.
11 在邱壇上燒香，效法耶和華在他們面前趕出的外邦人所行的，又行惡事惹動耶和華的怒氣；
The Israelis burned incense in every place where they worshiped those gods, just like the people-groups who lived there previously had done—the groups that Yahweh had expelled from the land. The Israelis did many wicked things that caused Yahweh to become angry.
12 且事奉偶像，就是耶和華警戒他們不可行的。
Yahweh warned them many times that they should not worship idols, but they did it anyway.
13 但耶和華藉眾先知、先見勸戒以色列人和猶大人說：「當離開你們的惡行，謹守我的誡命律例，遵行我吩咐你們列祖，並藉我僕人眾先知所傳給你們的律法。」
Yahweh frequently sent his prophets and (seers/those who saw visions from Yahweh) to warn the people of Israel and the people of Judah. The message that Yahweh gave them was, “Turn away from all your evil behavior. Obey my commands and my laws, the laws that I told your ancestors [to obey] and which I told the prophets who served me to tell to you [again].”
14 他們卻不聽從，竟硬着頸項，效法他們列祖，不信服耶和華－他們的上帝，
But the Israeli people would not pay attention. They were stubborn [IDM] just like their ancestors were. Just like their ancestors did, they refused to believe in Yahweh their God.
15 厭棄他的律例和他與他們列祖所立的約，並勸戒他們的話，隨從虛無的神，自己成為虛妄，效法周圍的外邦人，就是耶和華囑咐他們不可效法的；
They rejected Yahweh’s laws and the agreement that he had made with their ancestors. They ignored Yahweh’s warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and as a result they themselves became worthless. Although Yahweh had commanded them not to imitate the evil behavior of the people-groups that lived near them, they disobeyed that command.
16 離棄耶和華－他們上帝的一切誡命，為自己鑄了兩個牛犢的像，立了亞舍拉，敬拜天上的萬象，事奉巴力，
The Israeli people disobeyed all of Yahweh’s commands. They made two metal calves [to worship]. They set up two poles [to worship the goddess] Asherah, and they worshiped [the god] Baal, and the sun, the moon, and the stars.
17 又使他們的兒女經火，用占卜，行法術賣了自己，行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，惹動他的怒氣。
They also burned their own sons and daughters to be sacrifices [to those gods]. They went to fortune-tellers and they practiced sorcery. They continually chose [MET] to do [all kinds of] evil things that caused Yahweh to become angry.
18 所以耶和華向以色列人大大發怒，從自己面前趕出他們，只剩下猶大一個支派。
So, because Yahweh was very angry with the Israeli people, he allowed [their enemies] to take them away [from their country]. Only the people of the tribe of Judah were left [in the land].
19 猶大人也不遵守耶和華－他們上帝的誡命，隨從以色列人所立的條規。
But even the people of Judah did not obey the commands of Yahweh their God. They imitated the evil customs that the Israelis had introduced.
20 耶和華就厭棄以色列全族，使他們受苦，把他們交在搶奪他們的人手中，以致趕出他們離開自己面前，
So Yahweh rejected all the people of Israel and of Judah. He punished them by allowing the armies of other nations to defeat them [and take them away]. He got rid of all of them.
21 將以色列國從大衛家奪回；他們就立尼八的兒子耶羅波安作王。耶羅波安引誘以色列人不隨從耶和華，陷在大罪裏。
Earlier, when Yahweh allowed the people of Israel to separate/break away from the area [MTY] that King David [had estabished], they chose Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, to be their king. Then Jeroboam enticed the people of Israel to stop worshiping Yahweh [and to worship idols instead]. He led them to commit great sins.
22 以色列人犯耶羅波安所犯的一切罪，總不離開，
And the Israeli people continued to do the evil things that Jeroboam introduced. They did not turn away from those sins,
23 以致耶和華從自己面前趕出他們，正如藉他僕人眾先知所說的。這樣，以色列人從本地被擄到亞述，直到今日。
until finally Yahweh got rid of them. That was just what his prophets had warned would happen. The Israeli people were taken away to the land of Assyria, and they still remain there.
24 亞述王從巴比倫、古他、亞瓦、哈馬，和西法瓦音遷移人來，安置在撒馬利亞的城邑，代替以色列人；他們就得了撒馬利亞，住在其中。
The king of Assyria [ordered his soldiers to] take [groups of] people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim [cities] to [the] Samaria [region], and to resettle them in the towns there, to take the place of the Israelis [who lived there previously]. Those people took control over [the whole] Samaria [region] and lived in the towns there.
25 他們才住那裏的時候，不敬畏耶和華，所以耶和華叫獅子進入他們中間，咬死了些人。
But those people [who came from other countries] did not worship Yahweh when they first arrived in Samaria. So Yahweh sent lions to kill some of them.
26 有人告訴亞述王說：「你所遷移安置在撒馬利亞各城的那些民，不知道那地之神的規矩，所以那神叫獅子進入他們中間，咬死他們。」
Then those people sent a message to the king of Assyria. They wrote, “We people who have resettled in the towns in Samaria do not know how to worship the God [that the Israelis worshiped] in this land. So he has sent lions among us to kill us, because we have not worshiped him correctly.”
27 亞述王就吩咐說：「叫所擄來的祭司回去一個，使他住在那裏，將那地之神的規矩指教那些民。」
[When] the king of Assyria [read this letter, he] commanded [his officers], “You brought many priests here from Samaria. Send one of them back there. Tell him to teach the people who are now living there how to worship correctly the God whom the Israelis worshiped in that land.”
28 於是有一個從撒馬利亞擄去的祭司回來，住在伯特利，指教他們怎樣敬畏耶和華。
So [the officers did that]. They sent one of the Israeli priests back to Samaria. That priest went to live in Bethel [city], and he taught the people there how to worship Yahweh.
29 然而，各族之人在所住的城裏各為自己製造神像，安置在撒馬利亞人所造有邱壇的殿中。
But the people [who returned from Babylon and started to live in Samaria and] continued to make their own idols. They placed them in the shrines that the Israelis had built there. The people of each people-group made idols in the cities in which they were living.
30 巴比倫人造疏割‧比訥像；古他人造匿甲像；哈馬人造亞示瑪像；
The people from Babylon made idols to represent their god Succoth-Benoth. The people from Cuthah made idols to represent their god Nergal. The people from Hamath made idols to represent their god Ashima.
31 亞瓦人造匿哈和他珥他像；西法瓦音人用火焚燒兒女，獻給西法瓦音的神亞得米勒和亞拿米勒。
The people of Avva made idols to represent their gods Nibhaz and Tartak. The people from Sepharvaim sacrificed their own children. They completely burned them [in pits where hot fires were kept burning, ] as offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
32 他們懼怕耶和華，也從他們中間立邱壇的祭司，為他們在有邱壇的殿中獻祭。
But those people also worshiped Yahweh, and they appointed from among their own groups many people to be priests at the shrines on the tops of the hills, in order that those priests could offer sacrifices for them there.
33 他們又懼怕耶和華，又事奉自己的神，從何邦遷移，就隨何邦的風俗。
So they revered Yahweh, but they also worshiped their own gods, just as the people living in the countries from which they had been taken to Samaria did.
34 他們直到如今仍照先前的風俗去行，不專心敬畏耶和華，不全守自己的規矩、典章，也不遵守耶和華吩咐雅各後裔的律法、誡命。（雅各，就是從前耶和華起名叫以色列的。）
They still keep their old customs. They really do not worship Yahweh, and they do not obey all the laws and commands that Yahweh gave to the descendants of Jacob, to whom he gave the new name Israel.
35 耶和華曾與他們立約，囑咐他們說：「不可敬畏別神，不可跪拜事奉他，也不可向他獻祭。
Yahweh had previously made an agreement with their ancestors, commanding them not to worship other gods or bow down to honor them or do other things to please them or offer sacrifices to them.
36 但那用大能和伸出來的膀臂領你們出埃及地的耶和華，你們當敬畏，跪拜，向他獻祭。
He had said to them, “You must have an awesome respect for me, Yahweh, the one who brought you out of Egypt with my very great power [DOU]. I am the one whom you must bow down to honor, and I am the one to whom you must offer sacrifices.
37 他給你們寫的律例、典章、律法、誡命，你們應當永遠謹守遵行，不可敬畏別神。
You must always obey the laws and commands that I [told Moses to] write for you. You must not worship other gods.
38 我－耶和華與你們所立的約你們不可忘記，也不可敬畏別神。
And you must not forget the agreement that I made with your ancestors. You must not revere other gods.
39 但要敬畏耶和華－你們的上帝，他必救你們脫離一切仇敵的手。」
Instead, you must revere me, Yahweh, your God. If you do that, I will rescue you from the power [MTY] of all your enemies.”
40 他們卻不聽從，仍照先前的風俗去行。
But the people [from those foreign nations] would not heed what Yahweh said. Instead, they continued to adhere to their old customs.
41 如此這些民又懼怕耶和華，又事奉他們的偶像。他們子子孫孫也都照樣行，效法他們的祖宗，直到今日。
So, they worshiped Yahweh, but they also worshiped their idols. And their descendants still do the same thing.
