< 以賽亞書 27 >
1 到那日,耶和華必用他剛硬有力的大刀刑罰鱷魚-就是那快行的蛇,刑罰鱷魚-就是那曲行的蛇,並殺海中的大魚。
At that time, Yahweh will punish Leviathan, the swift-moving monster/dragon, that coiling serpent that lives in the sea. Yahweh will kill it with his sharp, huge, and powerful sword.
2 當那日,有出酒的葡萄園, 你們要指這園唱歌說:
At that time, [Yahweh will say], “You [Israeli people, who are like] [MET] a fruitful vineyard, must sing!
3 我-耶和華是看守葡萄園的; 我必時刻澆灌, 晝夜看守, 免得有人損害。
I will [protect you] [like a farmer] [MET] waters his crops carefully [in order that they will grow well]. I will guard you day and night, in order that no one harms you.
4 我心中不存忿怒。 惟願荊棘蒺藜與我交戰, 我就勇往直前, 把它一同焚燒。
I am no [longer] angry [with my people]; [if any of your enemies try to injure you like briers and thorns injure people] [MET], I will attack them [in battles]; I will get rid of them completely,
5 不然,讓它持住我的能力, 使它與我和好, 願它與我和好。
unless they request me to protect them; I strongly invite them to make peace with me [DOU]!”
6 將來雅各要扎根, 以色列要發芽開花; 他們的果實必充滿世界。
There will be a time when the (descendants of Jacob/Israeli people) will [prosper like] a plant that has good roots; they will be like [MET] trees that bud and blossom and bear a lot of fruit; [what they do will bless] all the people in the world.
7 主擊打他們, 豈像擊打那些擊打他們的人嗎? 他們被殺戮, 豈像被他們所殺戮的嗎?
[But now I ask], has Yahweh punished us Israelis like he punished our enemies? Has he punished us as much as he punished them?
8 你打發他們去, 是相機宜與他們相爭; 颳東風的日子, 就用暴風將他們逐去。
[No, he has not done that], [but] he punished us Israeli people and (exiled us/forced us to leave our country); we were taken away from our land as though [SIM] we were struck by a windstorm from the east.
9 所以,雅各的罪孽得赦免, 他的罪過得除掉的果效,全在乎此: 就是他叫祭壇的石頭變為打碎的灰石, 以致木偶和日像不再立起。
Yahweh did that in order to punish us for our sins, and remove our guilt. As a result [of our being exiled], all the altars to other gods [in Israel] will be demolished, and we will be forgiven for the sins that we have committed. There will be no more poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah, or altars for burning incense to other gods; they will all be torn down.
10 因為堅固城變為淒涼, 成了撇下離棄的居所,像曠野一樣; 牛犢必在那裏吃草, 在那裏躺臥,並吃盡其中的樹枝。
The cities that have strong walls around them will be empty; like the desert, they will have no one living in them. The houses will be abandoned, and the streets will be full of weeds. Calves will eat grass there and lie down there; they will chew up all the leaves on the trees.
11 枝條枯乾,必被折斷; 婦女要來點火燒着。 因為這百姓蒙昧無知, 所以,創造他們的必不憐恤他們; 造成他們的也不施恩與他們。
[The Israeli people are like] [MET] dry branches on a tree; women break them off and use them to make fires [under their cooking pots]. Our Israeli people do not have any sense; so Yahweh, who created them, will not act mercifully toward them or be kind to them.
12 以色列人哪,到那日,耶和華必從大河,直到埃及小河,將你們一一地收集,如同人打樹拾果一樣。
[However], there will be a time when Yahweh will gather them together [again; he will separate them from the people who have conquered them, like people] separate wheat from chaff. He will bring them [back to Israel], one by one, from [the land between] the Euphrates River [in the northeast] and the brook at the border of Egypt [in the southwest].
13 當那日,必大發角聲,在亞述地將要滅亡的,並在埃及地被趕散的,都要來,他們就在耶路撒冷聖山上敬拜耶和華。
At that time, a trumpet will be blown very loudly. And those who were exiled to Assyria and Egypt and who almost died there will return to Jerusalem, to worship Yahweh on [Zion], his holy hill.