< 尼希米記 6 >
1 參巴拉、多比雅、阿拉伯人基善和我們其餘的仇敵聽見我已經修完了城牆,其中沒有破裂之處(那時我還沒有安門扇)的,
Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies heard [a report] that we had finished rebuilding the wall, and that now there were no more (gaps/places where the wall was not finished) (although we had not yet put the doors in the gates).
2 參巴拉和基善就打發人來見我,說:「請你來,我們在阿挪平原的一個村莊相會。」他們卻想害我。
So Sanballat and Geshem sent [a message] to me, in which they said “Come and talk with us at a place in Ono Plain [north of Jerusalem].” But [I knew that] really they wanted to harm me [if I went there].
3 於是我差遣人去見他們,說:「我現在辦理大工,不能下去。焉能停工下去見你們呢?」
So I sent messengers to them, to tell them, “I am doing an important work, and I cannot go down [there]. (Why should I stop doing this work just to go down to [talk with] you?/I do not want to stop doing this work just to go down to [talk with] you.)” [RHQ]
They sent me the same message four times, and each time when I replied to them I said the same thing.
5 參巴拉第五次打發僕人來見我,手裏拿着未封的信,
Then Sanballat sent one of his servants to me, bringing a fifth message. This one was written, but it was not sealed. [He did that in order that others would read the message that the servant was carrying] in his hand.
6 信上寫着說:「外邦人中有風聲,迦施慕也說,你和猶大人謀反,修造城牆,你要作他們的王;
This is what was written in the message: “Some people in the nearby countries have heard a report that you and the other Jews are rebuilding the wall [in order to be able to resist attacks], because you are planning to revolt [against the king of Babylon]. And the report also says that you are planning to become the king [of the Israelis]. Geshem says that what they have reported is true.
7 你又派先知在耶路撒冷指着你宣講,說在猶大有王。現在這話必傳與王知;所以請你來,與我們彼此商議。」
[People are also saying that] you have appointed some prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem that you, [Nehemiah, ] are now the king in Judea. King [Artaxerxes] will certainly hear these reports, [and then you will be in big trouble]. So I suggest that we should meet together to talk about this matter.”
8 我就差遣人去見他,說:「你所說的這事,一概沒有,是你心裏捏造的。」
[When I read that message, ] I sent [the messenger] back to Sanballat to say, “None of what you are saying is true. You have (made this up/concocted this) in your own head/mind.”
9 他們都要使我們懼怕,意思說,他們的手必軟弱,以致工作不能成就。上帝啊,求你堅固我的手。
[I said that because I knew that] they were trying to cause us to be afraid, with the result that we would stop working [on the wall]. So I actually became more determined (OR, I prayed to God to help me) [to continue the work].
10 我到了米希大別的孫子、第來雅的兒子示瑪雅家裏;那時,他閉門不出。他說:「我們不如在上帝的殿裏會面,將殿門關鎖;因為他們要來殺你,就是夜裏來殺你。」
[One day] I went to talk with Shemaiah, son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel. I went to talk with him in his house, because he was not able (OR, allowed) to leave his house. He said to me, “You and I must enter the very sacred place in the temple and lock the doors, because people are going to come to kill you at night.”
11 我說:「像我這樣的人豈要逃跑呢?像我這樣的人豈能進入殿裏保全生命呢?我不進去!」
I replied, “I (am not that kind of person/do not do things like that) [RHQ]! I would not run and hide in the temple to save my life! No, I will not do that!”
12 我看明上帝沒有差遣他,是他自己說這話攻擊我,是多比雅和參巴拉賄買了他。
When I thought [about what he had said], I realized that God had not told Shemaiah to say that to me. I realized that Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him [to say that to me].
13 賄買他的緣故,是要叫我懼怕,依從他犯罪,他們好傳揚惡言毀謗我。
They had bribed him to cause me to be afraid. They wanted me to [disobey God’s commands and] sin [by hiding in the temple]. If I did that, they would be able to ruin my reputation [MTY] and discredit me.
14 我的上帝啊,多比雅、參巴拉、女先知挪亞底,和其餘的先知要叫我懼怕,求你記念他們所行的這些事。
[So I prayed, ] “My God, do not forget what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Punish them. And do not forget that the female prophet Noadiah and some of the other prophets have also tried to cause me to be afraid.”
15 以祿月二十五日,城牆修完了,共修了五十二天。
On October 2 we finished rebuilding the wall. We did it all in 52 days.
16 我們一切仇敵、四圍的外邦人聽見了便懼怕,愁眉不展;因為見這工作完成是出乎我們的上帝。
When our enemies in the nearby countries heard about that, they realized that they had been humiliated, because everyone knew that it was because God helped us that we had been able to do this work [and that they had not been able to force us to quit].
17 在那些日子,猶大的貴冑屢次寄信與多比雅,多比雅也來信與他們。
During this time, the Jewish leaders had been sending many messages/letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah had been sending messages back to them.
18 在猶大有許多人與多比雅結盟;因他是亞拉的兒子,示迦尼的女婿,並且他的兒子約哈難娶了比利迦兒子米書蘭的女兒為妻。
Many people in Judea were closely associated with Tobiah, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah. Furthermore, Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berekiah.
19 他們常在我面前說多比雅的善行,也將我的話傳與他。多比雅又常寄信來,要叫我懼怕。
People often talked in my presence about all the good things that Tobiah had done, and then they would tell him everything that I said. So Tobiah sent many letters to me to try to cause me to become afraid.