< 2 Kings 19 >
1 And on hearing it, King Hezekiah took off his robe, and put on haircloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
希則克雅王一聽這話,就撕破了自己的衣服,穿上苦衣,走進了上主的殿;
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
然後打發厄里雅金家宰,舍布納書記和幾位老司祭,穿著苦衣,去見阿摩茲的兒子依撒意亞先知,
3 And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame; for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.
對他說:「希則克雅這樣說:今天是受苦難,受責罰,受侮辱的日子。因為嬰兒到了要出生的時候,卻沒有產生的力量。
4 It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so then make your prayer for the rest of the people.
但願上主你的天主聽到那大將軍的一切話,就是他的主上亞述王打發他來,辱罵永生的天主所說的話! 願上主你的天主聽了那些話而加以懲罰! 所以請你為剩下的遺民舉行祈禱罷! 」
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
希則克雅王的臣僕來到了依撒意亞前,
6 And Isaiah said to them, This is what you are to say to your master: The Lord says, Be not troubled by the words which the servants of the king of Assyria have said against me in your hearing.
依撒意亞就對他們說:「你們要這樣對你們的主上說:上主這樣說:你聽到亞述王的僕人們辱罵我的話,不要害怕!
7 See, I will put a spirit into him, and bad news will come to his ears, and he will go back to his land; and there I will have him put to death by the sword.
我必叫他感到一種怕情,使他一聽到某種消息,就返回本國;我要使他在本國內喪身刀下。」
8 So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah, for it had come to his ears that he had gone away from Lachish.
大將軍回去時,正遇見亞述王去攻打里貝納。原來他已聽說君王離開了拉基士。
9 And when news came to him that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had made an attack on him, he sent representatives to Hezekiah again, saying,
那時,散乃黑黎布聽人說:雇士王提爾哈卡出來攻打他,就再派使者去見希則克雅,並吩咐說:「
10 This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.
你們要這樣對猶大王希則克雅說:不要讓你所依靠的天主哄騙了你說:耶路撒冷決不會落在亞述王手中!
11 No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse; and will you be kept safe?
你必聽說過亞述的列王對各國所行的事,將各國完全消滅了。你還能有救嗎﹖
12 Did the gods of the nations keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?
我的祖先所消滅的各民族,如哥倉、哈郎、勒責夫、以及在特拉撒爾的厄登子民,他們的神又何曾救了他們﹖
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena and of Ivvah?
哈瑪特王,阿帕得王,色法瓦因城的王,赫納王和依瓦王,他們現今都在那裡﹖」
14 And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord.
希則克雅從使者中接過信來,念了以後,就走進上主的殿,將那信在上主面前展開,
15 And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
然後,希則克雅懇求上主說:「上主,坐在革魯賓上面的以色列的天主! 惟獨你是地上萬國的天主,你創造了天地。
16 Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.
上主,請你側耳傾聽! 上主,求你睜眼垂視,細聽那打發使者辱罵永生天主的散乃黑黎布的話。
17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands,
上主,的確,亞述王曾毀滅了所有的民族和他們的國家,
18 And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.
將他們的神像投入火中,因為它們不是神,只是人手造成的木石的作品,所以能被消滅。
19 But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.
但是現今,上主我們的天主,求你拯救我們脫離他的手,使地上萬國都知道:惟獨你是上主,天主! 」
20 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer which you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.
那時,阿摩茲的兒子依撒意亞打發人去見希則克雅說:「上主以色列的天主這樣說:你既然論亞述王散乃黑黎布向我懇求,我已經俯聽了你。
21 This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you.
這就是上主論他所說的話:熙雍的貞女輕視你,嘲笑你;耶路撒冷的女子在你背後搖頭。
22 Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel.
你所辱罵,所詛咒的是誰﹖你提高聲音,仰起眼睛攻擊的是誰﹖是攻擊以色列的聖者。
23 You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
你藉你的使者辱罵了吾主,你說:我用我大批的車輛,登上了叢山的極峰,到黎巴嫩的絕頂,砍伐了其中最高的香柏,最好的青松;衝入了它的最深處,走進了果木的林園。
24 I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
我掘了井喝了外邦的水,用我的腳掌踏乾了埃及所有的河川。
25 Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls.
難道你沒有聽說嗎﹖很久以前我所計劃的,昔日我所決定的,現在我就在實現,叫你毀壞堅城,化為廢墟,
26 This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.
使城中的居民軟弱無力,驚慌失措,有如田野的青草,有如青綠的嫩苗,有如屋頂被東風吹焦的小草。
27 But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in.
但是,你或起或坐,或出或入,我都知道,
28 Because your wrath against me and your words of pride have come up to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came.
因為你對我的暴怒,和你的狂囂已達到我的耳鼓,所以我要把環子穿在你的鼻子上,把轡頭套在你的嘴上,從你來的路上將你牽回去。
29 And this will be the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself; and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed and get in the grain and make vine-gardens and take of their fruit.
這是給你的記號:今年你們要吃自然所生的,明年仍要吃自然所生的,第三年你們就要播種收割,栽種葡萄園,吃園中的果實。
30 And those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth and give fruit.
猶大家的遺民,仍要向下生根,往上結實,
31 For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
因為剩餘的人將由耶路撒冷而出,逃脫的人將由熙雍山而來:萬軍上主的熱誠必要成就這事。
32 For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it;
為此,上主問亞述王這樣說:他決不會進入這城,決不會向這城放射一箭,決不會持盾臨於城下,也決不會起造土堆攻城。
33 By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town, says the Lord.
他必要由來路回去,決不能進入這城:上主的斷語。
34 For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.
為了我自己,為了我的僕人達味,我必要保護拯救這城。」
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men; and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies.
當天夜裡,上主的使者出來,在亞述營裡殺了十八萬五千人。清晨人們起來,看見遍地都是死屍。
36 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went back to his place at Nineveh.
亞述王散乃黑黎布於是拔營,起程回國,住在尼尼微。
37 And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword; and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son became king in his place.
一日,他在自己的神尼色洛客廟內叩拜的時候,他的兒子阿德辣默肋客和沙勒責爾用劍刺殺了他,然後逃往阿辣辣特地方去了;他的兒子厄撒哈冬繼位為王。