< Deuteronomy 4 >
1 And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
以色列! 現在你要聽我教訓你們的法令和規律,盡力遵行:這樣你們纔能生活,纔能進入佔領,上主你們祖先的天主賜給你們的地方。
2 Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you.
我吩咐你們的話,你們不可增刪,而應全守我向你們所訓示的,上主你們天主的誡命。
3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor.
你們親眼見了上主在巴耳培敖爾所做的事:凡隨從巴耳培敖爾的人,上主你們的天主都由你們中間消滅了;
4 But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.
你們依附上主你們的天主的人,今日都還活著。
5 I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage.
看,我授與你們法令和規律,都是上主我的天主吩咐與我的,好叫你們在你們要去佔領的土地內,依照遵行。
6 So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people.
你們要謹守遵行,因為這樣,在萬民眼中,纔能顯出你們的智慧和見識;他們一聽到這一切法令說:「這實在是一個有智慧,有見識的大民族! 」
7 For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer?
有那個大民族的神這樣接近他們,如同上主我們的天主,在我們每次呼求他時,這樣親近我們呢﹖
8 And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?
又有那個大民族,有這樣公正的法令和規律,如同我今天在你們面前,所頒佈的這一切法律呢﹖
9 Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children;
你應謹慎,加意留心,不要忘了你親眼所見的奇事,終生日日不要讓這些事遠離你的心,並要將這一切傳於你的子子孫孫。
10 That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children.
當你在曷勒布,站在上主你的天主面前的那一天,上主曾對我說:「你給我召集民眾,我要叫他們聽清我的話,使他們在世有生之日,學習敬畏我,以此教訓自己的子女。」
11 And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night.
你們遂走上前來,站在山腳下,其時山上火燄沖天,且為黑暗和烏雲籠罩著。
12 And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice.
上主由火中對你們說話,你們聽到說話的聲音,卻見不到什麼形狀,只有聲音。
13 And he gave you his agreement with you, the ten rules which you were to keep, which he put in writing on the two stones of the law.
他將他的盟約,即那十條誡命,給你們宣布出來,吩咐你們遵守,又將這誡命寫在兩塊石版上;
14 And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage.
同時上主也吩咐我將法令和規律教訓你們.叫你們在要去佔領的土地內遵行。
15 So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire:
你們應極其謹慎:因為上主你們的天主,在曷勒布由火中對你們說話的那天,你們既然沒有見到什麼形狀,
16 So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female,
那麼,你們切不要墮落,為自己製造任何形狀的神像,無論是男或者是女的形狀,
17 Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,
或地上各種走獸的形狀,或空中各類飛鳥的形狀,
18 Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.
或地上任何爬蟲的形狀,或地下水裏各種魚類的形狀。
19 And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven.
當你舉目望天,觀看日月星辰,和天上的眾星宿時,切不要為之勾引,而去敬拜事奉。那原是上主,你的天主分賜給普天下萬民享用的;
20 But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today.
至於你們,上主揀選了你們,將你們由鐵爐中──埃及──領出來,作他特有的子民,就如今日一樣。
21 And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and made an oath that I was not to go over Jordan into the good land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage:
可是,上主為了你們的緣故,對我發怒起誓,不讓我過約但河,不許我進入,上主你的天主賜給你作產業的那肥美的土地;
22 But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage.
我只有死在這地方,不得過約但河;你們都要過去,佔領那肥美的土地為產業,
23 Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you.
那麼你們應謹慎,不要忘記上主你們的天主與你們所訂立的盟約,不要製造任何形狀的神像,有如上主你的天主所禁止的,
24 For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.
因為上主你的天主是吞噬的烈火,忌邪的天主。
25 If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath:
當你們生養了子孫,在那地住得久了,如果你們墮落下去,製造任何形狀的偶像,行了上主你的天主眼中視為邪惡的事,惹他發怒,
26 May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end.
我今天就指著上天下地對你們作證,你們必在過約但河後所佔領的土地上迅速滅亡,決不會在那地長久生存,必全被消滅。
27 And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you.
上主要將你們分散到萬民之中,在上主領你們所到的外邦中,你們剩下的人,必為數不多。
28 There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling.
在那裏你們要事奉人手所製造的神,即各種看不見,聽不見,不會吃,不能聞的木石神像。
29 But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you.
你在那裏必要尋求上主你的天主,只要你全心全靈尋求,你就可尋到他。
30 When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice:
日後,當這些事都臨於你,使你困惱時,你必回心歸向上主你的天主,聽從他的聲音;
31 Because the Lord your God is a God of mercy, he will not take away his help from you or let destruction overtake you, or be false to the agreement which he made by an oath with your fathers.
因為上主你的天主原是仁慈的天主,他不會捨棄你,不會毀滅你,也不會忘卻他起誓與你祖先所立的盟約。
32 Give thought now to the days which are past, before your time, from the day when God first gave life to man on the earth, and searching from one end of heaven to the other, see if such a great thing as this has ever been, or if anything like it has been talked of in story.
你且考察在你以前過去的世代,從天主在地上造了人以來,由天這邊到天那邊,是否有過像這樣的大事,是否聽過像這樣的事﹖
33 Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?
是否有一民族,如同你一樣,聽到了天主由火中說話的聲音,還仍然活著﹖
34 Has God ever before taken a nation for himself from out of another nation, by punishments and signs and wonders, by war and by a strong hand and a stretched-out arm and great acts of wonder and fear, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes?
或者,是否有過一個神,以災難、神蹟、奇事、戰爭、強力的手、伸展的臂和可怕的威能,企圖將某一民族由另一民族中領出來,如上主你們的天主在埃及於你們眼前,對你們所做的一切一樣﹖
35 All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.
這一切只顯示給你,是要你知道,只有上主是天主,除他以外再沒有別的神。
36 Out of heaven itself his voice came to you, teaching you; and on earth he let you see his great fire; and his words came to your ears out of the heart of the fire.
他由天上使你聽到他的聲音,是為教訓你;在地上使你見到他的烈火,叫你聽到他由火中發出的言語。
37 And because of his love for your fathers, he took their seed and made it his, and he himself, present among you, took you out of Egypt by his great power;
他由於愛你的祖先,纔揀選了他們的後裔,親自以強力把你由埃及領出來,
38 Driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to take you into their land and give it to you for your heritage, as at this day.
由你面前趕走比你更大的民族,領你進入他們的國土,賜給你作為產業,就如今日一樣。
39 So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God.
所以今日你該知道,且要牢記在心:天上地下,只有上主是天主,再沒有別的神。
40 Then keep his laws and his orders which I give you today, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, and that your lives may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for ever.
你應遵守他的法令和誡命,就是我今日所訓示與你的,好使你和你的後代子孫得享幸福,在上主你的天主永久賜給你的土地內,能以久住。」
41 Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east;
那時梅瑟在約但河東,向日出之地,劃定了三座城,
42 To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death:
使那素無仇恨而又無心殺死同胞的人,可逃到那裏去避難;凡逃入其中的一座,就可獲救。
43 The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.
為勒烏本人指定了位於曠野高原的貝責爾;為加得人指地了基肋阿得的辣摩特;為默納協人指定了巴商的哥藍。
44 This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel:
這是梅瑟在以色列子民面前宣布的法律,
45 These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;
就是梅瑟在以色列子民出埃及後,對他們所發表的勸告、法令和規則。
46 On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt:
地點是在約但河東,貝特培敖爾對面的山谷中,即在位於赫市朋的阿摩黎王息紅的國土內。息紅已為梅瑟和以色列子民由埃及出來後所殺,
47 And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east;
他的土地為他們所佔領,並且也佔了巴商王敖格的土地。──這兩個阿摩黎人王,住在約但河東,向日出之地,
48 From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,
從阿爾農河岸的阿洛厄爾,直到息爾翁山,即赫爾孟山,
49 And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah.
連約但河東的全阿辣巴荒野在內,直到位於丕斯加山坡下的阿辣巴海。