Jeremiah 9
1 If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people!
恨不得我的頭髮變成水源，我的眼化為淚泉，好能日夜哭泣我被殺死的女兒──人民!
2 If only I had in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men.
誰能在o石我找一個旅棧，叫我好離開我的人民，離他們而遠去﹖因為都是些亂之徒，是一群反叛；
3 Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord.
他們彎起像弓的舌頭，使 在地上得勢的，是虛偽而不是誠實，因為他們變本加厲作惡，全不理睬我──上主的斷語。
4 Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil.
你們應各自提防自己的近人，不要信任弟兄，因為所有的弟兄都愛好欺詐，一般的近人都好說讒言；
5 Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.
人都欺騙自己的近人，不講實話，使自己的舌頭慣於說謊，謁力行惡，
6 There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.
不願悔悟，卻強暴上又加強暴，欺詐上又加欺詐，全不理睬我──上主的斷語。
7 So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing.
為此萬軍的上主這樣說：「看，我要將他們淨化，提煉；否則，我將怎樣處理我的女兒──人民──的邪惡﹖
8 His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.
他們的舌頭像毒箭，好出詐言；嘴上對鄰友說話溫和，心中卻設計陷害。
9 Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
為這些事我豈能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這樣的一個民族，我豈能不圖報復﹖
10 Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.
我要為群山號咷痛哭，為原野高唱哀歌，因為全都被焚毀，沒有人往來，再聽不到牲畜的聲音；自天空的飛鳥到地上的走獸，都逃去無蹤。
11 And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.
我要使耶路撒冷成為廢壚，成為豺狼的巢穴；使猶大的城市荒涼，無人居住。
12 Who is the wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through?
誰夠聰明，明白這事﹖上主親口吩咐誰公佈這事﹖「為什麼像這地方遭受毀滅，荒蕪得有如無人經過的曠野﹖」
13 And the Lord said, Because they have given up my law which I put before them, giving no attention to my voice and not being guided by it;
上主說：因為他們離棄了我給他們立的法律，沒有聽從我的聲音，沒有按照法律而行；
14 But they have been walking in the pride of their hearts, going after the Baals, as their fathers gave them teaching.
反而去順從自己頑固的心，追隨祖先教給他們的巴耳神。
15 So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink.
為此萬軍的上主，以色列的天主這樣說：看，我必使這人民吃毒艾，飲毒水；
16 And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them.
使他們流離到他們和他們祖先素不相識的民族中；派刀劍追擊他們，直至將他們完全消滅。
17 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come:
萬軍的上主這樣說：你們應該明白，快召哀悼的婦女來，派人去叫擅長哭泣的女人來，
18 Let them quickly make cries of sorrow for us, so that drops may be flowing from our eyes till they are streaming with water.
叫她們迅速前來，我們啼哭，使我們的眼睛流下眼淚，使我們的睫毛湧出睙水，
19 For a sound of weeping goes up from Zion, a cry, How has destruction come on us? we are overcome with shame because we have gone away from our land; he has sent us out from our house.
因為從熙雍那裏可以聽到哭聲：我們怎樣崩潰了，受了許多多大的恥辱! 竟要離開本國，拋棄我們的家園!
20 But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.
妳們婦女! 都應聽清上主的話，親耳聆聽衪口授的言詞；教妳們的女兒痛哭，彼此互相學唱哀歌：
21 For death has come up into our windows, forcing its way into our great houses; cutting off the children in the streets and the young men in the wide places.
因為死亡已從我們的窗戶爬進來，進入了我們的宮殿，殲滅了街上的孩童，和廣場上的青年。
22 The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up.
你應這樣說──上主的斷語──人的屍體僵臥著，好像在田野裏的糞堆；又像遺留在收割者後面無人拾取的麥束。
23 This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth:
上主這樣說：「智者不應誇耀自己的智慧，力士不應誇耀自己的力量，富人不應誇耀自己的財富。
24 But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.
凡要誇耀的，只應該在「知道和認識我」這件事誇耀，因為在地上是我，上主，施行仁慈、公道和正義，因為我喜愛這樣事──上主的斷語。
25 See, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on all those who have circumcision in the flesh;
看，時日將到──上主的斷語──我要懲罰所有受過割損而仍存有包皮的人，
26 On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.
即埃及、猶大、厄東、阿孟子民、摩阿布和所有住在曠野剃除鬚髮的人，因為這一切民族都未受過割損，至於以色列全家卻是未受過內心的割損」。
