Jeremias 38
1 At that time, saith the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.
瑪堂的兒子舍法提雅，帕市胡爾的兒子革達里雅，舍肋米雅的兒子猶加耳，瑪耳基雅的兒子帕市胡爾聽見耶肋米亞向全體人民講話說：「
2 Thus saith the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go ye and destroy not Israel.
上主這樣說：凡留在這城裏的，必死於刀劍、饑荒和瘟疫；凡出降加色丁人的，必能生存：獲得生命如得戰利品一樣，可得生存。
3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee in compassion.
上主這樣說：這座城市必交在巴比倫王軍隊的手中，他必佔領這座城市。」
4 For I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet take thy timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.
眾首長就對君王說：「請將這人處死! 因為他說出了這樣使遺留在城裏的戰士和全體人民喪志的話；實在，這人謀求的，不是人民的福利，而是人民的災禍。」
5 For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.
漆德克雅王答說：「看，他已經在們手中；君王不能反對你們。」
6 For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, [saying], Arise ye, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.
他們便將耶肋米亞丟在王子瑪耳基雅在監獄庭院裏有的蓄水池內，用繩將他放下去；池內沒有水，只有污泥；耶肋米亞就陷在污泥裏。
7 For thus saith the Lord to Jacob; Rejoice ye, and exult over the head of the nations: make proclamation, and praise ye: say, The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.
住在王宮裏的雇士人厄貝得默肋客宦官，聽見人把耶肋米亞放在蓄水池裏。那時君王正坐在本雅明門旁，
8 Behold, I bring them from the north, and will gather them from the end of the earth to the feast of the passover: and [the people] shall beget a great multitude, and they shall return hither.
厄貝得默肋客就從王宮出來，稟告君王說：
9 They went forth with weeping, and I will bring them back with consolation, causing them to lodge by the channels of waters in a straight way, and they shall not err in it: for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
「我主君王! 這些人對先知耶肋米亞作的事，實在毒辣；他們竟將他丟在蓄水池裏，在那裏他必要餓死，因為城中沒有糧食了! 」
10 Hear the words of the Lord, ye nations, and proclaim [them] to the islands afar off; say, He that scattered Israel will also gather him, and keep him as one that feeds his flock.
王便命雇士人厄貝得默肋客說：「你立即帶三個人去，將耶肋米亞先知，趁他還沒有死，從蓄水池裏拉出來! 」
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
厄貝得默肋客立即帶了一些人，回到王宮，從儲藏室拿了些破舊衣裳和破舊布片，用繩索給在蓄水池裏的耶肋米亞放下去。
12 And they shall come, and shall rejoice in the mount of Sion, and shall come to the good things of the Lord, [even] to a land of corn, and wine, and fruits, and cattle, and sheep: and their soul shall be as a fruitful tree; and they shall hunger no more.
雇士人厄貝得默肋客對耶肋米亞說：「請把破舊的衣服和布片，放在你兩腋下，然後把繩放在下面。」耶肋米亞就這樣做了。
13 Then shall the virgins rejoice in the assembly of youth, and the old men shall rejoice; and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will make them merry.
於是他們用繩索將耶肋米亞從蓄水池裏拉上來；這樣，耶肋米亞纔仍能住在拘留所的庭院裏。
14 I will expand and cheer with wine the soul of the priests the sons of Levi, and my people shall be satisfied with my good things: thus saith the Lord.
漆德克雅王派人帶耶肋米亞先知到上主殿宇第三入口處去見他。君王對耶肋米亞說：「我要問你一件事，你什麼也不可對我隱瞞! 」
15 A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing; Rachel would not cease weeping for her children, because they are not.
耶肋米亞答覆漆德克雅說：「我若稟告你，你豈不要將我處死嗎﹖我若給你出主意，你也不會聽從我! 」
16 Thus saith the Lord; Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thine eyes from thy tears: for their is a reward for thy works; and they shall return from the land of [thine] enemies.
漆德克雅王對耶肋米亞暗地發誓說：「那賜與我們這生命的上主永在，我決不將你處死，決不將你交在這些圖謀你性命者的手中。」
17 [There shall be] an abiding [home] for thy children.
於是耶肋米亞對漆德克雅說：「萬軍的天主，以色列的天主上主這樣說：如果你出去，向巴比倫王將帥投降，你的性命必可保全，這城不至於被焚；你和你全家也必生存。
18 I have heard the sound of Ephraim lamenting, [and saying], Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened; I as a calf was not [willingly] taught: turn thou me, and I shall turn; for thou [art] the Lord my God.
但是如果你不出去向巴比倫王將帥投降，這城必會被交在加色丁人的手裏，由他們放火燒城，而你也逃不出他們的手。」
19 For after my captivity I repented; and after I knew, I groaned for the day of shame, and shewed thee that I bore reproach from my youth.
漆德克雅王便對耶肋米亞說：「我很害怕那些投降加色丁人的猶太人，將我交在他們手中，任他們凌辱我。」
20 Ephraim is a beloved son, a pleasing child to me: for because my words are in him, I will surely remember him: therefore I made haste [to help] him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
耶肋米亞答說：「他們不會將你交出! 在我對你所說的事上，你只管聽上主的聲音，事必於你有利，你的性命必可保全。
21 Prepare thyself, O Sion; execute vengeance; look to thy ways: return, O virgin of Israel, by the way by which thou wentest, return mourning to thy cities.
但是，如果你拒絕出降，這就是上主使我預見的事：
22 How long, O disgraced daughter, wilt thou turn away? for the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.
看，凡留在猶大王宮的一切婦女，都要被領出，交給巴比倫王的將帥，哭訴著說：對你高唱和平的友人，欺騙了你，愚弄了你；見你雙腳陷入泥淖，就轉背逃遁。
23 For thus saith the Lord; They shall yet speak this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn his captivity; blessed be the Lord on his righteous holy mountain!
你的妻子兒女，都要被領出，交給加色丁人；連你也逃不出他們的手，終於被巴比倫王捉去；至於這城，必要被火焚毀。」
24 And there shall be dwellers in the cities of Juda, and in all his land, together with the husbandman, and [the shepherd] shall go forth with the flock.
於是漆德克雅對耶肋米亞說：「任何陽不得知道這些話，否則你就該死!
25 For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
倘若首長們聽說我曾與你談論，而前來問你說：請你告訴我們，你對君王說了什麼﹖你不可對我們隱瞞，否則我們就要你的命! 究竟君王對你說了些什麼﹖
26 Therefore I awake, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me.
你要回答他們說：我向君王面呈我的請求，請他不要叫我再回到約納堂的家裏去，死在那裏。」
27 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of man, and the seed of beast.
果然，眾首長前來質問耶肋米亞，他就全依照君王吩咐的話答覆了他們。他們對他無話可說，因為那次的談話，沒有被人竊聽了去。
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I watched over them, to pull down, and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
這樣，耶肋米亞直到耶路撒冷淪陷的那一天，就住在拘留所的庭院裏。
29 In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.
30 But every one shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him that eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
32 not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord.
33 For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
34 And they shall not at all teach every one his [fellow] citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.
35 Thus saith the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the moon and the stars for a light by night, and [makes] a roaring in the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; the Lord Almighty is his name:
36 if these ordinances cease from before me, saith the Lord, then shall the family of Israel cease to be a nation before me forever.
37 Though the sky should be raised to a [greater] height, saith the Lord, and though the ground of the earth should be sunk [lower] beneath, yet I will not cast off the family of Israel, saith the Lord, for all that they have done.
38 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.
39 And the measurement of it shall proceed in front of them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it shall be compassed with a circular wall of choice stones.
40 And all the Asaremoth even to Nachal Kedron, as far as the corner of the horse-gate eastward, shall be holiness to the Lord; and it shall not fail any more, and shall not be destroyed for ever.
