< Isaiah 59 >
1 Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear.
看哪!並非上主的手短小而不能施救,並非他的耳朵沈重而不能聽見;
2 But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear.
而是你們的罪孽,使你們與你們的天主隔絕;是你們的罪惡,使他掩面不肯俯聽你們,
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth iniquity.
因為你們的手沾滿了血,你們的手指沾滿了罪惡;你們的口唇說了謊言,你們的舌頭吐出了惡語。
4 There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.
沒有人按正義起訴,沒有人照公正行審;都依賴虛無講說空話,孕育著詭詐,產生邪惡。
5 They have broken the eggs of asps, and have woven the webs of spiders: he that shall eat of their eggs, shall die: and that which is brought out, shall be hatched into a basilisk.
他們所孵化的是毒蛇的蛋,他們所紡織的是蜘蛛的網;誰吃了這些蛋,必定要死;蛋若破了,出來的是條毒蛇。
6 Their webs shall not be for clothing, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are unprofitable works, and the work of iniquity is in their hands.
他們結的蛛網不能製作衣服,他們的手工不能遮蓋自己;他們的作為都是罪惡的作為,他們手中只有欺壓的行為。
7 Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts: wasting and destruction are in their ways.
他們的腳趨向邪惡,急於傾流無辜者的血;他們的思念都是邪惡的思念,在他們的行徑上只有蹂躪與毀滅。
8 They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their steps: their paths are become crooked to them, every one that treadeth in them, knoweth no peace.
和平的道路他們不認識,他們的行徑中決無公正;他們彎曲了自己的途徑,凡在上面行走的,必不認識和平。
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, and justice shall not overtake us. We looked for light, and behold darkness: brightness, and we have walked in the dark.
因此公平遠離了我們,正義不與我們接近;我們尋求光明,看!仍是黑暗;希望光亮,仍在幽暗中徘徊。
10 We have groped for the wall, and like the blind we have groped as if we had no eyes: we have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we are in dark places as dead men.
我們摸索著牆壁,好像瞎子;我們摸索,有如無眼的人;我們在正午顛仆,有如處於黃昏;我們在健壯人中,卻如死人。
11 We shall roar all of us like bears, and shall lament as mournful doves. We have looked for judgment, and there is none: for salvation, and it is far from us.
我們一起號叫,有如狗熊;呻吟哀鳴,宛如鴿子;我們尋求公平,卻沒有公平;尋找救恩,救恩卻遠離了我們,
12 For our iniquities are multiplied before thee, and our sins have testified against us: for our wicked doings are with us, and we have known our iniquities:
因為我們的悖逆在你面前太多了,我們的罪過作證反對我們,因為我們的悖逆都擺在我們面前,我們認清了我們的罪過:
13 In sinning and lying against the Lord: and we have turned away so that we went not after our God, but spoke calumny and transgression: we have conceived, and uttered from the heart, words of falsehood.
背叛和否認上主,轉背離開我們的天主,說欺騙與反叛的話,從心中說出虛妄的言語;
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice hath stood far off: because truth bath fallen down in the street, and equity could not come in.
因此公平被制止,正義立在遠處,真誠在街市上仆倒於地,正義不得進入。
15 And truth hath been forgotten: and he that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey: and the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, because there is no judgment.
真誠消逝了,避惡的人已蕩然無存。上主見了,實在不悅,因為一點正直也沒有了;
16 And he saw that there is not a man: and he stood astonished, because there is none to oppose himself: and his own arm brought salvation to him, and his own justice supported him.
他看不見一個人,他詫異連一個調停者也沒有了,遂以自己的手臂來施救,以自己的正義來扶持。
17 He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak.
他身穿正義作鎧甲,頭戴救恩作鋼盔,身佩復仇作衣服,外披妒恨作外氅。
18 As unto revenge, as it were to repay wrath to his adversaries, and a reward to his enemies: he will repay the like to the islands.
他要按照各人的行為施行報復,向他的敵人發怒,向他的仇人復仇。【也向群島施行報應。】
19 And they from the west, shall fear the name of the Lord: and they from the rising of the sun, his glory: when he shall come as a violent stream, which the spirit of the Lord driveth on:
西方的人要看見上主的名號,東方的人要看見他的榮耀,因為他要來臨,好似被強烈的風催促的急流。
20 And there shall come a, redeemer to Sion, and to them that return from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord.
拯救者必要臨於熙雍,臨於雅各伯家中的棄邪歸依者:上主的斷語。
21 This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is in thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
至於我──上主說──這是我與他們所立的盟約:我在你身上所賦的神,我在你口中所放的話,總不離開你的口和你子孫的口,以及你子子孫孫的口,上主說,從現今直到永遠。