< Jeremiah 7 >

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
上主有話給耶肋米亞說:
2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all [ye of] Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
「你站在上主殿字的門口,宣佈這話說:你們凡由這些門進來,朝拜上主的猶大人,請聽上主的話。
3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
萬軍的上主,以色列的這樣說:改善你們的生活和行為,我就讓你們住在這地方;
4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are] these.
不要信賴虛偽的話說:「這是上主的聖殿,上主的聖殿,上主的聖殿!
5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
只有他們徹底改善你的生活和行為,在人與人之間行事公道,
6 [If] ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
不虐待旅客、孤兒、寡婦,不在這地方傾流無辜者的血,不自招禍患去跟隨外邦的神祗,
7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
我才讓你們住在這地方,即我自開始便永遠賜給你們祖先的土地。
8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
可惜! 你們竟信賴虛偽無益的話。
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
怎麼﹖你們竟偷盜,兇殺,通姦,發虛誓,向巴耳獻香,跟隨素不相識的外方神祗,
10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
然後來到這歸我名下的殿裏,立在我面前說:「我們有了保障! 」好再去行這一切可惡的事﹖
11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it], saith the LORD.
難道這座歸我名下的殿宇,在你們眼中竟成了賊窩了嗎﹖哎! 我看實在是這樣──上主的斷語。
12 But go ye now unto my place which [was] in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
那麼,請你們到我昔日在史羅立我名的地方去,察看我因我人名以色列的邪惡對她行了的事
13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
現在因為你們做了這一切事──上主的斷語──我再三懇切勸你們,你們又不聽;我呼喚你們,你們也不答應;
14 Therefore will I do unto [this] house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
為此,我要對付你們依恃的這座歸於我名下的殿宇,並對付我給你們及你們祖先的地域,向對付史羅一樣;
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.
我必將你們由我面前拋棄,如同拋棄了你們所的有,厄弗辣因全體後裔一樣。
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
至於你,你你不必為這人民祈禱,不必為他們呼籲哀求,也不必向我懇求,因為我不會俯聽你。
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
他們在猶大各城和耶路撒冷街上做的是什麼事,難道你沒有看見﹖
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
兒子拾柴,父親燒火,母女揉麵給天后做餅,向外方神祗行奠祭,來觸怒我。
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: [do they] not [provoke] themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
他們果真觸怒我嗎﹖──上主的斷語──豈不是觸犯自己,使自己滿面慚愧﹖
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
為此我上主這樣說:看,我的憤怒和怒火,必要傾注在這地方的人和走獸身上,田間的樹木和土地的出產上,燃燒不熄。
21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
萬軍的上主,以色列的天主這樣說:「你們獻祭後,儘管飽悢祭肉;
22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
可是,關於全燔祭和獻祭的事情,我在領你們祖先出離埃及那一天,並沒有對他們談及或吩咐什麼,
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
只吩咐了他們這事說:你們應聽從我的聲音,那麼我必作你們的天主,你們也必作我的人民;你們應走我吩咐你們的一切道路,好使你們獲得幸福。
24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels [and] in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
他們不但不側耳細聽,反倒依照自己的計劃,隨自己邪惡的心生活,頑固不化;不以面向我,卻以背向我。
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending [them: ]
從你們祖先出離埃及那一天起,直到今日,我給你們派遺了我所有的僕人先知,而且每天清早給你們派遺,
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
但他們不但不側耳聽從我,反而更硬起自己的頸項,比自己的祖先還要乖戾。
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
縱使你將這一切話告訴他們,他們也不會聽從你;任憑你怎樣呼喚,他們也不會答應你。
28 But thou shalt say unto them, This [is] a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
為此你對他們說:這個民族,不聽上主自己天主的聲音,不肯接受訓;忠實已喪失,已絕於他們口中。
29 Cut off thine hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast [it] away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
你該剪去你的一綹頭髮,把它拋掉,在高丘上唱哀歌,因為上主擯斥,且拋棄了衪憎恨的時代。
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
的確,猶大子民作了我視為惡的──上主的斷語──將他們可惡之物,安置在歸我名下的殿宇裏,使殿宇受玷污;
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.
又本希農山谷的托斐特建築了丘壇,為火焚自己的子女;這是我從沒有吩咐,也從沒有想到的事。
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
為此,看,時日將到──上主的斷語──人王再稱這地方為「托斐特」,或「本希農谷」,卻要稱它為「屠殺谷」;由於墳地不夠,連斐特也將充作墳場。
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray [them] away.
這人民的屍體將成為天空飛鳥和地上走獸的食物,而沒有人來驅逐。
34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
我必猶大城內和耶路撒冷街上,再也聽到歡愉和喜樂的音,新郎和新娘的音,因為這地要變為荒野。

< Jeremiah 7 >