< Jezekiel 19 >
1 Moreover do you take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel,
你當為以色列的王作起哀歌,
2 and say, Why is your mother become a whelp in the midst of lions? in the midst of lions she has multiplied her whelps.
說: 你的母親是甚麼呢? 是個母獅子,蹲伏在獅子中間, 在少壯獅子中養育小獅子。
3 And one of her whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men.
在牠小獅子中養大一個, 成了少壯獅子, 學會抓食而吃人。
4 And the nations heard a report of him; he was caught in their pit, and they brought him into the land of Egypt in chains.
列國聽見了就把牠捉在他們的坑中, 用鉤子拉到埃及地去。
5 And she saw that he was driven away from her, [and] her hope [of him] perished, and she took another of her whelps; she made him a lion.
母獅見自己等候失了指望, 就從牠小獅子中又將一個養為少壯獅子。
6 And he went up and down in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men.
牠在眾獅子中走來走去, 成了少壯獅子, 學會抓食而吃人。
7 And he prowled in his boldness and laid waste their cities, and made the land desolate, and the fullness of it, by the voice of his roaring.
牠知道列國的宮殿, 又使他們的城邑變為荒場; 因牠咆哮的聲音, 遍地和其中所有的就都荒廢。
8 Then the nations set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit.
於是四圍邦國各省的人來攻擊牠, 將網撒在牠身上, 捉在他們的坑中。
9 And they put him in chains and in a cage, [and] he came to the king of Babylon; and he cast him into prison, that his voice should not be heard on the mountains of Israel.
他們用鉤子鉤住牠,將牠放在籠中, 帶到巴比倫王那裏, 將牠放入堅固之所, 使牠的聲音在以色列山上不再聽見。
10 Your mother was as a vine and as a blossom on a pomegranate tree, planted by water: her fruit and her shoot abounded by reason of much water.
你的母親先前如葡萄樹, 極其茂盛,栽於水旁。 因為水多, 就多結果子,滿生枝子;
11 And she became a rod for a tribe of princes, and was elevated in her bulk in the midst of [other] trees, and she saw her bulk in the multitude of her branches.
生出堅固的枝幹,可作掌權者的杖。 這枝幹高舉在茂密的枝中, 而且它生長高大,枝子繁多, 遠遠可見。
12 But she was broken down in wrath, she was cast upon the ground, and the east wind dried up her choice [branches]: vengeance came upon them, and the rod of her strength was withered; fire consumed it.
但這葡萄樹因忿怒被拔出摔在地上; 東風吹乾其上的果子, 堅固的枝幹折斷枯乾, 被火燒毀了;
13 And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land.
如今栽於曠野乾旱無水之地。
14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her choice [boughs], and has devoured her; and there was no rod of strength in her. Her race is become a parable of lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.
火也從它枝幹中發出, 燒滅果子, 以致沒有堅固的枝幹可做掌權者的杖。 這是哀歌,也必用以作哀歌。