< Nehemiah 9 >

1 Now, on the twenty-fourth day of this month, were the sons of Israel gathered together, with fasting and with sackcloth, having earth upon them.
這月二十四日,以色列人聚集禁食,身穿麻衣,頭蒙灰塵。
2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all the sons of the foreigner, —and stood and made confession over their own sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
以色列人就與一切外邦人離絕,站着承認自己的罪惡和列祖的罪孽。
3 So they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Yahweh their God, a fourth part of the day, —and, a fourth part, they were making confession and bowing themselves down, unto Yahweh their God.
那日的四分之一站在自己的地方念耶和華-他們上帝的律法書,又四分之一認罪,敬拜耶和華-他們的上帝。
4 Then stood up on the platform of the Levites, Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, Chenani, —and made outcry, with a loud voice, unto Yahweh their God.
耶書亞、巴尼、甲篾、示巴尼、布尼、示利比、巴尼、基拿尼站在利未人的臺上,大聲哀求耶和華-他們的上帝。
5 Then said the Levites—Jeshua and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, Pethahiah, Stand up, bless Yahweh your God, from age to age, —Yea let them bless thy glorious Name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
利未人耶書亞、甲篾、巴尼、哈沙尼、示利比、荷第雅、示巴尼、毗他希雅說:「你們要站起來稱頌耶和華-你們的上帝,永世無盡。耶和華啊,你榮耀之名是應當稱頌的!超乎一切稱頌和讚美。」
6 Thou, art Yahweh, thou alone, Thou, didst make the heavens, the heavens of heavens, and all their host, the earth and all that is thereon, the seas and all that is therein, and, thou, holdest them all in life, —and, the host of the heavens, unto thee, are bowing down.
「你,惟獨你是耶和華!你造了天和天上的天,並天上的萬象,地和地上的萬物,海和海中所有的;這一切都是你所保存的。天軍也都敬拜你。
7 Thou, art Yahweh, God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, —and madest his name Abraham;
你是耶和華上帝,曾揀選亞伯蘭,領他出迦勒底的吾珥,給他改名叫亞伯拉罕。
8 and didst find his heart faithful before thee, and didst solemnize with him a covenant, to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, —to give it unto his seed, —and didst confirm thy words, for, righteous, thou art.
你見他在你面前心裏誠實,就與他立約,應許把迦南人、赫人、亞摩利人、比利洗人、耶布斯人、革迦撒人之地賜給他的後裔,且應驗了你的話,因為你是公義的。
9 Yea thou sawest the affliction of our fathers, in Egypt, and, their outcry, thou heardest, by the Red Sea;
「你曾看見我們列祖在埃及所受的困苦,垂聽他們在紅海邊的哀求,
10 and didst grant signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, for thou hadst taken note, that they ruled proudly over them, —and so thou didst make thee a name, as at this day.
就施行神蹟奇事在法老和他一切臣僕,並他國中的眾民身上。你也得了名聲,正如今日一樣,因為你知道他們向我們列祖行事狂傲。
11 And, the sea, didst thou cleave asunder before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea, on dry ground, —whereas, their pursuers, thou didst cast into the depths like a stone, into the mighty waters,
你又在我們列祖面前把海分開,使他們在海中行走乾地,將追趕他們的人拋在深海,如石頭拋在大水中;
12 And, in a pillar of cloud, didst thou lead them, by day, —and in a pillar of fire, by night, to light up for them the way wherein they should go.
並且白晝用雲柱引導他們,黑夜用火柱照亮他們當行的路。
13 And, upon Mount Sinai, camest thou down, and spakest with them out of the heavens, —and gavest them just regulations, and faithful laws, good statutes and commandments.
你也降臨在西奈山,從天上與他們說話,賜給他們正直的典章、真實的律法、美好的條例與誡命,
14 And, thy holy sabbath, didst thou make known to them, —and, commandments and statutes and a law, didst thou command them, through Moses thy servant.
又使他們知道你的安息聖日,並藉你僕人摩西傳給他們誡命、條例、律法。
15 And, bread out of the heavens, didst thou give them, for their hunger, and, waters out of the cliff, didst thou bring them, for their thirst, —and badest them go in to take possession of the land, which thou hadst lifted thy hand to give them.
從天上賜下糧食充他們的飢,從磐石使水流出解他們的渴,又吩咐他們進去得你起誓應許賜給他們的地。
16 But, they and our fathers, dealt proudly, —and hardened their neck, and hearkened not unto thy commandments;
「但我們的列祖行事狂傲,硬着頸項不聽從你的誡命;
17 but refused to hearken, neither kept in mind thy wonders which thou hadst done with them, but they hardened their neck, and appointed a head that they might return to their servitude, in their perverseness. But, thou, art a God of forgivenesses, gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness, and didst not forsake them.
不肯順從,也不記念你在他們中間所行的奇事,竟硬着頸項,居心背逆,自立首領,要回他們為奴之地。但你是樂意饒恕人,有恩典,有憐憫,不輕易發怒,有豐盛慈愛的上帝,並不丟棄他們。
18 Yea, although they made them a molten calf, and said, This, is thy God, that brought thee up out of Egypt, —and wrought great insults,
他們雖然鑄了一隻牛犢,彼此說『這是領你出埃及的神』,因而大大惹動你的怒氣;
19 yet, thou, in thine abounding compassions, didst not forsake them in the desert, —the pillar of cloud, departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light up for them the way wherein they should go.
你還是大施憐憫,在曠野不丟棄他們。白晝,雲柱不離開他們,仍引導他們行路;黑夜,火柱也不離開他們,仍照亮他們當行的路。
20 And, thy Good Spirit, thou gavest, to instruct them, —and, thy manna, thou withheldest not from their mouth, and, water, thou gavest them, for their thirst.
你也賜下你良善的靈教訓他們;未嘗不賜嗎哪使他們糊口,並賜水解他們的渴。
21 Yea, forty years, didst thou sustain them in the desert, they lacked nothing, —their mantles, waxed not old and, their feet, swelled not.
在曠野四十年,你養育他們,他們就一無所缺:衣服沒有穿破,腳也沒有腫。
22 And thou gavest them kingdoms, and peoples, and allotted to each of them a corner, —and they took possession of the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
並且你將列國之地照分賜給他們,他們就得了西宏之地、希實本王之地,和巴珊王噩之地。
23 Their children also, didst thou multiply, like the stars of the heavens, —and didst bring them into the land which thou hadst promised their fathers they should enter to possess;
你也使他們的子孫多如天上的星,帶他們到你所應許他們列祖進入得為業之地。
24 so the children entered and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and deliveredst them into their hand, —with their kings, and the peoples of the land, to do with them according to their pleasure;
這樣,他們進去得了那地,你在他們面前制伏那地的居民,就是迦南人;將迦南人和其君王,並那地的居民,都交在他們手裏,讓他們任意而待。
25 and they captured fortified cities and a fat soil, and took possession of houses full of every good thing, wells digged, vineyards and oliveyards and fruit-trees, in abundance, —so they did eat and were filled and became fat, and luxuriated in thy great goodness.
他們得了堅固的城邑、肥美的地土、充滿各樣美物的房屋、鑿成的水井、葡萄園、橄欖園,並許多果木樹。他們就吃而得飽,身體肥胖,因你的大恩,心中快樂。
26 But they murmured and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and, thy prophets, they slew, who testified against them that they might turn them back unto thee, —and they wrought great insults.
「然而,他們不順從,竟背叛你,將你的律法丟在背後,殺害那勸他們歸向你的眾先知,大大惹動你的怒氣。
27 Therefore didst thou deliver them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them, —and, in the time of their distress, they made outcry unto thee, and, thou, out of the heavens, didst hear, and, according to thine abounding compassions, gavest them saviours, that they might save them out of the hand of their adversaries.
所以你將他們交在敵人的手中,磨難他們。他們遭難的時候哀求你,你就從天上垂聽,照你的大憐憫賜給他們拯救者,救他們脫離敵人的手。
28 But, as soon as they had rest, they again wrought wickedness before thee, —and thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies, who bare rule over them, yet, when they again made outcry unto thee, thou, from the heavens, didst hear and didst deliver them according to thy compassions, many times;
但他們得平安之後,又在你面前行惡,所以你丟棄他們在仇敵的手中,使仇敵轄制他們。然而他們轉回哀求你,你仍從天上垂聽,屢次照你的憐憫拯救他們,
29 and didst testify against them, to bring them back unto thy law, yet, they, dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, and, against thy regulations, they sinned, the which—if any son of earth shall do—then shall he live by them, —and yielded a rebellious shoulder, and, their neck, they stiffened, and hearkened not.
又警戒他們,要使他們歸服你的律法。他們卻行事狂傲,不聽從你的誡命,干犯你的典章(人若遵行就必因此活着),扭轉肩頭,硬着頸項,不肯聽從。
30 And thou didst suffer many years to pass over them, and didst testify against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets, yet did they not give ear, —therefore didst thou deliver them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
但你多年寬容他們,又用你的靈藉眾先知勸戒他們,他們仍不聽從,所以你將他們交在列國之民的手中。
31 Yet, in thine abounding compassions, thou didst not make of them an end, neither didst thou forsake them, —for, a GOD gracious and full of compassion, thou art.
然而你大發憐憫,不全然滅絕他們,也不丟棄他們;因為你是有恩典、有憐憫的上帝。
32 Now, therefore, O our God—the GOD great, mighty, and fearful—keeping the covenant and the lovingkindness, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, which hath come upon us—on our kings, on our rulers, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, —from the days of the kings of Assyria, until this day.
「我們的上帝啊,你是至大、至能、至可畏、守約施慈愛的上帝。我們的君王、首領、祭司、先知、列祖,和你的眾民,從亞述列王的時候直到今日所遭遇的苦難,現在求你不要以為小。
33 But, thou, art righteous, as to all that hath fallen upon us, —for, faithfulness, hast thou wrought, whereas, we, have been lawless;
在一切臨到我們的事上,你卻是公義的;因你所行的是誠實,我們所做的是邪惡。
34 and, our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers, have not kept thy law, —nor given heed unto thy commandments, or unto thy testimonies, wherewith thou hast testified against them.
我們的君王、首領、祭司、列祖都不遵守你的律法,不聽從你的誡命和你警戒他們的話。
35 But, they, in their kingdom, and in thine abundant goodness which thou gavest them, and in the broad and fat land which thou didst set before them, did not serve thee, neither turned they from their wicked doings.
他們在本國裏沾你大恩的時候,在你所賜給他們這廣大肥美之地上不事奉你,也不轉離他們的惡行。
36 Lo! we, to-day, are bondmen—even upon the land which thou gavest our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, lo! we, are bondmen;
我們現今作了奴僕;至於你所賜給我們列祖享受其上的土產,並美物之地,看哪,我們在這地上作了奴僕!
37 and, the increase thereof, aboundeth unto the kings whom thou hast set over us, for our sins, —and, over our bodies, are they bearing rule, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and, in great distress, we are.
這地許多出產歸了列王,就是你因我們的罪所派轄制我們的。他們任意轄制我們的身體和牲畜,我們遭了大難。」
38 Seeing, therefore, all this, we, are plighting our faith, and putting it in writing, —and, upon the sealed scroll, are our rulers, our Levites, our priests.
因這一切的事,我們立確實的約,寫在冊上。我們的首領、利未人,和祭司都簽了名。

< Nehemiah 9 >