< Zephaniah 2 >

1 Collect your thoughts, aye collect them, —O nation, depressed!
沒有廉恥的民族,在他們尚未像糠枇一樣被吹散之前,
2 Ere yet the decree, have given birth, like chaff, the day, have vanished, —ere yet shall come upon you, the glow of the anger of Yahweh, ere yet shall come upon you, the day of the anger of Yahweh.
在上主的怒火尚未來到你們身上,在上主憤怒的日子尚未來到你們身上以前,你們聚首檢討吧!
3 Seek Yahweh—all ye lowly of the land, who have wrought, what he appointed, —seek righteousness, seek humility, peradventure, ye shall be concealed, in the day of the anger of Yahweh?
地上所有遵守衪法律的卑微人! 你們應求上主,你們要尋求公義,要尋求謙和,也許你們在上主憤怒的日子,能藏身免禍。
4 For, Gaza, forsaken, shall be, and, Ashkelon, a desolation, —Ashdod! at high noon, shall they drive her forth, and, Ekron, be uprooted:
因為茄薩將被拋棄,阿市刻隆必被剷除。
5 Alas! for the inhabitants of the line of the sea, the nation of Kerethim, —The word of Yahweh, is against you, O Canaan of the land of the Philistines, therefore will I destroy thee, to the last inhabitant.
禍哉! 沿海地帶的居民,革勒提民族! 看,這是木攻擊你們的話:培肋舍特地! 我要貶抑你,把你毀滅得再無固民!
6 So shall the line of the sea become a meadow, the wells of shepherds, and the folds of flocks;
沿海地帶必將成為牧的牧場,羊群的羊棧。
7 And the line shall belong to the remnant of the house of Judah, Thereon, shall they feed their flocks, —In the houses of Ashkelon, shall they, at eventide, lie down, for Yahweh their God will visit them, and bring their captives back.
沿海地帶必將歸於猶大家的遺民;他們將沿著海濱放羊,晚上歇息在阿市刻隆的棧房,因為上主他們的天主必看顧他們,轉變他們的境遇。
8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, —who have reproached my people, and have magnified themselves up to their bounds.
我聽到了摩阿布的辱罵,阿孟子民火詆詬;他們辱罵了我的百姓,欺凌了我的領域。
9 Wherefore, as I live, declareth Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Surely, Moab, like Sodom, shall become, and, the sons of Ammon, like Gomorrah, a possession for the thorn, and a pit of salt, Yea a desolation, unto times age-abiding: The remnant of my people, shall make of them a prey, and, the residue of my nation, shall inherit them.
為此,我指著我的生命起誓──萬軍的上主,以色列天主火斷語:摩阿布必要像索多瑪,哈孟子民必要像哈摩辣,變為荊棘叢、監堆、荒野,直到永遠。我百姓的遺民要劫掠他們,我民族的殘餘,要佔領他們的產業。
10 This, shall they have, instead of their pride, —because they reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of hosts.
這事要臨到他們身上,是由於他們的的傲慢,因為他們辱罵欺凌了萬軍的上主的百姓。
11 Terrible will Yahweh be against them, for he hath caused to waste away all the gods of the earth, that men may bow down to him, every one from his place, all the coastlands of the nations:
上主必要威嚴地顯示給他們,因為衪要消滅地上的一切神衹;那時異邦各笆島嶼,各從自己的地方朝拜衪。
12 Even ye Ethiopians, the slain of my sword were they!
連你們雇士人,也要為我的刀劍所刺透。
13 And may he stretch out his hand against the North, and destroy Assyria, —and may he make of Nineveh a desolation, dry as the desert!
衪還要向北方伸出自己的手,為消滅亞述,使尼尼微化為荒地,像杪漠一樣乾旱。
14 So shall lie down in her midst—flocks, each living thing of a nation, both pelican and bittern, in her capitals, shall roost, —a voice, shall resound in the window, the bustard, on the sill, for he hath destroyed, hath laid bare.
牲畜和窪地所有的走獸必要臥息息其中,鵜鴣和鵁鶄也棲宿在她的柱頭間,鴟梟在窗上啼叫,烏鴉停門檻上,因為人剝去了她以香柏做的裝飾:
15 This, is the city exultant, that sat secure, that said in her heart, I, [am]! and no one besides! How hath she become a desolation! a lair of beasts, every one passing, by her doth hiss, shaketh his hand.
這就是那享樂安居,心想「只有我,沒有別人」的城市! 她如何竟成了荒野,成了野獸的棲所! 凡由她那裏經過的人,莫不嗤笑搖手。

< Zephaniah 2 >