Isaiah 17
1 [I received] this message [from Yahweh] about Damascus [the capital of Syria]: “Listen carefully! Damascus will no longer be a city; it will be [only] a heap of ruins!
有關大馬士革的神諭：看，大馬士革不再成為城市，將變為一堆廢墟。
2 The towns near Aroer [city] will be abandoned. Flocks [of sheep] will [eat grass in the streets and] lie down there, and there will be no one to chase them away.
她的城邑將永被遺棄，成為羊群的牧場；牠們偃臥在那裏，無人驚擾。
3 The cities in Israel will not have walls around them [to protect them]. The power of the kingdom of Damascus will be ended, and the few people who will remain in Damascus will be disgraced like the people in Israel were disgraced.” [That is what] the Commander of the armies of angels says.
厄弗辣因的保壘將被撤除，大馬士革的主權將要消失，阿蘭的遺民將如以色列子民的光榮－－萬軍上主的斷語。
4 “At that time, Israel will become insignificant. It will be [like] [MET] a fat person who has become very thin.
到那天，雅各 伯的光榮必要衰落，他肥滿的身軀必要消瘦。
5 The entire land will be like [SIM] a field where the harvesters have cut all the grain; there will be nothing left, like [SIM] the fields in the Rephaim Valley after all the crops have been harvested.
將如收割的人一手在抱麥稈，一手在割麥穗；又如人摘取葡萄，或在勒法因山谷採打橄欖樹，
6 Only a few of the Israeli people will remain [MET], like [SIM] the few olives that remain on the top of a tree after the workers have caused all the other olives to fall [to the ground]. [There will be only] two or three olives in the top branches, [or] four or five olives on the other branches.” [That is what] the Commander of the armies of angels says.
上面總有些殘粒剩下，或兩三粒留在樹梢，或四五個留在果樹的枝梢上－－上主，以色列的天主的斷語。
7 [Then], at that time, [you] people [of Israel] will (turn for help to/look up to) God, your creator, the Holy One of Israel.
到那天，人必仰望自己的造主，眼睛必要注視以色列的聖者。
8 You will no [longer] seek to get help from your idols or worship the idols that you have made with your own hands [DOU]. You will never again bow down in front of the poles [where you worship the goddess] Asherah. You will never again worship at the shrines [that you have built for burning incense].
再不願觀看他親手所造的祭壇；也不再顧盼他手指所製的「阿舍辣」和太陽柱。
9 The largest cities in Israel will be abandoned, like the land that the Hiv and Amor people-groups abandoned (OR, like the forests that the [Canaan people-group] abandoned) when the Israelis [attacked them long ago]. No one will live there.
到那天，你的堅城，將如希威人和阿摩黎人在以色列子民前所放棄的地域，成為一片荒野，
10 [That will happen] because you have stopped worshiping God who is [like] [MET] a huge rock under which you can be safe. You have forgotten that he is the one who can hide/protect you. So, [now] you plant very nice grapevines and [even] plant very expensive ones that come from other countries.
因為你忘卻了拯救你的天主，不懷念作你避難所的磐石。為此，你雖栽種阿多尼花木，種植異鄉的枝條；
11 [But] even if they sprout leaves on the day that you plant them, and even if they produce blossoms on that same morning, at harvest time, there will not be any grapes for you to pick. All that you will get is a lot of agony/misery.
你縱然在一日之間使你所栽種的生長，清晨使你所種植的開花，但是收穫卻消失在患難和絕望痛苦的日子中。
12 Listen! [The armies of] many nations will roar like the sea roars. It will sound like the noise of crashing waves.
靜聽！許多民族在喧嚷，喧嚷得有如海嘯；好多百姓在咆哮，咆哮得有如汪洋的怒號。
13 But even though their loud roaring will be like the sound of crashing waves, when Yahweh rebukes them, they will run far away. They will flee like [SIM] chaff on the hills scatters when the wind [blows], like tumbleweeds scatter when a windstorm blows.
然而上主一叱責，他必飄逸遠逃，有如為颶風捲去山上的禾湝，有如旋風前的薊絮。
14 And, even though you people of Israel will be terrified, in the morning [your enemies] will all be gone/dead. That is what will happen to those who invade our land and [then] steal our possessions.
晚間盡是恐怖；天還未亮，已無蹤影！這是掠奪我們者的份子，搶劫我們者的命運。
