< Isaiah 27 >

1 At that time, Yahweh will punish Leviathan, the swift-moving monster/dragon, that coiling serpent that lives in the sea. Yahweh will kill it with his sharp, huge, and powerful sword.
到那一天,上主要用他那厲害、巨大、猛烈的劍,來懲罰「里外雅堂」飛龍,和「里外雅堂」蜿蛇;並要擊殺海中的蛟龍。
2 At that time, [Yahweh will say], “You [Israeli people, who are like] [MET] a fruitful vineyard, must sing!
到那一天,你們要唱「那可愛的葡萄園」歌:「
3 I will [protect you] [like a farmer] [MET] waters his crops carefully [in order that they will grow well]. I will guard you day and night, in order that no one harms you.
我,上主,親自作它的護守者,時加灌溉;我要日夜護守,免得受人侵害。
4 I am no [longer] angry [with my people]; [if any of your enemies try to injure you like briers and thorns injure people] [MET], I will attack them [in battles]; I will get rid of them completely,
我再沒有怒氣;萬一有了荊棘和蒺藜,我必前去攻擊,將它完全焚毀;
5 unless they request me to protect them; I strongly invite them to make peace with me [DOU]!”
除非不求我保護,不與我講和,不與我和好...」
6 There will be a time when the (descendants of Jacob/Israeli people) will [prosper like] a plant that has good roots; they will be like [MET] trees that bud and blossom and bear a lot of fruit; [what they do will bless] all the people in the world.
來自雅各伯將生根,以色列要發芽開花,她的果實要佈滿地面。
7 [But now I ask], has Yahweh punished us Israelis like he punished our enemies? Has he punished us as much as he punished them?
上主打擊以色列,那裏像他打擊那些打擊以色列的人呢﹖上主擊殺以色列,那裏像他擊殺那些擊殺以色列的人呢﹖
8 [No, he has not done that], [but] he punished us Israeli people and (exiled us/forced us to leave our country); we were taken away from our land as though [SIM] we were struck by a windstorm from the east.
上主以離棄,以驅逐,懲罰了她;在吹東風的日子,藉巨風將她捲去。
9 Yahweh did that in order to punish us for our sins, and remove our guilt. As a result [of our being exiled], all the altars to other gods [in Israel] will be demolished, and we will be forgiven for the sins that we have committed. There will be no more poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah, or altars for burning incense to other gods; they will all be torn down.
惟其如此,雅各伯的罪過方得消除;她的罪孽得以赦免的代價,即在於她將祭壇所有的石塊,打得粉碎有如石灰,不在樹立「阿舍辣」和太陽柱。
10 The cities that have strong walls around them will be empty; like the desert, they will have no one living in them. The houses will be abandoned, and the streets will be full of weeds. Calves will eat grass there and lie down there; they will chew up all the leaves on the trees.
的確,設防的城市已荒涼,成了被撇下和放棄的住宅,有如荒野。牛犢在那裏牧放,在那裏偃臥,吃盡了那裏的枝葉。
11 [The Israeli people are like] [MET] dry branches on a tree; women break them off and use them to make fires [under their cooking pots]. Our Israeli people do not have any sense; so Yahweh, who created them, will not act mercifully toward them or be kind to them.
幾時樹枝枯萎,就自會斷落,婦女便來拿去燒火;她既不是個聰敏的民族,因此那創造她的,對她沒有憐憫;那形成她的,對她也不表恩情。
12 [However], there will be a time when Yahweh will gather them together [again; he will separate them from the people who have conquered them, like people] separate wheat from chaff. He will bring them [back to Israel], one by one, from [the land between] the Euphrates River [in the northeast] and the brook at the border of Egypt [in the southwest].
到那一天,上主要從大河流域到埃及河畔收割果實,以色列子民啊!你們都要一個一個地被聚集起來。
13 At that time, a trumpet will be blown very loudly. And those who were exiled to Assyria and Egypt and who almost died there will return to Jerusalem, to worship Yahweh on [Zion], his holy hill.
到那一天,要吹起大號筒,凡是在亞述失迷的,在埃及地分散的,都要前來,在耶路撒冷聖山,朝拜上主。

< Isaiah 27 >