Isaiah 49
1 Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: the LORD has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name.
諸島嶼，請聽我！遠方的人民，請靜聽！上主由母腹中就召叫了我，自母胎中就給我起了名字。
2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.
他使我的口好似利劍，將我掩護在他的手蔭下，使我像一支磨光的箭，將我隱藏在他的箭囊中。
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
他對我說：你是我的僕人，是我驕矜的「以色列。」
4 But I said, “I have laboured in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with the LORD, and my reward with my God.”
但是我說：「我白白勤勞了，我枉費了氣力而毫無益處；但是我的權利是在上主那裏，我的報酬在我的天主面前。」
5 Now the LORD, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honourable in the LORD’s eyes, and my God has become my strength.
我在上主眼中是光榮的，天主是我的力量。那由母胎形成我作他的僕人，將雅各伯領回到他前，並把以色列聚在他前的上主，如今說：「
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
你作我的僕人，復興雅各伯支派，領回以色列遺留下的人，還是小事，我更要使你作萬民的光明，使我的救恩達於地極。」
7 The LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
上主，以色列的救主和聖者，向那極受輕慢，為列國所憎惡，且作統治者奴役的人這樣說：「列王必要見而起立，諸侯必要見而下拜：這是因為上主忠實可靠，以色列的聖者揀選了你的緣故。」
8 The LORD says, “I have answered you in an acceptable time. I have helped you in a day of salvation. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage,
上主這樣說：在悅納的時候，我俯允了你；在救恩的日期，我幫助了你；我必保護你，使你作為人民的盟約，復興國家，分得荒蕪的產業，
9 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.
好向俘虜說：「你們出來罷！」向在黑暗中的人說：「你們出現罷！」他們將在各路上被牧放，他們的牧場是在一切荒嶺上。
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them, for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water.
他們不餓也不渴，熱風和列日也不損傷他們，因為那憐憫他們的率領著他們，引領他們到水泉傍。
11 I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be exalted.
我要使我的一切山嶺變為大路，並把我的街道修高。
12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.”
看啊！有的由遠方而來，有的由北方和西方而來，還有些由息寧而來。
13 Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
諸天要歡樂，大地要踴躍，山嶺要歡呼高唱，因為上主安慰了他的百姓，憐恤了他受苦的人們。
14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”
熙雍曾說過：「上主離棄了我，吾主忘掉了我。」
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!
婦女豈能忘掉自己的乳嬰﹖出為人母的，豈能忘掉親生的兒子﹖縱然她們能忘掉，我也不能忘掉你啊﹖
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.
看哪！我已把你刻在我的手掌上，你的城牆時常在我的眼前。
17 Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
建築你的工人急速動工，那毀滅你和破壞你的，要離你遠去。
18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says the LORD, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.
你舉目四望罷！他們都已集合到你這裏來；我永遠生活－－上主的斷語－－他們必如裝飾品穿戴在你身上，把你裝扮得有如新娘。
19 “For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
至於你的廢址，你那荒蕪和遭蹂躪之地，如今為你的居民都太狹小了，因為吞噬你的人已遠離他去。
20 The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’
連你在不孕期中所生的子女也要說給你聽：「這地方為我太狹小了，請給我一個住處罷！」
21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”
那時你心裏會問：「誰給我生育了這些人呢﹖我原是不妊不孕的，【且是流放被逐的，】這些人是誰給我養大的﹖看！我本是孤苦零丁的，他們卻是從那裏來的﹖」
22 The Lord GOD says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
吾主上主這樣說：「看！我要向列邦高舉我的手，向萬民樹起我的旗幟；他們必要把你的兒子抱在懷中帶來，把你的女兒放在肩上背來。
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.”
列王要作你的養父，皇后要當你的保姆。他們要在你面前俯伏在地，並要舔去你腳上的塵土；那時你將知道：我是上主；凡仰賴我的，決不會蒙羞。」
24 Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
獵物豈能由勇士手中奪回﹖俘虜豈能由強者手中救出﹖
25 But the LORD says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your children.
但是，上主這樣說：「俘虜必要由勇士手中奪回，獵物必要由強者手中救出。我必與同你爭奪的人爭奪，我必拯救你的子孫。
26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Saviour and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
我要使壓迫你的人吃自己的肉，喝自己的血如喝新酒。如此，凡有血肉的人都知道我是上主，是你的拯救者，是你的救主，是雅各伯的大能者。」
