< Jeremiah 31 >
1 “At that time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
時候────將作以色列各宗族的天主,他們將作我的人民。
2 The LORD says, “The people who survive the sword found favour in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
上主這樣說:逃脫了刀劍的,在曠野中找到了聖寵遇;以色列前來自己巿身的地方。
3 The LORD appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
上主自遠處顯示給她說:我愛妳,我永遠愛妳,因此我給妳留了我的仁慈;
4 I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.
我要再修建妳,而妳必建再建立起來;妳必再帶上妳的小鼓,出來歡樂哥舞;
5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.
再在撒馬黎雅山上栽種葡萄,栽種培埴,必有收穫;
6 For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God.’”
因為終有一天,守望的人要在厄弗辣因山上嘁說:起來,讓我們上熙雍去,到上主我們的天主那裏去!
7 For the LORD says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’
因為上主這樣說:你們應為雅各伯歡呼,向為首的民族喝采,傳揚稱讚說:上主救了自己的百姓,以色列的遺民。
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.
看,我由北地引他們歸來,從大地的盡頭召集他們,其中有瞎子,有跛子,有懷孕的和正在生產的,形成一大隊回到這裏來。
9 They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
他們含淚前行,我卻撫引導,領他們踏上不會跌倒的坦途,來到溪流旁,因為我是以色列的慈父,厄弗辣因是我的長子。
10 “Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
萬民! 請聽上主的話,向遙遠的海島宣傳說:那
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
那昔日驅散以色列的,再要來聚集他們,看守他們像牧童看守自己的羊群。11. 因為上主必拯救雅各伯,比他更強者的手中將他們贖回。
12 They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.
他們將來前來,在熙雍山巔歡呼,湧向上主的美物,飽享穀、麥、酒、油,子牛小羊;他們的心靈好像受灌溉的田園,再也不感憔悴。
13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
那時,處女必歡欣鼓舞,老幼必相聚同樂,因為我將使的悲哀變成喜樂,仗他們由自己的憂苦中獲得安慰歡樂;
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.
我將以肥脂滋潤司祭的心靈,以美物飽飫我的人民──上主的斷語。
15 The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
上主這樣說:「聽! 在辣瑪有嘆息聲,酸辛哭泣;辣黑耳悲悼自己的兒子,不願接受安慰,因為他們已不存在了! 」
16 The LORD says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” says the LORD. “They will come again from the land of the enemy.
上主這樣說:「要止往痛哭,不再流淚,因為你的苦終必有報──上主的斷語──他們必會由敵地歸來!
17 There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own territory.
你們的前途大有希望──上主的斷語──你的子孫都要歸回自己的疆域。
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are the LORD my God.
我實在聽到厄弗辣因在悲歎說:你懲罰了我,我受了杖搫,有如一頭不馴服的公牛犢;你使我歸來,我必歸來,因為你是上主,我的天主x。
19 Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
的確,我離棄你以後,我已後悔;在覺悟以後,我拍腿自慚自愧,因為我又染上了我少年時的恥辱。
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says the LORD.
厄弗辣因豈? 是我的寵兒,我鍾愛嬌子﹖因為我幾時恐嚇他,反倒更顧念他;對他我五內感動,不得不大施愛憐──上主的斷語」。
21 “Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart towards the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities.
請你給自己樹立路程碑,設置指路牌,細心回想你走的路線,以往你走過的大道;以色列處女! 回到妳自己的城邑。
22 How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”
妳要流浪到幾時﹖叛逆的女兒! 因為上主在地上正在創造一件新事:女人包圍男人。
23 The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’
萬軍的上主,以色列的天主這樣說:「當我轉變他們的命運時,在猶大地和她城市中的人,還要用這話祝賀說:正義的所在,神聖的山嶺! 願上主祝福你。
24 Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.
猶大和她各城中的人,農夫和隨羊遷徒的人,將要同住在那裏,
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
因為我要振作困乏的心靈,飽飫一切苦悶的心靈。──
26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
至此,我醒來了,我看見了,我的睡眠為我實在甘甜。
27 “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.
──上主的斷語──我要給以色列家和猶大家播散人種和獸種;
28 It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says the LORD.
就如往昔我曾監視他們,為將他們拔除、破壞、推翻、毀滅、損害;同樣,日後我必要監視他們、為將他們建設、栽培──上主的斷語──
29 “In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
在那時裏,人必不再說:「祖先吃了酸葡萄,子孫的牙齒也要酸軟」。
30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.
不,各人只因自己的的罪惡而死;只有吃酸葡萄的人,自己的牙齒才酸軟。
31 “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,
看,時日將到──上主的斷語──我必要與叵家和猶大家訂立新約,
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD.
不像我昔日──握住他們的手,引他們出離埃及時──與他們的祖先訂立盟約;雖然我是他們的夫君,他們已自行破壞了我這盟約──上主的斷語──
33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
我願在那些時日,與叵家訂立的盟約──上主的斷語──就是:我要將我的法律放在他們的肺腑裏,寫在他們的心頭上;我要作他們的天主,他們要作我的人民。
34 They will no longer each teach his neighbour, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
那時,誰也不教訓自己的近人或弟兄說:「你們該認識上主」,因為不論大小,人人都必認識我──上主的斷語──因為我要寬恕他們的過犯,不再記憶他們的罪惡。
35 The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— the LORD of Armies is his name, says:
那指定太陽照耀白日規定月亮星辰照耀黑夜,撥動海洋使波濤怒號,號稱「萬軍的上主」
36 “If these ordinances depart from before me,” says the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
假若這些規定已由我面前消失──上主的斷語──以色列種族在我面前也就永不再是一個民族。
37 The LORD says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD.
上主這樣說:假若能測量在上的諸天,能探察在下大地的基礎,我也就因他們所做的一切,拋棄整個以色列種族──上主的斷語」。
38 “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.
看,時日將到──上主的斷語──上主的城市必要重建,不佰自哈納乃布堡直到角門,
39 The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn towards Goah.
而且測量的繩墨還要向外伸展,直到加勒布丘,再轉向哥阿;
40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate towards the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”
滿了屍首和灰燼的整個山谷,以及直到克德隆溪流和東邊馬門角旁所有木田地,都將祝聖給上主,永不再遭受」。