< Isaiah 59 >
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.
看哪!並非上主的手短小而不能施救,並非他的耳朵沈重而不能聽見;
2 But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
而是你們的罪孽,使你們與你們的天主隔絕;是你們的罪惡,使他掩面不肯俯聽你們,
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
因為你們的手沾滿了血,你們的手指沾滿了罪惡;你們的口唇說了謊言,你們的舌頭吐出了惡語。
4 No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
沒有人按正義起訴,沒有人照公正行審;都依賴虛無講說空話,孕育著詭詐,產生邪惡。
5 They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
他們所孵化的是毒蛇的蛋,他們所紡織的是蜘蛛的網;誰吃了這些蛋,必定要死;蛋若破了,出來的是條毒蛇。
6 Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
他們結的蛛網不能製作衣服,他們的手工不能遮蓋自己;他們的作為都是罪惡的作為,他們手中只有欺壓的行為。
7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
他們的腳趨向邪惡,急於傾流無辜者的血;他們的思念都是邪惡的思念,在他們的行徑上只有蹂躪與毀滅。
8 They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.
和平的道路他們不認識,他們的行徑中決無公正;他們彎曲了自己的途徑,凡在上面行走的,必不認識和平。
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
因此公平遠離了我們,正義不與我們接近;我們尋求光明,看!仍是黑暗;希望光亮,仍在幽暗中徘徊。
10 We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
我們摸索著牆壁,好像瞎子;我們摸索,有如無眼的人;我們在正午顛仆,有如處於黃昏;我們在健壯人中,卻如死人。
11 We all roar like bears and moan sadly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us.
我們一起號叫,有如狗熊;呻吟哀鳴,宛如鴿子;我們尋求公平,卻沒有公平;尋找救恩,救恩卻遠離了我們,
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:
因為我們的悖逆在你面前太多了,我們的罪過作證反對我們,因為我們的悖逆都擺在我們面前,我們認清了我們的罪過:
13 transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
背叛和否認上主,轉背離開我們的天主,說欺騙與反叛的話,從心中說出虛妄的言語;
14 Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter.
因此公平被制止,正義立在遠處,真誠在街市上仆倒於地,正義不得進入。
15 Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
真誠消逝了,避惡的人已蕩然無存。上主見了,實在不悅,因為一點正直也沒有了;
16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness sustained him.
他看不見一個人,他詫異連一個調停者也沒有了,遂以自己的手臂來施救,以自己的正義來扶持。
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
他身穿正義作鎧甲,頭戴救恩作鋼盔,身佩復仇作衣服,外披妒恨作外氅。
18 According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate: wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. He will repay the islands their due.
他要按照各人的行為施行報復,向他的敵人發怒,向他的仇人復仇。【也向群島施行報應。】
19 So they will fear the LORD’s name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the LORD’s breath drives.
西方的人要看見上主的名號,東方的人要看見他的榮耀,因為他要來臨,好似被強烈的風催促的急流。
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says the LORD.
拯救者必要臨於熙雍,臨於雅各伯家中的棄邪歸依者:上主的斷語。
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now on and forever.”
至於我──上主說──這是我與他們所立的盟約:我在你身上所賦的神,我在你口中所放的話,總不離開你的口和你子孫的口,以及你子子孫孫的口,上主說,從現今直到永遠。