2 Maccabees:Chapter 12

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2 Maccabees:Chapter 12

瑪加伯(下)	2 Maccabees
¹條約既定，里息雅便回到王那裏，猶太人則去從事農業。	¹After these agreements had been concluded, Lysias returned to the king and the Jews began to return to their fields.
²可是，有幾位地方總督，如提摩太、革納約的兒子阿頗羅尼、耶洛尼摩、德摩豐、和塞浦路斯軍隊的總司令尼加諾爾，仍然不讓猶太人安居樂業。	²But the commanders of the different regions, Timotheus and Apollonius, the son of Genneus, as well as Hieronymus and Domophenes, and Nicanor, the leader of the Cypriots, would not let them live in peace and quiet.
³而且，約培的居民又作出一件殘暴的事：他們邀請那些住在他們中間的猶太人，攜帶妻子兒女，登上他們頂備好的船，表面上毫無加害他們的意思，	³Moreover, the inhabitants of Joppa committed this grave crime. They invited the Jews with their wives and children to a cruise on some boats they had prepared, as if they did not have any hostility.
⁴並說是按市民大眾的決議行事。猶太人因愛好和平，不疑有詐，便接受了邀請；到了海中，他們即被推到海中，至少淹死了二百人。	⁴This was decided by the city authorities and the Jews accepted in order to show their desire to live with them in peace and without any suspicion at all. But once out in the open sea, the men of Joppa pushed them into the water and at least two hundred died.
⁵猶大聽說同胞們遭受了這樣的殘害，便集合起他的部下，	⁵When Judas Maccabeus was informed of this cruelty against his countrymen, he informed his men.
⁶呼求了公義的判官天主以後，就出擊那些殘殺自己同胞的人，夜間放火燒港，焚毀船隻，殺了所有逃避在那裏的人。	⁶After calling upon God, the just judge, he set out against the murderers of his brothers and sisters. He set fire to the harbor by night, burned the ships and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there.
⁷由於城市已經關閉，他便暫且收兵，有意再次殲滅約培城中所有的人民。	⁷But, as the gates were closed, he could not enter the city, so he withdrew, intending to come back to wipe out all the inhabitants of Joppa.
⁸同時他又得知雅木尼雅人對僑居的猶太人，也將採取同樣的行動，	⁸Meanwhile, he learned that the inhabitants of Jamnia wanted to deal in the same way with the Jews who lived there.
⁹便乘夜襲擊雅木尼雅人，放火焚燒港口及船隻，火光燭天，以致遠在二百四十「斯塔狄」外的耶路撒冷，都可看見。	⁹He also attacked the people of Jamnia by night, and set the harbor and ships on fire. The blaze was so great that the glow could be seen even from Jerusalem, some fifty kilometers away.
¹⁰他們從那裏起程，走了不到九「斯塔狄」，正要去攻打提摩太的時候，阿剌伯人便前來迎擊，計有步兵不下五千，騎兵五百。	¹⁰From there, they set out and marched against Timotheus, but when they had marched for about two kilometers, five thousand Arabs supported by five hundred horses, attacked them.
¹¹戰事極其激烈，猶大的軍隊賴天主的協助，獲得全勝；這些打敗的游牧民族，便向猶大求和，許下送給他們牲畜，也在各種事上接濟他們。	¹¹A bloody battle took place, and the men of Judas emerged victorious with the help of God. The defeated Arabs sued for peace, and promised to give them livestock, and to help them in the future.
¹²猶大知道他們在許多事上，的確對自己有利，所以同意與他們講和；雙方握手言好之後，都回了自己的帳幕。	¹²Judas, convinced that they could indeed be useful to them, made peace with them. Then the Arabs withdrew to their camps.
¹³猶大又進軍攻擊一座築有垣墻與堡壘的堅城，住在裏面的是些混雜的民族，城名叫做卡斯平。	¹³Judas attacked a city strongly fortified with ditches and walls. The city was called Caspin. People of every race lived there.
¹⁴城內的人，仗着城墻堅固，又有儲備的食糧，就以蠻橫的態度對待猶大及他的部下，百般辱罵，口出惡言。	¹⁴The besieged, confident in the strength of their walls and because they had their storehouses full of provisions, underestimated the men of Judas and behaved most insolently toward them. They also shouted insults, blasphemies and sacrilegious words at them.
¹⁵但是猶大與他的部下，呼號了那位在若蘇厄時代，不用衝城車和軍械傾覆了耶里哥城的宇宙大主宰以後，就猛攻城墻。	¹⁵The men of Judas called on the great Sovereign of the world who had demolished the walls of Jericho without engines of war during the time of Joshua, and then rushed furiously upon the walls.
¹⁶因天主的旨意，他們佔據了這城，大加屠殺，以致附近寬約二「斯塔狄」的湖，好像注滿了血。	¹⁶God willed that they should take possession of the city, and they carried out an incredible slaughter: the nearby lake, five hundred meters wide, seemed filled with blood.
¹⁷他們由此再向前推進，走了約七百五十「斯塔狄」，便到達哈辣斯，以往稱為托布人的猶太人住在那裏。	¹⁷After marching for one hundred and fifty kilometers, they arrived in Charax, where the Jews were known as Tubians.
¹⁸他們在那裏沒有找到提摩太，因為他既一無所成，已離開那裏，只在某地留下一批極精銳的軍隊。	¹⁸They did not find Timotheus there, for he had gone without having achieved anything; but he had left a strong garrison in one place.
¹⁹瑪加伯的將軍多息太及索息帕托便動身往那裏去，剿滅了提摩太留在堡中的一萬多人。	¹⁹Dositheus and Sosipater, leaders of the troops of Maccabeus, marched against them and destroyed the garrison of more than ten thousand men left behind by Timotheus.
²⁰同時，瑪加伯把自己的軍隊分成數隊，並給每隊指派一人作統帥，然後引軍進攻率領十二萬步兵和二千五百騎兵的提摩太。	²⁰Maccabeus then organized his army, set these two as their commanders, and rushed out against Timotheus who had twenty thousand infantrymen and two thousand five hundred horsemen with him.
²¹提摩太聽說猶大來攻，就先將婦孺及行李遣送到名叫卡爾納殷的地方去，因為那地方四周，地勢險要，不易圍攻，難以侵犯。	²¹When Timotheus learned that Judas was approaching, he sent the women and children away with a good deal of the baggage to a fortress called Carnaim which was in an impregnable place and difficult to reach because of the narrow approaches surrounding it.
²²猶大的前鋒部隊一出現，因了無所不見者的顯現，敵人感到恐怖驚惶，奪路奔逃，甚至自相殘殺，彼此刀鋒相刺。	²²At the sight of the first battalion of Judas, terror and panic seized their enemies because of an apparition of Him who sees all things. They fled in all directions, so that they were dragged on the ground by their own companions and wounded by their own swords.
²³於是猶大奮勇追擊，殺了這批罪犯，殲滅了約三萬人，	²³Judas pursued Timotheus in fury and ardor, putting to the sword those wicked men and killing about thirty thousand of them.
²⁴連提摩太自己也落在多息太及索息帕托部隊的手裏；那人卻以巧言花語求他們釋放自己，得保性命，因為他說：「在他權下尚有很多猶太人的父母兄弟，如他本人受害，這些人也必遭凶禍。」	²⁴Timotheus himself fell into the hands of Dositheus' and Sosipater's troops. He very cunningly pleaded with them to let him go, for, as he said, he had the parents and brothers of most of the Jews in his power and they would surely be put to death if he were to be killed.
²⁵他用了很多話來說服他們，且也發誓許下把那些人遣回；他們就為了自己弟兄的安全，將他釋放了。	²⁵When he had convinced them by the strength of his words, they let him go in order to save their brothers.
²⁶猶大又進攻卡爾納殷及阿塔加提廟，擊殺了二萬五千人。	²⁶Then Judas left for Carnaim and Atargateion, and killed twenty-five thousand men there.
²⁷殺退了這些仇人以後，猶大又領兵進攻里息雅及各族軍民駐紮的厄斐龍堅城；城外有健壯的青年軍人列陣把守，城內存有大批的軍械和箭矢。	²⁷After defeating and destroying these enemies, he led an expedition against the walled city of Ephron, where Lysias had taken refuge with people of every race. Strong young men were stationed outside the walls and they fought bravely. And there were stores of war engines and missiles inside.
²⁸但猶太人呼號以威力粉碎敵軍的主宰以後，遂佔領了這城，殺死約二萬五千居民。	²⁸After calling on the Lord almighty to crush the forces of the enemy, the Jews seized the city and killed more than twenty-five thousand of the people inside.
²⁹又從那裏出發，進攻距離耶路撒冷六百「斯塔狄」的史托頗里。	²⁹Moving off from there, they went to Scythopolis, a city one hundred and twenty kilometers from Jerusalem.
³⁰但是那裏的猶太僑民證明史托頗里居民對他們非常友善，在患難時特別恩待他們；	³⁰But as the Jews who lived there assured Judas that the inhabitants of that city had always treated them well and had received them favorably in times of persecution,
³¹因此猶大與其部下表示感激，也忠告他們以後對自己的民族繼續表示友善。因七七節來近了，他們便回了耶路撒冷。	³¹Judas and his men thanked these people and asked them to extend the same kindness to his race in the future. Then they returned to Jerusalem, since the feast of Weeks of Pentecost was approaching.
³²過了所謂的五旬節以後，他們又出發進攻依杜默雅的總督哥爾基雅。	³²After the feast and Pentecost, they marched against Gorgias who was the governor of Idumea.
³³哥爾基雅率領三千步兵，四百騎兵出來應戰。	³³Gorgias came out with three thousand infantrymen and four thousand horsemen to meet him.
³⁴雙方交鋒後，有些猶太人陣亡了。	³⁴The battle began and some fell in the ranks of the Jews.
³⁵那時，托布隊中，有一名叫多息太的，驍勇善騎，趕上哥爾基雅，扯住他的外衣，用力拉他，想活活捉住這個可咒罵的人。不料有個特辣克的騎兵，向他撲來，砍傷多息太的肩膀。這樣，哥爾基雅便逃到瑪黎撒去了。	³⁵Dositheus, a horseman from Bachenor's troops, a very valiant man, grasped Gorgias by the cloak, and forcibly dragged him along, wanting to take that criminal alive. But a Thracian horseman rushed upon Dositheus and slashed his shoulder, so that Gorgias was able to flee to Marisa.
³⁶此時，厄次辣的部下，由於長久作戰，都感厭倦；猶大便呼求上主顯示助戰，作他們作戰的領導者。	³⁶Judas saw that the men of Esdrias were exhausted because they had been fighting for a long time. He, therefore, prayed to the Lord to show himself as their ally and lead them in battle.
³⁷然後用祖國的語言高呼戰鬥的口號，歌唱詩歌，隨後突襲哥爾基雅的部隊，使他們瓦解。	³⁷Then, he chanted a battle hymn in the language of their fathers, charged against the troops of Gorgias all of a sudden, and defeated them.
³⁸事後，猶大率領兵馬，到了阿杜藍城；因為已到第七日，他們就在那裏照例自潔，過了安息日。	³⁸Judas reorganized his army, and then went to the city of Adullam. Since it was the week's end, they purified themselves and celebrated the sabbath there.
³⁹第二天，由於事不宜遲，猶大的部隊便出去收殮陣亡的屍體，好把他們安葬在祖墳裏，與親族在一起。	³⁹The next day the companions of Judas went to take away the bodies of the dead (it was urgent to do it) and buried them with their relatives in the tombs of their fathers.
⁴⁰當時在每個死者的內衣下，發現都有雅木尼雅偶像的符籙，這原是法律禁止佩帶的；眾人便都明白這正是他們陣亡的原因。	⁴⁰They found under the tunic of each of the dead men objects consecrated to the idols of Jamnia, which the Law forbade the Jews to wear. So it became clear to everyone why these men had died.
⁴¹於是眾人稱讚秉公審判及揭示隱密的上主，	⁴¹Everyone blessed the intervention of the Lord, the just Judge who brings to light the most secret deeds;
⁴²同心哀禱，求使所犯過惡，得以完全赦免。隨後，英勇的猶大勸勉民眾避免犯罪，因為人都親眼看見這些陣亡者因罪所受的罰。	⁴²and they prayed to the Lord to completely pardon the sin of their dead companions. The valiant Judas urged his men to shun such sin in the future, for they had just seen with their own eyes what had happened to those who sinned.
⁴³於是大眾募集了二千銀「達瑪」，送到耶路撒冷作贖罪祭的獻儀：他作的是一件很美妙高超的事，因為他想念着復活；	⁴³He took up a collection among his soldiers which amounted to two thousand pieces of silver and sent it to Jerusalem to be offered there as a sacrifice for sin. They did all this very well and rightly inspired by their belief in the resurrection of the dead.
⁴⁴如果他不希望那些死過的人還要復活，為亡者祈禱，便是一種多餘而糊塗的事。	⁴⁴If they did not believe that their fallen companions would rise again, then it would have been a useless and foolish thing to pray for them.
⁴⁵何況，他還想到為那些善終的人保留下的超等報酬：這實在是一個聖善而虔誠的思想。為此，他為亡者獻贖罪祭，是為叫他們獲得罪赦。	⁴⁵But they firmly believed in a splendid reward for those who died as believers; therefore, their concern was holy and in keeping with faith.
⁴⁶	⁴⁶This was the reason why Judas had this sacrifice offered for the dead - so that the dead might be pardoned for their sin.

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