Wisdom:Chapter 18

Index

Wisdom:Chapter 18

智慧篇	Wisdom
¹至於你的聖徒，卻有極大的光明。埃及人只聽見他們的聲音，卻看不見他們的面容，遂宣稱那沒有遭受痛苦的為有福，	¹Meanwhile, for your holy ones there was great light. The Egyptians heard their voice without seeing them; they called them fortunate because they had not suffered;
²對他們表示感激，因他們雖受虐待，卻不圖報復，求他們寬恕以往的敵對行為。	²they also thanked them, for in spite of the injustice done to them they had not retaliated, and asked their pardon for previous wrongs.
³正與黑暗相反，你賜給了聖徒火柱，在他們不熟識的路上作嚮導，在光榮的旅途中作不為害的太陽。	³In contrast to this darkness, you gave your holy people a pillar of fire as a guide in their unmapped journey, as a mild sun during their glorious migration.
⁴埃及人理當失掉光明，遭受黑暗的拘禁，因為他們曾拘留過你的子民；正是這些子民想將法律不滅的光明傳到普世。	⁴The enemy deserved to be without light and imprisoned in darkness for having imprisoned your sons, the people through whom the imperishable light of your laws would be given to the world.
⁵他們決意要殺盡聖徒的嬰兒時，有一個被棄的嬰兒竟然得救；為懲罰他們，你奪去了他們許多嬰兒，又將他們一齊淹沒在大水之中。	⁵They had intended to kill the infants of your holy people - and of those exposed only one child was saved. Because of that you retaliated by doing away with a multitude of their sons who perished together in the raging sea.
⁶我們的祖先預先得知了那一夜的事，甚而確實知道自己所相信的誓言多麼可靠，因此都心安神樂。	⁶That night had been foretold to our fathers, and knowing in what promise they trusted, they could rejoice in all surety.
⁷所以，你的子民所期待的，就是義人的救援，和仇人的滅亡。	⁷Your people waited for both the salvation of the just and the downfall of their enemies,
⁸你用什麼方法懲罰了仇敵，也用什麼方法光榮了我們，為召叫我們歸向你。	⁸for the very punishment of our enemies brought glory to the people you have called - that is, to us.
⁹善人的聖潔子孫，都在暗中獻了祭，同心立定了神聖的盟約，為使聖徒們同甘共苦，同唱了列祖的讚美歌曲。	⁹The holy race secretly offered the Passover sacrifice and really agreed on this worthy pact: that they would share alike both blessings and dangers. And forthwith they began to sing the hymns of their fathers.
¹⁰敵人混亂的喊聲，從對面響起，到處發出哀悼孩兒的悲鳴。	¹⁰Then came discordant echoes from their enemies: plaintive voices mourning their children.
¹¹主人與僕人，同受一樣的懲罰；庶民與王公，共遭一樣的苦難。	¹¹The same sentence struck slave and master alike; the common man and the king endured equal suffering.
¹²他們一時都遇到同樣的死亡，死了無數的人；以致活人的數目不足以埋葬死人，因為，他們最寶貴的後裔，傾刻之間，都已滅亡。	¹²They mourned together for innumerable victims, all stricken with the same kind of death. The living were not enough to bury them, for the flower of their race had perished in an instant.
¹³那些操行邪術，什麼也不相信的人，因着長子的喪亡，纔承認這民族是天主的兒子。	¹³Although sorcery had turned them into unbelievers, after the death of their firstborn they acknowledged that your people were the children of God.
¹⁴萬籟俱寂，黑夜已奔馳一半路程時，	¹⁴While all was in quiet silence and the night was in the middle of its course,
¹⁵你全能的聖言，在天上的王座，如無情的戰士，降到這應毀滅的地上，	¹⁵your almighty Word leapt down from the Royal Throne - a stern warrior to a doomed world.
¹⁶帶着你不可收回的成命當作利劍，上觸高天，下踏大地，立在那裏，使各處充滿死亡。	¹⁶Carrying your fearful command like a sharpened sword and stretching from heaven to earth, he filled the universe with death.
¹⁷立時可怕的夢境擾亂他們，想不到的恐懼，臨到他們身上，	¹⁷Immediately they were overwhelmed with terrible dreams and hallucinations and assailed by sudden fears.
¹⁸都半死半活的一個倒在這裏，一個跌在那裏，宣佈他們死亡的原因；	¹⁸Thrown half-dead, some here and some there, they made known why they were dying,
¹⁹因為那些驚嚇他們的惡夢，已預先通知了他們，免得他們死了，還不知道自己究竟為什麼遭了難。	¹⁹for the dreams that had troubled them had also instructed them, lest they perish without knowing the reason for their misfortune.
²⁰義人也嚐試過死亡的折磨，有許多人，在荒野裏，也遭受過災殃；但天主的怒氣並沒有持久，	²⁰Indeed the righteous, too, experienced death when a scourge struck a great number of them in the desert, but God's anger was short-lived.
²¹因為無可指摘的人，迅速出頭，代為庇護，以自己的職責作盾牌，用祈禱和贖罪的馨香，阻止了天主的憤怒，使災難停止，顯示出他是你的僕人。	²¹A blameless man hastened to their defense. Using the weapons of his sacred office - prayer and atonement incense - he confronted the divine Wrath, putting an end to their affliction, and was thus recognized as your servant.
²²他平息了災禍，並不是由於體力，或武器的威能，而是提起上主與祖先所發的誓，所立的約，以言語說服了刑罰人的上主。	²²He vanquished your Wrath, but not by physical strength or by the force of arms. He won over the Punisher by reminding him of the sworn promises and covenants made with our fathers.
²³那時，死人枕藉成堆，他站在當中，攔阻了怒氣，中斷了死亡向活人延及的路線。	²³The dead were already piled up, one on top of the other, when he intervened, beating back Wrath and cutting it off from the living.
²⁴因為，在他的長衣上，帶有整個的世界；在四行寶石上，刻着祖先的榮耀；在他頭戴的冠冕上，嵌有你的尊威。	²⁴For the whole world was represented on his flowing robe, the glorious names of the fathers on the four rows of stones, and your majesty engraved on the diadem on his head.
²⁵施行毀滅者，對這些禮服表示讓步，表示敬畏；只一試怒就夠了。	²⁵The Destroyer, afraid of these, recoiled; a mere taste of Wrath had been sufficient.

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