瑪加伯下:Chapter 8

瑪加伯下:Chapter 8

瑪加伯下	2 Maccabees
¹猶大瑪加伯與他的同人暗暗走到各鄉村，向同族的人呼籲，把固守猶太教的人，集合起來，約有六千人。	¹Judas Maccabeus and his companions entered the villages, secretly, summoned their kinsmen, and by also enlisting others who remained faithful to Judaism, assembled about six thousand men.
²他們懇求上主，垂顧為眾人蹂躪的民族，憐憫被惡人褻瀆的聖殿，	²They implored the Lord to look kindly upon his people, who were being oppressed on all sides; to have pity on the temple, which was profaned by godless men;
³憐恤已經毀壞且快夷為平地的京城，俯聽向他喊冤的血聲，	³to have mercy on the city, which was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground; to hearken to the blood that cried out to him;
⁴記念無罪嬰兒所遭的殘殺，並向咒罵他聖名的惡人發怒洩恨。	⁴to remember the criminal slaughter of innocent children and the blasphemies uttered against his name; and to manifest his hatred of evil.
⁵瑪加伯組成一支軍隊以後，外邦人就無法抵抗他，因為上主的義怒已經變成了憐憫。	⁵Once Maccabeus got his men organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the Lord's wrath had now changed to mercy.
⁶他屢次在人不料想的時候，去襲擊城鎮，放火焚燒，佔據要塞，使敵人屢遭潰敗。	⁶Coming unexpectedly upon towns and villages, he would set them on fire. He captured strategic positions, and put to flight a large number of the enemy.
⁷他為作戰順利，特別喜愛夜間進襲，因此他勇敢的聲譽傳遍各地。	⁷He preferred the nights as being especially helpful for such attacks. Soon the fame of his valor spread everywhere.
⁸斐理伯見這人勢力漸漸強大，所作的事日漸成功，遂致書與切肋敘利亞和腓尼基的總督仆托肋米，請他援助國王的事務。	⁸ When Philip saw that Judas was gaining ground little by little and that his successful advances were becoming more frequent, he wrote to Ptolemy, governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to come to the aid of the king's government.
⁹他遂立時指派了帕托克羅的兒子尼加諾爾，君王的一個知心好友，帶領各國的聯軍，人數不下二萬，去消滅猶太民族；又派了一位富有作戰經驗的大將哥爾基雅援助他。	⁹Ptolemy promptly selected Nicanor, son of Patroclus, one of the Chief Friends, and sent him at the head of at least twenty thousand armed men of various nations to wipe out the entire Jewish race. With him he associated Gorgias, a professional military commander, well-versed in the art of war.
¹⁰尼加諾爾想出賣擄來的猶太人，好填補國王欠羅馬人的兩千「塔冷通」稅款。	¹⁰Nicanor planned to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans by selling captured Jews into slavery.
¹¹於是立時派人到沿海各城市去，叫他們收買猶太奴隸，與他們約定每九十人一「塔冷通」，卻一點也不想全能者正要加於他的刑罰。	¹¹So he immediately sent word to the coastal cities, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to deliver ninety slaves for a talent--little did he dream of the punishment that was to fall upon him from the Almighty.
¹²有人將尼加諾爾進軍的消息報告給猶大，他就把敵軍進襲的消息告訴了他的部下。	¹²When Judas learned of Nicanor's advance and informed his companions about the approach of the army,
¹³那些膽小的和不依恃上主公義的人，就逃到別的地方去了；	¹³the cowardly and those who lacked faith in God's justice deserted and got away.
¹⁴其餘的人變賣了自己尚存的一切，一同祈求上主拯救那些在交戰以前，就被兇惡的尼加諾爾賣掉了的人們，	¹⁴But the others sold everything they had left, and at the same time besought the Lord to deliver those whom the ungodly Nicanor had sold before even meeting them.
¹⁵求主若不為了他們自己，至少為了與他們祖先立的盟約，為了在他們身上稱呼的可敬而偉大的聖名，拯救他們，	¹⁵They begged the Lord to do this, if not for their sake, at least for the sake of the covenants made with their forefathers, and because they themselves bore his holy, glorious name.
¹⁶瑪加伯集合自己同人，約有六千，勸他們不要臨敵驚慌，不要怕那些無理襲擊他們的外方人數目眾多，只要勇敢作戰，	¹⁶Maccabeus assembled his men, six thousand strong, and exhorted them not to be panic-stricken before the enemy, nor to fear the large number of the Gentiles attacking them unjustly, but to fight courageously,
¹⁷把外方人無理加於聖所的褻瀆，京城遭受的凌辱與虐待，以及傳統制度遭受的破壞等事放在眼前。	¹⁷keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage perpetrated by the Gentiles against the holy Place and the affliction of the humiliated city, as well as the subversion of their ancestral way of life.
¹⁸繼而又說：「他們仗着武器和奮勇；至於我們，只應依靠全能的天主，他能轉瞬之間，擊倒攻打我們的敵人和整個世界。」	¹⁸"They trust in weapons and acts of daring," he said, "but we trust in almighty God, who can by a mere nod destroy not only those who attack us, but the whole world."
¹⁹瑪加伯還給他們引述了他們的祖先獲得的救助：在散乃黑黎布時，怎樣十八萬五千人一時同歸於盡；	¹⁹He went on to tell them of the times when help had been given their ancestors: both the time of Sennacherib, when a hundred and eighty-five thousand of his men were destroyed,
²⁰在巴比倫與迦拉達人作戰時，來作戰的人共有八千，此外還有四千馬其頓人助戰。當馬其頓人陷於困境時，這八千人怎樣賴上天的助佑，消滅了十二萬敵人，並且還得了許多戰利品。	²⁰and the time of the battle in Babylonia against the Galatians, when only eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand routed one hundred and twenty thousand and took a great quantity of booty, because of the help they received from Heaven.
²¹用這番話激發起他們的勇氣，叫大家準備為法律和國家而犧牲；以後他就把軍隊分成四隊：	²¹With such words he encouraged them and made them ready to die for their laws and their country. Then Judas divided his army into four,
²²立自巳的兄弟息孟、若瑟和約納堂為每隊的隊長，叫他們各人率領一千五百人。	²² placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, each over a division, assigning to each fifteen hundred men.
²³此外，又令厄次辣誦讀聖經，然後立定「天主助佑」為口號；猶大就親自率領第一隊，進攻尼加諾爾：	²³(There was also Eleazar.) After reading to them from the holy book and giving them the watchword, "The Help of God," he himself took charge of the first division and joined in battle with Nicanor.
²⁴因為全能者與他們一同作戰，擊殺了敵軍九千多人，使尼加諾爾的軍隊，大部份受了傷，成了殘廢，迫使剩下的都逃走了。	²⁴With the Almighty as their ally, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor's army, and put all of them to flight.
²⁵來購買他們的人帶來的銀錢，也都奪回來，且追趕他們直至相當遠的路程；只因為時光有限，纔得趕回來，	²⁵They also seized the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. When they had pursued the enemy for some time,
²⁶因為那時正值安息日前夕，所以不能繼續追趕。	²⁶they were obliged to return by reason of the late hour, it was the day before the sabbath, and for that reason they could not continue the pursuit.
²⁷他們拾取敵人的武器，掠取他們的財物，以後就舉行安息日，全心稱謝讚頌上主，因為他今日開始把恩露灑在他們身上。	²⁷They collected the enemy's arms and stripped them of their spoils, and then observed the sabbath with fervent praise and thanks to the Lord who kept them safe for that day on which he let descend on them the first dew of his mercy.
²⁸過了安息日，他們便把一部份戰利品分贈給受害的人、孤兒和寡婦；剩下的，他們自己和子女分了。	²⁸After the sabbath, they gave a share of the booty to the persecuted and to widows and orphans; the rest they divided among themselves and their children.
²⁹辦完這事，又共同祈禱，懇求仁慈的上主，完全與他的僕人們和好。	²⁹When this was done, they made supplication in common, imploring the merciful Lord to be completely reconciled with his servants.
³⁰他們又與提摩太和巴基德的軍隊交戰，殺死了他們兩萬多人，並且也佔領了幾座很高大的堡壘，將獲得的無數戰利品，平均分為兩份：一份為他們自己，一份為受害的人、孤兒、寡婦和老人。	³⁰They also challenged the forces of Timothy and Bacchides, killed more than twenty thousand of them, and captured some very high fortresses. They divided the enormous plunder, allotting half to themselves and the rest to the persecuted, to orphans, widows, and the aged.
³¹又拾取了敵人的軍械，把這一切細心安放在適宜的地方，餘下的戰利品悉數運到耶路撒冷去。	³¹They collected the enemies' weapons and carefully stored them in suitable places; the rest of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem.
³²又殺了提摩太部隊的一個軍長，這人非常暴虐無道，曾殘害過猶太人。	³²They also killed the commander of Timothy's forces, a most wicked man, who had done great harm to the Jews.
³³當他們在祖國慶祝勝利時，將從前焚燒過聖殿的門，而如今與卡里斯特乃逃到一個小房裏的人，都用火燒死。如此，他們得了因行褻瀆應得的報應。	³³While celebrating the victory in their ancestral city, they burned both those who had set fire to the sacred gates and Callisthenes, who had taken refuge in a little house; so he received the reward his wicked deeds deserved.
³⁴那曾帶一千商人來購買猶太人的萬惡的尼加諾爾，	³⁴The accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand slave dealers to buy the Jews,
³⁵如今，卻因上主賜給猶太人的救助，被他所最輕視的人們制服了。他脫去了自己耀武揚威的官服，似亡命之徒，獨自一人，跑過了曠野；在他全軍覆沒以後，他還能跑到安提約基雅去，這為他算是太幸運了。	³⁵after being humbled through the Lord's help by those whom he had thought of no account, laid aside his fine clothes and fled alone across country like a runaway slave, until he reached Antioch. He was eminently successful in destroying his own army.
³⁶曾負責以販賣耶路撒冷俘虜的價錢償還羅馬人的稅款的人，如今反倒聲明猶太人確實有一位保護者，若是猶太人遵從他立的法律，他們絕對不會受任何傷害。	³⁶So he who had promised to provide tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem testified that the Jews had a champion, and that they were invulnerable for the very reason that they followed the laws laid down by him. Death of Antiochus