| 智慧篇 |
Wisdom |
| 1智慧使他們的事業，在聖先知的手下進行順利： |
1She made their affairs prosper through the holy prophet. |
| 2他們走過了無人煙的荒野，在無路的荒野，支搭了帳幕； |
2 They journeyed through the uninhabited desert, and in solitudes they pitched their tents; |
| 3與敵軍對峙，擊退了敵人。 |
3they withstood enemies and took vengeance on their foes. |
| 4他們渴時，呼求了你，巖石就給他們流出了清泉，磐石解決了他們的口渴。 |
4When they thirsted, they called upon you, and water was given them from the sheer rock, assuagement for their thirst from the hard stone. |
| 5他們的敵人在什麼事上受罰，他們就在那種困難中受到愛護。 |
5For by the things through which their foes were punished they in their need were benefited. |
| 6【敵人缺少的，以色列人卻常有不缺。】 |
6 Instead of a spring, when the perennial river was troubled with impure blood |
| 7為懲罰埃及人頒發殺害嬰兒的命令，常流的江河，混入了鮮血污泥， |
7as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants, You gave them abundant water in an unhoped-for way, |
| 8你卻出乎眾望，另賜給了以色列人豐富的水； |
8once you had shown by the thirst they then had how you punished their adversaries. |
| 9他們藉着當時的口渴，可以明瞭你怎樣懲罰了他們的仇人。 |
9For when they had been tried, though only mildly chastised, they recognized how the wicked, condemned in anger, were being tormented. |
| 10以色列人固然受了試探，但這只是出乎仁愛的懲戒，要他們明瞭不虔敬的人，在天主義怒的審判之下，怎樣受了懲罰； |
10Both those afar off and those close by were afflicted: |
| 11因為你考驗以色列人，自來就像一個規勸的父親；你審問埃及人，卻像一位定罪的嚴厲君王。 |
11the latter you tested, admonishing them as a father; the former as a stern king you probed and condemned. |
| 12以色列人不論在的時候，或遠去的時候，埃及人都同樣遭受痛苦。 |
12For a twofold grief took hold of them and a groaning at the remembrance of the ones who had departed. |
| 13他們因受雙重的苦惱夾擊，一回憶往事，便呻吟歎息； |
13For when they heard that the cause of their own torments was a benefit to these others, they recognized the Lord. |
| 14因為當他們一聽說自己的刑罰，反成了別人的利益，便知這是上主的作為。 |
14Him who of old had been cast out in exposure they indeed mockingly rejected; but in the end of events, they marveled at him, since their thirst proved unlike that of the just. |
| 15埃及人以前所拋棄，所放逐，所譏笑的人，在事後反為他們驚奇不已，因為他們的口渴，究竟與義人不同。 |
15 And in return for their senseless, wicked thoughts, which misled them into worshiping dumb serpents and worthless insects, You sent upon them swarms of dumb creatures for vengeance; |
| 16他們因愚昧與邪惡的思想，走入了歧途，崇拜了無靈的爬蟲和賤獸，你就派遣了成群的無靈的動物，來懲罰他們， |
16that they might recognize that a man is punished by the very things through which he sins. |
| 17叫他們知道，人用什麼來犯罪，就用什麼來罰他。 |
17For not without means was your almighty hand, that had fashioned the universe from formless matter, to send upon them a drove of bears or fierce lions, |
| 18因為，你全能的手，既能從無定形的原質中，造出了世界，也不難為他們遣來許多狗熊或猛獅， |
18Or new-created, wrathful, unknown beasts to breathe forth fiery breath, Or pour out roaring smoke, or flash terrible sparks from their eyes. |
| 19或新造而不知名的殘暴猛獸，噴射火焰，放射毒氣，兩眼閃爍可怕的火星。 |
19Not only could these attack and completely destroy them; even their frightful appearance itself could slay. |
| 20這些猛獸，不但能肆虐將他們消滅，即連他們恐怖的形狀，也能把人嚇死。 |
20Even without these, they could have been killed at a single blast, pursued by retribution and winnowed out by your mighty spirit; But you have disposed all things by measure and number and weight. |
| 21即使沒有牠們，因你一口氣，埃及人也會死亡，因你正義的追擊，他們必為你大能的氣息所捲去；但你處置一切，原有一定的尺度、數目和衡量。 |
21For with you great strength abides always; who can resist the might of your arm? |
| 22你隨時可用你的大能，有誰能抵抗你有力的手臂？ |
22 Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. |
| 23整個世界，在你跟前，宛如天秤上的一粒塵沙，落在地面上的一滴朝露。 |
23But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook the sins of men that they may repent. |
| 24但是，你憐憫眾生，因為你是無所不能的，你假裝看不見人罪，是為叫罪人悔改。 |
24For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. |
| 25的確，你愛一切所有，不恨你所造的；如果你憎恨什麼，你必不會造它。 |
25And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? |
| 26如果你不願意，甚麼東西能夠存在？如果你不吩咐，甚麼東西能夠保全？ |
26But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, |
| 27愛護眾靈的主宰！只有你愛惜萬物，因為都是你的。 |
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