| 智慧篇 |
Wisdom |
| 1你那不死不滅的生氣在萬物之內； |
1for your imperishable spirit is in all things! |
| 2因此，你逐步地懲罰墮落的人，要他們想起所犯的罪惡，藉以警告他們離棄惡事，相信你，上主。 |
2Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD! |
| 3你憎恨你聖地裏的古代居民， |
3For truly, the ancient inhabitants of your holy land, |
| 4因為他們操行巫術和邪惡的祭祀，作出了最可憎惡的事。 |
4whom you hated for deeds most odious-- Works of witchcraft and impious sacrifices; |
| 5這些無情殺害嬰兒的人，在這些拜神的歌舞宴會中，吞食人血肉的人， |
5 a cannibal feast of human flesh and of blood, from the midst of. . .-- These merciless murderers of children, |
| 6這些殺害無能力自衛生靈的父母，你決意要藉我們先祖的手，將他們消滅， |
6and parents who took with their own hands defenseless lives, You willed to destroy by the hands of our fathers, |
| 7使你以為地上最寶貴的地方，成為天主子民相宜的僑居地。 |
7that the land that is dearest of all to you might receive a worthy colony of God's children. |
| 8但你也拿他們當人對待，先派土蜂作你軍隊的先鋒，逐漸將他們消滅。 |
8But even these, as they were men, you spared, and sent wasps as forerunners of your army that they might exterminate them by degrees. |
| 9這並不是因為你不能用一場戰爭，使不虔敬者屈服於義人之下；或用兇猛的野獸，或用嚴厲的言語，一下將他們殲滅； |
9Not that you were without power to have the wicked vanquished in battle by the just, or wiped out at once by terrible beasts or by one decisive word; |
| 10而是因你願逐漸降罰，給他們一個悔改的機會；並不是你不知道他們的種族不良，生來邪惡，永不會改變心意； |
10But condemning them bit by bit, you gave them space for repentance. You were not unaware that their race was wicked and their malice ingrained, And that their dispositions would never change; |
| 11因為他們從起初，就是被詛咒的後裔。你沒有降罰他們的罪行，並非因為你怕誰。 |
11for they were a race accursed from the beginning. Neither out of fear for anyone did you grant amnesty for their sins. |
| 12誰敢對你說：你作了什麼？誰能反抗你的判斷？你消滅了你造的民族，誰敢控告你？又誰敢起來面對着你，為惡人作辯護？ |
12For who can say to you, "What have you done?" or who can oppose your decree? Or when peoples perish, who can challenge you, their maker; or who can come into your presence as vindicator of unjust men? |
| 13因為，除你以外，別無照顧萬物的神，你應向他指明你的審判，並非不公； |
13For neither is there any god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned; |
| 14也沒有一個君王或君主，敢為你懲罰的人，對你怒目而視。 |
14Nor can any king or prince confront you on behalf of those you have punished. |
| 15你是公義的，你必按照公義處理一切，罰不應罰的，你必認為這與你的權威不合。 |
15But as you are just, you govern all things justly; you regard it as unworthy of your power to punish one who has incurred no blame. |
| 16你的權力原是你公義的本源，因為你主宰一切，所以你必能諒解一切。 |
16For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. |
| 17為此，如果有人不相信你具有絕對的權威，你就將你的權力顯示出來；如果他們知道而仍膽大妄為，你就予以懲罰。 |
17 For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. |
| 18你雖掌有大權，但施行審判，卻很溫和，治理我們，極其寬忍，因為，權能乃屬於你，只要你願意，你就能行使。 |
18But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. |
| 19你這樣作，是為教訓你的子民，義人必須憐愛眾人；並使你的子女滿懷希望，因為人在犯罪之後，你常賜予懺悔的機會。 |
19And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; And you gave your sons good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins. |
| 20你處罰你子女們應處死的敵人，還這樣小心溫和，給他們時間和機會改惡遷善， |
20For these were enemies of your servants, doomed to death; yet, while you punished them with such solicitude and pleading, granting time and opportunity to abandon wickedness, |
| 21你審判你的兒子時，豈不更謹慎？因為，你曾與他們的列祖起過誓，立過約，應許他們得福利。 |
21With what exactitude you judged your sons, to whose fathers you gave the sworn covenants of goodly promises! |
| 22你對我們只是懲戒，對我們的仇人卻是千百倍的鞭笞：這是為使我們在審斷時，應思念你的仁慈；在受審時，應期望你的哀憐。 |
22Us, therefore, you chastise and our enemies with a thousand blows you punish, that we may think earnestly of your goodness when we judge, and, when being judged, may look for mercy. |
| 23因此，對那生活愚蠢，行為不義的人，你便用他們敬拜的醜惡之物來折磨他們。 |
23Hence those unjust also, who lived a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations. |
| 24他們實在深深地誤入了歧途，竟認最醜怪，最下賤的禽獸為神，讓自己受騙，竟如無知的孩童。 |
24For they went far astray in the paths of error, taking for gods the worthless and disgusting among beasts, deceived like senseless infants. |
| 25因此，你對待他們也像無知的孩童，給他們派來的刑罰，也只是戲弄。 |
25Therefore as though upon unreasoning children, you sent your judgment on them as a mockery; |
| 26但他們並未因此戲弄的責戒而悔改，所以他們要受相稱於天主的重罰。 |
26But they who took no heed of punishment which was but child's play were to experience a condemnation worthy of God. |
| 27埃及人在禽獸的折磨中，有見他們所敬奉為神明的禽獸，成了自己受罰的工具，這纔明瞭，並承認從前所否認的實是真天主；但他們仍不肯悔改，因此，最後的懲罰終於降在他們身上。 |
27For in the things through which they suffered distress, since they were tortured by the very things they deemed gods, They saw and recognized the true God whom before they had refused to know; with this, their final condemnation came upon them. |
