| 智慧篇 |
Wisdom |
| 1再如：有個準備航海的人，行將在怒濤中航行之際，竟向一塊比自己乘的船還易壞的木頭呼求。 |
1Again, one preparing for a voyage and about to traverse the wild waves cries out to wood more unsound than the boat that bears him. |
| 2船固然是因求財的貪心發明的，亦是匠人以智慧造成的； |
2For the urge for profits devised this latter, and Wisdom the artificer produced it. |
| 3但最後，父啊！還是你的照顧在駕駛，因為原是你在海洋中劃出了一條路線，在波浪中開闢了一條安全的路徑， |
3But your providence, O Father! guides it, for you have furnished even in the sea a road, and through the waves a steady path, |
| 4表示你能救人脫離各種危險，連沒有技術的人，也能航海。 |
4Showing that you can save from any danger, so that even one without skill may embark. |
| 5你決不願使你智慧的工作棄之不用，因此，人將生命託給一片小木，藉一葉扁舟，經過巨濤而平安到達海岸。 |
5But you will that the products of your Wisdom be not idle; therefore men trust their lives even to frailest wood, and have been safe crossing the surge on a raft. |
| 6其實，在當初，當那些傲慢的巨人被滅絕的時候，世界的希望逃入了一葉扁舟，經你手的駕駛，纔得給後世留下了新生的苗裔。 |
6 For of old, when the proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the universe, who took refuge on a raft, left to the world a future for his race, under the guidance of your hand. |
| 7木頭如使用得當，是可祝福的； |
7 For blest is the wood through which justice comes about; |
| 8但是，人手造的木偶和木偶的製造者，卻是可詛咒的：製造者，因為他造了木偶；木偶，因為雖是腐敗的東西，竟被稱為神。 |
8but the handmade idol is accursed, and its maker as well: he for having produced it, and it, because though corruptible, it was termed a god. |
| 9不虔敬的人，與他行的不虔敬的事，同樣為天主所憎惡； |
9Equally odious to God are the evildoer and his evil deed; |
| 10所以，木偶與造木偶的，都必遭受懲罰。 |
10and the thing made shall be punished with its contriver. |
| 11為此，天主必要懲罰列邦的偶像，因為偶像在天主的造物中，成了可憎之物，成了人們靈魂的障礙，作了愚人腳前的陷阱。 |
11Therefore upon even the idols of the nations shall a visitation come, since they have become abominable amid God's works, Snares for the souls of men and a trap for the feet of the senseless. |
| 12發明偶像，是淫亂的開端；創造偶像，是人生的腐敗。 |
12For the source of wantoness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life. |
| 13起初原無偶像，也不能永久長存； |
13For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever; |
| 14由於人的虛榮心，偶像纔進入了世界；為此，已注定很快就要結束。 |
14for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them. |
| 15一個父親因他兒子的夭折，甚為悲傷，遂為自己早死的兒子立像，他雖是已死的人，如今卻敬之如神，並傳令家屬禮拜獻祭。 |
15For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, made an image of the child so quickly taken from him, And now honored as a god what was formerly a dead man and handed down to his subjects mysteries and sacrifices. |
| 16這種不虔敬的事，相沿日久，便成了習俗，以致守如法律；再加上君王的命令，雕像遂受崇拜。 |
16Then, in time, the impious practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven things were worshiped by princely decrees. |
| 17住在遠方的人，不能當面尊敬國王，便由遠方設想君王的相貌，為所要尊敬的君王，製造一座可見的肖像，向那不在跟前的，殷勤獻媚，如同就在跟前一樣。 |
17Men who lived so far away that they could not honor him in his presence copied the appearance of the distant king And made a public image of him they wished to honor, out of zeal to flatter him when absent, as though present. |
| 18藝術家的野心，把那些不認識君王的人，也都誘來，為擴大這項敬禮； |
18And to promote this observance among those to whom it was strange, the artisan's ambition provided a stimulus. |
| 19藝術家原為討有權威者的歡心，就竭力運用自己的技術，使君王的肖像格外美麗； |
19For he, mayhap in his determination to please the ruler, labored over the likeness to the best of his skill; |
| 20民眾受了這精美手工的吸引，不久以前那當人尊敬的，現在卻奉之為神了。 |
20And the masses, drawn by the charm of the workmanship, soon thought he should be worshiped who shortly before was honored as a man. |
| 21這便成了人生的隱禍，因為遭受不幸，或受暴君壓迫的人們，將「那不可道出的名字」，加給了木石。 |
21And this became a snare for mankind, that men enslaved to either grief or tyranny conferred the incommunicable Name on stocks and stones. |
| 22他們對天主的認識錯到如此地步，還以為不足；甚至愚昧使他們生活在強烈的戰鬥中，還將這樣的大禍，稱為和平。 |
22Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war of ignorance, they call such evils peace. |
| 23因他們祭殺孩童，或舉行秘密祭禮，或儀式怪誕的狂歡宴會。 |
23For while they celebrate either child-slaying sacrifices or clandestine mysteries, or frenzied carousals in unheard-of rites, |
| 24誰也不顧及生活與婚姻的純潔，遂彼此陷害殘殺，以姦淫加害於人。 |
24They no longer safeguard either lives or pure wedlock; but each either waylays and kills his neighbor, or aggrieves him by adultery. |
| 25於是，混亂到處叢生：流血、殺人、盜竊、欺騙、缺德、失信、暴亂、違約、 |
25And all is confusion-blood and murder, theft and guile, corruption, faithlessness, turmoil, perjury, |
| 26陷害忠良、忘恩負義、玷辱靈魂、同性淫亂、婚姻混雜、通姦淫亂。 |
26Disturbance of good men, neglect of gratitude, besmirching of souls, unnatural lust, disorder in marriage, adultery and shamelessness. |
| 27崇拜虛無的偶像，實是萬惡的起源、由來和結局。 |
27For the worship of infamous idols is the reason and source and extremity of all evil. |
| 28這些人行樂發狂，預言虛妄，生活邪辟，妄發虛誓， |
28For they either go mad with enjoyment, or prophesy lies, or live lawlessly or lightly forswear themselves. |
| 29因為他們信賴無生命的偶像，自以為妄發虛誓，不會受罰。 |
29For as their trust is in soulless idols, they expect no harm when they have sworn falsely. |
| 30但是，正為了這兩件事，他們必受公義的處罰：因對天主沒有正確的認識，因而崇拜偶像；又因詭計多端，妄發虛誓，因而輕視聖潔。 |
30 But on both counts shall justice overtake them: because they thought ill of God and devoted themselves to idols, and because they deliberately swore false oaths, despising piety. |
| 31因為，那常追擊不義者違法行為的，並不是「賴以發誓者」的力量，而是天主對犯罪者的懲罰。 |
31 For not the might of those that are sworn by but the retribution of sinners ever follows upon the transgression of the wicked. |
