| 智慧篇 |
Wisdom |
| 1至於你，我們的天主，你是良善的，忠實的，寬容的，以慈愛治理萬有。 |
1But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing all with mercy. |
| 2我們即使犯了罪，仍是你的，因為我們承認你的主權；我們既承認我們原屬於你，我們就不再犯罪了。 |
2For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you. |
| 3實在，認識你就是完美的正義；承認你的主權，就是不死不滅的根源。 |
3For to know you well is complete justice, and to know your might is the root of immortality. |
| 4為此，人邪惡的創作，畫家無益的作品，各式各色的畫圖，都沒有使我們誤入迷途； |
4For neither did the evil creation of men's fancy deceive us, nor the fruitless labor of painters, A form smeared with varied colors, |
| 5不過，愚人一見這些畫像，就大動情慾，貪戀這些無靈的死像。 |
5the sight of which arouses yearning in the senseless man, till he longs for the inanimate form of a dead image. |
| 6凡製造、愛慕、恭敬偶像的，實是邪惡的情人，只堪將希望寄於無靈之物。 |
6Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes are they who make them and long for them and worship them. |
| 7有個陶人用力摶軟泥，製成各種器皿，以供我們使用；但是，他可用同樣的泥土，做成為潔淨事用的器皿，同樣，也可做成為卑污事用的器皿；至於，每件作何用途，皆由陶人斷定。 |
7For truly the potter, laboriously working the soft earth, molds for our service each several article: Both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites, all alike; As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class the worker in clay is the judge. |
| 8後來，他竟枉費心機，將同樣的泥土，揑成一個虛無的神像，不想自己不久以前，原是由土造成的；不久以後，天主向他索還靈魂時，還要歸於土。 |
8And with misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay; though he himself shortly before was made from the earth And after a little, is to go whence he was taken, when the life that was lent him is demanded back. |
| 9他並不想死亡將至，生命短促，只圖與金匠銀匠競爭，仿效銅匠，以製造虛偽之物為榮。 |
9But his concern is not that he is to die nor that his span of life is brief; Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths and emulates molders of bronze, and takes pride in modeling counterfeits. |
| 10他的心已如死灰，他的希望比塵埃還卑微，他的生命比泥土更卑賤。 |
10Ashes his heart is! more worthless than earth is his hope, and more ignoble than clay his life; |
| 11因為，他竟不知是誰創造了他，是誰賦給了他一個行動的靈魂，是誰向他吹了生命的氣息。 |
11Because he knew not the one who fashioned him, and breathed into him a quickening soul, and infused a vital spirit. |
| 12他反將我們的生命視為兒戲，將此生看作惟利是圖的市場，說：「人必須用各樣的方法，甚至利用不義的手段，獲得利潤。」 |
12Instead, he esteemed our life a plaything, and our span of life a holiday for gain; "For one must," says he, "make profit every way, be it even out of evil." |
| 13凡用泥料製造易破的器皿和偶像的，應比其他一切人更清楚知道自己犯了罪。 |
13For this man more than any knows that he is sinning, when out of earthen stuff he creates fragile vessels and idols alike. |
| 14但是，最愚蠢，比嬰兒還可憐的，還是那些仇視並虐待你百姓的人。 |
14But all quite senseless, and worse than childish in mind, are the enemies of your people who enslaved them. |
| 15他們將異邦人所有的偶像都看作神明；這些神明有眼不能看，有鼻不能喘氣，有耳不能聽，有手不能摸，有腳不能行， |
15For they esteemed all the idols of the nations gods, which have no use of the eyes for vision, nor nostrils to snuff the air, Nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands for feeling; even their feet are useless to walk with. |
| 16因為都是人的作品，是那由天主借得氣息的人所捏造的，實在沒有一人能造出一個與自己相似的神； |
16For a man made them; one whose spirit has been lent him fashioned them. For no man succeeds in fashioning a god like himself; |
| 17有死的人，只能用邪惡的手造出死像，他本人原勝過他所崇拜的東西，因為他尚有生命，這些東西卻從來沒有。 |
17being mortal, he makes a dead thing with his lawless hands. For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never they. |
| 18此外，他們竟然還敬拜那些最可憎惡的動物，因為，這些動物與其他動物相比，更為愚笨。 |
18 And besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts-- for compared as to folly, these are worse than the rest, |
| 19再就其為動物而言，也並不美麗，或值得人愛，只是些不得天主讚賞和祝福的東西。 |
19Nor for their looks are they good or desirable beasts, but they have escaped both the approval of God and his blessing. |
