智慧篇:Chapter 19

智慧篇:Chapter 19

智慧篇	Wisdom
¹但是，毫無憐憫的忿怒，必降在不虔敬的人身上，直到發洩完畢，因為天主預先知道他們將作的事：	¹ But the wicked, merciless wrath assailed until the end. For he knew beforehand what they were yet to do:
²在允許以色列離開，催促他們快快上路之後，又必改變心意前去追趕。	² That though they themselves had agreed to the departure and had anxiously sent them on their way, they would regret it and pursue them.
³實在，埃及人還在哀悼，還在死者墳上悲傷的時候，又定了另一個愚蠢的主意：要追趕自己以前要求離去的人，有如逃亡的人。	³ For while they were still engaged in funeral rites and were mourning at the burials of the dead, They adopted another senseless plan; and those whom they had sent away with entreaty, they pursued as fugitives.
⁴應得的報應，使他們糊塗到這種地步，竟然忘記了已經遭遇的事，使自己備受以前未曾受到的刑罰。	⁴For a compulsion suited to this ending drew them on, and made them forgetful of what had befallen them, That they might fill out the torments of their punishment,
⁵即當你的子民走過奇異的道路時，他們遭遇了駭人聽聞的死亡。	⁵ and your people might experience a glorious journey while those others met an extraordinary death.
⁶因此那時，各樣的受造物，按自己的本性，再重新受造，遵從你的命令，護衛你的子女，不受傷害。	⁶For all creation, in its several kinds, was being made over anew, serving its natural laws, that your children might be preserved unharmed.
⁷於是有雲彩遮蔽營幕，先前有水的地方，露出旱地，紅海裏開出一條無阻的道路，巨濤中出現了一片青草地，	⁷The cloud overshadowed their camp; and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging: Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road, and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood.
⁸你的全體百姓，在你親手掩護之下，由那裏經過，看到了神奇的異蹟。	⁸Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by your hand, after they beheld stupendous wonders.
⁹他們有如牧場上牧放的小馬，跳躍有如羔羊，讚美你，拯救他們的上主。	⁹For they ranged about like horses, and bounded about like lambs, praising you, O LORD! their deliverer.
¹⁰因為，他們還記得自己僑居在異地時發生的事：代替畜牲，地上怎樣產生了蚊子；代替魚，河裏怎樣生出了成群的蛤蟆。	¹⁰For they were still mindful of what had happened in their sojourn: how instead of the young of animals the land brought forth gnats, and instead of fishes the river swarmed with countless frogs.
¹¹以後，他們大動食慾，要求精美的食物時，又見到了新奇出生的飛鳥：	¹¹And later they saw also a new kind of bird when, prompted by desire, they asked for pleasant foods;
¹²為使他們滿足，從海上飛來了鵪鶉。	¹²For to appease them quail came to them from the sea.
¹³至於對罪人，卻降下了刑罰，事先原已用猛烈的雷電警告過他們；他們因自己的邪惡而遭受痛苦，實是理所當然的，因為埃及人分外苛刻地憎恨了旅客。	¹³ And the punishments came upon the sinners only after forewarnings from the violence of the thunderbolts. For they justly suffered for their own misdeeds, since indeed they treated their guests with the more grievous hatred.
¹⁴索多瑪人，只不過不接待初到的陌生客人，而埃及人卻將施惠的賓客充作奴隸。	¹⁴For those others did not receive unfamiliar visitors, but these were enslaving beneficent guests.
¹⁵不僅如此，而且對索多瑪人還可予以寬恕，因為他們只不過對外人表示敵意；	¹⁵ And not that only; but what punishment was to be theirs since they received strangers unwillingly!
¹⁶可是埃及人曾舉行宴會，接待了你的人民，在他們久已獲享同等的權利之後，卻又用苦役來磨難他們。	¹⁶Yet these, after welcoming them with festivities, oppressed with awful toils those who now shared with them the same rights.
¹⁷為此，埃及人也如在義人門前的索多瑪人一樣，受了眼瞎的懲罰，一時被濃厚的黑暗包圍，各自找尋自己的門路。	¹⁷And they were struck with blindness, as those others had been at the portals of the just- When, surrounded by yawning darkness, each sought the entrance of his own gate.
¹⁸各種元素的本質互相調換，就如琴瑟的五聲，互相交換，而總不改變原音；這從觀察過去的事上，明明可以見到。	¹⁸For the elements, in variable harmony among themselves, like strings of the harp, produce new melody, while the flow of music steadily persists. And this can be perceived exactly from a review of what took place.
¹⁹陸地上的動物變成了水裏的；游泳的動物卻在旱地上遊行；	¹⁹For land creatures were changed into water creatures, and those that swam went over on to the land.
²⁰火在水中更加強了自己的能力，水也忘了自己滅火的本能。	²⁰Fire in water maintained its own strength, and water forgot its quenching nature;
²¹火燄不燒毀那行走在火裏，本容易毀滅的走獸的肉體，也不溶化那本如冰塊，易於溶化的天糧。	²¹Flames, by contrast, neither consumed the flesh of the perishable animals that went about in them, nor melted the icelike, quick-melting kind of ambrosial food.
²²的確，上主，你用各種方法顯揚光榮了你的子民，從不忽略隨時隨地加以保護。	²²For every way, O LORD! you magnified and glorified your people; unfailing, you stood by them in every time and circumstance.