| 耶肋米亞 |
Jeremiah |
| 1上主有話傳給耶肋米亞說： |
1 This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2「起來，下到陶工家裏去，在那裏我要讓你聽到我的話。」 |
2Rise up, be off to the potter's house; there I will give you my message. |
| 3我便下到陶工家裏，見他正在輪盤上工作。 |
3I went down to the potter's house and there he was, working at the wheel. |
| 4陶工用泥做的器皿，若在他手中壞了，他便再做，或另做成一個器皿，全隨陶工的意思去做。 |
4Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased. |
| 5於是上主的話傳給我說： |
5Then the word of the Lord came to me: |
| 6「以色列家！我豈不能像這陶工一樣對待你們？──上主的斷語──以色列家！看，你們在我手中，就像泥土在陶工手中一樣。 |
6Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. |
| 7我一時可對一個民族，或一個國家，決意要拔除，要毀壞，要消滅； |
7Sometimes I threaten to uproot and tear down and destroy a nation or a kingdom. |
| 8但是我要打擊的民族，若離棄自己的邪惡，我也反悔，不再給她降原定的災禍。 |
8But if that nation which I have threatened turns from its evil, I also repent of the evil which I threatened to do. |
| 9或者，我一時想對一個民族或一個國家，決意要建設，要栽培， |
9Sometimes, again, I promise to build up and plant a nation or a kingdom. |
| 10但若她行我不喜歡的事，不聽從我的聲音，我也要反悔，不再給她所許過的恩惠。 |
10But if that nation does what is evil in my eyes, refusing to obey my voice, I repent of the good with which I promised to bless it. |
| 11現在你可告訴猶大人和耶路撒冷的居民說：上主這樣說：看，我已給你們安排了災禍，定了懲罰你們的計劃，希望你們每人離棄自己的邪道，改善自己的途徑和作為。」 |
11And now, tell this to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Take care! I am fashioning evil against you and making a plan. Return, each of you, from his evil way; reform your ways and your deeds. |
| 12他們反倒答說：「已沒有希望了！因為我們願隨從自己的計謀，各按自己頑固的惡意行事。」 |
12But they will say, "No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of his evil heart!" |
| 13為此上主這樣說：「你們可到各民族去詢問：有誰聽到了像這樣的事？以色列處女做出了極可憎的事。 |
13Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations- who has ever heard the like? Truly horrible things has virgin Israel done! |
| 14黎巴嫩山巔的巖石豈能缺少積雪？叢山間湧流的冰泉，豈能涸竭？ |
14 Does the snow of Lebanon desert the rocky heights? Do the gushing waters dry up that flow fresh down the mountains? |
| 15但我的人民卻忘掉了我，向『虛無』獻香，滑出了自己的正道，離開舊日的行徑，而走上了小道，不平坦的路， |
15Yet my people have forgotten me: they burn incense to a thing that does not exist. They stumble out of their ways, the paths of old, To travel on bypaths, not the beaten track. |
| 16使自己的地域變為驚愕的原因，取笑的目標；凡經過這地方的人，莫不驚異搖首。 |
16Their land shall be turned into a desert, an object of lasting ridicule: All passers-by will be amazed, will shake their heads. |
| 17我必像一陣東風在敵人面前將他們吹散；在他們滅亡之日，我必使他們只見我背，不見我面。」 |
17Like the east wind, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back, not my face, in their day of disaster. |
| 18他們說：「來，我們合謀陷害耶肋米亞！因為沒有司祭，法律不會因此廢止；沒有智者，計謀不會因此缺乏；沒有先知，神諭不會因此斷絕。來，我們用舌頭抨擊他，不注意他的一切勸告。」 |
18"Come," they said, "let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word." |
| 19上主，願你俯聽我，請聽我敵人的聲明。 |
19Heed me, O LORD, and listen to what my adversaries say. |
| 20難道該以怨報德嗎？他們竟掘下陷阱來陷害我的性命！望你記憶：我曾站在你面前為他們求情，替他們挽回你的盛怒。 |
20Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them. |
| 21為此，你應使他們的子孫遭受饑荒，任人屠殺；使他們的婦女喪子居寡，使他們的男人死於瘟疫，使他們的青年在戰場上死於刀下。 |
21 So now, deliver their children to famine, do away with them by the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men die of pestilence, their young men be slain by the sword in battle. |
| 22當你引匪隊突襲他們時，願從他們的屋裏可聽到哭聲，因為他們掘了陷阱捕捉我，在我腳下設下羅網。 |
22May cries be heard from their homes, when suddenly you send plunderers against them. For they have dug a pit to capture me, they have hid snares for my feet; |
| 23至於你，上主，你知道他們對我的一切計劃是要殺害我；請你不要寬恕他們的過惡，不要由你面前抹去他們的罪過，務使他們倒仆在你面前；在你發怒時，求你報復他們。 |
23But you, O LORD, know all their plans to slay me. Forgive not their crime, blot not out their sin in your sight! Let them go down before you, proceed against them in the time of your anger. |
