| 耶肋米亞 |
Jeremiah |
| 1當巴比倫王拿步高與自己所有的軍隊，及他手下統治的天下各國和一切民族，前來進攻耶路撒冷和她所有的城鎮時，有上主的話傳給耶肋米亞說： |
1This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD while Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his armies and the earth's kingdoms subject to him, as well as the other peoples, were all attacking Jerusalem and all her cities: |
| 2「上主以色列的天主這樣說：你去對猶大王漆德克雅說，告訴他上主這樣說：看，我必將這城交在巴比倫王手中，他將放火燒城， |
2Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him: Thus says the LORD: I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon; he will destroy it with fire. |
| 3你必逃不出他的手，終必被擒，交在他手中；你必要與巴比倫王目對目相視，面對面相談；你必要到巴比倫去； |
3Neither shall you escape his hand; rather you will be captured and fall into his hands. You shall see the king of Babylon and speak to him face to face. Then you shall be taken to Babylon. |
| 4但是，猶大王漆德克雅！請聽上主的話，上主論你這樣說：你決不會死在刀下， |
4But if you obey the word of the LORD, Zedekiah, king of Judah, then, says the LORD to you, you shall not die by the sword. |
| 5必要平安死去；正如有人給在你以前的上代祖先君王焚香，同樣也有人給你焚香，向你致哀：『噫嘻，我主！』的確，是我說了這話──上主的斷語。」 |
5You shall die in peace, and they will lament you as their lord, and burn spices for your burial as they did for your fathers, the kings who preceded you from the first; it is I who make this promise, says the LORD. |
| 6耶肋米亞先知就在耶路撒冷，對猶大君王漆德克雅說了這一切話， |
6The prophet Jeremiah told all these things to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem, |
| 7那時巴比倫王的軍隊正在攻打耶路撒冷和猶大所餘的城市，攻打拉基士和阿則卡，因為在猶大城市中，只剩下了這兩座設防的城市。 |
7 while the armies of the king of Babylon were attacking Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah, Lachish, and Azekah, since these alone were left of the fortified cities of Judah. |
| 8漆德克雅王與當時在耶路撒冷的全體人民訂約，要對奴婢宣布自由以後，有上主的話傳給耶肋米亞： |
8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made an agreement with all the people in Jerusalem to issue an edict of emancipation. |
| 9每人應釋放自己的希伯來奴婢，使他們獲享自由；誰也不該再以自己的兄弟猶大人作奴隸。 |
9Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should hold a man of Judah, his brother, in slavery. |
| 10所有入盟的首長和全體人民都同意，每人要釋放自己的奴婢，使他們獲享自由，不再以他們為奴婢：他們同意了，也釋放了。 |
10All the princes and the others who entered the agreement consented to set free their male and female servants, so that they should be slaves no longer. But though they agreed and freed them, |
| 11但是，後來他們改變主意，把他們釋放恢復自由的奴婢，再叫回來，強迫他們再作奴婢。 |
11afterward they took back their male and female slaves whom they had set free and again forced them into service. |
| 12於是有上主的話傳給耶肋米亞說： |
12Then this word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: |
| 13「上主以色列的天主這樣說：在我領你們的祖先，由埃及地，奴隸之所，出來的那一天，與他們訂立了盟約說： |
13Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: The day I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place where they were slaves, I made this covenant with them: |
| 14每七年初，你們應各自釋放賣身給你的希伯來弟兄：他服事了你六年，你應該讓他自由離去。你們的祖先卻不聽，也不向我側耳。 |
14Every seventh year each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you; six years he shall serve you, but then you shall let him go free. Your fathers, however, did not heed me or obey me. |
| 15今日你們自己反悔，作了我認為正直的事，各向自己的近人宣布自由，在歸我名下的殿裏，當着我面訂立了盟約。 |
15Today you indeed repented and did what is right in my eyes by proclaiming the emancipation of your brethren and making an agreement before me in the house that is named after me. |
| 16但事後卻變了主意，褻瀆我名，竟再召回自己已經釋放，身獲自由的奴婢，迫使他們再做你們的奴婢。 |
16But then you changed your mind and profaned my name by taking back your male and female slaves to whom you had given their freedom; you forced them once more into slavery. |
| 17為此上主這樣說：你們既不聽從我，各向自己的弟兄，各向自己的近人宣布自由，看，我來對你們宣布釋放刀劍和瘟疫及饑荒的自由──上主的斷語──使你們成為地上一切王國驚慌恐怖的對象。 |
17Therefore, thus says the LORD: You did not obey me by proclaiming your neighbors and kinsmen free. I now proclaim you free, says the LORD, for the sword, famine, and pestilence. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. |
| 18凡違犯我盟約，即凡不履行剖開牛犢，由兩半中間走過，在我面前所立的盟約誓詞的人，我必將他們交出： |
18 The men who violated my covenant and did not observe the terms of the agreement which they made before me, I will make like the calf which they cut in two, between whose two parts they passed. |
| 19凡剖開牛犢，由兩半中走過的猶大和耶路撒冷的首長、官員、司祭，以及當地的全體人民， |
19The princes of Judah and of Jerusalem, the courtiers, the priests, and the common people, who passed between the parts of the calf, |
| 20我必將他們悉數交在他們的敵人，和圖謀他們性命者的手中，使他們的屍首成為天上飛鳥和地上走獸的食物。 |
20I will hand over, all of them, to their enemies, to those who seek their lives: their corpses shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. |
| 21至於猶大王漆德克雅和他的臣相，我也將他們交在他們敵人的手中，交在圖謀他們性命者的手中，交在由你們面前撤退的巴比倫王軍隊的手中。 |
21Zedekiah, too, king of Judah, and his princes, I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives, to the soldiers of the king of Babylon who have at present withdrawn from you. |
| 22我必下令──上主的斷語──叫他們再回來，進攻，佔領，火燒這座城市；至於猶大的其他城市，我必使它們都化為無人居往的荒野。」 |
22I will give the command, says the LORD, and bring them back to this city. They shall attack and capture it, and destroy it with fire; the cities of Judah I will turn into a desert where no man dwells. |
