| 耶肋米亞 |
Jeremiah |
| 1誰能在曠野給我找一個旅棧，叫我好離開我的人民，離他們而遠去？因為他們都是些淫亂之徒，是一群反叛； |
1Would that I had in the desert a travelers' lodge! That I might leave my people and depart from them. They are all adulterers, a faithless band. |
| 2他們彎起像弓的舌頭，使在地上得勢的，是虛偽而不是誠實，因為他們變本加厲作惡，全不理睬我──上主的斷語。 |
2They ready their tongues like a drawn bow; with lying, and not with truth, they hold forth in the land. They go from evil to evil, but me they know not, says the LORD. |
| 3你們應各自提防自己的近人，不要信任何弟兄，因為所有的弟兄都愛好欺詐，一般的近人都好說讒言； |
3 Be on your guard, everyone against his neighbor; put no trust in any brother. Every brother apes Jacob, the supplanter, every friend is guilty of slander. |
| 4人都欺騙自己的近人，不講實話，使自己的舌頭慣於說謊，竭力行惡， |
4Each one deceives the other, no one speaks the truth. They have accustomed their tongues to lying, and are perverse, and cannot repent. |
| 5不願悔悟，卻強暴上又加強暴，欺詐上又加欺詐，全不理睬我──上主的斷語。 |
5Violence upon violence, deceit upon deceit: They refuse to recognize me, says the LORD. |
| 6為此萬軍的上主這樣說：「看，我要將他們凈化，提煉；否則，我將怎樣處理我的女兒──人民──的邪惡？ |
6Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: I will smelt them and test them; how else should I deal with their wickedness? |
| 7他們的舌頭像根毒箭，好出詐言； 嘴上對鄰友說話溫和，心中卻設計陷害。 |
7A murderous arrow is his tongue, his mouth utters deceit; He speaks cordially with his friends, but in his heart he lays an ambush! |
| 8為這些事我豈能不懲罰？──上主的斷語──像這樣的一個民族，我豈能不圖報復？ |
8For these things, says the LORD, shall I not punish them? On a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance? |
| 9我要為群山號咷痛哭，為原野高唱哀歌，因為全都被焚毀，再沒有人往來，再聽不到牲畜的聲音；自天空的飛鳥至地上的走獸，都逃去無蹤。 |
9Over the mountains, break out in cries of lamentation, over the pasture lands, intone a dirge: They are scorched, and no man crosses them, unheard is the bleat of the flock; Birds of the air as well as beasts, all have fled, and are gone. |
| 10我要使耶路撒冷成為廢墟，成為豺狼的巢穴；使猶大的城市荒涼，無人居住。 |
10I will turn Jerusalem into a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; The cities of Judah I will make into a waste, where no one dwells. |
| 11誰夠聰明，能明白這事？上主親口吩咐誰公布這事？「為什麼這地遭受毀滅，荒蕪得有如無人經過的曠野？」 |
11Who is so wise that he can understand this? Let him to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken make it known: Why is the land ravaged, scorched like a wasteland untraversed? |
| 12上主說：「因為他們離棄了我給他們立定的法律，沒有聽從我的聲音，沒有按照法律而行； |
12The LORD answered: Because they have abandoned my law, which I set before them, and have not followed it or listened to my voice, |
| 13反去順從自己頑固的心，追隨祖先教給他們的巴耳神。 |
13but followed rather the hardness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers had taught them; |
| 14為此萬軍的上主，以色列的天主這樣說：看，我必使這人民吃毒艾，飲毒水； |
14therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: See now, I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink. |
| 15使他們流離到他們和他們祖先素不相識的民族中；派刀劍追擊他們，直至將他們完全消滅。」 |
15I will scatter them among nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; I will send the sword to pursue them until I have completely destroyed them. |
| 16萬軍的上主這樣說：「你們應該明白，快召哀悼的婦女來，派人去叫擅長哭泣的女人來， |
16Thus says the LORD of hosts: Attention! tell the wailing women to come, summon the best of them; |
| 17叫她們迅速前來，對我們啼哭，使我們的眼睛流下眼淚，使我們的睫毛湧出淚水， |
17Let them come quickly and intone a dirge for us, That our eyes may be wet with weeping, our cheeks run with tears. |
| 18因為從熙雍那裏可以聽到哭聲：我們怎樣崩潰了，受了多大的恥辱！竟要離開本國，拋棄我們的家園！ |
18The dirge is heard from Zion: Ruined we are, and greatly ashamed; We must leave the land, give up our homes! |
| 19你們婦女！都應聽清上主的話，親耳聆聽他口授的言詞；教你們的女兒痛哭，彼此互相學唱哀歌： |
19Hear, you women, the word of the LORD, let your ears receive his message. Teach your daughters this dirge, and each other this lament. |
| 20因為死亡已從我們的窗戶爬進來，進入了我們的宮殿，殲滅了街上的孩童，和廣場上的青年。 |
20Death has come up through our windows, has entered our palaces; It cuts down the children in the street, young people in the squares. |
| 21你應這樣說──上主的斷語──人的屍體僵臥着，好像在田野裏的糞堆；又像遺留在收割者後面無人拾取的麥束。」 |
21The corpses of the slain lie like dung on a field, Like sheaves behind the harvester, with no one to gather them. |
| 22上主這樣說：智者不應誇耀自己的智慧，力士不應誇耀自己的力量，富人不應誇耀自己的財富。 |
22Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength, nor the rich man glory in his riches; |
| 23凡要誇耀的，只應在「知道和認識我」這件事上誇耀，因為在地上是我，上主，施行仁慈、公道和正義，因為我喜愛這些事──上主的斷語。 |
23But rather, let him who glories, glory in this, that in his prudence he knows me, Knows that I, the LORD, bring about kindness, justice and uprightness on the earth; For with such am I pleased, says the LORD. |
| 24看時日將到──上主的斷語──我要懲罰所有受過割損而仍存有包皮的人： |
24See, days are coming, says the LORD, when I will demand an account of all those circumcised in their flesh: |
| 25即埃及、猶大、厄東、阿孟子民，摩阿布和所有住在曠野剃除鬢髮的人，因為這一切民族都未受過割損，至於以色列全家卻是未受過內心的割損。 |
25 Egypt and Judah, Edom and the Ammonites, Moab and the desert dwellers who shave their temples. For all these nations, like the whole house of Israel, are uncircumcised in heart. |
