| 創世紀 | Genesis |
|---|
| 1拉班清早起來，與自己的外孫和女兒吻別，祝福了他們，便起身回本鄉去了。 | 1Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye; then he set out on his journey back home, |
| 2雅各伯也上道前行，遇見了天主的使者。 | 2while Jacob continued on his own way. Then God's messengers encountered Jacob. |
| 3雅各伯一見他們就說：「這是天主的營地。」遂給那地方起名叫瑪哈納因。 | 3 When he saw them he said, "This is God's encampment." So he named that place Mahanaim. |
| 4雅各伯先派使者，往厄東鄉間色依爾地方，他哥哥厄撒烏那裡去， | 4Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, |
| 5吩咐他們說：「你們應對我主厄撒烏這樣說：你的僕人雅各伯這樣說：我在拉班那裡作客，一直到現在。 | 5with this message: "Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob speaks as follows: I have been staying with Laban and have been detained there until now. |
| 6我擁有牛、驢、羊和僕婢，現在打發人報告我主，希望得你的恩愛。」 | 6I own cattle, asses and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I am sending my lord this information in the hope of gaining your favor.'" |
| 7使者回來見雅各伯說：「我們到了你哥哥厄撒烏那裡，他正前來迎接你；同他來的尚有四百人。」 | 7When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We reached your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, accompanied by four hundred men." |
| 8雅各伯大為震驚，很是憂慮，遂將自己的人和羊群牛群及駱駝分作兩隊， | 8Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps. |
| 9心想：如果厄撒烏前來攻擊一隊，剩下的另一隊還可逃跑。 | 9"If Esau should attack and overwhelm one camp," he reasoned, "the remaining camp may still survive." |
| 10然後雅各伯祈求說：「我父亞巴郎的天主，我父依撒格的天主、上主！你曾對我說：回到你本鄉，你本家去，我必使你順利。 | 10Then he prayed: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You told me, O LORD, 'Go back to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you.' |
| 11我本不配獲得你向你僕人所施的種種慈恩和忠信，我只帶了一條棍杖過了這約但河，現在我卻擁有兩隊人馬。 | 11I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two companies. |
| 12求你救我脫離我哥哥厄撒烏的手，因為我怕他來擊殺我，擊殺母親和孩子。 | 12Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau! Otherwise I fear that when he comes he will strike me down and slay the mothers and children. |
| 13你原來說過：我必要恩待你，使你的後代如海沙，多得不可勝數。」 | 13You yourself said, 'I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'" |
| 14那夜雅各伯就在那裡過夜。然後，就由他所有的財物中選出一些來，送給他哥哥厄撒烏作禮物： | 14After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him the following presents for his brother Esau: |
| 15計有母山羊二百隻，公山羊二十隻，母綿羊二百隻，公綿羊二十隻， | 15two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; |
| 16哺乳的母駱駝同駝駒三十頭，母牛四十頭，公牛十頭，母驢二十匹，公驢十匹。 | 16thirty milch camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten he-asses. |
| 17他將這些分成一隊一隊的交給自己的僕人，對他們說：「你們應走在我前面，每隊之間應隔開些。」 | 17He put these animals in charge of his servants, in separate droves, and he told the servants, "Go on ahead of me, but keep a space between one drove and the next." |
| 18然後吩咐第一隊說：「幾時我哥哥厄撒烏遇見你，問你說：你是誰家的？你往那裡去？你前面這些牲畜是誰的？ | 18To the servant in the lead he gave this instruction: "When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask you, 'Whose man are you? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?' |
| 19你要答說：是你僕人雅各伯的，是送給我主厄撒烏的禮物。看，他自己就在我們後面。」 | 19Then you shall answer, 'They belong to your brother Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is right behind us.'" |
| 20他也吩咐了第二第三隊，和跟在每隊後面的人說：「你們若遇見厄撒烏，都要照這話回答他。 | 20He gave similar instructions to the second servant and the third and to all the others who followed behind the droves, namely: "Thus and thus shall you say to Esau, when you reach him; |
| 21並且還要說：看，你的僕人雅各伯就在我們後面。」因為他心裡想：「如果我先送禮向他討好，然後才與他見面，也許他會歡迎我。」 | 21and be sure to add, 'Your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" For Jacob reasoned, "If I first appease him with gifts that precede me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me." |
| 22於是禮物先他而行，他自己當夜仍留在營內。 | 22So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp. |
| 23他當夜起來，帶了他的兩個妻子，兩個婢女和十一個孩子，由淺處過了雅波克河。 | 23In the course of that night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. |
| 24等他們過了河，也叫自己所有的過了河， | 24After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions, |
| 25雅各伯獨自一人留在後面。有一人前來與他搏鬥一直到曙光破曉。 | 25 Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. |
| 26那人見自己不能制勝，就在他的大腿窩上打了一下；雅各伯正在與他搏鬥之際，大腿窩脫了節。 | 26When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled. |
| 27那人說：「讓我走罷！天已破曉。」雅各伯說：「你如果不祝福我，我不讓你走。」 | 27The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me." |
| 28那人問他說：「你叫什麼名字？」他答說：「雅各伯。」 | 28"What is your name?" the man asked. He answered, "Jacob." |
| 29那人說：「你的名字以後不再叫雅各伯，應叫以色列，因為你與神與人搏鬥，佔了優勢。」 | 29 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed." |
| 30雅各伯問說：「請你告訴我你的名字。」那人答說：「為什麼你要問我的名字？」遂在那裡祝福了他。 | 30Jacob then asked him, "Do tell me your name, please." He answered, "Why should you want to know my name?" With that, he bade him farewell. |
| 31雅各伯給那地方起名叫「培尼耳」，意謂「我面對面見了神，我的生命仍得保全」。 | 31 Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face," he said, "yet my life has been spared." |
| 32雅各伯經過培尼耳時，太陽已升起照在身上，由於大腿脫了節，他一走一瘸。 | 32At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip. |
| 33為此，以色列子民至今不吃大腿窩上的筋，因為那人打了雅各伯的大腿窩，正打在筋上。 | 33That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, inasmuch as Jacob's hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle. |
