耶利米書 50
1 關於巴比倫和加色丁地上主藉耶肋米亞先知所說的話：
This is the word that Yahweh declared about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet,
2 你們該在民族間宣布傳揚，該樹起旗幟傳揚，不該隱瞞，說：「巴比倫已陷落了，貝耳遭受了羞辱，默洛達客傾倒了；她的偶像遭受了恥辱，她的神祇傾倒了。」
“Report to the nations and cause them to listen. Lift up a signal and cause them to listen. Do not conceal it. Say, 'Babylon is taken. Bel is made ashamed. Marduk is dismayed. Its idols are put to shame; its images are dismayed.'
3 因為有一民族從北方上來，向她進攻，使她的國土化為無人居住，人獸絕跡的荒野。
A nation from the north will arise against it, and make her land a desolation. No one will live in it; both man and beast will flee away.
4 在那些日子裡和在那時期中──上主的斷語──以色列子民要與猶大子民一同歸來，且走且哭，尋覓上主他們的天主，
In those days and at that time—this is Yahweh's declaration—the people of Israel and the people of Judah will come together to go with weeping and seek Yahweh their God.
5 他們必詢問熙雍的所在，面朝往那裏的道路說：來，讓我們以永久不可忘的盟約依附上主! 」
They will ask the way to Zion and will set off toward it, saying, We will go and join ourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”
6 我的人民是一群迷途的羊群，他們的牧人使他們流浪，在群山間徘徊，翻山越嶺地漫遊，忘掉了自己的羊棧。
My people have been a lost flock. Their shepherds have led them astray in the mountains; they have turned them around from hill to hill. They went, they forgot the place where they had lived.
7 凡遇見他們的，將他們吞噬；他們的仇敵反而說：「我們並沒有過錯，因為是他們得罪了上主，正義的淵源和他們祖先的希望。」
Everyone who went out to them devoured them. Their adversaries said, 'We are not guilty, because they sinned against Yahweh, their true home—Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.'
8 你們該逃離巴比倫，走出加色丁地，如同羊群前領頭的公山羊。
Leave from the midst of Babylon; go out from the land of the Chaldeans; be like male goats that leave before the rest of the flock does.
9 因為，看，我必從北方，發動一群強盛的民族前來進攻巴比倫，列陣向她進攻，就地將她攻陷；他們的箭像是善戰的勇士，從不空手而歸。
For see, I am about to set in motion and raise up a group of great nations from the north against Babylon. They will arrange themselves against her. Babylon will be captured from there. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.
10 加色丁必遭劫掠，凡劫掠她的，必心滿意足──上主的斷語。
Chaldea will become plunder. All those who plunder it will be satisfied—this is Yahweh's declaration.
11 你們搶奪我產業的人，你們儘管喜樂，儘管歡欣：跳躍，好像踏青的小公牛；嘶鳴，有如獲偶的牡馬!
You rejoice, you celebrate the plundering of my inheritance; you jump around like a calf stamping in its pasture; you neigh like a powerful horse.
12 你們的母親已遭受極大的恥辱，生養你的，已滿面羞慚。看，她已成為民族中最卑下的，成了曠野、旱地和荒原；
So your mother will be greatly ashamed; the one who bore you will be embarrassed. See, she will be the least of nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 在上主的盛怒下，她已無人居住，滿目淒涼：凡經過巴比倫的人，看見的種種慘狀，莫不驚異嗟嘆。
Because of Yahweh's anger, Babylon will not be inhabited, but will be a complete devastation. Everyone who passes by will shudder because of Babylon and will hiss because all of its wounds.
14 一切開張弓弩的射手! 你們應列陣圍攻巴比倫，向她射擊，不要吝惜箭羽，因為她得罪了上主。
Arrange yourselves against Babylon all around her. Everyone who bends a bow must shoot at her. Do not keep back any of your arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.
15 你們四周圍繞，向她吶喊! 她必伸手請降，她的城樓必將陷落，她的城牆必要被攻陷，因為這是上主的報復。你們報復她，照她作的還報!
Raise a shout against her all around! She has surrendered; her towers have fallen; her walls are torn down, for this is Yahweh's vengeance. Take vengeance on her! Do to her just as she has done!
16 你們要殲滅巴比倫播種和手持鐮刀收割的人! 面臨無情的刀劍，各人回歸自己的民族，各自逃往自己的故鄉。
Destroy both the farmer who sows seed and the one who uses a sickle at the time of harvest in Babylon. Let each person turn back to his own people from the oppressor's sword; let them flee to their own land.
17 以色列是獅子追捕的亡羊，首先吞噬她的，是亞述君王；最後咬碎她骨骸的，是拿步高巴比倫王。
Israel is a sheep scattered and driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him; then after this, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon broke his bones.
18 為此，萬軍的上主，以色列的天主這樣說：「看，我要懲罰巴比倫王和他的國土，就如我懲罰了亞述君王一樣。
Therefore Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says this: See, I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 我要領以色列回歸自己的牧場，在加爾默耳和巴商牧放，使他們的心靈在厄弗辣因與基肋阿得山上，獲得滿足。
I will restore Israel to his homeland; he will graze on Carmel and Bashan. Then he will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.
20 那些日子裏和在那時期中──上主的斷語──要想尋求以色列的不義，卻一無所有；要想尋猶大的罪惡，卻一無所見；因為我必寬恕我留下的遺民。
In those days and at that time, says Yahweh, iniquity will be looked for in Israel, but none will be found. I will inquire about the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant that I spare.”
21 你們該向默辣塔因地推進，進攻培科得的居民，屠殺，徹底將他們消滅──上主的斷語──全照我吩咐的進行。
“Arise against the land of Merathaim, against it and the ones inhabiting Pekod. Put them to the sword and set them apart for destruction—this is Yahweh's declaration—do everything that I am commanding you.
22 地上發生了交戰的吶喊，巨大的毀滅。
The sounds of battle and enormous destruction are in the land.
23 怎麼，威震全地的鎚子也被破碎毀壞了﹖怎麼，巴比倫在萬民中也變得如此悽涼﹖
How the hammer of all the lands has been cut apart and destroyed. How Babylon has become a destroyed place among the nations.
24 我給你佈下羅網，你竟被捉住；而你，巴比倫，尚不自覺；你被尋獲，且被捉住，因為你竟敢違抗上主! 」
I have set a trap for you and you were taken, Babylon, and you did not know it! You were found and captured, because you opposed Yahweh.
25 上主開了自已的武庫，搬出了自己洩怒的武器，因為吾主萬軍的上主，在加色丁地有事要完成。
Yahweh has opened his armory and is bringing out the weapons for carrying out his anger. There is work for the Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 你們從四面八方向她湧來，打開她的倉庫，堆積成堆，徹底消滅，不給她留下殘餘；
Attack her from far away. Open her granaries and pile her up like heaps of grain. Set her apart for destruction. Leave no remnant of her.
27 屠殺她的一切公牛，叫他們下入屠場! 卜們的災難臨頭，因為他們的日子到了，到了懲罰他們的時候。
Kill all her bulls. Send them down to the place of slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time for their punishment.
28 聽從巴比倫地逃命出走的人，在熙雍報告說：「上主我們的天主在復仇，為自己的殿宇雪恥。
There is the sound of those fleeing, of those who are survivors, from the land of Babylon. These will report the vengeance of Yahweh our God for Zion, and vengeance for his temple.”
29 你們召集弓手，一切挽弓的人，來向巴比倫進攻，在她周圍紮營，不要讓她有人逃脫，該按照她的作為而報復她，照她所作的對待她，因為她傲慢反對上主，反對以色列的聖者。
“Summon the archers against Babylon—all those who bend their bows. Camp against her, and let no one escape. Repay her for what she has done. Do to her by the measure she has used. For she had defied Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.
30 為此，她的青年人要倒斃在她的廣場，她所有的戰士都要在那一天內滅亡──上主的斷語──
So her young men will fall in the city squares, and all her fighting men will be destroyed on that day —this is Yahweh's declaration.”
31 你這驕橫的人! 看，我來對付你──我主萬軍上主的斷語──因為你的日子到了，到了懲罰你的時候。
“See, I am against you, proud one—this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts— for your day has come, proud one, the time when I will punish you.
32 驕橫的必要傾覆顛仆，再沒有人來使她復興；我必放火燒毀她的城市，火要吞滅她四周的一切。」
So the proud ones will stumble and fall. No one will raise them up. I will light a fire in their cities; it will devour everything around him.
33 萬軍的上主這樣說：「以色列子民與猶大子民一同遭受了壓迫；凡俘擄他們的，都扣留他們，不肯釋放。」
Yahweh of hosts says this: The people of Israel are oppressed, together with the people of Judah. All the ones who captured them still hold them; they refuse to let them go.
34 但是他們的救贖者，名叫萬軍的上主，剛強有力，必要辯護他們的案件，使大地安寧，使巴比倫的居民惶亂。
The one who rescues them is strong. Yahweh of hosts is his name. He will truly plead their case, in order to bring rest to the land, and to bring strife to the ones inhabiting Babylon.
35 刀劍加於加色丁人──上主的斷語──加於巴比倫的居民，她的公卿和她的謀臣；
A sword is against the Chaldeans—this is Yahweh's declaration— and against the inhabitants of Babylon, her leaders, and her wise men.
36 刀劍加於她的巫士，使他們瘋狂；刀劍加於她的勇士，叫他們驚慌；
A sword against those who say empty words! They will become fools! A sword against her soldiers! They will be filled with terror.
37 刀劍加於她的戰馬戰車，加於她境內所有的雜族，使他們柔弱如婦女；刀劍加於她的府庫，使人任意搶奪；
A sword is coming against their horses, their chariots and all of the people who are in the midst of Babylon, so they will become like women. A sword is coming against her storerooms, and they will be plundered.
38 刀劍加於她的水源，叫水源涸竭，因為她偶像遍地，人們癡戀這些怪物；
A drought is coming on her waters, so they will become dry. For she is a land of worthless idols, and they act like people made insane by their dreadful idols.
39 為此，她必成為野貓和野狗的巢穴，駝鳥的棲身地，永遠不會有人居住，世世代代不會有居民；
So desert beasts with the jackals will inhabit there, and the young of ostriches will live in her. For all time, she will no longer be inhabited. From generation to generation, she will not be lived in.
40 恰如天主滅亡了的索多瑪、哈摩辣及附近的城市一樣──上主的斷語──再沒有人居住，再沒有人留宿。
Just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors—this is Yahweh's declaration— no one will live there; no person will stay in her.”
41 看，有一個民族，從北方來，有一個強盛的異邦和許多君王從地極興起，
“See, a people is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.
42 緊握弓矛，殘忍無情，像海嘯般喧嚷，騎著戰馬，萬眾一心，嚴陣準備向你進攻，巴比倫女郎!
They will pick up bows and spears. They are cruel and have no compassion. Their sound is like the sea roar, and they are riding on horses, set out in order as men for battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 巴比倫王聽到了他們前來的消息，束手無策，不勝憂慮，痛苦得有如臨盆的產婦。
The king of Babylon heard the reports about them and his hands fell limp in distress. Anguish seized him like a woman giving birth.
44 看哪，好像一隻雄獅，從約但的叢林上來，走向常綠的牧場；同樣，我也要轉瞬間將他們趕走，派我選定的人來統治。誠然，誰是我的對手﹖誰敢向我提出質問﹖誰能對抗我的牧人﹖
Behold! He goes up like a lion from the heights of the Jordan to the enduring grazing place For I will quickly cause them to run from it, and I will put someone who will be chosen in charge of it. For who is like me, and who will summon me? What shepherd is able to resist me?
45 為此，請你們聽上主對巴比倫設下的計謀，對加色丁地策劃的策略：連最弱小的羊也一定要被人牽去，他們的牧場也必對他們戰慄。
So listen to the plans that Yahweh has decided against Babylon, the plans that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans. They will certainly be dragged away, even the smallest flock. Their pasturelands will be turned into ruined places.
46 巴比倫轟然陷落，大地為之震動；哀號之聲，直達萬邦。
At the sound of conquered Babylon the earth shakes, and their shout of distress is heard among the nations.”
