耶利米書 27
1 猶大王約西亞的兒子約雅敬登基的時候，有這話從耶和華臨到耶利米說：
THE WORD OF THE LORD WHICH HE SPOKE AGAINST BABYLON.
2 「耶和華對我如此說：你做繩索與軛，加在自己的頸項上，
Proclaim you amongst the Gentiles, and cause the tidings to be heard, and suppress [them] not: say you, Babylon is taken, Belus is confounded; the fearless, the luxurious Maerodach is delivered up.
3 藉那些來到耶路撒冷見猶大王西底家的使臣之手，把繩索與軛送到以東王、摩押王、亞捫王、泰爾王、西頓王那裏，
For a nation has come up against her from the north, he shall utterly ravage her land, and there shall be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast.
4 且囑咐使臣，傳與他們的主人說，萬軍之耶和華－以色列的上帝如此說：
In those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together; they shall proceed, weeping as they go, seeking the Lord their God.
5 我用大能和伸出來的膀臂，創造大地和地上的人民、牲畜。我看給誰相宜，就把地給誰。
They shall ask the way till [they come to] Sion, for that way shall they set their face; and they shall come and flee for refuge to the Lord their God; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten.
6 現在我將這些地都交給我僕人巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒的手，我也將田野的走獸給他使用。
My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains: they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting-place.
7 列國都必服事他和他的兒孫，直到他本國遭報的日期來到。那時，多國和大君王要使他作他們的奴僕。
All that found them consumed them: their enemies said, Let us not leave them alone, because they have sinned against the Lord: he that gathered their fathers [had] a pasture of righteousness.
8 「無論哪一邦哪一國，不肯服事這巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒，也不把頸項放在巴比倫王的軛下，我必用刀劍、饑荒、瘟疫刑罰那邦，直到我藉巴比倫王的手將他們毀滅。這是耶和華說的。
Flee you out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans, and go forth, and be as serpents before sleep.
9 至於你們，不可聽從你們的先知和占卜的、圓夢的、觀兆的，以及行邪術的；他們告訴你們說：『你們不致服事巴比倫王。』
For, behold, I stir up against Babylon the gatherings of nations out of the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her: thence shall she be taken, as the dart of an expert warrior shall not return empty.
10 他們向你們說假預言，要叫你們遷移，遠離本地，以致我將你們趕出去，使你們滅亡。
And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied.
11 但哪一邦肯把頸項放在巴比倫王的軛下服事他，我必使那邦仍在本地存留，得以耕種居住。這是耶和華說的。」
Because you rejoiced, and boasted, [while] plundering mine heritage; because you exulted as calves in the grass, and pushed with the horn as bulls.
12 我就照這一切的話對猶大王西底家說：「要把你們的頸項放在巴比倫王的軛下，服事他和他的百姓，便得存活。
Your mother is greatly ashamed; your mother that bore you for prosperity is confounded: [she is] the last of the nations, desolate,
13 你和你的百姓為何要因刀劍、饑荒、瘟疫死亡，正如耶和華論到不服事巴比倫王的那國說的話呢？
by reason of the Lord's anger: it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be all a desolation; and every one that passes through Babylon shall scowl, and they shall hiss at all her plague.
14 不可聽那些先知對你們所說的話；他們說：『你們不致服事巴比倫王』，其實他們向你們說假預言。
Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows,
15 耶和華說：『我並沒有打發他們，他們卻託我的名說假預言，好使我將你們和向你們說預言的那些先知趕出去，一同滅亡。』」
and prevail against her: her hands are weakened, her bulwarks are fallen, and her wall is broken down: for it is vengeance from God: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her.
16 我又對祭司和這眾民說：「耶和華如此說：你們不可聽那先知對你們所說的預言。他們說：『耶和華殿中的器皿快要從巴比倫帶回來』；其實他們向你們說假預言。
Utterly destroy seed out of Babylon, [and] him that holds a sickle in time of harvest: for fear of the Grecian sword, they shall return every one to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
17 不可聽從他們，只管服事巴比倫王便得存活。這城何致變為荒場呢？
Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king of Assyria first devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon [has gnawed] his bones.
18 他們若果是先知，有耶和華的話臨到他們，讓他們祈求萬軍之耶和華，使那在耶和華殿中和猶大王宮內，並耶路撒冷剩下的器皿，不被帶到巴比倫去。（
Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I [will] take vengeance on the king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of Assyria.
19 因為萬軍之耶和華論到柱子、銅海、盆座，並剩在這城裏的器皿，
And I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and on mount Ephraim and in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied.
20 就是巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒擄掠猶大王約雅敬的兒子耶哥尼雅，和猶大、耶路撒冷一切貴冑的時候所沒有掠去的器皿。）
In those days, and at that time, they shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and there shall be none; and for the sins of Juda, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful to them that are left
21 論到那在耶和華殿中和猶大王宮內，並耶路撒冷剩下的器皿，萬軍之耶和華－以色列的上帝如此說：
on the land, says the Lord. Go up against it roughly, and against them that dwell on it: avenge, O sword, and destroy utterly, says the Lord, and do according to all that I command you.
22 必被帶到巴比倫存在那裏，直到我眷顧以色列人的日子。那時，我必將這器皿帶回來，交還此地。這是耶和華說的。」
A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans!
How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed! How is Babylon become a desolation amongst the nations!
They shall come upon you, and you shall not know it, Babylon, that you will even be taken captive: you are found and taken, because you did resist the Lord.
The Lord has opened his treasury, and brought forth the weapons of his anger: for the Lord God [has] a work in the land of the Chaldeans.
For her times are come: open you her storehouses: search her as a cave, and utterly destroy her: let there be no remnant of her.
Dry you up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution.
A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to declare to Sion the vengeance [that comes] from the Lord our God.
Summon many against Babylon, [even] every one that bends the bow: camp against her round about; let no one of her [people] escape: render to her according to her works; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has resisted the Lord, the Holy God of Israel.
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, says the Lord.
Behold, I am against you the haughty one, says the Lord: for your day is come, and the time of your retribution.
And your pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set it up again: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her.
Thus says the Lord; The children of Israel and the children of Juda have been oppressed: all they that have taken them captive have oppressed them together; for they would not let them go.
But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name: he will enter into judgement with his adversaries, that he may destroy the earth;
and he will sharpen a sword against the Chaldeans, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her nobles and upon her wise men;
a sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened: a sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots:
a sword upon their warriors and upon the mixed people in the midst of her; and they shall be as women: a sword upon the treasures, and they shall be scattered upon her water,
and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven [images]; and in the islands, where they boasted.
Therefore shall idols dwell in the islands, and the young of monsters shall dwell in it: it shall not be inhabited any more for ever.
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities bordering upon them, says the Lord: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn there.
Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the end of the earth; holding bow and dagger:
[the people] is fierce, and will have no mercy: their voices shall sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire, against you, O daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon heard the sound of them, and his hands were enfeebled: anguish overcame him, pangs as of a woman in travail.
Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gaethan; for I will speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her: for who is like me? and who will resist me? and who is this shepherd who will stand before me?
Therefore hear you the counsel of the Lord, which he has taken against Babylon; and his devices, which he has devised upon the Chaldeans inhabiting [it]: surely lambs of their flock shall be destroyed: surely pasture shall be cut off from them.
For at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a cry shall be heard amongst the nations.
