Jeremiah 5
1 “Travel the streets of Jerusalem; and gaze, and consider, and seek, in its wide streets. If you can find a man exercising judgment and seeking faith, then I will be forgiving to them.
請你們巡行耶路撒冷的街道，觀察注意，在她的廣場上搜尋：若他們能找到一人，一個履正義，追求信實的人，我就寬恕這城。
2 For even though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in this, too, they swear falsely.”
雖然他們起誓說：「上主永在! 」其實他們起的誓仍是虛誓。
3 O Lord, your eyes look with favor upon faith. You have struck them, and they have not grieved. You have bruised them, and they have refused to accept discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, and they are not willing to return.
上主，你的眼睛難道不顧信實﹖你打擊了他們，他們卻毫不覺痛；你使他們挫敗，他們仍拒絕受教，使自己的面孔比火石還要頑硬，不願悔改。
4 But I said: Perhaps these are the poor and the senseless, who are ignorant of the way of the Lord, of the judgment of their God.
我想：「不錯，他們原是無知的平民，不認識上主的道路和衪他們天主的法律。
5 Therefore, I will go to great men, and I will speak with them. For they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. And behold, these ones have broken the yoke all the more; they have torn apart the bonds.
我要去問有權勢的人，與他們談論，因為他們知道火道路和他們天主的法律。」哎! 連他們也都折斷了軛，掙斷了繩索。
6 For this reason, a lion from the forest has struck them down, a wolf toward evening has laid waste to them, a leopard lies in wait over their cities. All who go out from there will be taken. For their transgressions have been multiplied; their rebellions have been strengthened.
為此，獅子由叢林出來襲擊他們，曠野的豺狼出來傷害他們，豹子潛伏在他們的城旁，凡出來的人都被撕裂，因為他們罪上加罪，失節有增無已。
7 “Over which things am I able to be merciful to you? Your sons have forsaken me, and they swear by those who are not gods. I gave them everything, and they committed adultery, and they indulged themselves in the house of the harlot.
如此，我怎能寬恕你﹖你的子孫離棄了我，奉「非神」發誓。我使他們飽食，他們卻去行淫，群集在妓院裏；
8 They have become like wild horses in heat; each one was neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
他們像荒淫雄壯的牡馬，各向自己近人的妻室嘶鳴。
9 Shall I not visit against these things, says the Lord? And shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation such as this?
這些事，我怎能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這些火民族，我怎能不親自報復﹖
10 Scale its walls and tear them down. But do not be willing to bring about its very end. Take away its plantings, for they are not the Lord’s.
請你們登上她的牆上頭，加以毀壞，但不要完全毀滅，該除去她的枝條，因為它們不屬於上主。
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have greatly transgressed against me, says the Lord.
以色列和猶大家，實在對我不忠，達到極點──
12 They have denied the Lord, and they have said, ‘It is not him,’ and, ‘Evil will not overwhelm us. We will not see famine and the sword.’
上主的斷語。他們否認上主說：「衪不存在! 災禍不會臨到我們身上，我們也決不會見到戰爭和飢荒；
13 The prophets have spoken into the wind, and there was no answer with them. Therefore, these things will happen to them.”
先知們不過是一陣風，他們並沒有上主的話；他們這樣只有自作自受。」
14 Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Since you have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth like fire and this people like wood, and it will devour them.
為此，上主萬軍火天主這樣說：「因為他們說了這話，我必使我的話在你的口中成為火，使這人民成為木柴，將他們吞滅。
15 Behold, O house of Israel, I will lead over you a far away nation, says the Lord, a robust nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you will not know, nor will you understand what they are saying.
以色列家! 看，我從遠方給你們引來一個民族──上主的斷語──一個所向無敵的民族，一個支老的民族，一個你們不慬她的語言，也聽不出她說什麼的民族
16 Their quiver is like an open sepulcher. They are all strong.
他們的箭有如張口墳墓；他們都是善戰的勇士。
17 And they will consume your grain fields and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vineyards and your figs. And with the sword, they will crush your fortified cities, in which you have placed your trust.
這民族必吃掉你的收穫和食糧，必吃掉你的兒子和女兒，必吃掉你的羊群和牛群，必吃掉你的葡萄和無花果，必以武力蹂躝你依恃的堅城。
18 Yet truly, in those days, says the Lord, I will not bring the consummation over you.
即在那些時日裏──上主的斷語──我也不對你們加以徹底的毀滅。」
19 And if they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You shall say to them: ‘Just as you have abandoned me and have served a strange god in your own land, so will you serve strangers in a land not your own.’
假使有人問：「為什麼上主我們的天主對我們做了這一切的事﹖」你當對他們說：「你們怎樣離棄了我，在你們國內事奉了外邦的神祗，你們也該怎樣在不屬於你們的境內事奉外邦人。」
20 Announce this to the house of Jacob, and make it known in Judah, saying:
你們你們將這事通知雅各伯家，轉告猶大說：
21 Listen, O foolish people who have no heart! You have eyes, but you do not see, and ears, but you do not hear.
「你們愚昧無知，有目不見，有耳不聞的人民，請聽聽這話：
22 So then, will you not fear me, says the Lord. And will you not have sorrow before my face? I have placed the shore as a limit for the sea, as an everlasting precept that it will not transgress. And its waves will crash, but they will not prevail; and its waves will swell, but they will not go across.
你們不敬畏我嗎﹖──上主的斷語──你們在我面前不戰憟嗎﹖是我堆集了沙石作海的界限，作為它永不能越過的界限浪雖然洶湧，仍無能為力；雖怒號澎湃，仍不能越過。」
23 But the heart of this people has become incredulous and provocative; they have turned away and departed.
但這內心頑固的心民，竟背叛而離去，
24 And they have not said in their heart: ‘Let us dread the Lord our God, who gives us the timely and the late rains, in their proper time, who guards the full measure of the yearly harvest for us.’
從不反心自省：「我們應該敬畏上主，我們的天主，因為衪按時降下雨露、秋霜和春雨；又給我們保持固定的收穫時節。」
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back good things from you.
是你們的過犯混亂了這些時令，是罪惡阻止了你們享這幸福。
26 For the impious are found among my people; they lie in ambush like fowlers setting snares, for they set traps to catch men.
因為在我的人民中發現惡人；他們像隱伏的捕鳥者在窺探，布下羅網捕捉人。
27 Just as a snare is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. As a result, they have become exalted and enriched.
猶如籠中滿了飛鳥，他們家中也充滿了欺詐，因此成了有勢力，有錢財的人。
28 They have grown stout and fat. And they have transgressed my words most wickedly. They have not judged the case of the widow; they have not given guidance to the case of the orphan; and they have not judged a judgment for the poor.
他們肥胖紅潤，作奸犯科，不為孤兒辯護；只求自己享受，也不關懷窮人的權利。
29 Shall I not visit against these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?
像這樣的事，我怎能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這樣的民族，我怎能不親自報復﹖
30 Astonishing and wondrous things have been done upon the earth.
在國內發生了一件恐怖而可憎的事：
31 The prophets have prophesied lies, and the priests have applauded with their hands, and my people have loved these things. So then, what shall be done at the very end?”
先知們說假預言，司祭們爭權奪利，我的人民反以此為樂；到了最後，你們究竟還要作什麼﹖
