Judges 1 But the Ephraimites said to him, "What have you done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they quarreled bitterly with him. 那时厄弗辣因人对基德红说:"你去攻打米德杨时,没有召叫我们,你为什么这样对待我们?"他们激烈的与他争吵。 2 "What have I accomplished now in comparison with you?" he answered them. "Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 他回答他们说:"我所行的怎能比得上你们呢?厄弗辣因所拾的不比阿彼厄则尔所收的葡萄更好吗? 3 Into your power God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?" When he said this, their anger against him subsided. 天主将米德杨的首领敖勒布和则厄布交在你们手中,我所能行的怎能与你们相比?"为了他这番话,他们对他的怒气,就平息了。 4 When Gideon reached the 基德红来到约旦河,就渡过河;他与跟随他的三百人,虽然都疲倦,仍继续追赶。 5 So he said to the men of Succoth, "Will you give my followers some loaves of bread? They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian." 他向稣苛特人说:"请你们给跟随我的人几个饼吃,因为他们疲倦了,我还愿意追赶米德杨的两个王子则巴黑和匝耳慕纳。" 6 1 But the princes of Succoth replied, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your army?" 稣苛特人的头目回答说:"难道则巴黑和匝耳慕纳的手已在你的掌握中,我们就该把饼送给你的军队吗?" 7 Gideon said, "Very well; when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I will grind your flesh in with the thorns and briers of the desert." 基德红说:"好罢!几时上主把则巴黑和匝耳慕纳交在我手中,我必要用茨条和荆棘鞭挞你们的身体。" 8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request of them, but the men of Penuel answered him as had the men of Succoth. 以后由那里上去,到了培奴耳,也向他们说了同样的话;培奴耳人回答他也像稣苛特人一样。 9 So to the men of Penuel, too, he said, "When I return in triumph, I will demolish this tower." 他也对培奴耳人说:"当我平安回来时,我必拆毁这座碉堡。" 10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their force of about fifteen thousand men; these were all who were left of the whole Kedemite army, a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen having fallen. 那时则巴黑和匝耳慕纳正在卡尔科尔,他们的军队约有一万五千人,这是全部东方子民所剩下的军队,因为已有十二万持刀的被击毙了。 11 Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp when it felt secure. 基德红从诺巴黑和约革波哈东面,顺着住帐棚人的路上去,当敌人自以为安全的时候,袭击了军营, 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled. He pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, captive, throwing the entire army into panic. 则巴黑和匝耳慕纳落荒而逃,基德红在后面追赶,捉住了那两个米德杨王子则巴黑和匝耳慕纳,并使全军覆没。 13 Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from battle by the pass of Heres. 约阿士的儿子基德红,从战场沿赫勒斯斜坡回来, 14 He captured a young man of Succoth, who upon being questioned listed for him the seventy-seven princes and elders of Succoth. 捉住了稣苛特的少年人,查问他。这少年人就给他写下稣苛特的首领和长老的名字,共七十七人。 15 So he went to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you taunted me, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your weary followers?'" 基德红遂往稣苛特人那里去说:"看!这是则巴黑和匝耳慕纳,你们为了他们曾讥笑我说:难道则巴黑和匝耳慕纳的手已在你掌握中,我们就该把饼送给你疲倦的人吗?" 16 He took the elders of the city, and thorns and briers of the desert, and ground these men of Succoth into them. 他于是捉住那城的长老,用旷野里的茨条和荆棘惩罚了稣苛特居民。 17 He also demolished the 以后又把培奴耳的碉堡拆毁,杀戮了城内的居民。 18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where now are the men you killed at Tabor?" "They all resembled you," they replied. "They appeared to be princes." 然后询问则巴黑和匝耳慕纳说:"你们在大博尔山上杀戮的那些人是怎样的人呢?"他们答说:"他们像你们一样,个个都像君王的儿子。" 19 "They were my brothers, my mother's sons," he said. "As the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I should not kill you." 基德红说:"他们是我的兄弟,是我母亲的儿子:上主永在:如果你保留了他们不死,我也就不杀你们。" 20 Then he said to his first-born, Jether, "Go, kill them." Since Jether was still a boy, he was afraid and did not draw his sword. 他遂对自己的长子耶特尔说:"起来,杀死他们!"但是这孩童害怕,拔不出刀来,因为年纪还小。 21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Come, kill us yourself, for a man's strength is like the man." So Gideon stepped forward and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. He also took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels. 因此,则巴黑和匝耳慕纳说:"你亲自起来杀死我们罢!因为人怎样,他的力量也怎样。"基德红就起来杀了则巴黑和匝耳慕纳,拿去他们骆驼颈上的月牙环。 22 The Israelites then said to Gideon, "Rule over us--you, your son, and your son's son--for you rescued us from the power of Midian." 事后,以色列人便对基德红说:"你既然从米德杨手中拯救了我们,请你和你的子孙作我们的君王!" 23 But Gideon answered them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The LORD must rule over you." 基德红回答他们说:"我不作你的君王,我的子孙也不作你们的君王,唯有上主是你们的君王。" 24 2 Gideon went on to say, "I should like to make a request of you. Will each of you give me a ring from his booty?" (For being Ishmaelites, the enemy had gold rings.) 基德红又向他们说:"我只向你们要求一件事:请将每人掠夺的金环给我。"原来依市玛耳人都有金环。 25 "We will gladly give them," they replied, and spread out a cloak into which everyone threw a ring from his booty. 他们答说:"我们情愿给你。"于是铺开一件外衣,每人把所掠夺的金环掷在上面。 26 The gold rings that he requested weighed seventeen hundred gold shekels, in addition to the crescents and pendants, the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the trappings that were on the necks of their camels. 他所要的金环共有一千七百"协刻耳"重;此外尚有月牙环、耳环和米德杨王所穿的紫红衣,及他们骆驼颈上的项链。 27 Gideon made an ephod out of the gold and placed it in his city Ophrah. However, all 基德红用这些金子造了一个"厄弗得"安置在他本城敖弗辣。以色列众人都到那里行邪淫,因此这个"厄弗得"便成了基德红及其家族的罗网。 28 Thus was Midian brought into subjection by the Israelites; no longer did they hold their heads high. And the land had rest for forty years, during the lifetime of Gideon. 米德杨在以色列子民前面屈服,再没有抬起头来。基德红在世时,境内平安了四十年。 29 Then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went back home to stay. 约阿士的儿子耶鲁巴耳回去,安居在自己家中。 30 Now Gideon had seventy sons, his direct descendants, for he had many wives. 基德红有七十个儿子,都是他亲生的,因为他有很多妻子。 31 3 His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 他在舍根的妾也给他生了一个儿子,给他起名叫阿彼默肋客。 32 At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, died and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 约阿士的儿子基德红寿终正寝,埋在阿彼厄则尔的敖弗辣,他父亲约阿士的坟墓里。 33 4 But after Gideon was dead, the Israelites again abandoned themselves to the Baals, making Baal of Berith their god 基德红死后,以色列子民又去跟从巴耳诸神行邪淫,立巴耳贝黎特当做他们的天主。 34 and forgetting the LORD, their God, who had delivered them from the power of their enemies all around them. 以色列子民忘记了上主他们的天主,曾从四周所有的敌人手中救了他们, 35 Nor were they grateful to the family of Jerubbaal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for 也没有恩待耶鲁巴耳即基德红的家,以报答他施于以色列的恩惠。 Footnotes(注解) 1 [6] Are the hands . . . in your possession . . . ?: i.e., can you already boast of victory? The hands as well as the heads of slain enemies were cut off and counted as trophies; cf 2 Sam 4:8; 2 Kings 10:7-8; and the Ugaritic Anath Epic, V AB, II 10ff. 2 [24] Ishmaelites: here as in Genesis 37:25-28, the designation is not ethnic; it refers rather to their status as nomads. 3 [31] Concubine: a wife of secondary rank. 4 [33] Baal of Berith: one of the titles of Baal as worshiped by the Canaanites of Shechem, meaning "the lord of the covenant." |