|
The Book of Wisdom 1 But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing all with mercy. 至于你，我们的天主，你是良善的，忠实的，宽容的，以慈爱治理万有。 2 For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you. 3 For to know you well is complete justice, and to know your might is the root of immortality. 实在，认识你就是完美的正义；承认你的主权，就是不死不灭的根源。 4 For neither did the evil creation of men's fancy deceive us, nor the fruitless labor of painters, A form smeared with varied colors, 为此，人邪恶的创作，画家无益的作品，各式各色的画图，都没有使我们误入迷途； 5 the sight of which arouses yearning in the senseless man, till he longs for the inanimate form of a dead image. 不过，愚人一见这些画像，就大动情欲，贪恋这些无灵的死像。 6 Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes are they who make them and long for them and worship them. 凡制造、爱慕、恭敬偶像的，实是邪恶的情人，只堪将希望寄于无灵之物。 7 For truly the potter, laboriously working the soft earth, molds for our service each several article: Both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites, all alike; As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class the worker in clay is the judge. 有个陶人用力抟软泥，制成各种器皿，以供我们使用：但是，他可用同样的泥土，做成洁净事用的器皿，同样，也可做成为卑污事用的器皿；至于，每件作何用途，皆由陶人断定。 8 And with misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay; though he himself shortly before was made from the earth And after a little, is to go whence he was taken, when the life that was lent him is demanded back. 9 But his concern is not that he is to die nor that his span of life is brief; Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths and emulates molders of bronze, and takes pride in modeling counterfeits. 他并不想死亡将至，生命短促，只图与金匠银匠竞争，仿效铜匠，以制造虚伪之物为荣。 10 Ashes his heart is! more worthless than earth is his hope, and more ignoble than clay his life; 他的心已如死灰，他的希望比尘埃还卑微，他的生命比泥土更卑贱。 11 Because he knew not the one who fashioned him, and breathed into him a quickening soul, and infused a vital spirit. 12 Instead, he esteemed our life a plaything, and our span of life a holiday for gain; ＂For one must,＂ says he, ＂make profit every way, be it even out of evil.＂ 他反将我们的生命视为儿戏，将此生看作惟利是图的市场，说：＂人必须用各样的方法，甚至利用不义的手段，获得利润。＂ 13 For this man more than any knows that he is sinning, when out of earthen stuff he creates fragile vessels and idols alike. 凡用泥料制造易破的器皿和偶像的，应比其它一切人更清楚知道自己犯了罪。 14 But all quite senseless, and worse than childish in mind, are the enemies of your people who enslaved them. 但是，最愚蠢，比婴儿还可怜的，还是那些仇视并虐待你百姓的人。 15 For they esteemed all the idols of the nations gods, which have no use of the eyes for vision, nor nostrils to snuff the air, Nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands for feeling; even their feet are useless to walk with. 他们将异邦人所有的偶像都看作神明；这些神明有眼不能看，有鼻不能喘气，有耳不能听，有手不能摸，有脚不能行， 16 For a man made them; one whose spirit has been lent him fashioned them. For no man succeeds in fashioning a god like himself; 因为都是人的作品，是那由天主借得气息的人所捏造的，实在没有一人能造出一个与自己相似的神； 17 being mortal, he makes a dead thing with his lawless hands. For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never they. 有死的人，只能用邪恶的手造出死像；他本人原胜过他所崇拜的东西，因为他尚有生命，这些东西却从来没有。 18 1 2 And besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts-- for compared as to folly, these are worse than the rest, 此外，他们竟然还敬拜那些最可憎恶的动物，因为，这些动物与其它动物相比，更为愚笨。 19 Nor for their looks are they good or desirable beasts, but they have escaped both the approval of God and his blessing. 再就其为动物而言，也并不美丽，或值得人爱，只是些不得天主赞赏和祝福的东西。 Footnotes(注解) 1 [18-20] The author here returns to the main theme of Wisdom 10-19 which was interrupted by the digression Wisdom 13:1-15, 17. 2 [18] For . . . rest: this may mean that the creatures worshiped by the Egyptians (e.g., crocodiles, serpents, scarabs, etc.) were more patently lacking in intelligence than the general run of beasts; cf Wisdom 11:15; 12:24. |
|
||||||
    |
||||||
