耶利米哀歌 3
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
刑罰、悔改和盼望
3 我在耶和華烈怒的杖下受盡痛苦。
2 祂把我趕進黑暗，
使我不見光明，
3 又屢屢攻擊我，終日不斷。
4 祂使我皮肉枯槁，
祂折斷我的骨頭。
5 祂使我四面受困，
嚐盡痛苦艱辛。
6 祂使我住在幽暗中，
像久已死去的人。
7 祂圍困我，使我無法逃脫，
祂給我戴上沉重的銅鏈。
8 即使我哀哭呼求，
祂也掩耳不聽。
9 祂用鑿好的石頭阻擋我的去路，
使我的道路曲折難行。
10 祂像埋伏的巨熊，
又像伺機突襲的猛獅，
11 把我拖離大路，
將我撕成碎片，一片淒涼。
12 祂彎弓搭箭，把我當箭靶，
13 用箭袋中的箭射穿我的心臟。
14 我成了萬人的笑柄，
他們終日唱歌諷刺我。
15 祂使我飽受苦楚，嚐盡苦澀。
16 祂用石頭打斷我的牙齒，
把我踐踏在塵土中。
17 我失去平安，
忘記了什麼是快樂。
18 我說：「我精疲力竭，
對耶和華失去盼望。」
19 想起我的痛苦和漂泊流離，
就如苦艾和膽汁一樣苦澀。
20 那情景縈繞心頭，
使我心情沉重。
21 然而，我想起這事，
便有了盼望，
22 就是耶和華的慈愛永不終止，
祂的憐憫永無窮盡。
23 祂的慈愛和憐憫每天早晨都是新的，
祂的信實無比偉大！
24 我心裡知道，
耶和華是我的產業，
我要仰望祂。
25 耶和華必賜福給那些等候和尋求祂的人，
26 因此，默然等候耶和華的拯救是美好的。
27 年輕時負軛受苦是有益的。
28 受耶和華管教時，
要默然獨坐。
29 要謙卑，臉伏於地，
或許還有希望。
30 要任人打臉，甘心忍受凌辱。
31 因為主不會永遠撇棄人。
32 主儘管使人憂傷，
祂依然憐憫人，
因為祂有無限的慈愛。
33 祂不願使人憂傷、痛苦。
34 將囚犯踩在腳下，
35 在至高者面前冤枉他人，
36 審理案件時顛倒是非，
都是主所不容許的。
37 若非主許可，
誰的話可以兌現呢？
38 禍福豈不都出自至高者的口嗎？
39 世人因自己的罪受罰，
又何必怨天尤人呢？
40 我們要省察自己的行為，
重新歸向耶和華。
41 讓我們舉起雙手，
誠心向天上的上帝禱告說：
42 「我們犯罪、背叛，
你沒有赦免我們。
43 「你滿懷憤怒地追趕我們，
毫不留情地殺戮我們。
44 你以密雲遮蓋自己，
以致禱告達不到你那裡。
45 你使我們在列國中淪為廢物、渣滓。
46 「我們的仇敵都幸災樂禍。
47 我們充滿恐懼，
面臨陷阱、殘害和毀滅。」
48 因同胞被毀滅，我淚流成河。
49 我的眼淚湧流不息，
50 直到耶和華從天上垂顧。
51 目睹城中婦女的遭遇，
我痛苦不已。
52 敵人無故地追捕我，
如同捕獵飛鳥。
53 他們把我推進坑裡，
又用石頭砸我。
54 水已經漫過我的頭，
我想我要滅亡了。
55 耶和華啊，
我在深淵呼求你的名。
56 你曾垂聽我的呼求，
求你現在不要掩耳不聽我的祈禱。
57 我向你呼求的時候，
你曾走近我身旁，
安慰我說：「不用害怕！」
58 主啊，你為我申了冤，
救贖了我的性命。
59 耶和華啊，你已明察我的冤情，
求你為我主持公道。
60 你看見了他們怎樣仇恨我、
謀害我。
61 你聽見了他們怎樣辱罵我、
謀害我。
62 他們整天誹謗我，圖謀害我。
63 你看！他們或坐下或起來，
都唱歌諷刺我。
64 耶和華啊，
求你按照他們的所作所為報應他們！
65 求你使他們心裡頑固，
好讓你的咒詛落在他們身上！
66 求你發怒追趕他們，
從世上剷除他們！
Lamentations 3
The Message
God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness
3 1-3 I’m the man who has seen trouble,
trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger.
He took me by the hand and walked me
into pitch-black darkness.
Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand
over and over and over again.
4-6 He turned me into a skeleton
of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
poured on the trouble and hard times.
He locked me up in deep darkness,
like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
7-9 He shuts me in so I’ll never get out,
handcuffs my wrists, shackles my feet.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
He’s got me cornered.
10-12 He’s a prowling bear tracking me down,
a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
He took out his bow and arrows
and used me for target practice.
13-15 He shot me in the stomach
with arrows from his quiver.
Everyone took me for a joke,
made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
bloated me with vile drinks.
16-18 He ground my face into the gravel.
He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished.
God is a lost cause.”
It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The “worst” is never the worst.
31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
34-36 Stomping down hard
on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
the Master does not approve of such things.
God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37-39 Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?
It’s the Master who gives such orders.
Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
good things and hard things alike, into being?
And why would anyone gifted with life
complain when punished for sin?
40-42 Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
and reorder our lives under God.
Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
praying to God in heaven:
“We’ve been contrary and willful,
and you haven’t forgiven.
43-45 “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.
You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds
so no prayers could get through.
You treated us like dirty dishwater,
threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
46-48 “Our enemies shout abuse,
their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
We’ve been to hell and back.
We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
Rivers of tears pour from my eyes
at the smashup of my dear people.
49-51 “The tears stream from my eyes,
an artesian well of tears,
Until you, God, look down from on high,
look and see my tears.
When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
the pain breaks my heart.
52-54 “Enemies with no reason to be enemies
hunted me down like a bird.
They threw me into a pit,
then pelted me with stones.
Then the rains came and filled the pit.
The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’
55-57 “I called out your name, O God,
called from the bottom of the pit.
You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears!
Get me out of here! Save me!’
You came close when I called out.
You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’
58-60 “You took my side, Master;
you brought me back alive!
God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.
Give me my day in court!
Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes,
their plots to destroy me.
61-63 “You heard, God, their vicious gossip,
their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief,
hatching malice, day after day after day.
Sitting down or standing up—just look at them!—
they mock me with vulgar doggerel.
64-66 “Make them pay for what they’ve done, God.
Give them their just deserts.
Break their miserable hearts!
Damn their eyes!
Get good and angry. Hunt them down.
Make a total demolition here under your heaven!”
Lamentations 3
EasyEnglish Bible
From trouble to hope[a]
3 I am the man who has seen trouble.
God punished me because he was angry with me.
2 He has led me into the dark.
There is no light, so I cannot see the right way.
3 He is completely against me.[b]
He causes me trouble all the time.
4 God has caused my skin and my whole body to become old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has fought against me from every side.
He caused much trouble for me,
so that I am very sad.
6 He has brought me to this dark place.
So I am like a person who has been dead for a long time.
7 It is as if God has built high walls round me, and I cannot go out.
My troubles are very bad.
They hold me down like heavy chains.
8 I shout and I pray for help, but God does not listen.
9 On every road that I go along, he has put big rocks in my way.
I cannot go past them.
10 God is like a strong wild animal.
He hides and he waits for me by the path.
11 He is like an animal that catches me and pulls me off the path.
He tears me in pieces and then he leaves me without any help.
12 God is like a soldier with a bow and arrows.
He used his bow to shoot at me.
13 It was as if he shot me in the heart with his arrows.
14 All the people see me and laugh.
They even sing silly songs about me all the time.
15 God has caused my life to become a thing of pain.
It is as if he filled a cup with a very bitter drink for me.
16 It is as if he caused me to eat small stones, so that the stones broke my teeth.
Then he put me on the ground, and he pushed me down in the dirt.
17 He has taken peace away from my mind.
I cannot remember the happy days that I had before.
18 I tell myself, ‘Everything good has finished for me!
The things that I hoped for from the Lord have not come!’
19 Lord, please remember all my troubles, because I am sad.
Remember that I am very lonely.
My troubles are like poison for me.
20 I think about all those things,
and I feel small and alone.
21 But then I choose to remember God,
and this is my hope:[c]
22 The Lord's faithful love never comes to an end.
He never stops being kind to us.[d]
23 Every day, we can trust him to be kind again.
We know that he will do what he has promised to do.
24 ‘He is my Lord,’ I say to myself.
‘He is the reason why I can hope for good things.’
25 The Lord does good things for people who wait for him.
He is kind to everyone who looks for him.
26 It is good when people continue to hope.
It is good when they quietly wait for the Lord,
because he will save them.
27 It is also good for people to obey God when they are young.
They should work well for him.
28 Also, when the Lord causes them to be in trouble,
they should sit alone quietly.[e]
29 They should be humble in front of God.[f]
Then hope may come again.
30 If somebody hits them or insults them, they should accept it.[g]
31 The Lord does not turn against people for ever.
32 He does cause people to feel sad sometimes,
but he is sorry for us.
He is also very kind to us, because he loves us very much.
33 He does not enjoy seeing people who are in pain.
He does not enjoy causing trouble for them.[h]
34 Bad people may be cruel to those who are in prison.
35 They may turn against the Most High God and cheat people.
36 They may tell lies in court.
The Lord is not happy when he sees any of those bad things.
37 The Lord causes things to happen.
Nobody can cause things to happen without him.
38 The Most High God causes all things to happen.
He causes good things and bad things to happen when he speaks.
39 He only punishes us when we do wrong things.
We are still alive, so we should not be angry with God.
40 Instead, we should think a lot about what we do,
and we should turn back to the Lord again.
41 We should lift up our hands and pray to God in heaven.[i]
We should be honest with God and say to him,
42 ‘We have done wrong things,
and we have turned against you.
You have not forgiven us.
43 You have hidden yourself from us because you are angry.
You have followed us so that you could kill us.
You were not sorry about it.
44 You have hidden from us in a cloud.
So you do not listen to us when we talk to you.
45 You let people from other countries think bad things about us.
They think that we have no value.
We are like things that nobody can use any longer.
46 All our enemies have insulted us.
47 We have become afraid of them.
They have caught us and they have destroyed us and our things.’[j]
48 I weep, and my eyes are red with all my tears.
It is because the enemy has killed my people.
49 Tears come like a river from my eyes and they will not stop,
50 until the Lord looks down on us from heaven.
He will see us and he will help us.
51 I see what has happened to all the people in my city.
And so I am very sad.
52 My enemies had no reason to follow me.
But they caught me as they would catch a bird.
53 They put me alive into the well,
and they threw stones down on me.
54 The water covered my head.
Then I said, ‘I will soon die.’
55 I shouted your name, Lord,
when I was in the well.
56 ‘Please listen to me, Lord,’ I shouted.
‘Help me! Save me!’ I shouted,
and you heard me.
57 You came near to me when I prayed to you.
‘Do not be afraid,’ you said.
58 Lord, you have given me help.
You have paid the price to keep me alive.
59 You saw the bad things that they did to me.
So please agree with me that they were not fair!
60 You know all the bad things that they did to me.
And you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
61 You have heard their cruel words against me, Lord.
Yes, you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
62 These people have been cruel to me.
They attack me with cruel words every hour of the day.
63 Look at them as they sing cruel things about me.
They sing when they are sitting, and they sing when they are standing.
64 Punish them for what they have done, Lord.
65 Cause them to think that they cannot hope for anything good.
Cause bad things to happen to them.
66 Run after them angrily.
Kill them all because you are angry with them.
Let nobody on earth remember them any longer.
Footnotes
- 3:1 In this chapter, Jeremiah is speaking.
- 3:3 God may be angry with his people and he may punish them. He punishes them so that they learn from him. But they must not think that he has also stopped loving them. God is not against them, but he is against their sin.
- 3:21 Jeremiah begins to hope again. God's people think that God has forgotten to be kind.
- 3:22 Now Jeremiah is telling them true things about God. It is always good to believe God. We must remember what he has promised. And we should believe him even more when bad things happen to us.
- 3:28 God does not speak to us when we are talking all the time.
- 3:29 When people felt small or ashamed in front of God, they often lay down on the ground.
- 3:30 Jesus spoke about this too in Matthew 5:39.
- 3:33 God only wants people to learn from him. Then they can be happy.
- 3:41 Heaven is the name of God's home.
- 3:47 Jeremiah has suggested an honest way for the people to speak to God.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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