Jeremiah’s Complaint
1You are always righteous, Lord,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3Yet you know me, Lord;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5“If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble12:5 Or you feel secure only in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by12:5 Or the flooding of the Jordan?
6Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.
7“I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.
8My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
9Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
11It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
12Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.
13They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
14This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
耶利米的抱怨
1耶和華啊，每次我與你爭論，
都顯明你是對的。
然而，我還是和你討論公正：
為什麼惡人總是得勢？
為什麼詭詐之人反而生活安逸？
2你栽培他們，讓他們生根長大，
結出果實。
他們嘴上尊崇你，
心卻遠離你。
3但耶和華啊，你認識我，瞭解我，
察驗我是否一心向你。
求你拖走他們，
就像拖走待宰的羊，
留到宰殺之日。
4大地哀慟、
田野的植物枯槁要到何時呢？
由於這地方居民的罪惡，
野獸和飛鳥都滅絕了。
他們說：「上帝看不見我們的行為12·4 「上帝看不見我們的行為」參照《七十士譯本》，希伯來文也可譯作「他（指耶利米）看不見我們的結局」。。」
5耶和華說：「如果你與步行的人競走，
尚且感到疲乏，
又怎能與馬賽跑呢？
如果你在安全之地尚且跌倒，
在約旦河邊的叢林中又會怎樣呢？
6就連你的弟兄和家人都背叛了你，
叫囂著與你為敵。
任他們甜言蜜語，你不要相信。
7「我已離開我的殿，
撇棄我的產業，
把我愛的子民交給他們的敵人。
8我的產業像林中的獅子一樣向我吼叫，
因此我憎惡他們；
9我的產業就像一隻帶斑點的鷙鳥，
被其他鷙鳥圍攻。
去招聚一切野獸來吞吃牠吧！
10列國的首領毀壞我的葡萄園，
踐踏我美好的土地，
使之淪為荒涼的曠野。
11他們使這片土地荒涼，
荒涼之地在我面前哀哭。
遍地如此荒涼，卻無人在意。
12毀滅者已上到曠野中光禿的山嶺，
耶和華的刀劍橫掃全境，
無人可以平安穩妥。
13我的子民播種麥子，
卻收割荊棘；
辛勤耕耘，卻一無所獲。
因耶和華的烈怒，他們必收獲羞辱。」
14耶和華說：「邪惡的鄰國侵佔了我賜給我以色列子民的土地，我要將他們從本土連根拔起，我要將猶大家從他們中間連根拔起。 15我將他們連根拔起以後，還要再憐憫他們，把他們帶回各自的家園和故土。 16如果他們真心學習我子民的信仰，憑永活的耶和華之名起誓，正如他們教導我子民憑巴力起誓一樣，他們必歸入我的子民中。 17如果哪一國不聽我的話，我必把它連根拔起，徹底毀滅。這是耶和華說的。」
