| 智慧篇 | Wisdom |
|---|
| 1上主，你的裁判的确高深难明，因此，不愿受教的灵魂走入了迷途。 | 1How great are your purposes and how difficult to explain! People who have not learned about them have gone astray. |
| 2不法的人自以为能压服圣民，反而被黑暗所束缚，为长夜所桎梏，囚禁在斗室中，被弃于永远照顾之外。 | 2While the godless thought they had the holy nation in their power, they themselves were prisoners, captives of a long night, shut in under their own roofs, banished from eternal providence. |
| 3他们原想在人不留意的黑幕下，可以掩藏隐密的罪恶，自己反为黑暗所侵袭，大起恐慌为鬼怪所惊扰， | 3Although they counted on their sins remaining hidden under the veil of forgetfulness, they were scattered and at the same time dismayed and terrified by visions. |
| 4以致连掩护他们的内室，也不能保护他们不受惊惶，使人恐怖的声音环绕在他们四周，哭丧著脸的忧戚怪物，出现在他们面前。 | 4The dark places where they sheltered could not protect them from fear, they heard horrific noises and were confronted with ghastly and mournful apparitions. |
| 5火没有一点能力供给他们光亮，星辰的光辉，也无法照明这可怕的黑夜， | 5No fire could give them light, while the sparkling radiance of the stars dared not shine on that horrible night. |
| 6只有忽然自动燃起的极为可怕的火炬，显示给他们，吓得他们不知所措；在幻像不见之后，他们幻想之所见，比所见的实物更为可怕。 | 6All that shone for them was an inextinguishable and terrifying fire and, in their terror, when this vision ended, they imagined their situation to be worse than it was. |
| 7他们的邪术尽失效力，他们夸耀的学识，全蒙耻受辱： | 7Their magic arts failed and their pretence to intelligence was utterly confounded; |
| 8他们曾应许，为患精神病者驱除恐惧与慌乱，自己却患了可笑的胆怯病； | 8those who claimed to eliminate the fear and disturbance of the sick mind were themselves afflicted with a ridiculous fear. |
| 9即使没有可怕的事来恐吓，连走兽经过，或毒蛇嗤嗤一声，他们也大为惊慌，吓得魂不附体，以致连这无可逃避的空气也不愿再看。 | 9Although there was nothing to cause this fear, they were terrified by the buzz of insects and the hiss of snakes; |
| 10邪恶的心本来就胆怯，自证自己有罪，受着天良的催迫，时常向坏处着想。 | 10they died convulsed with fear, refusing to look even at the air from which no one may escape. |
| 11恐惧不是别的，只是将理性的助力，弃而不用； | 11Wickedness is cowardly and is condemned by itself; pursued by conscience it always assumes the worst. |
| 12人对内心的依赖越薄弱，越难明了遇难的原因。 | 12For fear is no more than giving up the help that reason is able to give. |
| 13在那来自毫无生力的阴府深处，使人无法工作的黑夜里，仍照样去睡觉的人， | 13Inasmuch as this help is lacking interiorly, the unknown cause of one's torments seems greater. |
| 14有的因魑魅的怪状而惊惶，有的因心志绝望而沮丧，因为，突然而意外的惊惧，忽临到他们身上。 | 14So all that night, a night issued from the powerless netherworld that took hold of them while they slept and made everyone powerless, |
| 15因此，不拘谁倒在那里，就在那里被囚，幽禁在没有铁闩的囹圄中； | 15they were either pursued by monstrous ghosts or paralyzed by a sudden, unexpected fear. |
| 16不论他是农夫，或是牧人，或是在偏僻乡野操作的工人，都得骤然忍受这不可逃避的厄运，因为人人都被一条黑暗的锁链束缚住了； | 16Whoever had fallen lay there, shut in a prison not made of iron. |
| 17不论是呼啸的风声，或是密枝间鸟雀的吱喳叫声，或是溪水的急流声， | 17Whether plowman or shepherd or someone working by himself, he had to submit to an inevitable fate; |
| 18或是岩石崩裂的强烈响声，或是走兽就隐约的跳跃声，或是猛兽的吼叫声，或是山谷间的响彻回声，都能使他们胆战心惊。 | 18all were bound by the same chain of darkness.
Everything held them paralyzed by fear: the sighing of the wind and the tuneful song of the birds in spreading branches, the continuous noise of rushing water |
| 19其时，整个世界正为辉煌的光明所照耀，进行工作毫无阻碍； | 19and the terrible crash of falling rocks, the swift, invisible bounding of animals and the terrifying roar of wild beasts, the echo rebounding from the mountains - all was a cause of fear. |
| 20沉重的黑暗，只笼罩着他们，这是未来要接收他们的黑暗的预像；其实，他们为他们自己，比黑暗还更为沈重。 | 20The whole world shone in brilliant light and continued its work without hindrance; |
| 21 | 21they alone were covered in the darkness of night, the image of night that would be their lot. But even heavier than the darkness was the burden they were for themselves. |
