玛加伯下 2 Maccabees Chapter 12
2 Maccabees
Chapter 12

1 After these agreements were made, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went about their farming.

条约既定,里息雅便回到王那里,犹太人则去从事农业。

2 1 But some of the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, as also Hieronymus and Demophon, to say nothing of Nicanor, the commander of the Cyprians, would not allow them to live in peace.

可是,有几位地方总督如提摩太、革纳约的儿子阿颇罗尼、耶洛尼摩、德摩丰、和塞浦路斯军队的总司令尼加诺尔,仍然不让犹太人安居乐业。

3 Some people of Joppa also committed this outrage: they invited the Jews who lived among them, together with their wives and children, to embark on boats which they had provided. There was no hint of enmity toward them;

而且,约培的居民又作出一件残暴的事:他们邀请那些住在他们中间的犹太人携带妻子儿女,登上他们预备好的船,表面上毫无加害他们的意思,

4 this was done by public vote of the city. When the Jews, not suspecting treachery and wishing to live on friendly terms, accepted the invitation, the people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them.

并说是按市民大众的决议行事。犹太人因爱好和平,不疑有诈,便接受了邀请;到了海中,他们即被推到海中,至少淹死了二百人。

5 As soon as Judas heard of the barbarous deed perpetrated against his countrymen, he summoned his men;

犹大听说同胞们遭受了这样的残害,便集合起他的部下,

6 and after calling upon God, the just judge, he marched against the murderers of his kinsmen. In a night attack he set the harbor on fire, burnt the boats, and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there.

呼求了公义的判官天主以后,就出击那些残杀自己同胞的人,夜间放火烧港,焚毁船只,杀了所有逃避在那里的人。

7 When the gates of the town were shut, he withdrew, intending to come back later and wipe out the entire population of Joppa.

由于城市已经关闭,他便暂且收兵,有意再次歼灭约培城中所有的人民。

8 On hearing that the men of Jamnia planned to give like treatment to the Jews who lived among them,

同时他又得知雅木尼雅人对侨居的犹太人也将采取同样的行动,

9 he attacked the Jamnian populace by night, setting fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the flames was visible as far as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.

便乘夜袭击雅木尼雅人,放火焚烧港口及船只,火光烛天,以致远在二百四十“斯塔狄”外的耶路撒冷都可看见。

10 2 When the Jews had gone about a mile from there in the campaign against Timothy, they were attacked by Arabs numbering at least five thousand foot soldiers, and five hundred horsemen.

他们从那里起程,走了不到九“斯塔狄”,正要去攻打提摩太的时候,阿刺伯人便前来迎击,计有步兵不下五千,骑兵五百。

11 After a hard fight, Judas and his companions, with God's help, were victorious. The defeated nomads begged Judas to make friends with them and promised to supply the Jews with cattle and to help them in every other way.

战事极其激烈,犹大的军队赖天主的协助,获得全胜;这些打败的游牧民族,便向犹大求和,许下送给他牲畜,并在各种事上接济他。

12 Realizing that they could indeed be useful in many respects, Judas agreed to make peace with them. After the pledge of friendship had been exchanged, the Arabs withdrew to their tents.

犹大知道他们在许多事上,的确对自己有利,所以同意与他们讲和;双方握手言好之后,都回了自己的营幕。

13 He also attacked a certain city called Caspin, fortified with earthworks and ramparts and inhabited by a mixed population of Gentiles.

犹大又进军攻击一座筑有垣墙与堡垒的坚城,住在里面的是些混杂的民族,城名叫做卡斯平。

14 Relying on the strength of their walls and their supply of provisions, the besieged treated Judas and his men with contempt, insulting them and even uttering blasphemies and profanity.

城内的人仗着城墙坚固,又有储备的食粮,就以蛮横的态度对待犹大及他的部下,百般辱骂,口出恶言。

15 But Judas and his men invoked the aid of the great Sovereign of the world, who, in the day of Joshua, overthrew Jericho without battering-ram or siege machine; then they furiously stormed the ramparts.

但是,犹大与他的部下呼号了那位在若苏厄时代,不用冲城车和军械倾复了耶里哥城的宇宙大主宰以后,就猛攻城墙。

16 Capturing the city by the will of God, they inflicted such indescribable slaughter on it that the adjacent pool, which was about a quarter of a mile wide, seemed to be filled with the blood that flowed into it.

因天主的旨意,他们占据了这城,大加屠杀,以致附近宽约二“斯塔狄”的湖,好象注满了血。

17 3 When they had gone on some ninety miles, they reached Charax, where there were certain Jews known as Toubiani.

他们由此再向前推进,走了约七百五十“斯塔狄”,便到达哈辣斯,以往称为托布人的犹太人住在那里。

18 But they did not find Timothy in that region, for he had already departed from there without having done anything except to leave behind in one place a very strong garrison.

他们在那里没有找到提摩太,因为他既一无所成,已离开那里,只在某地留下一批极精锐的军队。

19 But Dositheus and Sosipater, two of Maccabeus' captains, marched out and destroyed the force of more than ten thousand men that Timothy had left in the stronghold.

玛加伯的将军多息太及索息帕托便动身往那里去,剿灭了提摩太留在堡中的一万多人。

20 Meanwhile, Maccabeus divided his army into cohorts, with a commander over each cohort, and went in pursuit of Timothy, who had a force of a hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred horsemen.

同时,玛加伯把自己的军队分成数队,并给每队指派一人作统帅,然后引军进攻率领十二万步兵和二千五百骑兵的提摩太。

21 When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent on ahead of him the women and children, as well as the baggage, to a place called Karnion, which was hard to besiege and even hard to reach because of the difficult terrain of that region.

提摩太听说犹大来攻。就先将妇孺及行李遣送到名叫卡尔纳殷的地方去,因为那地方四周地势险要,不易围攻,难以侵犯。

22 But when Judas' first cohort appeared, the enemy was overwhelmed with fear and terror at the manifestation of the All-seeing. Scattering in every direction, they rushed away in such headlong flight that in many cases they wounded one another, pierced by the swords of their own men.

犹大的前锋部队一出现,因了无所不见者的显现,敌人感到恐怖惊惶,夺路奔逃,甚至自相残杀,彼此刀锋相刺。

23 Judas pressed the pursuit vigorously, putting the sinners to the sword and destroying as many as thirty thousand men.

于是犹大奋勇追击子杀了这批罪犯,歼灭了约三万人,

24 Timothy himself fell into the hands of the men under Dositheus and Sosipater; but with great cunning, he asked them to spare his life and let him go, because he had in his power the parents and relatives of many of them, and could make these suffer.

连提摩太自己也落在多息太及索息帕托部队的手里;那人却以巧言花语求他们释放自己,得保性命,因为他说:“在他权下尚有很多犹太人的父母兄弟,如他本人受害,这些人也必遭凶祸。”

25 When he had fully confirmed his solemn pledge to restore them unharmed, they let him go for the sake of saving their brethren.

他用了很多话来说服他们,且也发誓许下把那些人遣回;他们就为了自己弟兄的安全将他释放了。

26 4 Judas then marched to Karnion and the shrine of Atargatis, where he killed twenty-five thousand people.

犹大又进攻卡尔纳殷及阿塔加提庙,击杀了二万五千人。

27 After the defeat and destruction of these, he moved his army to Ephron, a fortified city inhabited by people of many nationalities. Robust young men took up their posts in defense of the walls, from which they fought valiantly; inside were large supplies of machines and missiles.

杀退了这些仇人以后,犹大又领兵进攻里息雅及各族军民驻扎的厄斐龙坚城;城外有健壮的青年军人列阵把守,城内存有大批的军械和箭矢。

28 But the Jews, invoking the Sovereign who forcibly shatters the might of his enemies, got possession of the city and slaughtered twenty-, five thousand of the people in it.

但犹太人呼号以威力粉碎敌军的主宰以后,遂占领了这城,杀死约二万五千居民。

29 5 Then they set out from there and hastened on to Scythopolis, seventy-five miles from Jerusalem.

又从那里出发,进攻距离耶路撒冷六百“斯塔狄”的史托颇里。

30 But when the Jews who lived there testified to the good will shown by the Scythopolitans and to their kind treatment even in times of adversity,

但是那里的犹太侨民证明史托颇里居民对他们非常友善,在患难时特别恩待他们;

31 Judas and his men thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Finally they arrived in Jerusalem, shortly before the feast of Weeks.

因此犹大与其部下表示感激,也忠告他们以后对自己的民族继续表示友善。因七七节来近了,他们便回了耶路撒冷。

32 After this feast called Pentecost, they lost no time in marching against Gorgias, governor of Idumea,

过了所谓的五旬节以后,他们又出发进攻依舍默雅的总督哥尔基雅。

33 who opposed them with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen.

哥尔基雅率领三千步兵,四百骑兵出来应战。

34 In the ensuing battle, a few of the Jews were slain.

双方交锋后,有些犹太人阵亡了。

35 6 A man called Dositheus, a powerful horseman and one of Bacenor's men, caught hold of Gorgias, grasped his military cloak and dragged him along by main strength, intending to capture the vile wretch alive, when a Thracian horseman attacked Dositheus and cut off his arm at the shoulder. Then Gorgias fled to Marisa.

那时,托布队中一名叫多息太的,骁勇善骑,赶上哥尔基雅,扯住他的外衣,用力拉他,想活活捉住这个可咒骂的人。不料有个特辣克的骑兵,向他扑来,砍伤多息太的肩膀。这样哥尔基雅便逃到玛黎撒去了。

36 After Esdris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle.

此时,厄刺辣的部下,由于长久作战,都感厌倦;犹大便呼求上主显示助战,作他们作战的领导;

37 Then, raising a battle cry in his ancestral language, and with songs, he charged Gorgias' men when they were not expecting it and put them to flight.

然后用祖国的语言高呼战斗的口号,歌唱诗歌,进攻突袭哥尔基雅的部队,使他们瓦解。

38 Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there.

事后,犹大率领兵马,到了阿杜蓝城;因为已到第七日,他们就在那里照例自洁,过了安息日。

39 On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs.

第二天,由于事不宜迟,犹大的部队便出去收敛阵亡的尸体,好把他们安葬在祖坟里,与亲族在一起。

40 But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain.

当时在每个死者的内衣下,发现都有雅木尼雅偶像的符录,这原是法律禁止佩带的;众人便都明白这正是他们阵亡的原因。

41 They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden.

于是众人称赞秉公审判及揭示隐密的上主,

42 7 Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.

同心哀祷,使所犯过恶,得以完全赦免。随后英勇的犹大劝勉民众避免犯罪,因为人都亲眼看见这些阵亡者因罪所受的罚。

43 He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view;

于是大众募集了二千银“达玛”,送到耶路撒冷作赎罪祭的献仪:他作的是一件很美妙高超的事,因为他想念着复活;

44 for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.

如果他不希望那些死过的人还要复活,为亡者祈祷,便是一种多余而糊涂的事。

45 But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.

何况他还想到为那些善终的人保留下的超等报酬:这实在是一个圣善而虔诚的思想。

46 Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

为此,他为亡者献赎罪祭,是为叫他们获得罪赦。



Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Footnotes(注解)

1 [2] Apollonius, son of Gennaeus: not the Apollonius who was the son of Menestheus (2 Macc 4:21). Nicanor: probably distinct from the Nicanor of 2 Macc 14:2.

2 [10] From there: not from the aforesaid Jamnia (2 Macc 12:8-9) or Joppa (2 Macc 12:3-7), but from a place in Transjordan; 2 Macc 12:10-26 parallel the account given in 1 Macc 5:9-13, 24-54 of Judas' campaign in northern Transjordan.

3 [17] Certain Jews known as Toubiani: because they lived "in the land of Tob" (1 Macc 5:13).

4 [26] Atargatis: a Syrian goddess, represented by the body of a fish.

5 [29] Scythopolis: the Greek name of the city of Beth-shan; cf 1 Macc 5:52.

6 [35] One of Bacenor's men: certain ancient witnesses to the text have "one of the Toubiani"; cf 2 Macc 12:17.

7 [42-45] This is the earliest statement of the doctrine that prayers (2 Macc 12:42) and sacrifices (2 Macc 12:43) for the dead are efficacious. The statement is made here, however, only for the purpose of proving that Judas believed in the resurrection of the just (2 Macc 7:9, 14, 23, 36). That is, he believed that expiation could be made for certain sins of otherwise good men-soldiers who had given their lives for God's cause. Thus, they could share in the resurrection. His belief was similar to, but not quite the same as, the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.