5:8 禍哉!那些以房接房,以地連地,以致不留餘地的,只顧自己獨居境內。
5:9 我耳聞萬軍之耶和華說:必有許多又大又美的房屋成為荒涼,無人居住。
5:10 三十畝葡萄園只出一罷特酒;一賀梅珥穀種只結一伊法糧食。
5:11 禍哉!那些清早起來追求濃酒,留連到夜深,甚至因酒發燒的人。
5:12 他們在筵席上彈琴,鼓瑟,擊鼓,吹笛,飲酒,卻不顧念耶和華的作為,也不留心他手所做的。
5:13 所以,我的百姓因無知就被擄去;他們的尊貴人甚是飢餓,群眾極其乾渴。
5:14 故此,陰間擴張其欲,開了無限量的口;他們的榮耀、群眾、繁華,並快樂的人都落在其中。
5:15 卑賤人被壓服;尊貴人降為卑;眼目高傲的人也降為卑。
5:16 惟有萬軍之耶和華因公平而崇高;聖者上帝因公義顯為聖。
5:17 那時,羊羔必來吃草,如同在自己的草場;豐肥人的荒場被遊行的人吃盡。
5:18 禍哉!那些以虛假之細繩牽罪孽的人!他們又像以套繩拉罪惡,
5:19 說:任他急速行,趕快成就他的作為,使我們看看;任以色列聖者所謀劃的臨近成就,使我們知道。
5:20 禍哉!那些稱惡為善,稱善為惡,以暗為光,以光為暗,以苦為甜,以甜為苦的人。
5:21 禍哉!那些自以為有智慧,自看為通達的人。
5:22 禍哉!那些勇於飲酒,以能力調濃酒的人。
5:23 他們因受賄賂,就稱惡人為義,將義人的義奪去。
5:24 火苗怎樣吞滅碎秸,乾草怎樣落在火焰之中,照樣,他們的根必像朽物,他們的花必像灰塵飛騰;因為他們厭棄萬軍之耶和華的訓誨,藐視以色列聖者的言語。
5:25 所以,耶和華的怒氣向他的百姓發作。他的手伸出攻擊他們,山嶺就震動;他們的屍首在街市上好像糞土。雖然如此,他的怒氣還未轉消;他的手仍伸不縮。
5:26 他必豎立大旗,招遠方的國民,發嘶聲叫他們從地極而來;看哪,他們必急速奔來。
5:27 其中沒有疲倦的,絆跌的;沒有打盹的,睡覺的;腰帶並不放鬆,鞋帶也不折斷。
5:28 他們的箭快利,弓也上了弦。馬蹄算如堅石,車輪好像旋風。
5:29 他們要吼叫,像母獅子,咆哮,像少壯獅子;他們要咆哮抓食,坦然叼去,無人救回。
5:30 那日,他們要向以色列人吼叫,像海浪匉訇;人若望地,只見黑暗艱難,光明在雲中變為昏暗。
8
Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.
9 The Lord Almighty has declared in my
hearing:
“Surely the great houses will become
desolate,
the fine mansions left without occupants.
10
A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a
bath[a] of wine;
a
homer[b] of seed will yield only an ephah[c] of grain.”
11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
till they are inflamed with wine.
12
They have harps and lyres at their
banquets,
pipes and timbrels and wine,
but they have no regard for the deeds of
the Lord,
no respect for the work of his hands.
13
Therefore my people will go into exile
for lack of understanding;
those of high rank will die of hunger
and the common people will be parched with thirst.
14
Therefore Death expands its jaws,
opening wide its mouth;
into it will descend their nobles and
masses
with all their brawlers and revelers.
15
So people will be brought low
and everyone humbled,
the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
16
But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by
his justice,
and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.
17
Then sheep will graze as in their own
pasture;
lambs will feed[d] among the ruins of the rich.
18
Woe to those who draw sin along with cords
of deceit,
and wickedness as with cart ropes,
19
to those who say, “Let God hurry;
let him hasten his work
so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One of Israel—
let it approach, let it come into view,
so we may know it.”
20
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
22
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking
wine
and champions at mixing drinks,
23
who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice to the innocent.
24
Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord
Almighty
and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25
Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against
his people;
his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,
and
the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised.
26
He lifts up a banner for the distant
nations,
he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Here they come,
swiftly
and speedily!
27
Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,
not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist,
not a sandal strap is broken.
28
Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strung;
their horses’ hooves seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
29
Their roar is like that of the lion,
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.
30
In that day they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land,
there is only darkness and distress;
even the sun will be darkened by clouds.
*********
先知在這裡說出人的軟弱與無知,就是單顧物質上的享受與享樂,沒有來尋求耶和華上帝,來認識祂的教訓,遵行祂所教導的、所頒布的誡命,以至於人心所思考的都是自我、都是利益,而不是如何來榮耀上帝,為上帝而活。
人常常忘記上帝造人的目的是為了榮耀上帝,並且以上帝為我們的滿足,為我們永遠的福樂所在!人若不思考,不努力來活出這樣的生命,必定遭受上帝的憤怒,與上帝越來越遠!
今天上帝透過耶穌基督拯救我們,就是除去罪在我們身上的影響力,使我們可以過榮耀上帝並以上帝為我們永遠福樂的生活。你願不願意接受耶穌基督成為救主,來過這樣的生活嗎?