2 Maccabees
Chapter 1
1 The Jews in Jerusalem and in the land of Judea send greetings to their brethren, the Jews in Egypt, and wish them true peace!
耶路撒冷和犹太全境的犹太兄弟，侨居埃及的犹太兄弟安好！并祝和平幸福！
2 May God bless you and remember his covenant with his faithful servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
愿天主记念他与自己的忠仆亚巴郎、依撒格、雅各伯所立的盟约，赐你们满享幸福！
3 May he give to all of you a heart to worship him and to do his will readily and generously.
愿他使你们全心崇拜天主，诚心乐意承行他的旨意！
4 May he open your heart to his law and his commandments and grant you peace.
愿他使你们了解他的法律和规诫并赐你们平安！
5 May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled to you, and never forsake you in time of adversity.
愿他俯允你们的祈祷，怜恤你们，在患难中不离弃你们！
6 Even now we are praying for you here.
现在我们在这里为你们祈祷。
7 1 In the reign of Demetrius, the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you during the trouble and violence that overtook us in those years after Jason and his followers had revolted against the holy land and the kingdom,
在一六九年，德默特琉为王时，我们犹太人曾给你们写信说：＂自从雅松和他的同党出卖圣地和国家以来，在这些年中，我们遭受了很大的痛苦。
8 2 setting fire to the gatehouse and shedding innocent blood. But we prayed to the Lord, and our prayer was heard; we offered sacrifices and fine flour; we lighted the lamps and set out the loaves of bread.
当时他们曾烧毁了殿门，倾流了无辜者的血，那时我们只有祈求上主，也获得垂允；我们遂奉献了牺牲和素祭，也点上灯，供上饼。＂
9 3 We are now reminding you to celebrate the feast of Booths in the month of Chislev.
现在，盼望你们也过＂基色娄＂月的帐棚节。
10 4 Dated in the year one hundred and eighty-eight. The people of Jerusalem and Judea, the senate, and Judas send greetings and good wishes to Aristobulus, counselor of King Ptolemy and member of the family of the anointed priests, and to the Jews in Egypt.
＂书于一八八年。 耶路撒冷和犹太的居民，长老院和犹大，祝仆托肋米王的太傅阿黎斯托步罗——他原是受傅为司祭的后代——并祝一切侨居在埃及的犹太人平安健康！
11 5 Since we have been saved by God from grave dangers, we give him great thanks for having fought on our side against the king;
我们这些被天主从大难中拯救出上来的人，应深深感谢天主，因为是他陪伴我们攻打君王，
12 it was he who drove out those who fought against the holy city.
是他驱逐了进攻圣城的敌人。
13 6 When their leader arrived in Persia with his seemingly irresistible army, they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea through a deceitful stratagem employed by Nanea's priests.
当敌人的魁首率领那所向无敌的军队到了波斯时，竟在纳纳雅庙内，被纳纳雅女神的司祭设计诱杀，剁为肉泥。
14 7 On the pretext of marrying the goddess, Antiochus with his Friends had come to the place to get its great treasures by way of dowry.
起初，安提约古托言要娶纳纳雅女神为妻，与随同他的朋友来到此地，想以取妆奁的名义，获得庙内大批珍宝。
15 When the priests of the Nanaeon had displayed the treasures, Antiochus with a few attendants came to the temple precincts. As soon as he entered the temple, the priests locked the doors.
纳纳雅庙的司祭把宝物陈列出来，安提约古便带着少数随员走进庙院；安提约古一进门，他们就把庙门关上，
16 Then they opened a hidden trapdoor in the ceiling, hurled stones at the leader and his companions and struck them down. They dismembered the bodies, cut off their heads and tossed them to the people outside.
接着，打开天花板上的密门，抛下石块将魁首打死，把他和随从他的人切成块，把他们的头抛给站在外边的人。——
17 Forever blessed be our God, who has thus punished the wicked!
愿我们的天主在这一切事上受赞美，因为他把恶人置于死地。
18 8 9 We shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, so we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
＂基色娄＂月二十五日，我们将要举行洁殿礼，我们认为必须通知你们，叫你们也过帐棚节和火节，这火节是为纪念乃赫米雅重修圣殿和祭坛以后，献祭时所出现的火。
19 10 When our fathers were being exiled to Persia, devout priests of the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone.
因为当我们的祖先被掳往波斯去的时候，有几位虔诚的司祭，取了祭坛上的火，暗藏在一个旱井的穴中，把它封好，不让人察觉这个地方。
20 Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it.
过了相当长的岁月，天主愿意的时候到了，乃赫米雅便被波斯王遣回故乡；于是他命昔日藏火的司祭的子孙去找火；
21 When they informed us that they could not find any fire, but only muddy water, he ordered them to scoop some out and bring it. After the material for the sacrifices had been prepared, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle with the water the wood and what lay on it.
但是当他们给我们说没有找到那火，只找到一些浓厚的液体时，乃赫米雅便叫他们汲出，给他带来。 献祭的一切都准备好，乃赫米雅便命司祭把那液体洒在木柴上面所放的牺牲上。
22 When this was done and in time the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled.
刚洒上没有好久，忽然为云彩遮蔽的太阳，射出光来，这时忽然发出烈火，众人都惊奇不已。
23 While the sacrifice was being burned, the priests recited a prayer, and all present joined in with them, Jonathan leading and the rest responding with Nehemiah.
祭物焚烧时，司祭都一起祈祷，众人也都与司祭们一起祈祷；约纳堂领祷，其余的人都一同随声应和，乃赫米雅也在内。
24 The prayer was as follows:＂Lord, Lord God, creator of all things, awesome and strong, just and merciful, the only king and benefactor,
祷文如下：＂上主，上主天主，万物的创造者！你是可敬畏的、大能的、公义的、仁慈的。惟有你是君王，惟有你是圣善，
25 who alone are gracious, just, almighty, and eternal, Israel's savior from all evil, who chose our forefathers and sanctified them:
惟有你好施舍，惟有你是公义、全能和永恒的！是你从一切患难中拯救了以色列，是你选择了我们的祖先，圣化了他们。
26 accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and guard and sanctify your heritage.
求你收纳你全以色列人所奉献的祭献，保存和祝圣你的产业！
27 Gather together our scattered people, free those who are the slaves of the Gentiles, look kindly on those who are despised and detested, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God.
求你把我们四散漂流的人聚集起来，使那些在异民中的奴隶重获自由，眷顾那些被人轻视和憎恶的，使外方人知道你是我们的天主！
28 Punish those who tyrannize over us and arrogantly mistreat us.
求你惩罚那些欺压和傲慢侮辱我们的人！
29 Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised.＂
求你按梅瑟的话，将你的百姓栽植在你的圣地里！＂
30 Then the priests began to sing hymns.
接着，司祭们轮流歌唱圣咏。
31 After the sacrifice was burned, Nehemiah ordered the rest of the liquid to be poured upon large stones.
祭品焚烧完毕，乃赫米雅就下令把剩下的液体倒在大石上，
32 As soon as this was done, a flame blazed up, but its light was lost in the brilliance cast from a light on the altar.
刚一倒下，便立刻发出火焰，而这火焰被祭坛上发出来的火光吸收了。
33 When the event became known and the king of the Persians was told that, in the very place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, a liquid was found with which Nehemiah and his people had burned the sacrifices,
这事一传出去，就有人报告波斯王说，在被俘的司祭们藏火的地方发现了液体，乃赫米雅和他的同伴用这液体圣洁了祭品。
34 the king, after verifying the fact, fenced the place off and declared it sacred.
这事证实以后王命人将那地方修上围墙，视为圣地。
35 To those on whom the king wished to bestow favors he distributed the large revenues he received there.
王遂与得他欢心的人彼此馈送礼物。
36 11 Nehemiah and his companions called the liquid nephthar, meaning purification, but most people named it naphtha.
乃赫米雅和他的同伴称这液体为＂乃弗塔尔，＂即洁净之意，可是人多称之为＂乃弗泰。＂
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Footnotes（注解）
1 [7] Demetrius: Demetrius II, king of Syria (145-139, 129-125 B.C.). The year one hundred and sixty-nine of the Seleucid era, 143 B.C. Regarding the dates in 1 and 2 Mc, see note on 1 Macc 1:10. On the troubles caused by Jason and his revolt against the kingdom, i.e., the rule of the legitimate high priest, see 2 Macc 4:7-22.
2 [8] Our prayer was heard: in the ultimate victory of the Maccabees.
3 [9] Feast of Booths in the month of Chislev: really the feast of the Dedication of the temple (2 Macc 10:1-8), celebrated on the twenty-fifth of Chislev (Nov.-Dec.). Its solemnity resembles that of the true feast of Booths (Lev 23:33-43), celebrated on the fifteenth of Tishri (Sept.-Oct.); cf 2 Macc 1:18.
4 [10] 124 B.C. The date pertains to the preceding, not the following letter. King Ptolemy: Ptolemy VI Philometor, ruler of Egypt from 180 to 145 B.C.; he is mentioned also in 1 Macc 1:18; 10:51-59.
5 [11-12] The king: Antiochus IV of Syria, the bitter persecutor of the Jews, who, as leader of the Syrian army that invaded Persia, perished there in 164 B.C.
6 [13] Nanea: an oriental goddess comparable to Artemis of the Greeks.
7 [14-17] A different account of the death of Antiochus IV is given in 2 Macc 9:1-29, and another variant account in 1 Macc 6:1-16. The writer of this letter had probably heard a distorted rumor of the king's death. This fact and other indications show that the letter was written very soon after Antiochus IV died, hence in 164 B.C.
8 [18-36] This purely legendary account of Nehemiah's miraculous fire is incorporated in the letter because of its connection with the temple and its rededication.
9 [18] Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple he: rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but the temple had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel almost a century before.
10 [19] Persia: actually Babylonia, which later became part of the Persian Empire.
11 [36] By a play on words, the Greek term naphtha (petroleum) is assimilated to some Semitic word, perhaps nephthar, meaning＂loosened.＂