12:1 你那不死不灭的生气在万物之内；
for your imperishable spirit is in all things! 12:2 因此，你逐步地惩罚堕落的人，要他们想起所犯的罪恶，借以警告他们离弃恶事，相信你，上主。
Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD! 12:3 你憎恨你圣地里的古代居民，
For truly, the ancient inhabitants of your holy land, 12:4 因为他们操行巫术和邪恶的祭祀，作出了最可憎恶的事。
whom you hated for deeds most odious ? Works of witchcraft and impious sacrifices; 12:5 这些无情杀害婴儿的人，在这些拜神的歌舞筵会中，吞食人血肉的人，
a cannibal feast of human flesh and of blood, from the midst of. . . ? These merciless murderers of children, 12:6 这些杀害无能力自卫生灵的父母，你决意要借我们先祖的手，将他们消灭，
and parents who took with their own hands defenseless lives, You willed to destroy by the hands of our fathers, 12:7 使你以为地上最宝贵的地方，成为天主子民相宜的侨居地。
that the land that is dearest of all to you might receive a worthy colony of God’s children. 12:8 但你也拿他们当人对待，先派土蜂作你军队的先锋，逐渐将他们消灭。
But even these, as they were men, you spared, and sent wasps as forerunners of your army that they might exterminate them by degrees. 12:9 这并不是因为你不能用一场战争，使不虔敬者屈服于义人之下；或用凶猛的野兽，或用严厉的言语，一下将他们歼灭；
Not that you were without power to have the wicked vanquished in battle by the just, or wiped out at once by terrible beasts or by one decisive word; 12:10 而是因你愿逐渐降罚，给他们一个悔改的机会；并不是你不知道他们的种族不良，生来邪恶，永不会改变心意；
But condemning them bit by bit, you gave them space for repentance. You were not unaware that their race was wicked and their malice ingrained, And that their dispositions would never change; 12:11 因为他们从起初，就是被诅咒的后裔。你没有降罚他们的罪行，并非因为你怕谁。
for they were a race accursed from the beginning. Neither out of fear for anyone did you grant amnesty for their sins. 12:12 谁敢对你说：你作了什么﹖谁能反抗你的判断﹖你消灭了你造的民族，谁敢控告你﹖又谁敢起来面对着你，为恶人作辩护﹖
For who can say to you, "What have you done?" or who can oppose your decree? Or when peoples perish, who can challenge you, their maker; or who can come into your presence as vindicator of unjust men? 12:13 因为，除你以外，别无照顾万物的神，你应向他指明你的审判，并非不公；
For neither is there any god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned; 12:14 也没有一个君王或君主，敢为你惩罚的人，对你怒目而视。
Nor can any king or prince confront you on behalf of those you have punished. 12:15 你是公义的，你必按照公义处理一切；罚不应罚的，你必认为这与你的权威不合。
But as you are just, you govern all things justly; you regard it as unworthy of your power to punish one who has incurred no blame. 12:16 你的权力原是你公义的本源，因为你主宰一切，所以你必能谅解一切。
For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. 12:17 为此，如果有人不相信你具有绝对的权威，你就将你的权力显示出来；如果他们知道而仍胆大妄为，你就予以惩罚。
For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. 12:18 你虽掌有大权，但施行审判，却很温和，治理我们，极其宽忍，因为，权能乃属于你，只有你愿意，你就能行使。
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. 12:19 你这样作，是为教训你的子民，义人必须怜爱众人；并使你的子女满怀希望，因为人在犯罪之后，你常赐予忏悔的机会。
And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; And you gave your sons good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins. 12:20 你处罚你子女们应处死的敌人，还这样小心温和，给他们时间和机会改恶迁善，
For these were enemies of your servants, doomed to death; yet, while you punished them with such solicitude and pleading, granting time and opportunity to abandon wickedness, 12:21 你审判你的儿子时，岂不更谨慎﹖因为，你曾与他们的列祖起过誓，立过约，应许他们得福利。
With what exactitude you judged your sons, to whose fathers you gave the sworn covenants of goodly promises! 12:22 你对我们只是惩戒，对我们的仇人却是千百倍的鞭笞：这是为使我们在审断时，应思念你的仁慈；在受审时，应期望你的哀怜。
Us, therefore, you chastise and our enemies with a thousand blows you punish, that we may think earnestly of your goodness when we judge, and, when being judged, may look for mercy. 12:23 因此，对那生活愚蠢，行为不义的人，你便用他们敬拜的丑恶之物来折磨他们。
Hence those unjust also, who lived a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations. 12:24 他们实在深深地误入了歧途，竟认最丑怪，最下贱的禽兽为神，让自己受骗，竟如无知的孩童。
For they went far astray in the paths of error, taking for gods the worthless and disgusting among beasts, deceived like senseless infants. 12:25 因此，你对待他们也像无知的孩童，给他们派来的刑罚，也只是戏弄。
Therefore as though upon unreasoning children, you sent your judgment on them as a mockery; 12:26 但他们并未因此戏弄的责戒而悔改，所以他们要受相称于天主的重罚。
But they who took no heed of punishment which was but child’s play were to experience a condemnation worthy of God. 12:27 埃及人在禽兽的折磨中，有见他们所敬奉为神明的禽兽，成了自己受罚的工具，这才明了，并承认从前所否认的实是真天主；但他们仍不肯悔改，因此，最后的惩罚终于降在他们身上。
For in the things through which they suffered distress, since they were tortured by the very things they deemed gods, They saw and recognized the true God whom before they had refused to know; with this, their final condemnation came upon them.