17:1 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。
For great are your judgments, and hardly to be described; therefore the unruly souls were wrong. 17:2 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。
For when the lawless thought to enslave the holy nation, shackled with darkness, fettered by the long night, they lay confined beneath their own roofs as exiles from the eternal providence. 17:3 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，
For they who supposed their secret sins were hid under the dark veil of oblivion Were scattered in fearful trembling, terrified by apparitions. 17:4 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，哭丧着脸的忧戚怪物，出现在他们面前。
For not even their inner chambers kept them fearless, for crashing sounds on all sides terrified them, and mute phantoms with somber looks appeared. 17:5 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，
No force, even of fire, was able to give light, nor did the flaming brilliance of the stars succeed in lighting up that gloomy night. 17:6 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。
But only intermittent, fearful fires flashed through upon them; And in their terror they thought beholding these was worse than the times when that sight was no longer to be seen. 17:7 他们的邪术尽失效力，他们夸耀的学识，全蒙耻受辱：
And mockeries of the magic art were in readiness, and a jeering reproof of their vaunted shrewdness. 17:8 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；
For they who undertook to banish fears and terrors from the sick soul themselves sickened with a ridiculous fear. 17:9 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。
For even though no monstrous thing frightened them, they shook at the passing of insects and the hissing of reptiles,And perished trembling, reluctant to face even the air that they could nowhere escape. 17:10 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。
For wickedness, of its nature cowardly, testifies in its own condemnation, and because of a distressed conscience, always magnifies misfortunes. 17:11 恐惧不是别的，只是将理性的助力，弃而不用；
For fear is nought but the surrender of the helps that come from reason; 17:12 人对内心的依赖越薄弱，越难明了遇难的原因。
and the more one’s expectation is of itself uncertain, the more one makes of not knowing the cause that brings on torment. 17:13 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，
So they, during that night, powerless though it was, that had come upon them from the recesses of a powerless nether world, while all sleeping the same sleep, 17:14 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。
Were partly smitten by fearsome apparitions and partly stricken by their souls' surrender; for fear came upon them, sudden and unexpected. 17:15 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；
Thus, then, whoever was there fell into that unbarred prison and was kept confined. 17:16 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；
For whether one was a farmer, or a shepherd, or a worker at tasks in the wasteland, Taken unawares, he served out the inescapable sentence; 17:17 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，
for all were bound by the one bond of darkness. And were it only the whistling wind, or the melodious song of birds in the spreading branches, Or the steady sound of rushing water, 17:18 或是岩石崩裂的强烈响声，或是走兽隐约的跳跃声，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。
or the rude crash of overthrown rocks, Or the unseen gallop of bounding animals, or the roaring cry of the fiercest beasts, Or an echo resounding from the hollow of the hills, these sounds, inspiring terror, paralyzed them. 17:19 其时，整个世界正为辉煌的光明所照耀，进行工作毫无阻碍；
For the whole world shone with brilliant light and continued its works without interruption; 17:20 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，比黑暗还更为沉重。
Over them alone was spread oppressive night, an image of the darkness that next should come upon them; yet they were to themselves more burdensome than the darkness.