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Epistle to Diognetus 8

Greek original · 11 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss

ℹ️ This corpus has no verse-level morphological tagging. Lemmas come mainly from word-level tagging of other books in the same language (not from this verse), falling back to dictionary form-matching for the rest. Rare homographs can still be misread; verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.

ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).

8:1

Τίς γὰρ ὅλως ἀνθρώπων ἠπίστατο τί ποτ' ἐστὶ θεὸς πρὶν αὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν

For what man at all knew what God is before he came?

因為在他來到之先，世上有哪一個人知道神究竟是甚麼呢？

8:2

ἢ τοὺς κενοὺς καὶ ληρώδεις ἐκείνων λόγους ἀποδέχῃ τῶν ἀξιοπίστων φιλοσόφων ὧν οἱ μέν τινες πῦρ ἔφασαν εἶναι τὸν θεὸν οὗ μέλλουσι χωρήσειν αὐτοί τοῦτο καλοῦσι θεόν οἱ δὲ ὕδωρ οἱ δ' ἄλλο τι τῶν στοιχείων τῶν ἐκτισμένων ὑπὸ θεοῦ

Or do you accept the empty and nonsensical assertions of those plausible philosophers? Some of them said that God is fire—that to which they themselves are destined to go, this they call God; others said water; others some other one of the elements created by God.

難道你接受那些貌似可信的哲學家所講空洞荒誕的言論麼？他們中間有的說神是火——他們自己將要歸入之處，就稱之為神；有的說是水；有的說是神所造諸元素中的別樣東西。

8:3

καίτοι γε εἴ τις τούτων τῶν λόγων ἀποδεκτός ἐστι δύναιτ' ἂν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν κτισμάτων ἓν ἕκαστον ὁμοίως ἀποφαίνεσθαι θεόν

And yet, if any one of these assertions is acceptable, then likewise each one of the rest of created things could be declared to be God.

然而，若這些說法中有一樣是可接受的，那麼其餘受造之物也照樣可以一一被宣稱為神了。

8:4

ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τερατεία καὶ πλάνη τῶν γοήτων ἐστίν

But these things are the marvel-mongering and deception of charlatans.

但這些不過是行邪術之人的怪誕把戲與欺哄罷了。

8:5

ἀνθρώπων δὲ οὐδεὶς οὔτε εἶδεν οὔτε ἐγνώρισεν αὐτὸς δὲ ἑαυτὸν ἐπέδειξεν

Of men, no one has either seen or made known God; but he himself revealed himself.

至於人，沒有一個曾見過神，或曾使人認識神；乃是他自己將自己顯明出來。

8:6

ἐπέδειξε δὲ διὰ πίστεως ᾗ μόνῃ θεὸν ἰδεῖν συγκεχώρηται

And he revealed himself through faith, by which alone it is granted to see God.

他是藉著信顯明自己；惟有藉著信，人才蒙准得見神。

8:7

ὁ γὰρ δεσπότης καὶ δημιουργὸς τῶν ὅλων θεός ὁ ποιήσας τὰ πάντα καὶ κατὰ τάξιν διακρίνας οὐ μόνον φιλάνθρωπος ἐγένετο ἀλλὰ καὶ μακρόθυμος

For the Master and Maker of all things, God, who made all things and ordered them in their ranks, became not only loving toward men but also longsuffering.

因為那作萬有之主宰與造物主的神，他造了萬物，又按次序加以區分，他不單成為愛人的，也成為恆久忍耐的。

8:8

ἀλλ' οὗτος ἦν μὲν ἀεὶ τοιοῦτος καὶ ἔστι καὶ ἔσται χρηστὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἀόργητος καὶ ἀληθής καὶ μόνος ἀγαθός ἐστιν

But such he always was, and is, and shall be: kind and good and free from wrath and true; and he alone is good.

他向來如此，現今如此，將來也必如此：是慈愛的、良善的、不發烈怒的、真實的；惟有他是善的。

8:9

ἐννοήσας δὲ μεγάλην καὶ ἄφραστον ἔννοιαν ἀνεκοινώσατο μόνῳ τῷ παιδί

And having conceived a great and ineffable thought, he communicated it to his Child alone.

他既懷有一個偉大而無法言喻的旨意，便單單向他的兒子傳達。

8:10

ἐν ὅσῳ μὲν οὖν κατεῖχεν ἐν μυστηρίῳ καὶ διετήρει τὴν σοφὴν αὐτοῦ βουλήν ἀμελεῖν ἡμῶν καὶ ἀφροντιστεῖν ἐδόκει

Now as long as he kept it in mystery and preserved his wise counsel, he seemed to neglect us and to be indifferent.

當他將這旨意隱藏在奧祕之中，保守著他智慧的計畫時，看似忽略我們、漠不關心。

8:11

ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπεκάλυψε διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ παιδὸς καὶ ἐφανέρωσε τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡτοιμασμένα πάνθ' ἅμα παρέσχεν ἡμῖν καὶ μετασχεῖν τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἰδεῖν καὶ νοῆσαιἃ τίς ἂν πώποτε προσεδόκησεν ἡμῶν

But when he revealed it through his beloved Child and made manifest the things prepared from the beginning, he granted us all at once both to share in his benefits and to see and understand things which none of us would ever have expected.

及至他藉著他所愛的兒子將這旨意啟示出來，把從起初所豫備的顯明出來，便一同賜給我們各樣的恩惠，使我們得以分享他的恩澤，又得以看見並明白我們誰也未曾料想過的事。

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