692、人们对地狱就像对天堂一样，只有一种极其笼统的概念，这种概念如此模糊，几近于无。就好像那些从未走出过森林小屋的人在脑海中想象外面的世界，却对它的王国和国家一无所知，更不用说它的政府形式，尤其社会和人们在社会中的生活方式了。他们在知道这些事之前，对世界只能有最粗略的概念，几乎等于没有任何概念。人们对天堂和地狱的概念都是这种情形；而事实上，天堂和地狱包含太多奇事，数不胜数，无限超过任何星球所包含的。单单思想这一点就能看出它们何等数不胜数，即：正如没有哪两个人拥有同一个天堂，同样没有哪两个人拥有同一个地狱。然而，自创世以来所有曾活在世上的灵魂都去往这些地方，并聚集在一起。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]692. Genesis 7
Hell
PEOPLE have only the most general concept of hell,{*1} just as they do of heaven, and that concept is almost so vague as to be none at all. It is like the picture of the world at large available to those who have never been outside their cabins in the forest. They know nothing about its empires and countries, let alone its forms of government, and least of all about society and the way people live in society. Until they know these things, their concept of the world cannot be more than the sketchiest notion, which is practically no notion whatever. Likewise with regard to heaven and hell. In reality, both heaven and hell contain too many marvels to count — indefinitely more than any planet could hold.
The vast number of wonders there can be seen from this one thought: Just as no two people ever have the same heaven, no two ever have the same hell, and all the souls that have ever existed in the world since the beginning of creation flock together there.
Footnotes:
{*1} For a condensed portrait of the hells, see Heaven and Hell 536-588. For discussions of hell in Secrets of Heaven see, in the treatment of Genesis, the material here at the beginning of chapter 7; and at the end of chapter 7, the beginning and end of chapter 8, the beginning of chapter 9, and the end of chapter 43 (692-700, 814-831, 938-970, 5711-5727). [LHC, RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 692
692. CHAPTER 7. CONCERNING HELL. As with regard to heaven, so with regard to hell, man has only a very general idea, which is so obscure that it is almost none at all. It is such as they who have not been beyond their huts in the woods may have of the earth. They know nothing of its empires and kingdoms, still less of its forms of government, of its societies, or of the life in the societies. Until they know these things they can have but the most general notion of the earth, so general as to be almost none. The case is the same in regard to people's ideas about heaven and hell, when yet in each of them there are things innumerable and indefinitely more numerous than in any earthly world. How numberless they are may be evident from this alone: that just as no one ever has the same heaven, so no one has the same hell as another, and that all souls whatever who have lived in the world since the first creation come there and are gathered together.
Elliott(1983-1999) 692
692.7
HELL
Just as man's idea of heaven is very general, so hazy as to be almost none at all, so too is his idea of hell. He is like hut-dwellers in a forest who can have a mental picture of the world beyond, but do not know of its empires or kingdoms, still less its forms of government, and even less the communities or life of those communities. Until they know these things their idea of the world is bound to be very general, such as to be scarcely any at all. The same applies to man's ideas of heaven and of hell. Yet there are countless phenomena in both places, infinitely more than those existing on any planet. How countless they are becomes clear from the mere consideration that just as nobody ever has in mind exactly the same heaven as anybody else, so nobody ever has in mind exactly the same hell. And yet all souls who have ever lived in the world since creation began go to those places and are gathered together.
Latin(1748-1756) 692
692. GENESEOS CAPUT SEPTIMUM De InfernoHomo, sicut de caelo, ita de inferno, non habet ideam nisi communissimam, quae ita obscura est ut sit paene nulla; sicut qui non extra suas casas silvae fuerunt, ideam habere de tellure possint, et non sciunt imperia, nec regna, minus regiminis formas, et adhuc minus societates, et societatum vitas; antequam haec sciunt, non possunt quam in communissima idea de tellure esse, quae talis est ut fere nulla; ita de caelo et de inferno; cum tamen utrobivis innumerabilia sunt, et indefinite plura quam in aliquo terrarum orbe. Quam innumerabilia sunt, exinde solum constare potest, quod sicut nusquam aliquis simile caelum habet, ita nec usquam aliquis simile infernum; et quod omnes animae, quaecumque in mundo fuerunt a prima creatione, illuc veniant et congregentur.