ORATIO JEREMIÆ PROPHETÆ

THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE PROPHET.

Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis; intuere et respice opprobrium nostrum.

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach.

Bethink thee, Lord, of our ill case; see where we lie humiliated, and seeing take pity!

Hæreditas nostra versa est ad alienos, domus nostræ ad extraneos.

Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.

New tenants our lands have, our homes foreign masters;

Pupilli facti sumus absque patre, matres nostræ quasi viduæ.

We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.

orphaned sons of widowed mothers were not more defenceless.

Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus; ligna nostra pretio comparavimus.

We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.

Ours to buy the very water we drink, pay a price for every stick of fire-wood;

Cervicibus nostris minabamur, lassis non dabatur requies.

We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us.

led hither and thither under the yoke, with no respite given,

Ægypto dedimus manum et Assyriis, ut saturaremur pane.

We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.

we must make our peace with men of Egypt or Assyria, for a belly-full of bread.

Patres nostri peccaverunt, et non sunt: et nos iniquitates eorum portavimus.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities.

So must we bear the guilt of our fathers, that sinned and are gone!

Servi dominati sunt nostri: non fuit qui redimeret de manu eorum.

Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.

Slaves for our masters now, and none to ransom us;

In animabus nostris afferebamus panem nobis, a facie gladii in deserto.

We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.

bread won out in the desert, and at peril of our lives from the sword’s point!

Pellis nostra quasi clibanus exusta est, a facie tempestatum famis.

Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.

What wonder if our skins are burnt dry as an oven, seared by long famine?

Mulieres in Sion humiliaverunt, et virgines in civitatibus Juda.

They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities of Juda.

Never a woman in Sion, never a maid in all Juda’s cities, but has met with dishonour;

Principes manu suspensi sunt; facies senum non erubuerunt.

The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect the persons of the ancient.

merciless hands hurry our princes to the gallows; reverence is none for grey hairs.

Adolescentibus impudice abusi sunt, et pueri in ligno corruerunt.

They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood.

Toiling at the mill, the flower of our youth, or staggering under loads of wood;

Senes defecerunt de portis, juvenes de choro psallentium.

The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers.

never an old man left to sit at the gate, or a young man to wake the echoes of the harp;

Defecit gaudium cordis nostri; versus est in luctum chorus noster.

The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning.

gone, all our mirth, all our music drowned in sadness.

Cecidit corona capitis nostri: væ nobis, quia peccavimus!

The crown is fallen from our head woe to us, because we have sinned.

Alas, we are sinners; the wreath has faded from our brows;

Propterea mœstum factum est cor nostrum; ideo contenebrati sunt oculi nostri,

Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become dim,

there are sad hearts everywhere, and dim eyes.

propter montem Sion quia disperiit; vulpes ambulaverunt in eo.

For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon it.

What, does not the hill of Sion lie desolate, ravaged by the foxes?

Tu autem, Domine, in æternum permanebis, solium tuum in generationem et generationem.

But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to generation.

Lord, thou abidest ever; age after age thy throne endures;

Quare in perpetuum oblivisceris nostri, derelinques nos in longitudine dierum?

Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a long time?

and wilt thou still be forgetful of us, through the long years leave us forsaken?

Converte nos, Domine, ad te, et convertemur; innova dies nostros, sicut a principio.

Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning.

Bring us back to thee, Lord, and let us find our home; bring back to us the days of our youth;

Sed projiciens repulisti nos: iratus es contra nos vehementer.

But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry with us.

wouldst thou altogether abandon us, shall thy indignation know no measure?