Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land.

Audite verbum Domini, filii Israël, quia judicium Domino cum habitatoribus terræ: non est enim veritas, et non est misericordia, et non est scientia Dei in terra.

Listen, sons of Israel, to a message from the Lord, notice of a suit he prefers against all that dwell in this land of yours; a land where loyalty, and tenderness of heart, and knowledge of God is none.

Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.

Maledictum, et mendacium, et homicidium, et furtum, et adulterium inundaverunt, et sanguis sanguinem tetigit.

Curse they and lie, murder they and steal and live adulterously, till there is no checking it; never feud ends but another feud begins.

Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the heat of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.

Propter hoc lugebit terra, et infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea, in bestia agri, et in volucre cæli; sed et pisces maris congregabuntur.

What wonder the land lies widowed, and its folk dwindle; gone, beast and bird, and the sea-beach piled high with fish?

But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest.

Verumtamen unusquisque non judicet, et non arguatur vir: populus enim tuus sicut hi qui contradicunt sacerdoti.

Nay, let us have no recriminations between man and man; so should this people of thine fall to railing at their priests!

And thou shalt fall to day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent.

Et corrues hodie, et corruet etiam propheta tecum. Nocte tacere feci matrem tuam.

Ruin for thee, sir priest, this day, and, come night, the prophet shall share thy ruin; name of the mother that bore thee shall perish,

My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

Conticuit populus meus, eo quod non habuerit scientiam: quia tu scientiam repulisti, repellam te, ne sacerdotio fungaris mihi; et oblita es legis Dei tui, obliviscar filiorum tuorum et ego.

as, through thy fault, this people of mine perishes for want of knowledge. Knowledge wouldst thou spurn, and shall not I spurn thy priesthood; my law wouldst thou forget, and shall race of thine be spared oblivion?

According to the multitude of them so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.

Secundum multitudinem eorum sic peccaverunt mihi: gloriam eorum in ignominiam commutabo.

Priests a many, and sins to match their number; shall that title bring glory any longer, and not reproach?

They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity.

Peccata populi mei comedent, et ad iniquitatem eorum sublevabunt animas eorum.

Fault if Israel committed, guilt if Israel incurred, it was but the meat and drink such priests craved for.

And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.

Et erit sicut populus, sic sacerdos; et visitabo super eum vias ejus, et cogitationes ejus reddam ei.

Priest, now, shall fare no better than people; he shall pay for his ill living, reap what his false aims deserve;

And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing his law.

Et comedent, et non saturabuntur; fornicati sunt, et non cessaverunt: quoniam Dominum dereliquerunt in non custodiendo.

greed, that remained still unsated, wantonness, that could never have enough. Ah, faithless guardians, that you should play your Lord false!

Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the understanding.

Fornicatio, et vinum, et ebrietas auferunt cor.

That dalliance, and wine, and revelry, should so steal away your wits!

My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God.

Populus meus in ligno suo interrogavit, et baculus ejus annuntiavit ei; spiritus enim fornicationum decepit eos, et fornicati sunt a Deo suo.

And what of my people? See where they have recourse to tree-stump or senseless wand, for an answer to their perplexities! Lust for strange worship swept them away, made them false to their troth with God;

They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall your daughters commit fornication, and your spouses shall be adulteresses.

Super capita montium sacrificabant, et super colles ascendebant thymiama; subtus quercum, et populum, et terebinthum, quia bona erat umbra ejus; ideo fornicabuntur filiæ vestræ, et sponsæ vestræ adulteræ erunt.

on mountain and hill-side, grateful for leafy shade of oak, poplar or terebinth, they slay the victim, and burn incense. What wonder daughters should turn harlot, wives play the wanton?

I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall commit fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery: because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be beaten.

Non visitabo super filias vestras cum fuerint fornicatæ, et super sponsas vestras cum adulteraverint, quoniam ipsi cum meretricibus conversabantur, et cum effeminatis sacrificabant; et populus non intelligens vapulabit.

Harlot daughter and adulterous wife shall go unpunished; what did father and husband, but keep harlots’ company, share revel with consecrated minions? Want wit, be sure a people is ruined.

If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend: and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not swear: The Lord liveth.

Si fornicaris tu, Israël, non delinquat saltem Juda; et nolite ingredi in Galgala, et ne ascenderitis in Bethaven, neque juraveritis: Vivit Dominus!

Wanton though Israel be, at least let Juda shun the wrong; not for them the way that leads to Galgal, Bethaven’s pilgrimage, or the oath taken by the living God …

For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer: now will the Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place.

Quoniam sicut vacca lasciviens declinavit Israël; nunc pascet eos Dominus, quasi agnum in latitudine.

Stubborn as frisking heifer, Israel turns away the head; would you have the Lord feed him, like a cade lamb, unconfined?

Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone.

Particeps idolorum Ephraim: dimitte eum.

Wedded to idols, this Ephraim; go his own way he must;

Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication: they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon them.

Separatum est convivium eorum; fornicatione fornicati sunt: dilexerunt afferre ignominiam protectores ejus.

here be revellers that will keep their own company, here be idolaters in grain, and princes that dote still on their own disgrace.

The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices.

Ligavit eum spiritus in alis suis, et confundentur a sacrificiis suis.

Ay, but a storm is coming that shall carry them away on its wings, to rue the unavailing sacrifice.