And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee:

Et nunc, Domine omnipotens, Deus Israël, anima in angustiis, et spiritus anxius clamat ad te.

Lord Almighty, God of Israel, here be lives in jeopardy, here be troubled hearts, that plead with thee!

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee.

Audi, Domine, et miserere, quia Deus es misericors: et miserere nostri, quia peccavimus ante te:

Listen, Lord, and have mercy, none so merciful as thou; pardon the sins that lie open in thy sight.

For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly?

quia tu sedes in sempiternum, et nos, peribimus in ævum?

Thou reignest for ever; must we for ever be lost?

O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the dead of Israel, and of their children, that have sinned before thee, and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, wherefore evils have cleaved fast to us.

Domine omnipotens, Deus Israël, audi nunc orationem mortuorum Israël, et filiorum ipsorum qui peccaverunt ante te, et non audierunt vocem Domini Dei sui, et agglutinata sunt nobis mala.

Lord Almighty, God of Israel, listen to the prayer Israel makes to thee from the grave! Our fathers it was that defied the Lord their God, and gave no heed to him; and to us, their sons, the punishment clings.

Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time:

Noli meminisse iniquitatum patrum nostrorum, sed memento manus tuæ et nominis tui in tempore isto:

Forget the wrong they did, those fathers of ours; remember thy ancient power, thy own honour, this day;

For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:

quia tu es Dominus Deus noster, et laudabimus te, Domine:

only to thee, the Lord our God, shall praise of ours be given.

Because for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee.

quia propter hoc dedisti timorem tuum in cordibus nostris, et ut invocemus nomen tuum, et laudemus te in captivitate nostra, quia convertimur ab iniquitate patrum nostrorum, qui peccaverunt ante te.

Why else hast thou inspired us with such dread of thee? Thou wouldst have us learn to invoke thy name, to utter thy praise, here as exiles, in proof that we disown the wrong our fathers did, when their sins defied thee.

And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord our God.

Et ecce nos in captivitate nostra sumus hodie, qua nos dispersisti in improperium, et in maledictum, et in peccatum, secundum omnes iniquitates patrum nostrorum, qui recesserunt a te, Domine Deus noster.

Exiles we are this day, dispersed by thee to suffer scorn and reviling, until we have made amends for all the wrong our fathers did when they abandoned thee, abandoned the Lord our God.

Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom.

Audi, Israël, mandata vitæ: auribus percipe, ut scias prudentiam.

Listen, Israel, to the warnings that shall bring thee life; give attentive audience, if thou wouldst learn to be wise.

How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies’ land?

Quid est, Israël, quod in terra inimicorum es,

What means it, Israel, that thou findest thyself in the enemy’s land,

Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell.

inveterasti in terra aliena, coinquinatus es cum mortuis, deputatus es cum descendentibus in infernum?

grown old in exile, unclean as a dead body, no more taken into account than men who have gone down into their graves?

Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom:

Dereliquisti fontem sapientiæ:

It is because thou hast forsaken the fountain whence all wisdom comes.

For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever.

nam si in via Dei ambulasses, habitasses utique in pace sempiterna.

If thou hadst but followed the path God shewed thee, thou mightest have lived in peace eternally.

Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.

Disce ubi sit prudentia, ubi sit virtus, ubi sit intellectus, ut scias simul ubi sit longiturnitas vitæ et victus, ubi sit lumen oculorum, et pax.

Learn where to find wisdom, and strength, and discernment; so thou wilt find length of years, too, and true life, and cheerfulness, and peace.

Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures?

Quis invenit locum ejus? et quis intravit in thesauros ejus?

Who can tell where wisdom dwells, who has made his way into her store-house?

Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?

Ubi sunt principes gentium, et qui dominantur super bestias quæ sunt super terram?

What has become of those heathen princes, who gained mastery of the beasts that roam the earth,

That take their diversion with the birds of the air.

qui in avibus cæli ludunt,

tamed the birds for their pastime;

That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable.

qui argentum thesaurizant, et aurum, in quo confidunt homines, et non est finis acquisitionis eorum? qui argentum fabricant, et solliciti sunt, nec est inventio operum illorum?

heaping up silver and gold, man’s confidence, man’s interminable quest? How anxiously they toiled for wealth! And now these devices of theirs are beyond our tracing.

They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place.

Exterminati sunt, et ad inferos descenderunt, et alii loco eorum surrexerunt.

They disappeared, went to their graves, and other succeeded them;

Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known,

Juvenes viderunt lumen, et habitaverunt super terram, viam autem disciplinæ ignoraverunt,

a younger generation saw the light and peopled the earth in its turn; but still they could not find their way to the true wisdom,

Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face.

neque intellexerunt semitas ejus, neque filii eorum susceperunt eam: a facie ipsorum longe facta est;

the path to it was hidden still. Their children, too, clutched at it in vain, it was as far as ever from their reach.

It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.

non est audita in terra Chanaan, neque visa est in Theman.

In Chanaan, none had heard tell of it, in Theman none had caught sight of it;

The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths.

Filii quoque Agar, qui exquirunt prudentiam quæ de terra est, negotiatores Merrhæ et Theman, et fabulatores, et exquisitores prudentiæ et intelligentiæ: viam autem sapientiæ nescierunt, neque commemorati sunt semitas ejus.

even the sons of Agar, so well schooled in earthly wisdom, even the merchants of Merrha and Theman, with all their store of legend, their skill and cunning laboriously gained, never found the track of true wisdom, or told us what its haunts were.

O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!

O Israël, quam magna est domus Dei, et ingens locus possessionis ejus!

Israel, how wide is God’s house, how spacious is his domain,

It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.

magnus est, et non habet finem: excelsus, et immensus.

large beyond all bound, high beyond all measure!

There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.

Ibi fuerunt gigantes nominati illi, qui ab initio fuerunt, statura magna, scientes bellum.

The heroes of old were nurtured there, men whose fame has come down to us from the beginning of time, huge in stature, great warriors;

The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.

Non hos elegit Dominus, neque viam disciplinæ invenerunt: propterea perierunt,

but it was not these God had chosen; they died without ever attaining true knowledge.

And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.

et quoniam non habuerunt sapientiam, interierunt propter suam insipientiam.

Not for them was the possession of wisdom, and in their folly they perished.

Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

Quis ascendit in cælum, et accepit eam, et eduxit eam de nubibus?

What man ever scaled heaven, gained wisdom there, and brought it back from the clouds?

Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?

Quis transfretavit mare, et invenit illam, et attulit illam super aurum electum?

What man ever crossed the sea, and found it there, brought it back like a cargo of pure gold?

There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths:

Non est qui possit scire vias ejus, neque qui exquirat semitas ejus:

The path to it none may know, the clue of it none may find.

But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts:

sed qui scit universa novit eam, et adinvenit eam prudentia sua qui præparavit terram in æterno tempore: et replevit eam pecudibus et quadrupedibus

Only he who knows all things possesses it, only his mind conceives it. He it is who framed the abiding earth, and filled it with cattle and four-footed beasts of every kind.

He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.

qui emittit lumen, et vadit, et vocavit illud, et obedit illi in tremore.

It is on his errand that the light goes forth, his summons that it obeys with awe;

And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:

Stellæ autem dederunt lumen in custodiis suis, et lætatæ sunt:

joyfully the stars shine out, keeping the watches he has appointed,

They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them.

vocatæ sunt, et dixerunt: Adsumus, et luxerunt ei cum jucunditate, qui fecit illas.

answer when he calls their muster-roll, and offer their glad radiance to him who fashioned them.

This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.

Hic est Deus noster, et non æstimabitur alius adversus eum.

Such a God is ours; what rival will be compared to him?

He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.

Hic adinvenit omnem viam disciplinæ, et tradidit illam Jacob puero suo, et Israël dilecto suo.

He it is who has the key to all knowledge, and gave it to his servant Jacob, to the well-loved race of Israel;

Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.

Post hæc in terris visus est, et cum hominibus conversatus est.

not till then would he reveal himself on earth, and hold converse with mortal men.