Ne jucunderis in filiis impiis, si multiplicentur: nec oblecteris super ipsos, si non est timor Dei in illis.

Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.

A brood of disloyal sons, let not thy eye dwell on these with pleasure; the fear of God lacking, let not a multitude of children be thy comfort.

Non credas vitæ illorum, et ne respexeris in labores eorum.

Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.

Not on such lives as these set thy hopes, little regard have thou for such doings as theirs;

Melior est enim unus timens Deum, quam mille filii impii:

For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly children.

better one son who fears God than a thousand who grow up rebellious;

et utile est mori sine filiis, quam relinquere filios impios.

And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly children.

better die childless than have rebels to succeed thee.

Ab uno sensato inhabitabitur patria: tribus impiorum deseretur.

By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of the ungodly shall become desolate.

Through one man that is well-minded a whole country may thrive, and sinners, a whole race of them, may be extinguished;

Multa talia vidit oculis meus, et fortiora horum audivit auris mea.

Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these my ear hath heard.

much proof of this my own eyes have seen, and stronger proof yet are the tales that have come to my hearing,

In synagoga peccantium exardebit ignis, et in gente incredibili exardescet ira.

In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out.

of fire breaking out where sinners were met in company, fires of vengeance to consume a disobedient race.

Non exoraverunt pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes, qui destructi sunt confidentes suæ virtuti.

The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were destroyed trusting to their own strength:

Those giants of long ago who perished in the pride of their strength, did they find pardon of their guilt?

Et non pepercit peregrinationi Lot, et execratus est eos præ superbia verbi illorum.

And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for the pride of their word.

Lot’s neighbours, did God spare them? Did he not attest his hatred of their insolence,

Non misertus est illis, gentem totam perdens, et extollentem se in peccatis suis.

He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that extolled themselves in their sins.

destroying a whole nation without pity, for the sinfulness that defied him?

Et sicut sexcenta millia peditum, qui congregati sunt in duritia cordis sui: et si unus fuisset cervicatus, mirum si fuisset immunis.

So did he with the six hundred thousand footmen, who were gathered together in the hardness of their heart: and if one had been stiffnecked, it is a wonder if he had escaped unpunished:

And what of those six hundred thousand that marched out into the desert, men of stubborn heart? Stiff-necked if he had been like the others, Caleb himself should not have had God’s pardon.

Misericordia enim et ira est cum illo: potens exoratio, et effundens iram.

For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation:

His to pity, his to punish; intercession avails with him, but in full flood comes his vengeance;

Secundum misericordiam suam, sic correptio illius homines secundum opera sua judicat.

According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man according to his works.

his severity, no less than his clemency, judges men by their deeds.

Non effugiet in rapina peccator, et non retardabit sufferentia misericordiam facientis.

The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of him that sheweth mercy shall not be put off.

Never may sinner enjoy his ill-gotten gains in safety, nor the hope of the generous be disappointed.

Omnis misericordia faciet locum unicuique, secundum meritum operum suorum, et secundum intellectum peregrinationis ipsius.

All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment.

No generous act but shall win God’s consideration; he weighs each man’s merits, knows how each passed his time on earth.

Non dicas: A Deo abscondar: et ex summo, quis mei memorabitur?

Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and who shall remember me from on high?

Never think to hide thyself away from God; never tell thyself, from that great height none shall regard thee;

in populo magno non agnoscar: quæ est enim anima mea in tam immensa creatura?

In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in such an immense creation?

that thou wilt pass unnoticed amidst the throng of humanity, thy soul a mere speck in the vast fabric of creation.

Ecce cælum et cæli cælorum, abyssus, et universa terra, et quæ in eis sunt, in conspectu illius commovebuntur.

Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his sight,

Why, the very heavens, and the heavens that are above the heavens, the great deep, and the whole earth with all it contains, shrink away at the sight of him;

Montes simul, et colles, et fundamenta terræ, cum conspexerit illa Deus, tremore concutientur.

The mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with trembling.

mountains and hills and earth’s foundations tremble at his glance;

Et in omnibus his insensatum est cor, et omne cor intelligitur ab illo.

And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart is understood by him.

all these have a heart, though it be a heart void of reason, and there is no heart but its secrets are known to him.

Et vias illius quis intelligit, et procellam quam nec oculus videbit hominis?

And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye of man shall see?

There is no fathoming his ways, no piercing the dark cloud man’s eyes have never seen;

Nam plurima illius opera sunt in absconsis: sed opera justitiæ ejus quis enuntiabit, aut quis sustinebit? longe enim est testamentum a quibusdam, et interrogatio omnium in consummatione est.

For many of his works are hidden: but the works of his justice who shall declare? or who shall endure? for the testament is far from some, and the examination of all is in the end.

all but a few of his doings are hidden away. His acts of retribution who can understand, or who can bear? Far, far removed is that covenant of his from some men’s thoughts; and yet in the end all shall undergo his scrutiny.

Qui minoratur corde cogitat inania, et vir imprudens et errans cogitat stulta.

He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things: and the foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things.

Away with these fancies of shallow minds, these fond dreams of error!

Audi me, fili, et disce disciplinam sensus, et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo:

Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart.

Wilt thou but listen to me, my son, thou shalt learn a wiser lesson. Give me thy heart’s heeding,

et dicam in æquitate disciplinam, et scrutabor enarrare sapientiam: et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo, et dico in æquitate spiritus virtutes quas posuit Deus in opera sua ab initio, et in veritate enuntio scientiam ejus.

And I will shew forth good doctrine in equity, and will seek to declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, whilst with equity of spirit I tell thee the virtues that God hath put upon his works from the beginning, and I shew forth in truth his knowledge.

and instruction thou shalt have in full measure, wisdom both profound and clear. Give me thy heart’s heeding, and thou shalt share with me knowledge of the wonderful endowments God gave his creatures when first he made them; all the lore I have shall be truly told thee.

In judicio Dei opera ejus ab initio, et ab institutione ipsorum distinxit partes illorum, et initia eorum in gentibus suis.

The works of God are done in judgment from the beginning, and from the making of them he distinguished their parts, and their beginnings in their generations.

From the first, all God’s creatures are at his beck and call; to each, when he first made it, he gave its own turn of service, the principle that determines its own nature.

Ornavit in æternum opera illorum: nec esurierunt, nec laboraverunt, et non destiterunt ab operibus suis.

He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered, nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.

To each, for all time, its own office is assigned, nor lack they, nor tire they, nor cease they from work,

Unusquisque proximum sibi non angustiabit in æternum:

Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time.

nor, for all time, can any of them infringe upon its neighbour’s rights;

non sis incredibilis verbo illius.

Be not thou incredulous to his word.

his word there is no gainsaying.

Post hæc Deus in terram respexit, et implevit illam bonis suis:

After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his goods.

This done, on earth he let fall his regard, and filled earth with his blessings;

anima omnis vitalis denuntiavit ante faciem ipsius, et in ipsam iterum reversio illorum.

The soul of every living thing hath shewn forth before the face thereof, and into it they return again.

covered the face of it with the living things that breathe there, and into its bosom bade them return.