Et elevavit me spiritus, et introduxit me ad portam domus Domini orientalem, quæ respicit ad solis ortum: et ecce in introitu portæ viginti quinque viri: et vidi in medio eorum Jezoniam filium Azur, et Pheltiam filium Banaiæ, principes populi.

And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of Banaias, princes of the people.

Thereupon a transport seized me, carrying me off to the gate of the temple that looks eastward; and here were twenty-five men at the gate’s threshold, with two nobles, Jezonias son of Azur and Pheltias son of Benaias, plain to be seen among them.

Dixitque ad me: Fili hominis, hi sunt viri qui cogitant iniquitatem, et tractant consilium pessimum in urbe ista,

And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,

Son of man, the divine voice said to me, here are folk that plot mischief, and give the city ruinous counsel.

dicentes: Nonne dudum ædificatæ sunt domus? hæc est lebes, nos autem carnes.

Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron, and we the flesh.

What, say they, have we not houses here newly built? We may lie as snug here as meat in a cooking-pot.

Idcirco vaticinare de eis, vaticinare, fili hominis.

Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.

Tell them of their doom, son of man, tell them of their doom.

Et irruit in me spiritus Domini, et dixit ad me: Loquere: Hæc dicit Dominus: Sic locuti estis, domus Israël, et cogitationes cordis vestri ego novi.

And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I know the thoughts of your heart.

With that, the spirit of the Lord came full upon me, and bade me speak. This message I gave them from the Lord of hosts, These are your own words, men of Israel; can I not read your hearts?

Plurimos occidistis in urbe hac, et implestis vias ejus interfectis.

You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.

So many done to death in this city, you have filled all the streets of it with bodies of the slain!

Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Interfecti vestri, quos posuistis in medio ejus, hi sunt carnes, et hæc est lebes: et educam vos de medio ejus.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, and this is the caldron: and I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.

You have peopled it with the dead, says the Lord God; their flesh it is shall line yonder cooking-pot; as for you, I will fetch you out of it.

Gladium metuistis, et gladium inducam super vos, ait Dominus Deus.

You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, saith the Lord God.

The sword it is you dread, and to the sword I doom you, the Lord God says;

Et ejiciam vos de medio ejus, daboque vos in manu hostium, et faciam in vobis judicia.

And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you.

out of it you shall come, and fall into the enemy’s hands, and be punished as you deserve.

Gladio cadetis: in finibus Israël judicabo vos, et scietis quia ego Dominus.

You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Doomed to fall by the sword, up and down the countryside of Israel; then you shall learn what manner of God the Lord is!

Hæc non erit vobis in lebetem, et vos non eritis in medio ejus in carnes: in finibus Israël judicabo vos,

This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel.

Cooking-pot is none here to shelter you; up and down the country-side you shall meet your sentence,

et scietis quia ego Dominus: quia in præceptis meis non ambulastis, et judicia mea non fecistis, sed juxta judicia gentium quæ in circuitu vestro sunt estis operati.

And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you.

and learn what manner of God it is whose paths you have left untrodden, whose will you have disobeyed, to follow the ill customs of your neighbours!

Et factum est cum prophetarem, Pheltias filius Banaiæ mortuus est: et cecidi in faciem meam clamans voce magna, et dixi: Heu! heu! heu! Domine Deus, consummationem tu facis reliquiarum Israël?

And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of all the remnant of Israel?

So, in my vision, I prophesied, and while I was prophesying, Pheltias the son of Banaias sank down dead. Thereupon I fell face to earth, crying aloud, Alas, alas, Lord God, wilt thou take full toll of the remnant left to Israel?

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

But the Lord’s answer came to me:

Fili hominis, fratres tui, fratres tui, viri propinqui tui, et omnis domus Israël, universi quibus dixerunt habitatores Jerusalem: Longe recedite a Domino: nobis data est terra in possessionem.

Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us.

Thou hast brethren, son of man, thou hast brethren still. They are nearest of kin to thee that are far away, exiled sons of Israel. What though these dwellers at Jerusalem cry, Keep your distance, the land is ours?

Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Quia longe feci eos in gentibus, et quia dispersi eos in terris: ero eis in sanctificationem modicam in terris ad quas venerunt.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries whither they are come.

Not such is the message the Lord God sends them; Far away I have banished them, says he, widely scattered them; yet, go they where they will, a sanctuary in little they shall find in my companionship.

Propterea loquere: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Congregabo vos de populis, et adunabo de terris in quibus dispersi estis, daboque vobis humum Israël.

Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

Tell them this, from the Lord God, Lost among the peoples, I will gather you, scattered over the world, I will muster you, and give you the land of Israel for your home.

Et ingredientur illuc, et auferent omnes offensiones, cunctasque abominationes ejus de illa.

And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence.

To it they shall find their way, and rid it of all that is foul, all that is abominable there;

Et dabo eis cor unum, et spiritum novum tribuam in visceribus eorum: et auferam cor lapideum de carne eorum, et dabo eis cor carneum,

And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:

one mind they shall have, and a new spirit shall fill their inmost being; gone the heart of stone, and a human heart theirs in place of it.

ut in præceptis meis ambulent, et judicia mea custodiant, faciantque ea, et sint mihi in populum, et ego sim eis in Deum.

That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments, and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.

My paths they shall tread, my will jealously obey, they my people, and I their God.

Quorum cor post offendicula et abominationes suas ambulat, horum viam in capite suo ponam, dicit Dominus Deus.

But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God.

Only where men’s hearts are set on their own foul abominations, the Lord God says, they shall bear their punishment.

Et elevaverunt cherubim alas suas, et rotæ cum eis, et gloria Dei Israël erat super ea:

And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

And now the cherubim spread their wings for flight, the wheels beside them, the bright presence of the Lord above them;

et ascendit gloria Domini de medio civitatis, stetitque super montem qui est ad orientem urbis.

And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.

and that presence, withdrawn from the city’s midst, came to rest upon the mountain height eastwards of it.

Et spiritus levavit me, adduxitque in Chaldæam ad transmigrationem, in visione, in spiritu Dei: et sublata est a me visio quam videram.

And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to them of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision which I had seen was taken up from me.

With that, a fresh transport seized me, and I was back among the exiles in Chaldaea, still in a trance, still full of the divine impulse. So the vision faded from my eyes,

Et locutus sum ad transmigrationem omnia verba Domini quæ ostenderat mihi.

And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord, which he had shewn me.

and I told the exiles all the Lord had made known to me.