Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens:

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

So the Lord’s word came to me,

Fili hominis, pone faciem tuam ad Jerusalem, et stilla ad sanctuaria, et propheta contra humum Israël.

Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:

Why then, son of man, towards Jerusalem turn thee, pour out thy complaint sanctuarywards, and let the land of Israel hear thee prophesy.

Et dices terræ Israël: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego ad te, et ejiciam gladium meum de vagina sua, et occidam in te justum et impium.

And say to the land of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.

And this be thy message to the land of Israel: Have at thee! the Lord God says; here is my sword unsheathed to make an end of thy inhabitants, innocent souls and guilty.

Pro eo autem quod occidi in te justum et impium, idcirco egredietur gladius meus de vagina sua ad omnem carnem, ab austro usque ad aquilonem:

And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just, and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.

In token that all alike must perish, northward and south alike, all the world over, my unsheathed sword must go on its errand;

ut sciat omnis caro quia ego Dominus, eduxi gladium meum de vagina sua irrevocabilem.

That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath not to be turned back.

drawn it is, plain for all the world to see, and there is no sheathing it.

Et tu, fili hominis, ingemisce in contritione lumborum, et in amaritudinibus ingemisce coram eis.

And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before them.

And therewithal I would have thee groan, as men groan that have an aching in the loins, very piteously in the public view;

Cumque dixerint ad te: Quare tu gemis? dices: Pro auditu: quia venit, et tabescet omne cor, et dissolventur universæ manus, et infirmabitur omnis spiritus, et per cuncta genua fluent aquæ: ecce venit, et fiet, ait Dominus Deus.

And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.

ask they the reason of it, thou wilt say, For ill tidings. Faint every heart shall be, when those tidings come, every hand shall hang listless; cowed every spirit shall be, every knee be weak as water. Those tidings are on the way, the Lord God says; there is no averting it.

Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens:

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

Word came to me from the Lord:

Fili hominis, propheta, et dices: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: loquere: Gladius, gladius exacutus est, et limatus:

Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.

Tell them, son of man, the Lord God has this message for thee to utter: Whetted the sword is, polished the sword is,

ut cædat victimas, exacutus est: ut splendeat, limatus est: qui moves sceptrum filii mei, succidisti omne lignum.

It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every tree.

whetted for slaughter, polished to dazzle as lightning does. Never a tree but must fall at thy onset, woodman who art to overthrow the sceptre my son wields.

Et dedi eum ad levigandum, ut teneatur manu: iste exacutus est gladius, et iste limatus est, ut sit in manu interficientis.

And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the hand of the slayer.

Polished, for the hand to grasp it well, the sharp sword, the bright sword, which the slayer must needs handle!

Clama et ulula, fili hominis, quia hic factus est in populo meo, hic in cunctis ducibus Israël qui fugerant: gladio traditi sunt cum populo meo: idcirco plaude super femur,

Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is upon my people, it is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered up to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh,

Cry aloud, son of man, and bewail thee, that on my people it must fall, and all the princes of Israel that are left; prince and people, doomed to perish by the sword; smite on thy thigh most dolorously.

quia probatus est: et hoc, cum sceptrum subverterit, et non erit, dicit Dominus Deus.

Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.

A tried sword, the Lord God says, and when yonder sceptre it has overthrown, brought to nothing ….

Tu ergo, fili hominis, propheta, et percute manu ad manum: et duplicetur gladius, ac triplicetur gladius interfectorum: hic est gladius occisionis magnæ, qui obstupescere eos facit

Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them stand amazed,

Prophesy, then, son of man; smite hands together and call for a second stroke and a third of the avenging sword; a sword of massacre, that strikes men dumb,

et corde tabescere, et multiplicat ruinas. In omnibus portis eorum dedi conturbationem gladii acuti, et limati ad fulgendum, amicti ad cædem.

And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.

turns their hearts faint, and lays all in ruin. Havoc wrought at every gate by the sharp sword, the sword polished till it shines again, wrapped about the hilts for more ease of smiting!

Exacuere, vade ad dexteram sive ad sinistram, quocumque faciei tuæ est appetitus.

Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face.

Sharp be thy blade; cut right, cut left, wherever thy lust beckons thee!

Quin et ego plaudam manu ad manum, et implebo indignationem meam: ego Dominus locutus sum.

And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my indignation: I the Lord have spoken.

I too will smite hands together, telling the tale of my vengeance; I, the Lord, command thee.

Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens:

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

Word came to me from the Lord:

Et tu, fili hominis, pone tibi duas vias, ut veniat gladius regis Babylonis: de terra una egredientur ambæ: et manu capiet conjecturam; in capite viæ civitatis conjiciet.

And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the king of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the way of the city.

And now, son of man, draw a picture. A picture of two roads, both leading from a common point, by which the sword of the Chaldaean king may travel. Here he is, planning his course at the sign-post, where two roads meet, a city at the end of either.

Viam pones ut veniat gladius ad Rabbath filiorum Ammon, et ad Judam in Jerusalem munitissimam.

Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city.

Draw the two roads, one beckoning that sword to Rabbath, where the Ammonites dwell, one to Juda, and Jerusalem the impregnable.

Stetit enim rex Babylonis in bivio, in capite duarum viarum, divinationem quærens, commiscens sagittas: interrogavit idola, exta consuluit.

For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols, and consulted entrails.

There stands the king of Babylon at the parting of the ways, taking omens; there is shuffling of arrows, consulting of deities, searching of entrails.

Ad dexteram ejus facta est divinatio super Jerusalem, ut ponat arietes, ut aperiat os in cæde, ut elevet vocem in ululatu, ut ponat arietes contra portas, ut comportet aggerem, ut ædificet munitiones.

On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build forts.

Choose he the right, it is for Jerusalem; the battering-rams, the breach made ere the slaughter can begin, the cries of battle, the assault on the gates, the mound, the siege-works.

Eritque quasi consulens frustra oraculum in oculis eorum, et sabbatorum otium imitans: ipse autem recordabitur iniquitatis ad capiendum.

And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.

Thy picture will shew him as a man baffled by the omens given him, that remains idle, as if he were keeping the sabbath rest. Then he remembers the guilt; shall a guilty race go free?

Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Pro eo quod recordati estis iniquitatis vestræ, et revelastis prævaricationes vestras, et apparuerunt peccata vestra in omnibus cogitationibus vestris, pro eo, inquam, quod recordati estis, manu capiemini.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, you have remembered, you shall be taken with the hand.

Ay, says the Lord God, still fresh is the memory of that guilt; open rebels you are, and never a thought in your hearts but shews vile; capture awaits you, that revive those memories still.

Tu autem, profane, impie dux Israël, cujus venit dies in tempore iniquitatis præfinita:

But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that hath been appointed in the time of iniquity:

And thou, perjured wretch that rulest Israel, thy time has run out;

hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Aufer cidarim, tolle coronam: nonne hæc est quæ humilem sublevavit, et sublimem humiliavit?

Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown: is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that was high?

off with head-band, off with crown, symbols that honour the base, the noble degrade!

Iniquitatem, iniquitatem, iniquitatem ponam eam: et hoc non factum est, donec veniret cujus est judicium, et tradam ei.

I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it him.

I will wrest it this way, wrest it that, as it was never wrested yet; at last one shall come that claims it of right, and to him I will give it.

Et tu, fili hominis, propheta, et dic: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus ad filios Ammon, et ad opprobrium eorum: et dices: Mucro, mucro, evaginate ad occidendum: limate ut interficias et fulgeas:

And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be furbished to destroy, and to glitter,

Prophesy, son of man, and give a message from the Lord God to the men of Ammon, in answer to their taunts: Drawn be the sword, cried they, whetted be the sword and bright for its work of slaying!

cum tibi viderentur vana, et divinarentur mendacia, ut dareris super colla vulneratorum impiorum, quorum venit dies in tempore iniquitatis præfinita.

Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies: to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose appointed day is come in the time of iniquity.

Nay, sword of Ammon, it was but a vain dream, a lying augury, that it should be thy office to fall on the necks of yonder doomed sinners, whose time has run out.

Revertere ad vaginam tuam, in loco in quo creatus es: in terra nativitatis tuæ judicabo te.

Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

Back to thy sheath with thee, back to thy native soil; there, in the land where thou wast fashioned, I will call thee to account.

Et effundam super te indignationem meam; in igne furoris mei sufflabo in te: daboque te in manus hominum insipientium, et fabricantium interitum.

And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.

I mean to pour out my vengeance on thee, blast thee with the fire of my anger; barbarian foes shall have the mastery of thee, that are skilful only to destroy.

Igni eris cibus; sanguis tuus erit in medio terræ; oblivioni traderis: quia ego Dominus locutus sum.

Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.

Fire shall feed on thee, earth run with thy blood, oblivion bury thy name; I, the Lord, have given sentence.