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

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

Word came to me from the Lord:

And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the city of blood?

Et tu, fili hominis, nonne judicas, nonne judicas civitatem sanguinum?

Wilt thou not arraign them, citizens of this murderous place, wilt thou not arraign them?

And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against herself, to defile herself.

Et ostendes ei omnes abominationes suas, et dices: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Civitas effundens sanguinem in medio sui, ut veniat tempus ejus: et quæ fecit idola contra semetipsam, ut pollueretur.

Confront them with their foul misdeeds, and give them this message from the Lord God: Here is a city that hastens her own end with open bloodshed, soils herself with idols to her own undoing.

Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and thou art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to all countries.

In sanguine tuo, qui a te effusus est, deliquisti, et in idolis tuis, quæ fecisti, polluta es: et appropinquare fecisti dies tuos, et adduxisti tempus annorum tuorum: propterea dedi te opprobrium gentibus, et irrisionem universis terris.

Blood-spilth and idol-filth have brought thy time nearer, shortened thy years; what marvel if I let the heathen reproach thee, a whole world mock thee?

Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction.

Quæ juxta sunt, et quæ procul a te, triumphabunt de te, sordida, nobilis, grandis interitu.

What marvel if men exult over thee, far and near, great only in thy misfortune, as thou art renowned only for thy shame?

Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in thee to shed blood.

Ecce principes Israël singuli in brachio suo fuerunt in te, ad effundendum sanguinem.

No better title now to Israel’s nobility, than to fill those streets with blood!

They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and widow in thee.

Patrem et matrem contumeliis affecerunt: in te advenam calumniati sunt in medio tui: pupillum et viduam contristaverunt apud te.

Home of wrong, where father and mother are despised, the stranger oppressed, widow and orphan ill-used!

Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths.

Sanctuaria mea sprevisti, et sabbata mea polluisti.

My sanctuary, how it is despised, my sabbath how profaned!

Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst of thee.

Viri detractores fuerunt in te ad effundendum sanguinem, et super montes comederunt in te: scelus operati sunt in medio tui.

Innocent lives sworn away, feasting at the hill-shrines, and foul deeds done besides;

They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee.

Verecundiora patris discooperuerunt in te; immunditiam menstruatæ humiliaverunt in te:

see where a father’s bed is dishonoured, a woman pleads her defilement in vain;

And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law, the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in thee.

et unusquisque in uxorem proximi sui operatus est abominationem, et socer nurum suam polluit nefarie: frater sororem suam, filiam patris sui, oppressit in te.

neighbour comes lecherously between his neighbour’s sheets, father beds incestuously with his son’s wife, brother mates with sister sprung of the same blood!

They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

Munera acceperunt apud te ad effundendum sanguinem: usuram et superabundantiam accepisti, et avare proximos tuos calumniabaris: meique oblita es, ait Dominus Deus.

The murderer’s hire, usury and extortion, gains won by violence; and of me, the Lord God says, never a thought!

Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou hast exercised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of thee.

Ecce complosi manus meas super avaritiam tuam quam fecisti, et super sanguinem qui effusus est in medio tui.

Well may I smite hands together, indignant at thy ill-gotten gains, thy murderous doings;

Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail in the days which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.

Numquid sustinebit cor tuum, aut prævalebunt manus tuæ, in diebus quos ego faciam tibi? Ego Dominus locutus sum, et faciam.

will thy courage be so high, thy arm so powerful, when it is I that reckon with thee? What the Lord threatens, the Lord fulfils.

And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee.

Et dispergam te in nationes, et ventilabo te in terras, et deficere faciam immunditiam tuam a te.

Far will I banish thee, widely scatter thee, and bring the tale of thy shame to an end;

And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

Et possidebo te in conspectu gentium: et scies quia ego Dominus.

so I will claim my rights over thee for all the world to see, and thou shalt learn at last my power.

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

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

And word came to me from the Lord:

Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace: they are become the dross of silver.

Fili hominis, versa est mihi domus Israël in scoriam: omnes isti æs, et stannum, et ferrum, et plumbum in medio fornacis: scoria argenti facti sunt.

Son of man, where the race of Israel shews in the heart of the furnace, nothing I find but dross; all is copper, and tin, and iron, and lead; dross of silver where silver should be.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned into dross, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem.

Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Eo quod versi estis omnes in scoriam, propterea ecce ego congregabo vos in medio Jerusalem,

This warning, then, the Lord God has for them: I mean to shut you up in Jerusalem, dross as you are;

As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my rest, and I will melt you down.

congregatione argenti, et æris, et stanni, et ferri, et plumbi, in medio fornacis, ut succendam in ea ignem ad conflandum. Sic congregabo in furore meo, et in ira mea: et requiescam, et conflabo vos.

this shall be your furnace, silver and copper and tin and iron and lead, all together; and I will light a fire to smelt you. There my angry vengeance shall imprison you, and I will give you respite for a little, and then melt you down.

And I will gather you together, and will burn you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.

Et congregabo vos, et succendam vos in igne furoris mei, et conflabimini in medio ejus.

Beleaguered there, with the fire of my anger to smelt you

As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my indignation upon you.

Ut conflatur argentum in medio fornacis, sic eritis in medio ejus: et scietis quia ego Dominus cum effuderim indignationem meam super vos.

like silver in the furnace, you shall feel the force of the Lord’s vengeance at last.

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

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

Then word came to me from the Lord:

Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not rained upon in the day of wrath.

Fili hominis, dic ei: Tu es terra immunda, et non compluta in die furoris.

Son of man, tell the land of Juda that it is unclean, and, when my vengeance falls on it, rain it shall have none.

There is a conspiracy of prophets in the midst thereof: like a lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls, they have taken riches and hire, they have made many widows in the midst thereof.

Conjuratio prophetarum in medio ejus: sicut leo rugiens, rapiensque prædam, animas devoraverunt: opes et pretium acceperunt: viduas ejus multiplicaverunt in medio illius.

What of the prophets? A sworn conspiracy; lions roaring for their prey, the lives of men; wealth and treasure they must have; there be widows everywhere.

Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them.

Sacerdotes ejus contempserunt legem meam, et polluerunt sanctuaria mea: inter sanctum et profanum non habuerunt distantiam, et inter pollutum et mundum non intellexerunt: et a sabbatis meis averterunt oculos suos, et coinquinabar in medio eorum.

What of the priests? Priests, that despise my law, violate my sanctuary, cannot tell sacred from profane, count all one, clean or unclean; priests, that leave my own sabbath unregarded; am I not defiled by their company?

Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to run after gains through covetousness.

Principes ejus in medio illius quasi lupi rapientes prædam ad effundendum sanguinem, et ad perdendas animas, et avare ad sectanda lucra.

What of the nobles? Ravening wolves, all blood and murder, greedy for gain;

And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar, seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the Lord God: when the Lord hath not spoken.

Prophetæ autem ejus liniebant eos absque temperamento, videntes vana, et divinantes eis mendacium, dicentes: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: cum Dominus non sit locutus.

and here are the prophets with their untempered mortar, their vain dreams and false auguries, crying a message from the Lord when message from the Lord they have none.

The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor, and they oppressed the stranger by calumny without judgment.

Populi terræ calumniabantur calumniam, et rapiebant violenter: egenum et pauperem affligebant, et advenam opprimebant calumnia absque judicio.

Great wrong the citizens themselves do, robbing where they will, harrying the helpless poor, oppressing the stranger and denying him redress.

And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap before me in favour of the land, that I might not destroy it: and I found none.

Et quæsivi de eis virum qui interponeret sepem, et staret oppositus contra me pro terra, ne dissiparem eam: et non inveni.

Who would close the breach, intercede with me to spare the land from ruin? Never a man was found!

And I poured out my indignation upon them, in the fire of my wrath I consumed them: I have rendered their way upon their own head, saith the Lord God.

Et effudi super eos indignationem meam; in igne iræ meæ consumpsi eos: viam eorum in caput eorum reddidi, ait Dominus Deus.

What wonder if I have poured out my vengeance, burnt them up in my anger? It was but their deserts I gave them, says the Lord God.