Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

Word came to me from the Lord:

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

Fili hominis, loquere ad filios populi tui, et dices ad eos: Terra, cum induxero super eam gladium, et tulerit populus terræ virum unum de novissimis suis, et constituerit eum super se speculatorem:

Son of man, tell thy fellow-countrymen this: Plague I a country with war, some frontier-dweller is chosen by the citizens to be their sentry.

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them:

et ille viderit gladium venientem super terram, et cecinerit buccina, et annuntiaverit populo:

Let such a man spy the invader’s approach, and sound the alarm with his trumpet;

And he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people:

audiens autem quisquis ille est sonitum buccinæ, et non se observaverit, veneritque gladius, et tulerit eum: sanguis ipsius super caput ejus erit.

whoever hears it must give good heed, or else the enemy may catch him, and none but himself to blame.

Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be upon his own head.

Sonum buccinæ audivit, et non se observavit: sanguis ejus in ipso erit. Si autem se custodierit, animam suam salvabit.

What, hear trumpet, and pay no heed? The fault is his. More cautious, he should have found safety.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save his life.

Quod si speculator viderit gladium venientem, et non insonuerit buccina, et populus se non custodierit, veneritque gladius, et tulerit de eis animam: ille quidem in iniquitate sua captus est; sanguinem autem ejus de manu speculatoris requiram.

But what if sentry, when he sees the invader coming, sounds no alarm to warn his neighbours? Here is some citizen overtaken by the enemy; well, his guilt deserved it. But for his death I will hold the sentry accountable.

And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.

Et tu, fili hominis, speculatorem dedi te domui Israël: audiens ergo ex ore meo sermonem, annuntiabis eis ex me.

So it is with thee, son of man; for the whole race of Israel thou art my watchman; the warning thou hearest from my lips, to them pass on.

So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

Si me dicente ad impium: Impie, morte morieris: non fueris locutus ut se custodiat impius a via sua, ipse impius in iniquitate sua morietur; sanguinem autem ejus de manu tua requiram.

Sinner if I threaten with death, and word thou give him none to leave off his sinning, die he shall, as he deserves to die, but thou for his death shalt answer to me.

When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.

Si autem annuntiante te ad impium ut a viis suis convertatur, non fuerit conversus a via sua, ipse in iniquitate sua morietur, porro tu animam tuam liberasti.

If warning thou givest, and he will not leave off his sinning, he dies by his own fault, and thou shalt stand acquitted.

But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Tu ergo, fili hominis, dic ad domum Israël: Sic locuti estis, dicentes: Iniquitates nostræ et peccata nostra super nos sunt, et in ipsis nos tabescimus: quomodo ergo vivere poterimus?

This be thy word, son of man, to the race of Israel: Think you no hope of life is left, so burdened you are, so languish under the guilt of your sins?

Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?

Dic ad eos: Vivo ego, dicit Dominus Deus, nolo mortem impii, sed ut convertatur impius a via sua, et vivat. Convertimini, convertimini a viis vestris pessimis, et quare moriemini, domus Israël?

This message give them from the Lord: As I am a living God, the sinner’s death is none of my contriving! I would have him leave his sinning, and live on. Come back, come back from your ill-doing; why must you choose death, men of Israel?

Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?

Tu itaque, fili hominis, dic ad filios populi tui: Justitia justi non liberabit eum, in quacumque die peccaverit, et impietas impii non nocebit ei, in quacumque die conversus fuerit ab impietate sua: et justus non poterit vivere in justitia sua, in quacumque die peccaverit.

And warn them, son of man, warn thy fellow-countrymen that, once the upright man falls a-sinning, his uprightness shall nothing avail him. Sinner that will leave his sinning, no harm shall he have; upright man that sins, no life shall his uprightness bring him.

Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.

Etiamsi dixero justo quod vita vivat, et confisus in justitia sua fecerit iniquitatem, omnes justitiæ ejus oblivioni tradentur, et in iniquitate sua quam operatus est, in ipsa morietur.

Promise I the upright he shall live on, he must not by his own uprightness be emboldened to sin; forgotten, all his good deserts, his guilt shall be his undoing.

Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die.

Si autem dixero impio: Morte morieris: et egerit pœnitentiam a peccato suo, feceritque judicium et justitiam,

Threaten I the sinner with instant death, he has but to repent of his sins, do innocently and uprightly,

And if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice,

et pignus restituerit ille impius, rapinamque reddiderit, in mandatis vitæ ambulaverit, nec fecerit quidquam injustum: vita vivet, et non morietur.

restore the debtor’s pledge, the ill-gotten gains, follow the life-giving law, forswear ill-doing, and it shall be life, not death for him.

And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die.

Omnia peccata ejus quæ peccavit, non imputabuntur ei: judicium et justitiam fecit: vita vivet.

Forgotten, all his ill deserving; innocent and upright, he shall live on.

None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live.

Et dixerunt filii populi tui: Non est æqui ponderis via Domini: et ipsorum via injusta est.

And yet they say, these fellow-countrymen of thine, that the Lord’s dealings are inconsiderate, when in truth it is they that deal inconsiderately.

And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust.

Cum enim recesserit justus a justitia sua, feceritque iniquitates, morietur in eis.

Death for the upright that is upright no more, and turns ill-doer;

For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them.

Et cum recesserit impius ab impietate sua, feceritque judicium et justitiam, vivet in eis.

life for the sinner that will leave his sinning, upright and innocent now!

And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: he shall live in them.

Et dicitis: Non est recta via Domini. Unumquemque juxta vias suas judicabo de vobis, domus Israël.

Will you still have it that the Lord’s dealings are inconsiderate? Nay, men of Israel, each of you shall have his deserts.

And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.

Et factum est in duodecimo anno, in decimo mense, in quinta mensis transmigrationis nostræ, venit ad me qui fugerat de Jerusalem, dicens: Vastata est civitas.

It was in the twelfth year of the exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, that a fugitive came to me with the news that Jerusalem had fallen.

And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste.

Manus autem Domini facta fuerat ad me vespere, antequam veniret qui fugerat: aperuitque os meum donec veniret ad me mane: et aperto ore meo, non silui amplius.

The night before this man reached me, the power of the Lord had visited me, to unseal my lips in readiness for his coming on the morrow; so now I could speak out, and was dumb no longer.

And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more.

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

And a message came to me from the Lord:

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

Fili hominis, qui habitant in ruinosis his super humum Israël, loquentes aiunt: Unus erat Abraham, et hæreditate possedit terram: nos autem multi sumus: nobis data est terra in possessionem.

Son of man, what are they saying, the folk that now inhabit yonder ruins of Israel? Enough of us, they say, to be the true heirs of this land! Abraham was granted possession of it when he was all alone.

Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous places in the land of Israel, speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many, the land is given us in possession.

Idcirco dices ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Qui in sanguine comeditis, et oculos vestros levatis ad immunditias vestras, et sanguinem funditis, numquid terram hæreditate possidebitis?

Tell them this from the Lord God: You, that cook your meat with the blood in it, that look to false gods for aid, that thrive by murder, the land’s heirs!

Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God, You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance?

stetistis in gladiis vestris, fecistis abominationes, et unusquisque uxorem proximi sui polluit: et terram hæreditate possidebitis?

You, that live by the sword, that practise foul rites, that dishonour your neighbours’ wives, the land’s heirs!

You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and every one hath defiled his neighbour’s wife; and shall you possess the land by inheritance?

Hæc dices ad eos: Sic dicit Dominus Deus: Vivo ego, quia qui in ruinosis habitant, gladio cadent: et qui in agro est, bestiis tradetur ad devorandum: qui autem in præsidiis et speluncis sunt, peste morientur.

This is the Lord’s message to them: As I am a living God, ruin-dwellers, the sword shall be your ruin! Or choose you the open country, you shall be a prey to the wild beasts; choose you mountain-fastness and cave, the pestilence shall take you.

Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence.

Et dabo terram in solitudinem et in desertum, et deficiet superba fortitudo ejus: et desolabuntur montes Israël, eo quod nullus sit qui per eos transeat:

A lonely desert this land shall be, all its proud boast at an end; the hill-country of Israel shall lie desolate, untrodden by wayfarers;

And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them.

et scient quia ego Dominus, cum dedero terram eorum desolatam et desertam, propter universas abominationes suas quas operati sunt.

desert and desolate their land must be, in punishment of all their foul doings, before they learn to recognize my power.

And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they have committed.

Et tu, fili hominis, filii populi tui, qui loquuntur de te juxta muros et in ostiis domorum, et dicunt unus ad alterum, vir ad proximum suum, loquentes: Venite, et audiamus quis sit sermo egrediens a Domino.

And thou, son of man, listen to what they are saying of thee, as they stand close to wall, huddled under doorway. Each says to other, Come and find out whether the Lord has any message for us.

And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another each man to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.

Et veniunt ad te, quasi si ingrediatur populus, et sedent coram te populus meus: et audiunt sermones tuos, et non faciunt eos: quia in canticum oris sui vertunt illos, et avaritiam suam sequitur cor eorum.

Ay, they come crowding about thee, this people of mine, and sit here closeted with thee, listening to all thou sayest, but do thy bidding they will not. No, they will have thee sing in their own tune, and all their thought dwells upon gains ill-gotten.

And they come to thee, as if a people were coming in, and my people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their covetousness.

Et es eis quasi carmen musicum, quod suavi dulcique sono canitur: et audiunt verba tua, et non faciunt ea.

As well had it been some tuneful air, sung excellently well; better listeners thou couldst not have, nor less achievement.

And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not.

Et cum venerit quod prædictum est (ecce enim venit), tunc scient quod prophetes fuerit inter eos.

But when thy words come true, as come true they shall, none shall doubt that they have had a prophet in their midst.

And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, (for behold it is coming,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.