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

Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens:

Then the Lord’s word came to me:

And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of Israel: The end is come, the end is come upon the four quarters of the land.

Et tu, fili hominis, hæc dicit Dominus Deus terræ Israël: Finis venit: venit finis super quatuor plagas terræ.

And thou, son of man … A message to the land of Israel from the Lord God! For this land, for every corner of it, here is doom, here is doom.

Now is an end come upon thee, and I will send my wrath upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways: and I will set all thy abominations against thee.

Nunc finis super te, et immittam furorem meum in te: et judicabo te juxta vias tuas, et ponam contra te omnes abominationes tuas.

Doom for thee at last; I mean to wreak vengeance on thee, pass sentence on thy evil life, bring home to thee thy foul deeds.

And my eye shall not spare thee, and I will shew thee no pity: but I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Et non parcet oculus meus super te, et non miserebor: sed vias tuas ponam super te, et abominationes tuæ in medio tui erunt, et scietis quia ego Dominus.

Nor shall my eye melt with pity; I will not spare. All thy evil life brought home to thee, all thy foul deeds confronting thee; who shall doubt that it comes from the Lord?

Thus saith the Lord God: One affliction, behold an affliction is come.

Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Afflictio una, afflictio ecce venit.

The blow, the first blow has fallen, says the Lord God;

An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee: behold it is come.

Finis venit, venit finis: evigilavit adversum te, ecce venit.

all is over now, all is over; the day dawns, and for thee doom comes with day.

Destruction is come upon thee that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of slaughter is near, and not of the joy of mountains.

Venit contritio super te, qui habitas in terra: venit tempus, prope est dies occisionis, et non gloriæ montium.

Dwellers in the land, this is the end of you; your time is up, your day has come; a day when your mountains shall echo with tumult, not with harvest-home.

Now very shortly I will pour out my wrath upon thee, and I will accomplish my anger in thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and I will lay upon thee all thy crimes.

Nunc de propinquo effundam iram meam super te, et complebo furorem meum in te: et judicabo te juxta vias tuas, et imponam tibi omnia scelera tua,

Close at hand, now, I will rain down my vengeance upon you, give my anger full play, no crime unjudged, no weight of punishment unborne.

And my eye shall not spare, neither will I shew mercy: but I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord that strike.

et non parcet oculus meus, nec miserebor: sed vias tuas imponam tibi, et abominationes tuæ in medio tui erunt, et scietis quia ego sum Dominus percutiens.

Never shall my eye melt with pity for thee; all thy evil life shall be accounted for, all thy foul deeds brought to light; and none shall doubt that I, the Lord, punish.

Behold the day, behold it is come: destruction is gone forth, the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

Ecce dies, ecce venit: egressa est contritio, floruit virga, germinavit superbia,

It has come, the day has come; the wheel full circle, the branch in full bloom, pride bears its harvest.

Iniquity is risen up into a rod of impiety: nothing of them shall remain, nor of their people, nor of the noise of them: and there shall be no rest among them.

iniquitas surrexit in virga impietatis: non ex eis, et non ex populo, neque ex sonitu eorum: et non erit requies in eis.

Violence has grown up into a shoot of rebellion … and not by their means, not through clamouring multitude of theirs; rest they shall have none.

The time is come, the day is at hand: let not the buyer rejoice: nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the people thereof.

Venit tempus, appropinquavit dies: qui emit, non lætetur, et qui vendit, non lugeat: quia ira super omnem populum ejus.

The time is up, the day of reckoning come; who buys now, of his purchase shall have no joy, who sells now, shall not feel his loss; the Lord’s vengeance will overtake the whole throng of citizens alike;

For the seller shall not return to that which he hath sold, although their life be yet among the living. For the vision which regardeth all the multitude thereof, shall not go back: neither shall man be strengthened in the iniquity of his life.

Quia qui vendit, ad id quod vendidit non revertetur: et adhuc in viventibus vita eorum: visio enim ad omnem multitudinem ejus non regredietur, et vir in iniquitate vitæ suæ non confortabitur.

alas! here is property alienated for ever, though buyer and seller count among the living yet. The vision is for the whole throng of citizens; there is no reversing it; never a man of that guilty race shall survive.

Blow the trumpet, let all be made ready, yet there is none to go to the battle: for my wrath shall be upon all the people thereof.

Canite tuba, præparentur omnes: et non est qui vadat ad prælium: ira enim mea super universum populum ejus.

Sound the trumpet there, rally all to arms! But none goes out to war; on the whole throng of citizens my vengeance has fallen;

The sword without: and the pestilence, and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die by the sword: and they that are in the city, shall be devoured by the pestilence, and the famine.

Gladium foris, et pestis et fames intrinsecus: qui in agro est, gladio morietur, et qui in civitate, pestilentia et fame devorabuntur.

sword without, pestilence and famine within; sword for the straggler, pestilence and famine for the besieged.

And such of them as shall flee shall escape: and they shall be in the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them trembling, every one for his iniquity.

Et salvabuntur qui fugerint ex eis: et erunt in montibus quasi columbæ convallium omnes trepidi, unusquisque in iniquitate sua.

Fugitives there shall be that make good their flight, but these must take to the mountains, fluttered as the doves that haunt their ravines, sinners all;

All hands shall be made feeble, and all knees shall run with water.

Omnes manus dissolventur, et omnia genua fluent aquis.

hands that hang listless, knees weak as water.

And they shall gird themselves with haircloth, and fear shall cover them,and shame shall be upon every face, and baldness upon all their heads.

Et accingent se ciliciis, et operiet eos formido: et in omni facie confusio, et in universis capitibus eorum calvitium.

See where men go clad in sackcloth, trembling in every limb, with downcast faces, and their heads shorn!

Their silver shall be cast forth, and their gold shall become a dunghill. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their soul, and their bellies shall not be filled: because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Argentum eorum foras projicietur, et aurum eorum in sterquilinium erit: argentum eorum et aurum eorum non valebit liberare eos in die furoris Domini: animam suam non saturabunt, et ventres eorum non implebuntur, quia scandalum iniquitatis eorum factum est.

See where they cast their silver out of doors, their gold on to the dung-hill; how should precious metal speed them in this day of the Lord’s vengeance? Hunger it sates not, belly it fills not; and this, all the while, was the very occasion of their guilt!

And they have turned the ornament of their jewels into pride, and have made of it the images of their abominations, and idols: therefore I have made it an uncleanness to them.

Et ornamentum monilium suorum in superbiam posuerunt, et imagines abominationum suarum et simulacrorum fecerunt ex eo: propter hoc dedi eis illud in immunditiam.

Did they not pride themselves on the beauty of their workmanship, was it not from this they made images of their detestable false gods? And now there it lies, all defilement!

And I will give it into the hands of strangers for spoil, and to the wicked of the earth for a prey, and they shall defile it.

Et dabo illud in manus alienorum ad diripiendum, et impiis terræ in prædam, et contaminabunt illud.

Now I am giving it over to strangers for spoil; the vilest of earth’s inhabitants shall plunder it.

And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall violate my secret place: and robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

Et avertam faciem meam ab eis, et violabunt arcanum meum: et introibunt in illud emissarii, et contaminabunt illud.

Still my eyes shall be averted, while my own treasure-chamber is broken open, while the enemy’s pursuivants enter and profane it.

Make a shutting up: for the land is full of the judgment of blood, and the city is full of iniquity.

Fac conclusionem, quoniam terra plena est judicio sanguinum, et civitas plena iniquitate.

Make short work of it, a land where innocent lives are forfeit, a nest of wrong!

And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and they shall possess their sanctuary.

Et adducam pessimos de gentibus, et possidebunt domos eorum: et quiescere faciam superbiam potentium, et possidebunt sanctuaria eorum.

The very refuse of the heathen I will summon to dispossess them of their homes, to be masters of their holy places, that proud boast of theirs now for ever silenced.

When distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace and there shall be none.

Angustia superveniente, requirent pacem, et non erit.

Days of despair, when they will look about them for a respite, and respite shall be none!

Trouble shall come upon trouble, and rumour upon rumour, and they shall seek a vision of the prophet, and the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

Conturbatio super conturbationem veniet, et auditus super auditum: et quærent visionem de propheta, et lex peribit a sacerdote, et consilium a senioribus.

Fresh anxieties still, and fresh alarms; vainly they ask the prophet for revelation; tradition among the priests, counsel among the elders is none.

The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with sorrow, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to them according to their way, and will judge them according to their judgments: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Rex lugebit, et princeps induetur mœrore, et manus populi terræ conturbabuntur: secundum viam eorum faciam eis, et secundum judicia eorum judicabo eos, et scient quia ego Dominus.

Mourns king, princes go covered with dismay, numb with despair the common folk; ill they shall fare, that ill did, cruelly be judged, that were cruel judges; they shall know what manner of God they serve.