Super custodiam meam stabo, et figam gradum super munitionem: et contemplabor ut videam quid dicatur mihi, et quid respondeam ad arguentem me.

I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to him that reproveth me.

What message, then, is entrusted to me? What answer shall I make when I am called to account? Here on the watch-tower my post shall be; stand I on the battlements, and await his signal.

Et respondit mihi Dominus, et dixit: Scribe visum, et explana eum super tabulas, ut percurrat qui legerit eum.

And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it.

Write down thy vision, the Lord said, on a tablet, so plain that it may be read with a glance;

Quia adhuc visus procul; et apparebit in finem, et non mentietur: si moram fecerit, exspecta illum, quia veniens veniet, et non tardabit.

For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack.

a vision of things far distant, yet one day befall they must, no room for doubting it. Wait thou long, yet wait patiently; what must be must, and at the time appointed for it.

Ecce qui incredulus est, non erit recta anima ejus in semetipso; justus autem in fide sua vivet.

Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith.

Foul air the doubter breathes; by his faith he lives, who lives right.

Et quomodo vinum potantem decipit, sic erit vir superbus, et non decorabitur: qui dilatavit quasi infernus animam suam, et ipse quasi mors, et non adimpletur: et congregabit ad se omnes gentes, et coacervabit ad se omnes populos.

And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be honoured: who hath enlarged his desire like hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied: but will gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all people.

Tyrant, like drunkard, is mocked by false dreams of glory. See him whet his appetite, not death itself nor the grave more insatiable; gather up a tribe here, a nation there, heap his plate with them!

Numquid non omnes isti super eum parabolam sument, et loquelam ænigmatum ejus, et dicetur: Væ ei qui multiplicat non sua? usquequo et aggravat contra se densum lutum?

Shall not all these take up a parableagainst him, and a dark speech concerning him: and it shall be said: Woe to him that heapeth together that which is not his own? how long also doth he load himself with thick clay?

One day, what a by-word they will make of him! What riddling taunts shall be hurled at him! As here follows:So thou wouldst hoard up the possessions that are none of thine, load thyself with base dross, and it should go on for ever?

Numquid non repente consurgent qui mordeant te, et suscitabuntur lacerantes te, et eris in rapinam eis?

Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them?

All unawares the foe shall spring, worry thee, harry thee, make a helpless prey of thee.

Quia tu spoliasti gentes multas, spoliabunt te omnes qui reliqui fuerint de populis, propter sanguinem hominis, et iniquitatem terræ, civitatis, et omnium habitantium in ea.

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of the people shall spoil thee: because of men’s blood, and for the iniquity of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

So many lands thou hast plundered, plundered thyself shalt be; enough nations are left for that; for men’s blood shed, and for fields ravaged, plundered the city shall be, and all that dwell there.

Væ qui congregat avaritiam malam domui suæ, ut sit in excelso nidus ejus, et liberari se putat de manu mali!

Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his house, that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered out of the hand of evil.

Ill-gotten gains thou wouldst amass to deck that house of thine; make it an eyrie, too high for envious hands to reach?

Cogitasti confusionem domui tuæ; concidisti populos multos, et peccavit anima tua.

Thou hast devised confusion to thyhouse, thou hast cut off many people, and thy soul hath sinned.

Nay, with this undoing of many peoples thou hast done thy own house despite, thy own life is forfeit;

Quia lapis de pariete clamabit, et lignum, quod inter juncturas ædificiorum est, respondebit.

For the stone shall cry out of the wall: and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer.

stone from ruined wall cries out against thee, and beam from gaping roof echoes the cry.

Væ qui ædificat civitatem in sanguinibus, et præparat urbem in iniquitate!

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity.

City thou wouldst found, city’s walls build up, with deeds of bloodshed and of wrong?

Numquid non hæc sunt a Domino exercituum? laborabunt enim populi in multo igne, et gentes in vacuum, et deficient.

Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint.

What, has not the Lord of hosts uttered his doom, toil of nations shall feed the fire, and all their labour be spent for nothing?

Quia replebitur terra, ut cognoscant gloriam Domini, quasi aquæ operientes mare.

For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea.

It is the Lord’s glory men must learn to know, that shall cover the earth, flooding over it like the waters of the sea.

Væ qui potum dat amico suo mittens fel suum, et inebrians ut aspiciat nuditatem ejus!

Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness.

Thou wouldst pour out a draught for thy neighbour, a draught thy own hand has poisoned; bemuse him as with wine, to leave him stripped and bare?

Repletus es ignominia pro gloria; bibe tu quoque, et consopire. Circumdabit te calix dexteræ Domini, et vomitus ignominiæ super gloriam tuam.

Thou art filled with shame instead of glory: drink thou also, and fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory.

This was to cover thyself with shame, not with glory; drink thou in thy turn, and grow dizzy! A round for thee, now, from yonder cup the Lord holds in his hand; how shamefully is that glory of thine bespewed!

Quia iniquitas Libani operiet te, et vastitas animalium deterrebit eos de sanguinibus hominum, et iniquitate terræ, et civitatis, et omnium habitantium in ea.

For the iniquity of Libanus shall cover thee, and the ravaging of beasts shall terrify them because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

Wrong done to Lebanon, scathe of the roaming beasts, shall recoil on thee; fear shall overtake them, city of thine and all that dwell there, for men’s blood shed, and for fields ravaged.

Quid prodest sculptile, quia sculpsit illud fictor suus, conflatile, et imaginem falsam? quia speravit in figmento fictor ejus, ut faceret simulacra muta.

What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols.

What avails image, that carver should be at pains to carve it? In metal his own hands have melted shall a man put his trust? Cheating likenesses, dumb idols all!

Væ qui dicit ligno: Expergiscere; Surge, lapidi tacenti! Numquid ipse docere poterit? ecce iste coopertus est auro et argento, et omnis spiritus non est in visceribus ejus.

Woe to him that saith to wood: Awake: to the dumb stone: Arise: can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold, and silver, and there is no spirit in the bowels thereof.

And thy prayer was, stock and stone should wake up and come to thy aid, senseless things that cannot signify their will; nay, breath in their bodies have none, for all they are tricked out with gold and silver!

Dominus autem in templo sancto suo: sileat a facie ejus omnis terra!

But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

And all the while, the Lord is in his holy temple. Keep silence, earth, before him.