Væ qui condunt leges iniquas, et scribentes injustitiam scripserunt,

Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice:

Out upon you, that enact ill decrees, and draw up instruments of wrong;

ut opprimerent in judicio pauperes, et vim facerent causæ humilium populi mei; ut essent viduæ præda eorum, et pupillos diriperent.

To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless.

suppress the claims of the poor, and refuse redress to humble folk; the widow your spoil, the orphan your prey!

Quid facietis in die visitationis, et calamitatis de longe venientis? ad cujus confugietis auxilium? et ubi derelinquetis gloriam vestram,

What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which cometh from afar? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

What shifts will you be put to, when the day of reckoning comes, when the storm overtakes you that is brewing far away? With whom take refuge, where hide away your treasures?

ne incurvemini sub vinculo, et cum interfectis cadatis? Super omnibus his non est aversus furor ejus, sed adhuc manus ejus extenta.

That you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the slain? In all these things his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Yours to crouch down in chains, or fall among the massacred. And even so the Lord’s wrath is not appeased, his hand threatens us still.

Væ Assur! virga furoris mei et baculus ipse est; in manu eorum indignatio mea.

Woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod and the staff of my anger, and my indignation is in their hands.

Woe, too, upon the Assyrian! What is he but the rod that executes my vengeance, the instrument of my displeasure?

Ad gentem fallacem mittam eum, et contra populum furoris mei mandabo illi, ut auferat spolia, et diripiat prædam, et ponat illum in conculcationem quasi lutum platearum.

I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

I have sent him to punish one nation that has proved false to me; against one defiant people he holds my warrant; let him prey on it as he will, carry off what spoils he will, trample it like the mire in the streets.

Ipse autem non sic arbitrabitur, et cor ejus non ita existimabit; sed ad conterendum erit cor ejus, et ad internecionem gentium non paucarum.

But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so: but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

Not such are his own thoughts, not such the dreams he cherishes; he dreams of extermination, of realm after realm dispeopled.

Dicet enim:

For he shall say:

Are not my chieftains, he says,

Numquid non principes mei simul reges sunt? numquid non ut Charcamis, sic Calano? et ut Arphad, sic Emath? numquid non ut Damascus, sic Samaria?

Are not my princes as so many kings? is not Calano as Charcamis: and Emath as Arphad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

as good as kings, every one of them? What difference between Charcamis and Calano, between Arphad and Emath, between Damascus and Samaria?

Quomodo invenit manus mea regna idoli, sic et simulacra eorum de Jerusalem et de Samaria.

As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idol, so also their idols of Jerusalem, and of Samaria.

I have had my way with the kingdoms that worship false gods; shall it not be the same with the images they worship at Jerusalem and Samaria?

Numquid non sicut feci Samariæ et idolis ejus, sic faciam Jerusalem et simulacris ejus?

Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

May I not treat Jerusalem and her images as I treated Samaria and her false gods?

Et erit, cum impleverit Dominus cuncta opera sua in monte Sion et in Jerusalem, visitabo super fructum magnifici cordis regis Assur, et super gloriam altitudinis oculorum ejus.

And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.

Wait we, till the Lord has carried out all his designs upon mount Sion and Jerusalem. Then he means to reckon with the boastful ambition of Sennacherib, with the proud glance of those scornful eyes.

Dixit enim: In fortitudine manus meæ feci, et in sapientia mea intellexi; et abstuli terminos populorum, et principes eorum deprædatus sum, et detraxi quasi potens in sublimi residentes.

For he hath said: By the strength of my own hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom I have understood: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have taken the spoils of the princes, and as a mighty man hath pulled down them that sat on high.

My own strength (the king says to himself) has done all this, my own wisdom has planned it; I have removed the frontiers of nations, I have robbed princes of their treasure, with a strong hand I have pulled down rulers from their thrones.

Et invenit quasi nidum manus mea fortitudinem populorum; et sicut colliguntur ova quæ derelicta sunt, sic universam terram ego congregavi; et non fuit qui moveret pennam, et aperiret os, et ganniret.

And my hand hath found the strength of the people as a nest; and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made the least noise.

Mighty peoples, and my hand closed over them like a nest; I gathered up a whole world, as a man gathers up eggs that lie abandoned; no flapping of wings, no angry screech to forbid me.

Numquid gloriabitur securis contra eum qui secat in ea? aut exaltabitur serra contra eum a quo trahitur? Quomodo si elevetur virga contra elevantem se, et exaltetur baculus, qui utique lignum est.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod should lift itself up against him that lifteth it up, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood.

Poor fool, can axe set itself up against woodman, saw defy carpenter? Shall the rod turn on him who wields it, the staff, that is but wood, try conclusions with a living man?

Propter hoc mittet Dominator, Dominus exercituum, in pinguibus ejus tenuitatem; et subtus gloriam ejus succensa ardebit quasi combustio ignis.

Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones: and under his glory shall be kindled a burning, as it were the burning of a fire.

What says our Master, the Lord of hosts? He will send a wasting sickness into that gorged frame; beneath that pride a living firebrand shall burn, burn deep.

Et erit lumen Israël in igne, et Sanctus ejus in flamma; et succendetur, et devorabitur spina ejus et vepres in die una.

And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire, and shall be devoured in one day.

He who is our light will turn into a fire, the Holy One of Israel will be a flame, that will burn up suddenly; in one day those thorn-bushes, that dry brushwood shall be consumed.

Et gloria saltus ejus, et carmeli ejus, ab anima usque ad carnem consumetur; et erit terrore profugus.

And the glory of his forest, and of his beautiful hill, shall be consumed from the soul even to the flesh, and he shall run away through fear.

Like a proud forest, or a garden plot, he shall be eaten up, body and soul; see where he flies in terror!

Et reliquiæ ligni saltus ejus præ paucitate numerabuntur, et puer scribet eos.

And they that remain of the trees of his forest shall be so few, that they shall easily be numbered, and a child shall write them down.

Of all the trees in that forest so few shall be left, a child might count them.

Et erit in die illa: non adjiciet residuum Israël, et hi qui fugerint de domo Jacob, inniti super eo qui percutit eos; sed innitetur super Dominum, Sanctum Israël, in veritate.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean no more upon him that striketh them: but they shall lean upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

And when that day comes, the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob’s line, will learn to trust, not in the staff that turns into rod to smite them, but in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel; here he shall find loyalty.

Reliquiæ convertentur; reliquiæ, inquam, Jacob ad Deum fortem.

The remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God.

A remnant will turn back, only a remnant of Jacob, to God, the Mighty One.

Si enim fuerit populus tuus, Israël, quasi arena maris, reliquiæ convertentur ex eo; consummatio abbreviata inundabit justitiam.

For if thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted, the consumption abridged shall overflow with justice.

Countless though Israel be as the sea sand, only a remnant of it will return; there must be a sharp reckoning first, before we are restored, abundantly, to his favour.

Consummationem enim et abbreviationem Dominus Deus exercituum faciet in medio omnis terræ.

For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the land.

Short and sharp is the reckoning the Lord, the God of hosts, will make, with the whole world for the scene of it.

Propter hoc, hæc dicit Dominus Deus exercituum: Noli timere, populus meus, habitator Sion, ab Assur: in virga percutiet te, et baculum suum levabit super te, in via Ægypti.

Therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: O my people that dwellest in Sion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike thee with his rod, and he shall lift up his staff over thee in the way of Egypt.

Here, then, is a message for you from the Lord, the God of hosts: Never lose heart, men of Sion, my own people, before the Assyrian, rod though he have to smite thee, staff to chastise thee, when thou meetest him on the road to Egypt.

Adhuc enim paululum modicumque, et consummabitur indignatio et furor meus super scelus eorum.

For yet a little and a very little while, and my indignation shall cease, and my wrath shall be upon their wickedness.

Wait for a little, for a short moment wait, and my angry vengeance for his ill doings shall find full scope.

Et suscitabit super eum Dominus exercituum flagellum, juxta plagam Madian in petra Oreb: et virgam suam super mare, et levabit eam in via Ægypti.

And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him, according to the slaughter of Madian in the rock of Oreb, and his rod over the sea, and he shall lift it up in the way of Egypt.

The Lord of hosts will bring the lash down upon him, as he did once on Madian at the rock Oreb; by the sea-shore, on the road to Egypt, his rod will be uplifted.

Et erit in die illa: auferetur onus ejus de humero tuo et jugum ejus de collo tuo, et computrescet jugum a facie olei.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall putrify at the presence of the oil.

And with that, thy shoulder will be eased of the burden, the yoke will fall from thy neck, yoke that has gone rotten for want of oil.

Veniet in Ajath, transibit in Magron, apud Machmas commendabit vasa sua.

He shall come into Aiath, he shall pass into Magron: at Machmas he shall lay up his carriages.

See where he enters Aiath, crosses to Magron, halts his baggage-train at Machmas!

Transierunt cursim, Gaba sedes nostra; obstupuit Rama, Gabaath Saulis fugit.

They have passed in haste, Gaba is our lodging: Rama was astonished, Gabaath of Saul fled away.

Already the pass lies behind them; Geba will be theirs by nightfall. In Rama, what terror! Saul’s own city of Gabaa is in flight.

Hinni voce tua, filia Gallim, attende Laisa, paupercula Anathoth.

Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim, attend, O Laisa, poor Anathoth.

Cry aloud, maidens of Gallim, and listen, Laisa, to the cry; woe upon thee, poor Anathoth!

Migravit Medemena; habitatores Gabim, confortamini.

Medemena is removed: ye inhabitants of Gabim, take courage.

Medemena stands empty; now, men of Gabim, you need courage!

Adhuc dies est ut in Nobe stetur; agitabit manum suam super montem filiæ Sion, collem Jerusalem.

It is yet day enough, to remain in Nobe: he shall shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Sion, the hill of Jerusalem.

Daylight still! Why, he will make his halt at Nobe, threaten the mountain where queen Sion stands, the very hill of Jerusalem!

Ecce Dominator, Dominus exercituum, confringet lagunculam in terrore; et excelsi statura succidentur, et sublimes humiliabuntur.

Behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall break the earthen vessel with terror, and the tall of stature shall be cut down, and the lofty shall be humbled.

Then, as we look, our Master, the Lord of hosts, will spread terror among them, and break them like earthenware. Yield greatness, and pride topple;

Et subvertentur condensa saltus ferro; et Libanus cum excelsis cadet.

And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with iron, and Libanus with its high ones shall fall.

axe-iron for yonder tangled forest, the strength of Lebanon outmatched!