Onus Babylonis, quod vidit Isaias, filius Amos.

The burden of Babylon, which Isaias the son of Amos saw.

The burden that awaits Babylon, as it was revealed to Isaias, son of Amos.

Super montem caliginosum levate signum: exaltate vocem, levate manum, et ingrediantur portas duces.

Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates.

A signal raised amid the shadow of the mountain, voices lifted, and a waving of hands; all is ready for the captains to march in through the city gates.

Ego mandavi sanctificatis meis, et vocavi fortes meos in ira mea, exsultantes in gloria mea.

I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory.

These are my chosen warriors, doing my bidding; my champions whom I have summoned to execute my vengeance; they boast of my renown.

Vox multitudinis in montibus, quasi populorum frequentium; vox sonitus regum, gentium congregatarum. Dominus exercituum præcepit militiæ belli,

The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the troops of war.

The hills echo with the voices of a multitude, as if a host had gathered; voices of assembled kings, of whole peoples mustered there; the Lord of hosts is marshalling his troops for battle.

venientibus de terra procul, a summitate cæli; Dominus, et vasa furoris ejus, ut disperdat omnem terram.

To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.

They come from far away, from the most distant region under heaven; the Lord is angry, and these are the instruments of his vengeance, to lay a whole world waste.

Ululate, quia prope est dies Domini; quasi vastitas a Domino veniet.

Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a destruction from the Lord.

Cry aloud, for the day of the Lord is coming; his the dominion, his the doom.

Propter hoc omnes manus dissolventur, et omne cor hominis contabescet,

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall melt,

No hand now but will hang useless, no heart but will be fainting with dismay;

et conteretur. Torsiones et dolores tenebunt; quasi parturiens dolebunt: unusquisque ad proximum suum stupebit, facies combustæ vultus eorum.

And shall be broken. Gripings and pains shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labour. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt.

tortures and pangs will seize them, throes as of a woman in travail; each man looks at his neighbour in bewilderment, their faces ashy pale.

Ecce dies Domini veniet, crudelis, et indignationis plenus, et iræ, furorisque, ad ponendam terram in solitudinem, et peccatores ejus conterendos de ea.

Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Yes, the day of the Lord is coming, pitiless, full of vengeance and bitter retribution, ready to turn earth into a wilderness, ridding it of its sinful brood.

Quoniam stellæ cæli, et splendor earum, non expandent lumen suum; obtenebratus est sol in ortu suo, et luna non splendebit in lumine suo.

For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light.

The stars of heaven, its glittering constellations, will shed no ray; sunrise will be darkness, and the moon refuse her light.

Et visitabo super orbis mala, et contra impios iniquitatem eorum; et quiescere faciam superbiam infidelium, et arrogantiam fortium humiliabo.

And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty.

I will punish the world’s guilt, and tax the wicked with their misdoings, stilling the rebel’s pride, crushing the haughtiness of tyrants,

Pretiosior erit vir auro, et homo mundo obrizo.

A man shall be more precious than gold, yea a man than the finest of gold.

till a man is a rarer sight than gold, and a slave cannot be bought with all the treasure of Ophir.

Super hoc cælum turbabo; et movebitur terra de loco suo, propter indignationem Domini exercituum, et propter diem iræ furoris ejus.

For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of his fierce wrath.

So terribly will I shake the heavens, and move earth from its place, to shew that the Lord of hosts will be patient no longer, and the hour of his bitter vengeance has come.

Et erit quasi damula fugiens, et quasi ovis, et non erit qui congreget. Unusquisque ad populum suum convertetur, et singuli ad terram suam fugient.

And they shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

Men will take to flight as deer or sheep would, with none to marshal them, each turning towards his own home, seeking refuge in his own country.

Omnis qui inventus fuerit occidetur, et omnis qui supervenerit cadet in gladio;

Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword.

Whoever is found left behind will be slain, and those who are encountered in the open will fall at the sword’s point;

infantes eorum allidentur in oculis eorum, diripientur domus eorum, et uxores eorum violabuntur.

Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished.

their children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses plundered, their wives ravished.

Ecce ego suscitabo super eos Medos, qui argentum non quærant, nec aurum velint;

Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold:

With such an enemy I mean to embroil them; the Medians, who reck nothing of silver, who are not to be tempted with gold;

sed sagittis parvulos interficient, et lactantibus uteris non miserebuntur, et super filios non parcet oculus eorum.

But with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare their sons.

they will make young boys a target for their arrows, have no pity for pregnant mothers, no kindly glance for children.

Et erit Babylon illa gloriosa in regnis, inclyta superbia Chaldæorum, sicut subvertit Dominus Sodomam et Gomorrham.

And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha.

So Babylon, the pride of many nations, glory and boast of the Chaldeans, will go the way of Sodom and Gomorrha, cities which the Lord overthrew.

Non habitabitur usque in finem, et non fundabitur usque ad generationem et generationem; nec ponet ibi tentoria Arabs, nec pastores requiescent ibi.

It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there.

It shall remain for ever uninhabited; generation after generation will pass, but it will not be founded again; even the Arabs will not pitch their tents, wandering shepherds will not find a lodging there.

Sed requiescent ibi bestiæ, et replebuntur domus eorum draconibus, et habitabunt ibi struthiones, et pilosi saltabunt ibi;

But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with serpents, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there:

Wild beasts will make their lairs in it, its houses will be tenanted by serpents; ostriches will nest there, and satyrs dance;

et respondebunt ibi ululæ in ædibus ejus, et sirenes in delubris voluptatis.

And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.

the owls will hoot to one another in its palaces, birds of ill omen in its temples of delight.