Prope est ut veniat tempus ejus, et dies ejus non elongabuntur. Miserebitur enim Dominus Jacob, et eliget adhuc de Israël, et requiescere eos faciet super humum suam; adjungetur advena ad eos, et adhærebit domui Jacob.

The day of her doom is close at hand, not long the respite that will be granted her.And now the Lord will have pity on Jacob; on the sons of Israel, his chosen people as of old. On their own lands they shall live undisturbed, whose new inhabitants will make common cause with them, and throw in their lot with Jacob’s race.

Her time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of Israel, and will make them rest upon their own ground: and the stranger shall be joined with them, and shall adhere to the house of Jacob.

Et tenebunt eos populi, et adducent eos in locum suum; et possidebit eos domus Israël super terram Domini in servos et ancillas: et erunt capientes eos qui se ceperant, et subjicient exactores suos.

Alien peoples will take them by the hand, to escort them back to their home; content now to be Israel’s servants and hand-maidens, the captors captive, the oppressors tributary now.

And the people shall take them, and bring them into their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall make them captives that had taken them, and shall subdue their oppressors.

Et erit in die illa: cum requiem dederit tibi Deus a labore tuo, et a concussione tua, et a servitute dura qua ante servisti,

When that time comes, when the Lord gives thee respite from all the hardship and turmoil and drudgery of old days,

And it shall come to pass in that day, that when God shall give thee rest from thy labour, and from thy vexation, and from the hard bondage, wherewith thou didst serve before,

sumes parabolam istam contra regem Babylonis, et dices: Quomodo cessavit exactor; quievit tributum?

it will be thy turn to have thy say against the king of Babylon. Can it be (thou wilt say) that the tyranny is over, the exactions at an end?

Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing, the tribute hath ceased?

Contrivit Dominus baculum impiorum, virgam dominantium,

The Lord has broken the staff in the hands of the wicked, the rod that oppressed us;

The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers,

cædentem populos in indignatione plaga insanabili, subjicientem in furore gentes, persequentem crudeliter.

the rod whose mortal stroke once fell on the peoples so angrily, tamed the nations so cruelly, persecuted, and would not spare.

That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner.

Conquievit et siluit omnis terra, gavisa est et exsultavit;

The whole earth, now, sinks back into ease; listen to its cry of rejoicing!

The whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad and hath rejoiced.

abietes quoque lætatæ sunt super te, et cedri Libani: ex quo dormisti, non ascendet qui succidat nos.

The very fir-trees and the cedars of Lebanon triumph over thee; no woodman comes near us any longer, since thou wast laid to rest.

The fir trees also have rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of Libanus, saying: Since thou hast slept, there hath none come up to cut us down.

Infernus subter conturbatus est in occursum adventus tui; suscitavit tibi gigantes. Omnes principes terræ surrexerunt de soliis suis, omnes principes nationum.

The shadow world beneath is astir with preparation for thy coming; wakes up its giants to greet thee. The great ones of the world, that ruled the nations, rise up from the thrones where they sit,

Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen up from their thrones, all the princes of nations.

Universi respondebunt, et dicent tibi: Et tu vulneratus es sicut et nos; nostri similis effectus es.

hailing thee with a single voice, Thou too brought low as ourselves, thou too like us!

All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well as we, thou art become like unto us.

Detracta est ad inferos superbia tua, concidit cadaver tuum; subter te sternetur tinea, et operimentum tuum erunt vermes.

All thy pride sunk down into the world beneath, and there thy corpse lies, with the moth for its shroud, worms for its cerecloth.

Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down: under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.

Quomodo cecidisti de cælo, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris? corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes?

What, fallen from heaven, thou Lucifer, that once didst herald the dawn? Prostrate on the earth, that didst once bring nations to their knees?

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?

Qui dicebas in corde tuo: In cælum conscendam, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum; sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis;

I will scale the heavens (such was thy thought); I will set my throne higher than God’s stars, take my seat at his own trysting-place, at the meeting of the northern hills;

And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north.

ascendam super altitudinem nubium, similis ero Altissimo?

I will soar above the level of the clouds, the rival of the most High.

I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High.

Verumtamen ad infernum detraheris, in profundum laci.

Thine, instead, to be dragged down into the world beneath, into the heart of the abyss.

But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit.

Qui te viderint, ad te inclinabuntur, teque prospicient: Numquid iste est vir qui conturbavit terram, qui concussit regna,

Who that sees thee there, but will peer down at thee and read thy story: Can this be the man who once shook the world, and made thrones totter;

They that shall see thee, shall turn toward thee, and behold thee. Is this the man that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms,

qui posuit orbem desertum, et urbes ejus destruxit, vinctis ejus non aperuit carcerem?

who turned earth into a desert, its cities into ruins; never granted prisoner release?

That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the prison to his prisoners?

Omnes reges gentium universi dormierunt in gloria, vir in domo sua;

For those other kings, honourable burial, each in his own palace;

All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory, every one in his own house.

tu autem projectus es de sepulchro tuo, quasi stirps inutilis pollutus, et obvolutus cum his qui interfecti sunt gladio, et descenderunt ad fundamenta laci, quasi cadaver putridum.

thee the grave itself rejects, like a withered root, like a thing unclean. Rots thy corpse unrecognized, beneath yonder coverlet of men slain, that went down to the deep pit together;

But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and art gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass.

Non habebis consortium, neque cum eis in sepultura; tu enim terram tuam disperdidisti, tu populum tuum occidisti: non vocabitur in æternum semen pessimorum.

no fellowship hast thou with those others, no share in their sepulture, thou who didst lead thy country to ruin, thou, who didst bring destruction on thy people. The posterity of the wicked shall be nameless for ever;

Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever.

Præparate filios ejus occisioni, in iniquitate patrum suorum: non consurgent, nec hæreditabunt terram, neque implebunt faciem orbis civitatum.

for the guilt they have inherited, his sons too must be slain, they must not live to make the land their own, and people the world with cities.

Prepare his children for slaughter for the iniquity of their fathers: they shall not rise up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

Et consurgam super eos, dicit Dominus exercituum; et perdam Babylonis nomen, et reliquias, et germen, et progeniem, dicit Dominus;

A message from the Lord of hosts: Now I mean to take arms against them, to destroy Babylon name and fame, root and branch.

And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the Lord.

et ponam eam in possessionem ericii, et in paludes aquarum, et scopabo eam in scopa terens, dicit Dominus exercituum.

I will make the place over to the hedge-hog, turn it into standing pools; I will sweep it clean, the Lord of hosts says, sweep it clean away.

And I will make it a possession for the ericius and pools of waters, and I will sweep it and wear it out with a besom, saith the Lord of hosts.

Juravit Dominus exercituum, dicens: Si non, ut putavi, ita erit; et quomodo mente tractavi,

And now the Lord of hosts has taken an oath, his doom shall be executed, his design shall stand:

The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it be: and as I have purposed,

sic eveniet: ut conteram Assyrium in terra mea, et in montibus meis conculcem eum; et auferetur ab eis jugum ejus, et onus illius ab humero eorum tolletur.

In this my own land I will break the power of Assyria, upon these hills I will trample him under foot. Gone his yoke; there shall be no more shouldering his burden;

So shall it fall out: That I will destroy the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: and his yoke shall be taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulder.

Hoc consilium quod cogitavi super omnem terram; et hæc est manus extenta super universas gentes.

such purpose I have for the world’s ordering; my hand once lifted, all the nations must bow.

This is the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations.

Dominus enim exercituum decrevit; et quis poterit infirmare? et manus ejus extenta; et quis avertet eam?

The Lord’s decree, who shall annul it? The Lord’s power, who shall thwart it?

For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who can disannul it? and his hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away?

In anno quo mortuus est rex Achaz, factum est onus istud:

And in the year of king Achaz’s death, a fresh burden was imposed:

In the year that king Achaz died, was this burden:

Ne lætaris, Philisthæa omnis tu, quoniam comminuta est virga percussoris tui; de radice enim colubri egredietur regulus, et semen ejus absorbens volucrem.

Too soon, Philistia, thou wouldst make public holiday over the breaking of the rod that smote thee. The serpent has gone, but he has left a basilisk stock behind him; a race that can catch birds on the wing.

Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, that the rod of him that struck thee is broken in pieces: for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird.

Et pascentur primogeniti pauperum, et pauperes fiducialiter requiescent; et interire faciam in fame radicem tuam, et reliquias tuas interficiam.

Here, then, shall be food for the very poorest; beggar man shall lie down in safety; thee I will destroy with famine root and branch, slay all the remnant that is left in thee.

And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will kill thy remnant.

Ulula, porta; clama civitas; prostrata est Philisthæa omnis; ab aquilone enim fumus veniet, et non est qui effugiet agmen ejus.

All thy gates, now, must echo with lament, all thy cities ring with cries; all Philistia swoons away. From the north a smoke comes ever nearer, signal of an army none may escape.

Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Philistia is thrown down: for a smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape his troop.

Et quid respondebitur nuntiis gentis? Quia Dominus fundavit Sion, et in ipso sperabunt pauperes populi ejus.

Our news when the world asks, what message? Tell them Sion never rested in the Lord so surely; here be friendless folk that trust in him.

And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nations? That the Lord hath founded Sion, and the poor of his people shall hope in him.