Onus Ægypti. Ecce Dominus ascendet super nubem levem, et ingredietur Ægyptum, et commovebuntur simulacra Ægypti a facie ejus, et cor Ægypti tabescet in medio ejus,

The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud, and will enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof.

What burden for Egypt? See where the Lord comes into Egypt, with the cloud-drift for his chariot, and all the false gods of Egypt tremble, the very heart of Egypt melts away!

et concurrere faciam Ægyptios adversus Ægyptios; et pugnabit vir contra fratrem suum, et vir contra amicum suum, civitas adversus civitatem, regnum adversus regnum.

And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Egyptians I will embroil with Egyptians; each man will turn on his neighbour, one city, one kingdom on another.

Et dirumpetur spiritus Ægypti in visceribus ejus, et consilium ejus præcipitabo; et interrogabunt simulacra sua, et divinos suos, et pythones, et ariolos.

And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in the bowels thereof, and I will cast down their counsel: and they shall consult their idols, and their diviners, and their wizards, and soothsayers.

The spirit of Egypt shall fail her, and I will daze her wits, till men go about consulting oracle and diviner, wizard and soothsayer.

Et tradam Ægyptum in manu dominorum crudelium, et rex fortis dominabitur eorum, ait Dominus Deus exercituum.

And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord the God of hosts.

Tyrants for Egypt’s masters, a fierce king to rule over it; the Lord of hosts has decreed it.

Et arescet aqua de mari, et fluvius desolabitur atque siccabitur.

And the water of the sea shall be dried up, and the river shall be wasted and dry.

Waters of the sea shall ebb, river waters be parched and dried up,

Et deficient flumina, attenuabuntur et siccabuntur rivi aggerum, calamus et juncus marcescet.

And the rivers shall fail: the streams of the banks shall be diminished, and be dried up. The reed and the bulrush shall wither away.

the brooks failing, the channels, with their high banks, flowing in a thin stream, reed and sedge withered away.

Nudabitur alveus rivi a fonte suo, et omnis sementis irrigua siccabitur, arescet, et non erit.

The channel of the river shall be laid bare from its fountain, and every thing sown by the water shall be dried up, it shall wither away, and shall be no more.

Laid bare, yonder river-bed, from its source; fade the crops its moisture nourished, fade and dwindle to nothing.

Et mœrebunt piscatores, et lugebunt omnes mittentes in flumen hamum; et expandentes rete super faciem aquarum emarcescent.

The fishers also shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into the river shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish away.

Sad days for the fisher-folk; never a hook cast, never a net sunk, all is grief and repining.

Confundentur qui operabantur linum, pectentes et texentes subtilia.

They shall be confounded that wrought in flax, combing and weaving fine linen.

Disappointed of their trade, the men who worked in flax, combing and weaving it so cunningly;

Et erunt irrigua ejus flaccentia: omnes qui faciebant lacunas ad capiendos pisces.

And its watery places shall be dry, all they shall mourn that made pools to take fishes.

in those brackish swamps there are no fish-ponds a-making now.

Stulti principes Taneos, sapientes consiliarii Pharaonis dederunt consilium insipiens. Quomodo dicetis Pharaoni: Filius sapientium ego, filius regum antiquorum?

The princes of Tanis are become fools, the wise counsellors of Pharao have given foolish counsel: how will you say to Pharao: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

Nonplussed, all the princes of Tanis; all Pharao’s wise counsellors must needs give him a fool’s answer. Where is that inheritance of learning they boast, come down from ancient kings?

Ubi nunc sunt sapientes tui? annuntient tibi, et indicent quid cogitaverit Dominus exercituum super Ægyptum.

Where are now thy wise men? let them tell thee, and shew what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.

What has become of thy wise men, Pharao? Let them give thee news, let them tell thee what the Lord means to do with Egypt.

Stulti facti sunt principes Taneos, emarcuerunt principes Mempheos; deceperunt Ægyptum, angulum populorum ejus.

The princes of Tanis are become fools, the princes of Memphis are gone astray, they have deceived Egypt, the stay of the people thereof.

No, the princes of Tanis are nonplussed; degenerate, the lords of Memphis; Egypt is deceived in her great men, that should have been the corner-stone of her commonwealth.

Dominus miscuit in medio ejus spiritum vertiginis; et errare fecerunt Ægyptum in omni opere suo, sicut errat ebrius et vomens.

The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness: and they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, as a drunken man staggereth and vomiteth.

The Lord has mazed her wits; fuddled brains of drunkard had been as well advised;

Et non erit Ægypto opus quod faciat caput et caudam, incurvantem et refrenantem.

And there shall be no work for Egypt, to make head or tail, him that bendeth down, or that holdeth back.

head and tail, reed and stubborn branch, in Egypt’s troubled counsels avail alike.

In die illa erit Ægyptus quasi mulieres; et stupebunt, et timebunt a facie commotionis manus Domini exercituum, quam ipse movebit super eam.

In that day Egypt shall be like unto women, and they shall be amazed, and afraid, because of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall move over it.

Weak as a woman Egypt shall be, when that day comes, dazed and terrified, to see the Lord of hosts lift his hand so threateningly.

Et erit terra Juda Ægypto in pavorem; omnis qui illius fuerit recordatus pavebit a facie consilii Domini exercituum, quod ipse cogitavit super eam.

And the land of Juda shall be a terror to Egypt: every one that shall remember it shall tremble because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined concerning it.

Upon Juda Egypt must needs look with awe; fear is in the very name of it, as they scan the future; what means the Lord of hosts now?

In die illa erunt quinque civitates in terra Ægypti loquentes lingua Chanaan, et jurantes per Dominum exercituum: Civitas solis vocabitur una.

In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun.

Cities five there shall be in the land of Egypt that talk with the speech of Chanaan, and take oaths in the name of the Lord of hosts; a city that bears the sun’s name among them.

In die illa erit altare Domini in medio terræ Ægypti, et titulus Domini juxta terminum ejus.

In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord at the borders thereof:

There will be an altar set up to the Lord for all Egypt to see, and at its frontier a pillar dedicated to him,

Erit in signum et in testimonium Domino exercituum in terra Ægypti; clamabunt enim ad Dominum a facie tribulationis, et mittet eis salvatorem et propugnatorem qui liberet eos.

It shall be for a sign, and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them.

a trophy, there, in Egypt, bringing the Lord of hosts to mind. Cry they out to him, when they suffer oppression, he will give them a saviour, a champion, to deliver them.

Et cognoscetur Dominus ab Ægypto, et cognoscent Ægyptii Dominum in die illa; et colent eum in hostiis et in muneribus; et vota vovebunt Domino, et solvent.

And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings: and they shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them.

Thus the Lord will reveal himself to Egypt; the Egyptians, when that day comes, will acknowledge him, doing him worship with sacrifices and offerings, will make vows to the Lord and perform them.

Et percutiet Dominus Ægyptum plaga, et sanabit eam; et revertentur ad Dominum, et placabitur eis, et sanabit eos.

And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards them, and heal them.

First calamity, then healing; when they come back to the Lord, he will relent and restore.

In die illa erit via de Ægypto in Assyrios; et intrabit Assyrius Ægyptum, et Ægyptius in Assyrios, et servient Ægyptii Assur.

In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian.

There will be a high-road, then, between Egypt and the Assyrians; either shall visit other, and Egypt under Assyria be at peace.

In die illa erit Israël tertius Ægyptio et Assyrio; benedictio in medio terræ

In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land,

And with these a third people shall be matched; who but Israel, source of the whole world’s happiness?

cui benedixit Dominus exercituum, dicens: Benedictus populus meus Ægypti, et opus manuum mearum Assyrio; hæreditas autem mea Israël.

Which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands to the Assyrian: but Israel is my inheritance.

Such blessing the Lord of hosts has pronounced upon it, Blessed be my people in Egypt, and the home I have made for the Assyrian to dwell in; but Israel is the land of my choice.