The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops?

Onus vallis Visionis. Quidnam quoque tibi est, quia ascendisti et tu omnis in tecta?

What burden for the Valley of Revelation? Here is great stir among the townspeople, climb they eagerly to the house-tops.

Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.

Clamoris plena, urbs frequens, civitas exsultans; interfecti tui, non interfecti gladio, nec mortui in bello.

What means this shouting everywhere, these thronged streets, as of a city that makes holiday? Alas for thy dead, that were never slain by the sword, never died in battle;

All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off.

Cuncti principes tui fugerunt simul dureque ligati sunt; omnes qui inventi sunt vincti sunt pariter; procul fugerunt.

alas for rulers of thine, who with one accord have fled, or else been cruelly bound! Chains for all that were left, and distant exile.

Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.

Propterea dixi: Recedite a me: amare flebo; nolite incumbere ut consolemini me super vastitate filiæ populi mei;

I pray you then, leave me alone, to weep bitterly; never try to comfort me, now that this people of mine is widowed.

For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.

dies enim interfectionis, et conculcationis, et fletuum, Domino Deo exercituum, in valle Visionis, scrutans murum, et magnificus super montem.

Day of doom, when the Lord of hosts will have yonder Valley of Revelation defeated, overrun, thrown into confusion; a day to test its ramparts, and overawe its citadel;

And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall.

Et Ælam sumpsit pharetram, currum hominis equitis, et parietem nudavit clypeus.

to archer, to chariot, to horseman, Elam sends out her challenge, bids shield come down from its place on the wall.

And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall place themselves in the gate.

Et erunt electæ valles tuæ plenæ quadrigarum, et equites ponent sedes suas in porta.

Chariots up and down all thy favoured valleys, horsemen halted at thy gate!

And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest.

Et revelabitur operimentum Judæ, et videbis in die illa armamentarium domus saltus.

Here is Juda, then, stripped bare; here is a day for looking to the armoury, there in the Forest House.

And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool,

Et scissuras civitatis David videbitis, quia multiplicatæ sunt; et congregastis aquas piscinæ inferioris,

How many breaches, already, in the wall of David’s city! Water you must bring in from the lower pool;

And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify the wall.

et domos Jerusalem numerastis, et destruxistis domos ad muniendum murum.

take count of the houses in Jerusalem, pulling down some to build up the defences;

And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.

Et lacum fecistis inter duos muros ad aquam piscinæ veteris; et non suspexistis ad eum qui fecerat eam, et operatorem ejus de longe non vidistis.

you must find a bed between the two walls to contain the waters of the old pool. And all the while, no thought of him who made it all, no eyes for him who fashioned it, long ago.

And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

Et vocabit Dominus Deus exercituum in die illa ad fletum, et ad planctum, ad calvitium, et ad cingulum sacci;

This day the Lord, the God of hosts, summons you to mourn and lament, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth;

And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

et ecce gaudium et lætitia, occidere vitulos et jugulare arietes, comedere carnes, et bibere vinum: comedamus et bibamus, cras enim moriemur.

and instead all is mirth and gladness, oxen killed here, rams slaughtered there, meat being eaten and wine drunk; come, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!

And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

Et revelata est in auribus meis vox Domini exercituum: Si dimittetur iniquitas hæc vobis donec moriamini, dicit Dominus Deus exercituum.

Plain it rings in my ear, the voice of the Lord of hosts, Never while you live shall this sin of yours be pardoned.

Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:

Hæc dicit Dominus Deus exercituum: Vade, ingredere ad eum qui habitat in tabernaculo, ad Sobnam, præpositum templi, et dices ad eum:

A message from the Lord God of hosts; Up, to my house betake thee, and find Sobna, that has charge of the temple. This be thy word to him,

What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.

Quid tu hic, aut quasi quis hic? quia excidisti tibi hic sepulchrum, excidisti in excelso memoriale diligenter, in petra tabernaculum tibi.

What claim of rank or kinship hast thou here, that thou shouldst hew out a burying-place for thyself? A tomb carefully hewed out on the hill side, an eyrie for thyself among the rocks?

Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment.

Ecce Dominus asportari te faciet, sicut asportatur gallus gallinaceus; et quasi amictum, sic sublevabit te.

Wait till the Lord trusses thee like a trussed fowl, folds thee like a cloak,

He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord.

Coronas coronabit te tribulatione; quasi pilam mittet te in terram latam et spatiosam; ibi morieris, et ibi erit currus gloriæ tuæ, ignominia domus domini tui.

twines thee about with misfortune, and tosses thee like a ball into the great open plain! There shalt thou lie, and there that chariot which is thy pride, which is the shame of thy master’s house.

And I will drive thee out from thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry.

Et expellam te de statione tua, et de ministerio tuo deponam te.

I mean to expel thee from the rank thou holdest, deprive thee of thy office.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,

Et erit in die illa: vocabo servum meum Eliacim, filium Helciæ,

And when that time comes, I will summon one who is a true servant of mine, Eliacim the son of Helcias,

And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.

et induam illum tunica tua, et cingulo tuo confortabo eum, et potestatem tuam dabo in manu ejus; et erit quasi pater habitantibus Jerusalem et domui Juda.

clothe him with thy robe, gird him with thy girdle, entrust him with the power that once was thine; to rule all the citizens of Jerusalem, all Juda’s race, with a father’s care.

And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Et dabo clavem domus David super humerum ejus; et aperiet, et non erit qui claudat; et claudet, et non erit qui aperiat.

I will give him the key of David’s house to bear upon his shoulders; none may shut when he opens, none open when he shuts.

And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father.

Et figam illum paxillum in loco fideli, et erit in solium gloriæ domui patris ejus.

I will fix him securely in his place, like a peg that is to carry all the royal honour of his father’s house;

And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music.

Et suspendent super eum omnem gloriam domus patris ejus; vasorum diversa genera, omne vas parvulum, a vasis craterarum usque ad omne vas musicorum.

all the honour of his father’s house will rest upon him, as a man’s goods rest on a peg, the smaller of them, here a cooking-pan, there an instrument of music.

In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.

In die illa, dicit Dominus exercituum, auferetur paxillus qui fixus fuerat in loco fideli, et frangetur, et cadet, et peribit quod pependerat in eo, quia Dominus locutus est.

A day is coming, says the Lord of hosts, when the peg that was once securely fixed will be dislodged from its place; suddenly it must break and fall, and all that hung from it be ruined; the Lord decrees it.