In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein.

In die illa cantabitur canticum istud in terra Juda: Urbs fortitudinis nostræ Sion; salvator ponetur in ea murus et antemurale.

But in the land of Juda, when that day comes, what shall their song be? Sion is ours, an impregnable fortress; divine protection it has for wall and breast-work;

Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in.

Aperite portas, et ingrediatur gens justa, custodiens veritatem.

wide let its gates be opened, to welcome true hearts that still keep troth with him.

The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee.

Vetus error abiit: servabis pacem; pacem, quia in te speravimus.

Our thoughts wayward no longer, thou wilt maintain us in peace, peace that comes surely to those who trust in thee.

You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever.

Sperastis in Domino in sæculis æternis; in Domino Deo forti in perpetuum.

Yours to trust in the Lord continually, the Lord that is evermore your protection.

For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust.

Quia incurvabit habitantes in excelso; civitatem sublimem humiliabit: humiliabit eam usque ad terram, detrahet eam usque ad pulverem.

Mountain-dwellers he can bring low, towering city walls he can level, level them with the ground, drag them down to the dust.

The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

Conculcabit eam pes, pedes pauperis, gressus egenorum.

There they lie, trodden under foot; poor folk trample on them now, the disinherited spurn them as they pass.

The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in.

Semita justi recta est, rectus callis justi ad ambulandum.

Where heart is true, path lies plain; level the road he treads that wins acceptance with thee.

And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.

Et in semita judiciorum tuorum, Domine, sustinuimus te: nomen tuum et memoriale tuum in desiderio animæ.

And we, Lord, we have kept to the path thou hadst decreed for us, waiting for thee still; longing we had none but for thy greater renown.

My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.

Anima mea desideravit te in nocte, sed et spiritu meo in præcordiis meis de mane vigilabo ad te. Cum feceris judicia tua in terra, justitiam discent habitatores orbis.

All through the night my soul has yearned for thee, to thee my heart aspires, watching for the dawn; soon thou wilt execute thy decrees on earth, and the whole world shall know how just thou art.

Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.

Misereamur impio, et non discet justitiam; in terra sanctorum iniqua gessit, et non videbit gloriam Domini.

The godless will not learn that lesson from mercy shewn him; in a land that is all holiness, they will pervert justice still, no eyes for the Lord’s majesty.

Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

Domine, exaltetur manus tua, et non videant; videant, et confundantur zelantes populi; et ignis hostes tuos devoret.

Hand of thine which threatened them, heed they would not; heed now they must, those envious eyes, and to their own confusion; they shall see fire consume thy enemies!

Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us.

Domine, dabis pacem nobis: omnia enim opera nostra operatus es nobis.

Thou wilt busy thyself, Lord, to make peace for us; what achievement of ours but the doing of it is thine?

O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.

Domine Deus noster, possederunt nos domini absque te; tantum in te recordemur nominis tui.

O Lord our God, masters we have had a many in place of thee, but only thy name shall be held in remembrance;

Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.

Morientes non vivant, gigantes non resurgant: propterea visitasti et contrivisti eos, et perdidisti omnem memoriam eorum.

live they cannot nor revive, gone down to death with the heroes of long ago; thou hast called them to account, and made an end of them, till the very memory of their names has vanished.

Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.

Indulsisti genti, Domine, indulsisti genti, numquid glorificatus es? elongasti omnes terminos terræ.

Didst thou win thyself honour, Lord, when thou didst shew favour, such high favour, to thy people, when thou didst enlarge all the frontiers of its land?

Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.

Domine, in angustia requisierunt te, in tribulatione murmuris doctrina tua eis.

No, Lord, it was in affliction they turned back to thee; in silent hours of suffering thy chastisement reached them.

As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.

Sicut quæ concipit, cum appropinquaverit ad partum, dolens clamat in doloribus suis, sic facti sumus a facie tua, Domine.

We were no better than woman with child that is near her time, ready to cry out dolorously in her pangs; such lot thou hadst given us.

We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

Concepimus, et quasi parturivimus, et peperimus spiritum. Salutes non fecimus in terra; ideo non ceciderunt habitatores terræ.

Conceived we, aye, and travailed, yet nothing brought forth but wind; not through us came deliverance to our country, not through us were the peoples of the world cast down.

Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

Vivent mortui tui, interfecti mei resurgent. Expergiscimini, et laudate, qui habitatis in pulvere, quia ros lucis ros tuus, et terram gigantum detrahes in ruinam.

Fresh life they shall have, Lord, that are thine in death; lost to us, they shall live again. Awake and utter your praises, you that dwell in the dust. The dew thou sendest, Lord, shall bring light to them; only the land of dead heroes thou wilt doom to overthrow.

Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

Vade, populus meus, intra in cubicula tua; claude ostia tua super te, abscondere modicum ad momentum, donec pertranseat indignatio.

Up then, my people, to your innermost chambers betake you; shut yourselves within doors; hide for a little, until the time of retribution is past.

For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.

Ecce enim Dominus egredietur de loco suo, ut visitet iniquitatem habitatoris terræ contra eum; et revelabit terra sanguinem suum, et non operiet ultra interfectos suos.

See, where the Lord comes out from his dwelling-place, holds the nations of the world to account for their guilt! Earth shall disclose the blood spilt on it, and no more cover its dead.