Væ filii desertores, dicit Dominus, ut faceretis consilium, et non ex me, et ordiremini telam, et non per spiritum meum, ut adderetis peccatum super peccatum;

Woe to you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my spirit, that you might add sin upon sin:

Out upon you, the Lord says, what treason is this? Here be plans afoot that were never mine, webs a-weaving, and the pattern none of my choice. Trust me, you do but add to your guilt.

qui ambulatis ut descendatis in Ægyptum, et os meum non interrogastis, sperantes auxilium in fortitudine Pharaonis, et habentes fiduciam in umbra Ægypti!

Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, hoping for help in the strength of Pharao, and trusting in the shadow of Egypt.

What are these journeyings down into Egypt, and I never consulted? Think you to find refuge in the strength of Pharao, look you to Egypt for shelter?

Et erit vobis fortitudo Pharaonis in confusionem, et fiducia umbræ Ægypti in ignominiam.

And the strength of Pharao shall be to your confusion, and the confidence of the shadow of Egypt to your shame.

Strength of Pharao shall play you false, nor shelter Egypt bring you, but shame.

Erant enim in Tani principes tui, et nuntii tui usque ad Hanes pervenerunt.

For thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came even to Hanes.

Princes of thine in Tanis, ambassadors from thee making their way to Hanes!

Omnes confusi sunt super populo qui eis prodesse non potuit: non fuerunt in auxilium et in aliquam utilitatem, sed in confusionem et in opprobrium.

They were all confounded at a people that could not profit them: they were no help, nor to any profit, but to confusion and to reproach.

Fruitless errand to a folk that could not save them; no help, no comfort there, only failure and mockery.

Onus jumentorum austri. In terra tribulationis et angustiæ leæna, et leo ex eis, vipera et regulus volans; portantes super humeros jumentorum divitias suas, et super gibbum camelorum thesauros suos, ad populum qui eis prodesse non poterit.

The burden of the beasts of the south. In a land of trouble and distress, from whence come the lioness, and the lion, the viper and the flying basilisk, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a people that shall not be able to profit them.

What burden for the cattle-droves in the south? Here is a land of difficulty and danger, home of lion and lioness, of viper and flying serpent; and through it, goods piled on asses’ backs, treasures stored on the humps of camels, go men asking for help where help is none.

Ægyptus enim frustra et vane auxiliabitur. Ideo clamavi super hoc: Superbia tantum est, quiesce.

For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this: It is pride only, sit still.

From Egypt’s protection you shall have neither gain nor good; my word has been said about her, There goes Pride, let her alone.

Nunc ergo ingressus, scribe ei super buxum, et in libro diligenter exara illud, et erit in die novissimo in testimonium usque in æternum.

Now therefore go in and write for them upon box, and note it diligently in a book, and it shall be in the latter days for a testimony for ever.

Go home, then, and engrave it on a tablet of box-wood for their instruction; write it down, too, carefully on a scroll, to be an abiding record in after days.

Populus enim ad iracundiam provocans est: et filii mendaces, filii nolentes audire legem Dei;

For it is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children, children that will not hear the law of God.

So rebellious a people is this, so treacherous a breed, refusing, my own children, to listen to the law of their God;

qui dicunt videntibus: Nolite videre, et aspicientibus: Nolite aspicere nobis ea quæ recta sunt; loquimini nobis placentia: videte nobis errores.

Who say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold not for us those things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things, see errors for us.

forbidding the prophet to prophesy, the man of vision to have vision of the truth. Ever they must be told what likes them best, comforted in their illusions;

Auferte a me viam; declinate a me semitam; cesset a facie nostra Sanctus Israël.

Take away from me the way, turn away the path from me, let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us.

for them no marching orders, no prescribed path; he, the Holy One of Israel, must be kept far from their view.

Propterea hæc dicit Sanctus Israël: Pro eo quod reprobastis verbum hoc, et sperastis in calumnia et in tumultu, et innixi estis super eo;

Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and tumult, and have leaned upon it:

From him, the Holy One of Israel, this message: Warning of mine you have rejected, so blindly you trust your own cunning, your own headstrong will.

propterea erit vobis iniquitas hæc sicut interruptio cadens, et requisita in muro excelso, quoniam subito, dum non speratur, veniet contritio ejus.

Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that falleth, and is found wanting in a high wall, for the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for.

Sudden and swift shall be your punishment, as the crash of a high wall that has long gaped ruinously, long been anxiously watched.

Et comminuetur sicut conteritur lagena figuli contritione pervalida, et non invenietur de fragmentis ejus testa in qua portetur igniculus de incendio, aut hauriatur parum aquæ de fovea.

And it shall be broken small, as the potter’s vessel is broken all to pieces with mighty breaking, and there shall not a sherd be found of the pieces thereof, wherein a little fire may be carried from the hearth, or a little water be drawn out of the pit.

So shrewd a blow potter never dealt, shivering earthen pot into fragments, till no shard is left that will carry a lighted coal from the hearth, or a mouthful of water from the cistern.

Quia hæc dicit Dominus Deus, Sanctus Israël: Si revertamini et quiescatis, salvi eritis; in silentio et in spe erit fortitudo vestra. Et noluistis,

For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be. And you would not:

From the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, word was given you, Come back and keep still, and all shall be well with you; in quietness and in confidence lies your strength. But you would have none of it;

et dixistis: Nequaquam, sed ad equos fugiemus: ideo fugietis; et: Super veloces ascendemus: ideo velociores erunt qui persequentur vos.

But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be swifter that shall pursue after you.

To horse! you cried, We must flee! and flee you shall; We must ride swiftly, you said; but swifter still ride your pursuers.

Mille homines a facie terroris unius; et a facie terroris quinque fugietis, donec relinquamini quasi malus navis in vertice montis, et quasi signum super collem.

A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of ship on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill.

Be you a thousand to one, yet at the challenge of five men you shall take to flight; nought left of you but a remnant, lonely as flag-staff on the mountain-top, as beacon on the hill.

Propterea exspectat Dominus ut misereatur vestri; et ideo exaltabitur parcens vobis, quia Deus judicii Dominus: beati omnes qui exspectant eum!

Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you: and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

What if the Lord waits his time before he will have mercy on you? The more glorious, when it comes, his deliverance. The Lord is a God who makes award justly, blessed they shall be that wait for him.

Populus enim Sion habitabit in Jerusalem: plorans nequaquam plorabis: miserans miserebitur tui, ad vocem clamoris tui: statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi.

For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee.

In Jerusalem they only will be left, true citizens of Sion. And thou, Jerusalem, tears shalt have none to shed; mercy is none he shall withhold. Soon as he hears thee crying out to him, the answer will come.

Et dabit vobis Dominus panem arctum, et aquam brevem; et non faciet avolare a te ultra doctorem tuum; et erunt oculi tui videntes præceptorem tuum.

And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher.

Bread the Lord will grant, though it be sparingly, water, though it be in short measure. Birds of passage they shall be no longer, the men he gives thee for thy teachers; always thou wilt have a true counsellor in sight,

Et aures tuæ audient verbum post tergum monentis: Hæc est via; ambulate in ea, et non declinetis neque ad dexteram, neque ad sinistram.

And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

always hear his voice in thy ear as he warns thee, This is the true path, follow it; no swerving to right or left!

Et contaminabis laminas sculptilium argenti tui, et vestimentum conflatilis auri tui, et disperges ea sicut immunditiam menstruatæ. Egredere, dices ei.

And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence.

Silver leaf on thy graven images defaced now, defaced the sheaths of gold; thou wilt cast all away, as a woman casts away defiled clouts of hers, and bid it begone.

Et dabitur pluvia semini tuo, ubicumque seminaveris in terra, et panis frugum terræ erit uberrimus et pinguis; pascetur in possessione tua in die illo agnus spatiose,

And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession:

And thereupon, sow where thou wilt all over the land, rain shall be granted to thy crops; rich and full shall be thy harvest of wheat; thou shalt have pasture, then, for lambs to browse in at liberty.

et tauri tui, et pulli asinorum, qui operantur terram, commistum migma comedent sicut in area ventilatum est.

And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor.

Ox and ass on thy farm shall have mixed feed, pure grain fresh winnowed on the threshing-floor;

Et erunt super omnem montem excelsum, et super omnem collem elevatum, rivi currentium aquarum, in die interfectionis multorum, cum ceciderint turres:

And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall.

never a mountain-top, never a high hill, but will flow with torrents of water, when that day comes. The dead shall lie in heaps that day, and towers come crashing down;

et erit lux lunæ sicut lux solis, et lux solis erit septempliciter sicut lux septem dierum, in die qua alligaverit Dominus vulnus populi sui, et percussuram plagæ ejus sanaverit.

And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound.

moon’s light will be like the light of the sun, and the sun will shine in sevenfold strength, as if the light of seven days were joined in one, when the time comes for the Lord to bind up his people’s hurt, and heal their grievous wound.

Ecce nomen Domini venit de longinquo, ardens furor ejus, et gravis ad portandum; labia ejus repleta sunt indignatione, et lingua ejus quasi ignis devorans.

Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.

See where the majesty of the Lord comes from far away; his anger is aflame, and there is no withstanding it! There is menace on his lips, his tongue is like a consuming fire,

Spiritus ejus velut torrens inundans usque ad medium colli, ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, et frenum erroris quod erat in maxillis populorum.

His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.

and his breath like a mountain stream that floods over till it is neck-deep. He will sweep away whole nations into oblivion, sweep away the bridle of false fears that curbed the peoples till now.

Canticum erit vobis sicut nox sanctificatæ solemnitatis, et lætitia cordis sicut qui pergit cum tibia, ut intret in montem Domini ad Fortem Israël.

You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.

But, you, that night, will be singing for joy, as if it were the night when a solemn feast begins; your hearts will be light, as men’s hearts are light when they go up, with the flutes playing about them, to the mountain of the Lord, where he dwells, the strong God of Israel.

Et auditam faciet Dominus gloriam vocis suæ, et terrorem brachii sui ostendet in comminatione furoris, et flamma ignis devorantis: allidet in turbine, et in lapide grandinis.

And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the flame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones.

The Lord will make his dread voice heard, will lay bare his terrible arm, volleying out his anger in flashes of devouring fire, laying all low with his whirlwind, with his hail-stones;

A voce enim Domini pavebit Assur virga percussus.

For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being struck with the rod.

and Assur will shrink in fear from the Lord’s voice, and will feel his rod.

Et erit transitus virgæ fundatus, quam requiescere faciet Dominus super eum in tympanis et citharis; et in bellis præcipuis expugnabit eos.

And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great battles he shall overthrow them.

So it is decreed that the rod should pass over him, brought down on him by the Lord’s hand to the music of your tambours and harps; a strange warfare this, that shall quell them!

Præparata est enim ab heri Topheth, a rege præparata, profunda, et dilatata. Nutrimenta ejus, ignis et ligna multa; flatus Domini sicut torrens sulphuris succendens eam.

For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.

In these times a new Topheth has been made ready; this, too, made ready by a king. It is deep and wide, fed with flaming brands in abundance; and the breath of the Lord comes down like a stream of brimstone, to kindle it.