Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away.

Hæc dicit Dominus: Quis est hic liber repudii matris vestræ, quo dimisi eam? aut quis est creditor meus, cui vendidi vos? Ecce in iniquitatibus vestris venditi estis, et in sceleribus vestris dimisi matrem vestram.

Thus says the Lord, Who can shew writ of separation your mother had from me when I sent her away? Was I in debt, that I must needs sell you as slaves? Nay, if I sold you, it was for your disobedience; it was wanton wife I thrust out of doors.

Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.

Quia veni, et non erat vir; vocavi, et non erat qui audiret. Numquid abbreviata et parvula facta est manus mea, ut non possim redimere? aut non est in me virtus ad liberandum? Ecce in increpatione mea desertum faciam mare, ponam flumina in siccum; computrescent pisces sine aqua, et morientur in siti.

And now must I come to you, and find none to greet me, call you, and hear no answer to my call? What, has arm of mine grown shrunk and shrivelled, lost its power to save? Have I strength no longer to set men free? Nay, with a word I can yet turn sea into desert, dry up rivers, till the fish lie rotting on the banks, dead of thirst;

I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering.

Induam cælos tenebris, et saccum ponam operimentum eorum.

I can yet cover the heavens with darkness, and give them mourning weeds to wear.

The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.

Dominus dedit mihi linguam eruditam, ut sciam sustentare eum qui lassus est verbo. Erigit mane, mane erigit mihi aurem, ut audiam quasi magistrum.

Ever the Lord schools my tongue to utterance that shall refresh the weary; awakes my dull ears, morning after morning, their Master’s bidding to heed.

The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not gone back.

Dominus Deus aperuit mihi aurem, ego autem non contradico: retrorsum non abii.

An attentive ear the Lord has given me; not mine to withstand him; not mine to shrink from the task.

I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.

Corpus meum dedi percutientibus, et genas meas vellentibus; faciem meam non averti ab increpantibus et conspuentibus in me.

I offered my body defenceless to the men who would smite me, my cheeks to all who plucked at my beard; I did not turn away my face when they reviled me and spat upon me.

The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.

Dominus Deus auxiliator meus, ideo non sum confusus; ideo posui faciem meam ut petram durissimam, et scio quoniam non confundar.

The Lord God is my helper; and that help cannot play me false; meet them I will, and with a face unmoved as flint; not mine to suffer the shame of defeat;

He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me.

Juxta est qui justificat me; quis contradicet mihi? Stemus simul; quis est adversarius meus? accedat ad me.

here is One stands by to see right done me. Come, who pleads? Meet me, and try the issue; let him come forward who will, and accuse me.

Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

Ecce Dominus Deus auxiliator meus; quis est qui condemnet me? Ecce omnes quasi vestimentum conterentur; tinea comedet eos.

Here is the Lord God ready to aid me; who dares pass sentence on me now? One and all they shall be brought to nothing, like garment the moth has eaten!

Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light? let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.

Quis ex vobis timens Dominum, audiens vocem servi sui? Qui ambulavit in tenebris, et non est lumen ei, speret in nomine Domini, et innitatur super Deum suum.

Who is here that fears the Lord, listens to his servant’s message? Who would make his way through dark places, with no glimmer of light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.

Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled: this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.

Ecce vos omnes accendentes ignem, accincti flammis: ambulate in lumine ignis vestri, et in flammis quas succendistis; de manu mea factum est hoc vobis: in doloribus dormietis.

For you others, with brand at girdle, that your own fire would make, with fire your own brands have kindled light the path if you can; this is all the gift I have for you, a bed of anguish.