And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man’s pen. Take away the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey.

Et dixit Dominus ad me: Sume tibi librum grandem, et scribe in eo stylo hominis: Velociter spolia detrahe, cito prædare.

Then the Lord said to me, Take a great scroll, and write on it, in thy human penmanship, the words, Spoiler, haste; there’s plunder afoot.

And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias.

Et adhibui mihi testes fideles, Uriam sacerdotem, et Zachariam, filium Barachiæ:

I took care to have men of credit for my witnesses, the priest Urias and Zacharias, son of Barachias.

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils: Make hast to take away the prey.

et accessi ad prophetissam, et concepit, et peperit filium. Et dixit Dominus ad me: Voca nomen ejus: Accelera spolia detrahere; Festina prædari:

Afterwards, when the prophetess conceived and bore me a son, the Lord said to me, Call him by this name, Spoiler, haste; there’s plunder afoot.

For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians.

quia antequam sciat puer vocare patrem suum et matrem suam, auferetur fortitudo Damasci, et spolia Samariæ, coram rege Assyriorum.

This boy will not have learned to use the words Father and Mother, before the king of Assyria comes to carry off the wealth of Damascus, the spoils of Samaria.

And the Lord spoke to me again, saying:

Et adjecit Dominus loqui ad me adhuc, dicens:

And the Lord went on to say to me,

Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Rasin, and the son of Romelia:

Pro eo quod abjecit populus iste aquas Siloë, quæ vadunt cum silentio, et assumpsit magis Rasin, et filium Romeliæ:

This people of mine has cut itself off from the gently-flowing waters of Siloe, to welcome Rasin and the son of Romelia instead;

Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks,

propter hoc ecce Dominus adducet super eos aquas fluminis fortes et multas, regem Assyriorum, et omnem gloriam ejus, et ascendet super omnes rivos ejus, et fluet super universas ripas ejus;

and now the Lord will bring the waters of Euphrates upon it, in full flood; I mean the king of the Assyrians, in all his greatness. This flood will fill up all the channels of the river, overflow all its banks,

And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel.

et ibit per Judam, inundans, et transiens: usque ad collum veniet. Et erit extensio alarum ejus implens latitudinem terræ tuæ, o Emmanuel!

till it pours over Juda, overwhelming her and reaching up to her very neck. Wings spread out wide, till they cover the whole breadth of thy own land, Emmanuel, the God who is with us!

Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome.

Congregamini, populi, et vincimini; et audite, universæ procul terræ: confortamini, et vincimini; accingite vos, et vincimini.

Muster, then, you peoples, to your own overthrow; obey the call, distant lands, in vain; summon up your valour, arm yourselves in vain!

Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us.

Inite consilium, et dissipabitur; loquimini verbum, et non fiet: quia nobiscum Deus.

All your scheming baffled, all your boasts belied; God is with us!

For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

Hæc enim ait Dominus ad me: Sicut in manu forti erudivit me, ne irem in via populi hujus, dicens:

Strict warning the Lord has given me, I must not fall in with the fashion of Israel;

Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

Non dicatis: Conjuratio; omnia enim quæ loquitur populus iste, conjuratio est: et timorem ejus ne timeatis, neque paveatis.

Not for thee and thine to go about crying Treason; this people is for ever crying treason. Not for thee and thine to go in fear, dismayed like these others;

Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Dominum exercituum ipsum sanctificate; ipse pavor vester, et ipse terror vester:

enthrone the Lord of hosts above all else, him you must fear, of him stand in awe.

And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

et erit vobis in sanctificationem; in lapidem autem offensionis, et in petram scandali, duabus domibus Israël; in laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus Jerusalem.

Let the hour of peril consecrate you to him; for the rest, both in Israel and in Juda, it will be a stone to trip men’s feet, a boulder that catches them unawares. A trap, a fine snare, for the citizens of Jerusalem;

And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.

Et offendent ex eis plurimi, et cadent, et conterentur, et irretientur, et capientur.

and there are many of them that will stumble, and fall, and bruise themselves, caught in its meshes.

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

Liga testimonium, signa legem in discipulis meis.

(Now to guard the prophetic record close, now to seal up these instructions, in the keeping of my disciples!

And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

Et exspectabo Dominum qui abscondit faciem suam a domo Jacob, et præstolabor eum.

What though the Lord hide his face from the men of Israel? To him will I look, and wait patiently for him;

Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion.

Ecce ego et pueri mei quos dedit mihi Dominus in signum, et in portentum Israël a Domino exercituum, qui habitat in monte Sion:

here stand I, and these children the Lord has given me, a portent, a warning sent to Israel by the Lord of hosts, who dwells on mount Sion.

And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead?

et cum dixerint ad vos: Quærite a pythonibus et a divinis qui strident in incantationibus suis: numquid non populus a Deo suo requiret, pro vivis a mortuis?

Men will bid you consult wizard and diviner, that talk in ghostly voices over their enchantments; Who doubts, they say, God will send his own people answer, an oracle from the dead to the living?

To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.

ad legem magis et ad testimonium. Quod si non dixerint juxta verbum hoc, non erit eis matutina lux.

By these instructions rather abide, this record of prophecy; who follows other inspiration, shall not see the dawn.)

And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards.

Et transibit per eam, corruet, et esuriet; et cum esurierit, irascetur. Et maledicet regi suo, et Deo suo, et suscipiet sursum,

As for the invader, he shall meet with disaster, and then famine. Famine-stricken, he will turn with curses against his king, his god; first looking upwards

And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.

et ad terram intuebitur; et ecce tribulatio et tenebræ, dissolutio et angustia, et caligo persequens, et non poterit avolare de angustia sua.

and then to earth, to find nothing but distress and darkness, ruin and want, with night pressing hard upon him; from his calamity there is no escaping.