Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum: verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur; bene est omnibus qui prævaricantur et inique agunt?

Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly?

Lord, I know well that right is on thy side, if I plead against thee, yet remon-strate with thee I must; why is it that the affairs of the wicked prosper; never a traitor double-dyed but all goes well with him?

Plantasti eos, et radicem miserunt: proficiunt, et faciunt fructum: prope es tu ori eorum, et longe a renibus eorum.

Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

Deep roots they strike, so firmly thou hast planted them, thrive and bear fruit; yet all the while their hearts keep thee at a distance, only their lips proclaim thee.

Et tu, Domine, nosti me, vidisti me, et probasti cor meum tecum. Congrega eos quasi gregem ad victimam, et sanctifica eos in die occisionis.

And thou, O Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and proved my heart with thee: gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

Yet it is I, Lord, that hold thy warrant; with favour thou regardest me, hast proof of my heart’s loyalty; wilt thou not herd them together like sheep, and mark them down for slaughter?

Usquequo lugebit terra, et herba omnis regionis siccabitur, propter malitiam habitantium in ea? Consumptum est animal, et volucre, quoniam dixerunt: Non videbit novissima nostra.

How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts and the birds are consumed: because they have said: He shall not see our last end.

How long must this land go in mourning, all the verdure of its fields be parched up, to avenge the ill-doing of its inhabitants? Neither beast nor bird left in it; and still their hope is, I shall not live to see their end come!

Si cum peditibus currens laborasti, quomodo contendere poteris cum equis? cum autem in terra pacis securus fueris, quid facies in superbia Jordanis?

If thou hast been wearied with running with footmen, how canst thou contend with horses? and if thou hast been secure in a land of peace, what wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?

What, tired out so soon when thy rivals were on foot? And hast thou the mettle to challenge horsemen? Easy to keep thy confidence, here on safe ground; what shift wilt thou make in the fens of Jordan?

Nam et fratres tui, et domus patris tui, etiam ipsi pugnaverunt adversum te, et clamaverunt post te plena voce: ne credas eis, cum locuti fuerint tibi bona.

For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have fought against thee, and have cried after thee with full voice: believe them not when they speak good things to thee.

Even by thy own clansmen, thy own father’s kin, thou art betrayed; these too will join in the hue and cry after thee; never trust soft words of theirs.

Reliqui domum meam; dimisi hæreditatem meam: dedi dilectam animam meam in manu inimicorum ejus.

I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance: I have given my dear soul into the hand of her enemies.

Farewell, my home; I have done with my chosen people; the life that was so dear to me I have handed over to its enemies.

Facta est mihi hæreditas mea quasi leo in silva: dedit contra me vocem, ideo odivi eam.

My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: it hath cried out against me, therefore have I hated it.

My people grown strange to me, as lion snarling in its forest lair; what marvel if I am weary of it?

Numquid avis discolor hæreditas mea mihi? numquid avis tincta per totum? Venite, congregamini, omnes bestiæ terræ: properate ad devorandum.

Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? is it as a bird dyed throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all ye beasts of the earth, make haste to devour.

My people grown strange to me as carrion-bird, its mottled plumage all bathed in blood! Gather here, beasts that roam the earth, eager for your prey.

Pastores multi demoliti sunt vineam meam, conculcaverunt partem meam, dederunt portionem meam desiderabilem in desertum solitudinis.

Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot: they have changed my delightful portion into a desolate wilderness.

Drovers a many have laid waste my vineyard, trampled down my lands; the land I loved so, turned into a lonely wilderness!

Posuerunt eam in dissipationem, luxitque super me: desolatione desolata est omnis terra, quia nullus est qui recogitet corde.

They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that considereth in the heart.

Desolate they have made it, and desolate it mourns for me now; a very picture of desolation, and all for the want of men with heeding hearts.

Super omnes vias deserti venerunt vastatores, quia gladius Domini devorabit: ab extremo terræ usque ad extremum ejus, non est pax universæ carni.

The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh.

No track over the uplands but has seen the freebooters coming by; from end to end of the country the sword of divine vengeance must pass, leaving no peace for any living thing;

Seminaverunt triticum, et spinas messuerunt: hæreditatem acceperunt, et non eis proderit. Confundemini a fructibus vestris propter iram furoris Domini.

They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord.

where wheat was sown, the harvest shall be of briers, where men hold lands, they shall get no advantage of it; all your harvests shall disappoint you, so fierce the Lord’s anger burns.

Hæc dicit Dominus adversum omnes vicinos meos pessimos, qui tangunt hæreditatem quam distribui populo meo Israël: Ecce ego evellam eos de terra sua, et domum Juda evellam de medio eorum.

Thus saith the Lord against all my wicked neighbours, that touch the inheritance that I have shared out to my people Israel: Behold I will pluck them out of their land, and I will pluck the house of Juda out of the midst of them.

And this message comes from the Lord to those ill neighbours of his, that encroach upon the domain he has granted to his people of Israel: I mean to uproot them from their homes, when I uproot the men of Juda from the land that lies between them.

Et cum evulsero eos, convertar, et miserebor eorum, et reducam eos: virum ad hæreditatem suam, et virum in terram suam.

And when I shall have plucked them out, I will return, and have mercy on them: and I will bring them back, every man to his inheritance, and every man into his land.

Yet I will relent towards them, so uprooted, and have pity on them; to their scattered homes and countries they shall all return.

Et erit: si eruditi didicerint vias populi mei, ut jurent in nomine meo: Vivit Dominus! sicut docuerunt populum meum jurare in Baal, ædificabuntur in medio populi mei.

And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by Baal: that they shall be built up in the midst of my people.

Then, if they will but learn the traditions of my own people, and take their oaths by the Lord, the living God, as they once taught my people to take oaths by Baal, their fortunes shall be founded anew in the midst of Juda.

Quod si non audierint, evellam gentem illam evulsione et perditione, ait Dominus.

But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.

But wherever my call goes unheeded, the Lord says, that people’s uprooting shall be that people’s undoing.