Quod factum est verbum Domini ad Jeremiam, de sermonibus siccitatis.

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias concerning the words of the drought.

How the Lord answered Jeremias in the matter of the drought.

Luxit Judæa, et portæ ejus corruerunt, et obscuratæ sunt in terra, et clamor Jerusalem ascendit.

Judea hath mourned, and the gates thereof are fallen, and are become obscure on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

Lamentation in Juda, faint hearts and the dress of mourners in the market-place, loud the cry that goes up from Jerusalem!

Majores miserunt minores suos ad aquam: venerunt ad hauriendum. Non invenerunt aquam: reportaverunt vasa sua vacua. Confusi sunt, et afflicti, et operuerunt capita sua.

The great ones sent their inferiors to the water: they came to draw, they found no water, they carried back their vessels empty: they were confounded and afflicted, and covered their heads.

Master sends man to fetch water, but when cistern is reached, water is none; back go the pails empty, and disappointed vexation veils its head.

Propter terræ vastitatem, quia non venit pluvia in terram, confusi sunt agricolæ: operuerunt capita sua.

For the destruction of the land, because there came no rain upon the earth, the husbandmen were confounded, they covered their heads.

Vexation, too, and veiled heads among the country folk, so languish the fields for lack of rain;

Nam et cerva in agro peperit, et reliquit, quia non erat herba.

Yea, the hind also brought forth in the field, and left it, because there was no grass.

hind forsakes its new-born young, out on the plain, because grass has failed it,

Et onagri steterunt in rupibus; traxerunt ventum quasi dracones: defecerunt oculi eorum, quia non erat herba.

And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass.

and the wild ass on the hill-side gasps for air, crocodile-fashion, eyes dim with the vain search for pasture.

Si iniquitates nostræ responderint nobis, Domine, fac propter nomen tuum: quoniam multæ sunt aversiones nostræ: tibi peccavimus.

If our iniquities have testified against us, O Lord, do thou it for thy name’s sake, for our rebellions are many, we have sinned against thee.

What though we have guilt to plead against us? For thy own honour, Lord, bring us aid, rebels so often, yet confessing how we have wronged thee!

Exspectatio Israël, salvator ejus in tempore tribulationis, quare quasi colonus futurus es in terra, et quasi viator declinans ad manendum?

O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble: why wilt thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man turning in to lodge?

Thou, Israel’s hope, in time of calamity its refuge still, wilt thou pass us by, like stranger in a land that is none of his, like some traveller that will ask for a night’s lodging and be gone?

quare futurus es velut vir vagus, ut fortis qui non potest salvare? Tu autem in nobis es, Domine, et nomen tuum invocatum est super nos: ne derelinquas nos.

Why wilt thou be as a wandering man, as a mighty man that cannot save? but thou, O Lord, art among us, and thy name is called upon by us, forsake us not.

Why dost thou hang back like a man irresolute, a warrior that has forgotten his strength? Lord, thy dwelling-place is among us; thy holy name we bear; wilt thou abandon us?

Hæc dicit Dominus populo huic, qui dilexit movere pedes suos, et non quievit, et Domino non placuit: Nunc recordabitur iniquitatum eorum, et visitabit peccata eorum.

Thus saith the Lord to this people, that have loved to move their feet, and have not rested, and have not pleased the Lord: He will now remember their iniquities, and visit their sins.

Hearts ever in love with wandering, never at rest, what answer will the Lord make them? That his favour is not for them; at this hour he keeps their guilt in memory, for all their misdoings calls them to account.

Et dixit Dominus ad me: Noli orare pro populo isto in bonum.

And the Lord said to me: Pray not for this people for their good.

Nay, the Lord said to me, do not pray for the welfare of such a people as this.

Cum jejunaverint, non exaudiam preces eorum, et si obtulerint holocautomata et victimas, non suscipiam ea: quoniam gladio, et fame, et peste consumam eos.

When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive them: for I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence.

Fast they, their prayers shall go unheard; offer they burnt-sacrifice and victim, I will have none of it; sword, and famine, and the pestilence shall wear them down.

Et dixi: A, a, a, Domine Deus: prophetæ dicunt eis: Non videbitis gladium, et fames non erit in vobis: sed pacem veram dabit vobis in loco isto.

And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to them: You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, but he will give you true peace in this place.

Alas, alas, Lord God, said I, here are their prophets telling them they shall never see sword drawn, famine shall be none among them; theirs shall be a land of lasting content.

Et dicit Dominus ad me: Falso prophetæ vaticinantur in nomine meo: non misi eos, et non præcepi eis, neque locutus sum ad eos. Visionem mendacem, et divinationem, et fraudulentiam, et seductionem cordis sui, prophetant vobis.

And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and deceit, and the seduction of their own heart.

These are but false promises, the Lord said, that they utter in my name; warrant they never had from me, nor errand, nor message; of false visions they tell you, and soothsayings, and trickery, and their own hearts’ inventions.

Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus de prophetis qui prophetant in nomine meo, quos ego non misi, dicentes: Gladius et fames non erit in terra hac: In gladio et fame consumentur prophetæ illi.

Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, that say: Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

Here is the Lord’s sentence upon prophets not of his sending, who speak to you in his name of a land unhurt by sword or famine; by sword and famine those prophets shall be devoured.

Et populi quibus prophetant erunt projecti in viis Jerusalem præ fame et gladio, et non erit qui sepeliat eos: ipsi et uxores eorum, filii et filiæ eorum: et effundam super eos malum suum.

And the people to whom they prophesy, shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there shall be none to bury them: they and their wives, their sons and their daughters, and I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.

Slain by sword and famine, the common folk that listen to them shall lie in the streets of Jerusalem, with none to bury them; wives and sons and daughters shall die with them; their own misdoings shall be a flood to drown them.

Et dices ad eos verbum istud: Deducant oculi mei lacrimam per noctem et diem, et non taceant, quoniam contritione magna contrita est virgo filia populi mei, plaga pessima vehementer.

And thou shalt speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed down tears night and day, and let them not cease, because the virgin daughter of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an exceeding grievous evil.

This too thou shalt say to them … … Weep, eyes, day and night, never resting, at the great hurt, the grievous wound she suffers, my people, inviolable till now!

Si egressus fuero ad agros, ecce occisi gladio: et si introiero in civitatem, ecce attenuati fame. Propheta quoque et sacerdos abierunt in terram quam ignorabant.

If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword: and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with famine. The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they knew not.

Nothing the country-side shews but massacre, nothing the city but faces pinched with famine; prophet and priest are gone, in a land of strangers they must ply their trade now.

Numquid projiciens abjecisti Judam? aut Sion abominata est anima tua? quare ergo percussisti nos ita ut nulla sit sanitas? Exspectavimus pacem, et non est bonum: et tempus curationis, et ecce turbatio.

Hast thou utterly cast away Juda, or hath thy soul abhorred Sion? why then hast thou struck us, so that there is no healing for us? we have looked for peace, and there is no good: and for the time of healing, and behold trouble.

Hast thou abandoned Juda once for all, art thou weary of Sion? Past all healing thou hast wounded us; how we long for better times, and no relief comes to us, for remedy at last, and danger still threatens!

Cognovimus, Domine, impietates nostras, iniquitates patrum nostrorum, quia peccavimus tibi.

We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquities of our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

Lord, we acknowledge our rebelliousness, acknowledge our fathers’ guilt, confess that we have wronged thee;

Ne des nos in opprobrium, propter nomen tuum, neque facias nobis contumeliam solii gloriæ tuæ: recordare, ne irritum facias fœdus tuum nobiscum.

Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name’s sake, and do not disgrace in us the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.

for thy own honour, do not shame us, do not drag thy own royal glory in the dust; wilt thou forget, wilt thou annul the covenant that binds thee?

Numquid sunt in sculptilibus gentium qui pluant? aut cæli possunt dare imbres? nonne tu es Dominus Deus noster, quem exspectavimus? tu enim fecisti omnia hæc.

Are there any among the graven things of the Gentiles that can send rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou the Lord our God, whom we have looked for? for thou hast made all these things.

Grant rain they cannot, the false gods of the heathen, the dumb skies have no showers of their own to give; for these, his creatures, wait we patiently on the Lord our God.