The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

Verbum quod factum est ad Jeremiam a Domino, dicens:

The Lord’s word came to Jeremias,

Arise, and go down into the potter’s house, and there thou shalt hear my words.

Surge, et descende in domum figuli, et ibi audies verba mea.

bidding him betake himself to the potter’s house; there a divine message awaited him.

And I went down into the potter’s house, and behold he was doing a work on the wheel.

Et descendi in domum figuli, et ecce ipse faciebat opus super rotam.

So I went to the potter’s house, and found him working at his wheel;

And the vessel was broken which he was making of clay with his hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes to make it.

Et dissipatum est vas quod ipse faciebat e luto manibus suis: conversusque fecit illud vas alterum, sicut placuerat in oculis ejus ut faceret.

just then, the thing of clay he was a-fashioning broke in his hands, and he, as the whim took him, turned it into another thing of clay.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

Then it was the Lord’s word came to me:

Cannot I do with you, as this potter, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Numquid sicut figulus iste, non potero vobis facere, domus Israël? ait Dominus: ecce sicut lutum in manu figuli, sic vos in manu mea, domus Israël.

You are in my hands, men of Israel, as the clay in the potter’s; why may I not do as the potter did?

I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.

Repente loquar adversum gentem et adversus regnum, ut eradicem, et destruam, et disperdam illud:

All at once to a nation here, a kingdom there, I pronounced my sentence, for the uprooting and undoing of it, for its utter destruction.

If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.

si pœnitentiam egerit gens illa a malo suo quod locutus sum adversus eam, agam et ego pœnitentiam super malo quod cogitavi ut facerem ei.

Let but that nation repent of the crimes I brought against it, I too will repent of the punishment I thought to exact.

And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it.

Et subito loquar de gente et de regno, ut ædificem et plantem illud.

All at once to a nation here, a kingdom there, I promise restoration of its fortunes and new life.

If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it.

Si fecerit malum in oculis meis, ut non audiat vocem meam, pœnitentiam agam super bono quod locutus sum ut facerem ei.

Let but that nation defy my will, shut its ears to my claim, I too will repent of all the fair promises I made it.

Now therefore tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: let every man of you return from his evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good.

Nunc ergo dic viro Juda, et habitatoribus Jerusalem, dicens: Hæc dicit Dominus: Ecce ego fingo contra vos malum, et cogito contra vos cogitationem: revertatur unusquisque a via sua mala, et dirigite vias vestras et studia vestra.

Be this, then, thy message from the Lord to Juda’s folk, to the citizens of Jerusalem: Ill days I have in store for you; all my plans are laid; time that each one of you should return from the false path, shape aims and thoughts anew.

And they said: We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart.

Qui dixerunt: Desperavimus: post cogitationes enim nostras ibimus, et unusquisque pravitatem cordis sui mali faciemus.

Ah no, they tell me, too late! Each one clings to his own course, follows his own bent still.

Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?

Ideo hæc dicit Dominus: Interrogate gentes: Quis audivit talia horribilia, quæ fecit nimis virgo Israël?

Search the world over, the Lord says, where were ever such deeds heard of as this deed Israel, false maid, has most foully done?

Shall the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?

Numquid deficiet de petra agri nix Libani? aut evelli possunt aquæ erumpentes frigidæ, et defluentes?

What, shall the snows of Lebanon melt from those wild peaks, shall they be dried up at their source, those icy torrents that flow down from it?

Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden:

Quia oblitus est mei populus meus, frustra libantes, et impingentes in viis suis, in semitis sæculi, ut ambularent per eas in itinere non trito,

Not less strange that this people of mine should forget me, and resort to vain sacrifices; that they should find their own paths too rough for them, the tracks marked out so long ago, and journey on instead along by-paths untrodden.

That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag his head.

ut fieret terra eorum in desolationem, et in sibilum sempiternum: omnis qui præterierit per eam obstupescet, et movebit caput suum.

Desolate their country shall lie, doomed to everlasting scorn; every passer-by will shudder at it, or toss his head in derision.

As a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.

Sicut ventus urens dispergam eos coram inimico: dorsum, et non faciem, ostendam eis in die perditionis eorum.

I will sweep them away before the enemy’s onset, as the east wind sweeps all before it; turn my back and never look their way in the hour of need.

And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.

Et dixerunt: Venite, et cogitemus contra Jeremiam cogitationes: non enim peribit lex a sacerdote, neque consilium a sapiente, nec sermo a propheta: venite, et percutiamus eum lingua, et non attendamus ad universos sermones ejus.

Hereupon they summoned a conclave to plot against me, Jeremias; What, they said, would he have us believe we need no more priests to expound the law, no more wise men to counsel us, no more prophets to say their word? They thought to compass my death by their clamour; to all my warnings would pay heed no longer.

Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.

Attende, Domine, ad me, et audi vocem adversariorum meorum.

Lord, give me audience; listen to these pratings of my enemies.

Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, to speak good for them, and to turn away thy indignation from them.

Numquid redditur pro bono malum, quia foderunt foveam animæ meæ? Recordare quod steterim in conspectu tuo ut loquerer pro eis bonum, et averterem indignationem tuam ab eis.

Must they make such a return for my good will, laying a snare to take my life? Bethink thee, how I ever stood up before thee to plead for them, to avert thy anger from them.

Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle.

Propterea da filios eorum in famem, et deduc eos in manus gladii: fiant uxores eorum absque liberis, et viduæ: et viri earum interficiantur morte: juvenes eorum confodiantur gladio in prælio:

Henceforth leave their children to famish, or give them up to butchery; may their wives be childless widows, their grown men die of pestilence, their young men by the sword-thrust in battle;

Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet.

audiatur clamor de domibus eorum: adduces enim super eos latronem repente, quia foderunt foveam ut caperent me, et laqueos absconderunt pedibus meis.

let their homes ring with lamentation, a prey to the sudden onslaught of robbers! Cunning the snare they laid, deep the pit they dug to entrap me;

But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath do thou destroy them.

Tu autem, Domine, scis omne consilium eorum adversum me in mortem: ne propitieris iniquitati eorum, et peccatum eorum a facie tua non deleatur: fiant corruentes in conspectu tuo; in tempore furoris tui abutere eis.

but there is no hiding from thee, Lord, the designs they have on my life. Do not forgive their malice, keep their guilt ever in thy sight; cast them down to earth at thy presence, and in thy anger make an end of them.