Et hæc sunt verba libri quem misit Jeremias propheta de Jerusalem ad reliquias seniorum transmigrationis, et ad sacerdotes, et ad prophetas, et ad omnem populum quem traduxerat Nabuchodonosor de Jerusalem in Babylonem,

Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

To those other elders, priests and prophets who had already gone into exile, to all the citizens Nabuchodonosor had carried off with him to Babylon, the prophet Jeremias sent a message in writing.

postquam egressus est Jechonias rex, et domina, et eunuchi, et principes Juda et Jerusalem, et faber et inclusor, de Jerusalem,

After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the engravers were departed out of Jerusalem:

Among these were king Jechonias and the queen-mother, and the chamberlains, and all that were of note in realm or capital; nor were any carpenters or smiths left in Jerusalem.

in manu Elasa filii Saphan, et Gamariæ filii Helciæ, quos misit Sedecias rex Juda ad Nabuchodonosor regem Babylonis in Babylonem, dicens:

By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, saying:

The new king of Juda, Sedecias, was sending Elasa, the son of Saphan, and Gamarias, the son of Helcias, on a mission to Nabuchodonosor at Babylon, and to their hands the letter of Jeremias was entrusted.

Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël, omni transmigrationi quam transtuli de Jerusalem in Babylonem:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

It ran thus: A message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to the men of Jerusalem he has sent into exile at Babylon!

Ædificate domos, et habitate: et plantate hortos, et comedite fructum eorum.

Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat the fruit of them.

I would have you build yourselves houses of your own to dwell in, plant yourselves gardens of your own to support you,

Accipite uxores, et generate filios et filias: et date filiis vestris uxores, et filias vestras date viris, et pariant filios et filias: et multiplicamini ibi, et nolite esse pauci numero.

Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.

wive and gender, and of your sons and daughters wed man with maid, maid with man, to breed sons and daughters in their turn; grow numerous, that are now so few, there in your land of exile.

Et quærite pacem civitatis ad quam transmigrare vos feci, et orate pro ea ad Dominum, quia in pace illius erit pax vobis.

And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace.

A new home I have given you; for the welfare of that realm be ever concerned, ever solicit the divine favour; its welfare is yours.

Hæc enim dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Non vos seducant prophetæ vestri qui sunt in medio vestrum, et divini vestri, et ne attendatis ad somnia vestra quæ vos somniatis:

For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you: and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:

And this warning he sends you, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Never allow prophet and soothsayer that are of your company to mislead you; his dreams let the dreamer abandon;

quia falso ipsi prophetant vobis in nomine meo, et non misi eos, dicit Dominus.

For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

prophets there are, the Lord says, that claim falsely to be my spokesmen, and warrant from me have none.

Quia hæc dicit Dominus: Cum cœperint impleri in Babylone septuaginta anni, visitabo vos, et suscitabo super vos verbum meum bonum, ut reducam vos ad locum istum.

For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place.

All but seventy years, he tells you, must have run their course before Babylon’s time is up; then I will come to relieve you, and make good the promise of your return.

Ego enim scio cogitationes quas ego cogito super vos, ait Dominus, cogitationes pacis et non afflictionis, ut dem vobis finem et patientiam.

For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience.

I have not lost sight of my plan for you, the Lord says, and it is your welfare I have in mind, not your undoing; for you, too, I have a destiny and a hope.

Et invocabitis me, et ibitis: et orabitis me, et ego exaudiam vos.

And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you.

Cry out to me then, and your suit shall prosper; plead with me, and I will listen;

Quæretis me, et invenietis, cum quæsieritis me in toto corde vestro.

You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.

look for me, and you shall find me, if you will but look for me in good earnest.

Et inveniar a vobis, ait Dominus: et reducam captivitatem vestram, et congregabo vos de universis gentibus et de cunctis locis ad quæ expuli vos, dicit Dominus, et reverti vos faciam de loco ad quem transmigrare vos feci.

And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive.

Find me you shall, the Lord says, and your sentence of exile shall be reversed; the same Lord who scattered them among alien folk and in far countries will bring the exiles home.

Quia dixistis: Suscitavit nobis Dominus prophetas in Babylone:

Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon:

So much for your claim that the Lord has revived the gift of prophecy among you, there in Babylon.

quia hæc dicit Dominus ad regem qui sedet super solium David, et ad omnem populum habitatorem urbis hujus, ad fratres vestros qui non sunt egressi vobiscum in transmigrationem:

For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.

As for the king who now sits on David’s throne, and the citizens who dwell here now, instead of sharing your exile, this is the divine sentence:

hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Ecce mittam in eos gladium, et famem, et pestem: et ponam eos quasi ficus malas, quæ comedi non possunt eo quod pessimæ sint:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.

I mean to plague them, says the Lord of hosts, with sword and famine and pestilence; of no more account will I make them than a basket of foul figs, so foul there is no eating them.

et persequar eos in gladio, et in fame, et in pestilentia: et dabo eos in vexationem universis regnis terræ: in maledictionem, et in stuporem, et in sibilum, et in opprobrium cunctis gentibus ad quas ego ejeci eos,

And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and with the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out:

Sword and famine and pestilence shall follow at their heels; bane they shall be to all the kingdoms of the world, a name to curse by, a thing of wonder and of scorn, a laughing-stock among all the countries I have appointed for their banishment.

eo quod non audierint verba mea, dicit Dominus, quæ misit ad eos per servos meos prophetas, de nocte consurgens et mittens: et non audistis, dicit Dominus.

Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord: which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.

All this, because they would not listen to any word of mine, the Lord says; early to their doors I sent the prophets that were servants of mine, I, your Lord, and could get no hearing.

Vos ergo audite verbum Domini, omnis transmigratio quam emisi de Jerusalem in Babylonem.

Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Listen, then, to the Lord’s decree, men of Jerusalem I have sent into exile at Babylon.

Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël, ad Achab filium Coliæ, et ad Sedeciam filium Maasiæ, qui prophetant vobis in nomine meo mendaciter: Ecce ego tradam eos in manus Nabuchodonosor regis Babylonis, et percutiet eos in oculis vestris:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your eyes.

This doom the Lord has pronounced upon Achab, the son of Colias, and Sedecias the son of Maasias, false prophets both of them, that speak to you as in my name; I mean to hand them over for punishment to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and that punishment you shall witness for yourselves.

et assumetur ex eis maledictio omni transmigrationi Juda quæ est in Babylone, dicentium: Ponat te Dominus sicut Sedeciam et sicut Achab, quos frixit rex Babylonis in igne:

And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias, and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire:

Wherever exiles from Juda are found in the Chaldaean country, this shall be the curse they use: Such doom the Lord give thee as he gave to Sedecias and Achab, that the king of Babylon roasted over a fire!

pro eo quod fecerint stultitiam in Israël, et mœchati sunt in uxores amicorum suorum, et locuti sunt verbum in nomine meo mendaciter, quod non mandavi eis. Ego sum judex et testis, dicit Dominus.

Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord.

This is great shame they have brought on Israel, bedding with their neighbours’ wives, and uttering in my name counterfeit prophecies that had no warrant of mine; of these misdoings I am judge and witness both.

Et ad Semeiam Nehelamiten dices:

And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:

And another message must be given to Semeias of Nehelam

Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Pro eo quod misisti in nomine tuo libros ad omnem populum qui est in Jerusalem, et ad Sophoniam filium Maasiæ sacerdotem, et ad universos sacerdotes, dicens:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests, saying:

from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, about the letter he sent to the citizens left in Jerusalem, and namely to the high priest Sophonias, the son of Maasias, and his fellow priests. This letter ran,

Dominus dedit te sacerdotem pro Jojade sacerdote, ut sis dux in domo Domini, super omnem virum arreptitium et prophetantem, ut mittas eum in nervum et in carcerem:

The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest, that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man that raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison.

If the Lord would have thee follow Joiada in the high priesthood, it was to make thee master of his house, ready with stocks and gaol for any mad fellow that came a-prophesying.

et nunc quare non increpasti Jeremiam Anathothiten, qui prophetat vobis?

And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who prophesieth to you?

Why does Jeremias of Anathoth go unrebuked, and prophesy among you still?

Quia super hoc misit in Babylonem ad nos, dicens: Longum est: ædificate domos, et habitate: et plantate hortos, et comedite fructus eorum.

For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat the fruits of them.

He has written to us here in Babylon for the very purpose of telling us our exile shall be long; we must build ourselves houses to dwell in, we must plant gardens to support us!

Legit ergo Sophonias sacerdos librum istum in auribus Jeremiæ prophetæ.

So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremias the prophet.

This letter was read aloud to Jeremias by the high priest;

Et factum est verbum Domini ad Jeremiam, dicens:

And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

and then it was that the Lord’s word came to Jeremias,

Mitte ad omnem transmigrationem, dicens: Hæc dicit Dominus ad Semeiam Nehelamiten: Pro eo quod prophetavit vobis Semeias, et ego non misi eum, et fecit vos confidere in mendacio,

Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord to Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie:

with a message he must send to the exiles: This doom the Lord utters against Semeias of Nehelam. Would he prophesy in my name, a man that has no warrant from me, and give you confidence in false hopes?

idcirco hæc dicit Dominus: Ecce ego visitabo super Semeiam Nehelamiten, et super semen ejus: non erit ei vir sedens in medio populi hujus, et non videbit bonum quod ego faciam populo meo, ait Dominus, quia prævaricationem locutus est adversus Dominum.

Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against the Lord.

I will call Semeias of Nehelam to account for it, the Lord says, and his children after him. Man of his race there shall be none surviving among this people of mine, the Lord says, to see my bounty bestowed on it. Against me, the Lord, he has used the language of rebellion.