Si reverteris, Israël, ait Dominus, ad me convertere: si abstuleris offendicula tua a facie mea, non commoveberis.

If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return to me: if thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out of my sight, thou shalt not be moved.

Do but retrace thy steps, Israel, and return to me, do but cast away the abominations that offend my sight, and in that mind persist;

Et jurabis: Vivit Dominus in veritate, et in judicio, et in justitia: et benedicent eum gentes, ipsumque laudabunt.

And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgment, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall praise him.

let but thy oath, As the Lord is a living God! be a true oath, in loyal duty uttered; then shall all the nations learn to bless and to praise him.

Hæc enim dicit Dominus viro Juda et Jerusalem: Novate vobis novale, et nolite serere super spinas.

For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns:

And to the men of Juda, to Jerusalem, this is the Lord’s message: Yours to drive a new furrow, nor sow any longer among the briers.

Circumcidimini Domino, et auferte præputia cordium vestrorum, viri Juda, et habitatores Jerusalem: ne forte egrediatur ut ignis indignatio mea, et succendatur, et non sit qui extinguat, propter malitiam cogitationum vestrarum.

Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my indignation come forth like fire, and burn, and there be none that can quench it: because of the wickedness of your thoughts.

You must be circumcised afresh, men of Juda; citizens of Jerusalem, of heart’s defilement rid yourselves, if you would not see my vengeance burst into flame unquenchable, as your scheming malice has deserved.

Annuntiate in Juda, et in Jerusalem auditum facite: loquimini, et canite tuba in terra, clamate fortiter, et dicite: Congregamini, et ingrediamur civitates munitas.

Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud, and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.

News for Juda, news that shall echo through Jerusalem; tell it out, sound the trumpet over the country-side! Loud be the cry raised, for all to muster and to man the fortified cities!

Levate signum in Sion; confortamini, nolite stare: quia malum ego adduco ab aquilone, et contritionem magnam.

Set up the standard in Sion. Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction.

Raise the standard in Sion, and rally to it with all haste! Here is peril I am bringing upon you from the north country, here is great calamity.

Ascendit leo de cubili suo, et prædo gentium se levavit: egressus est de loco suo ut ponat terram tuam in solitudinem: civitates tuæ vastabuntur, remanentes absque habitatore.

The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of nations hath roused himself: he is come forth out of his place, to make thy land desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an inhabitant.

Roused is the lion from his lair; he is astir, ready to prey on the nations; he is marching out to make earth a desert, and thy cities too shall be laid waste, and stand there untenanted.

Super hoc accingite vos ciliciis; plangite, et ululate: quia non est aversa ira furoris Domini a nobis.

For this gird yourselves with haircloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from us.

Well may you gird yourselves with sackcloth, well may you beat the breast and cry aloud; fire of the Lord’s vengeance has not passed us by.

Et erit in die illa, dicit Dominus: peribit cor regis, et cor principum, et obstupescent sacerdotes, et prophetæ consternabuntur.

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord: That the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes: and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed.

When that day comes, the Lord says, heart of king and heart of prince shall be dismayed; dumb-stricken the priest, the prophet unmanned.

Et dixi: Heu! heu! heu! Domine Deus, ergone decepisti populum istum et Jerusalem, dicens: Pax erit vobis: et ecce pervenit gladius usque ad animam?

And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace: and behold the sword reacheth even to the soul?

Alas, alas, Lord God, said I, can it be that thou hast deceived thy people, deceived Jerusalem, by telling them they should have peace, and here is the sword threatening our very lives?

In tempore illo dicetur populo huic et Jerusalem: Ventus urens in viis quæ sunt in deserto viæ filiæ populi mei, non ad ventilandum et ad purgandum.

At that time it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem: A burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse.

When that time comes, verdict shall be passed on this people of mine, and on Jerusalem: My people’s wanton ways are like the hot wind that blows from the desert slopes, that will neither winnow nor sift.

Spiritus plenus ex his veniet mihi, et nunc ego loquar judicia mea cum eis.

A full wind from these places shall come to me: and now I will speak my judgments with them.

And in return, I will summon to my side a wind that blows full, and so I will plead my cause against them.

Ecce quasi nubes ascendet, et quasi tempestas currus ejus: velociores aquilis equi illius. Væ nobis, quoniam vastati sumus.

Behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles: woe unto us, for we are laid waste.

An overshadowing cloud the invader shall be, his chariots outspread like the storm-wrack, his horses swifter than eagles. Alas the day, we are ruined!

Lava a malitia cor tuum, Jerusalem, ut salva fias: usquequo morabuntur in te cogitationes noxiæ?

Wash thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayst be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee?

Now, Jerusalem, as thy life thou lovest, rid thy heart of guile; wilt thou never cease to harbour those false thoughts of thine?

Vox enim annuntiantis a Dan, et notum facientis idolum de monte Ephraim.

For a voice of one declaring from Dan, and giving notice of the idol from mount Ephraim.

Here is news cried from Dan, here are monstrous tidings from the hill-country of Ephraim;

Dicite gentibus: Ecce auditum est in Jerusalem custodes venire de terra longinqua, et dare super civitates Juda vocem suam:

Say ye to the nations: Behold it is heard in Jerusalem, that guards are coming from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Juda.

tell it far and wide, Jerusalem has heard the bruit of her besiegers coming from a distant land, that even now raise their battle-cry among the cities of Juda;

quasi custodes agrorum facti sunt super eam in gyro, quia me ad iracundiam provocavit, dicit Dominus.

They are set round about her, as keepers of fields: because she hath provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord.

even now they keep watch over the country-side about her, the Lord says, and all because she defied my vengeance.

Viæ tuæ et cogitationes tuæ fecerunt hæc tibi: ista malitia tua, quia amara, quia tetigit cor tuum.

Thy ways, and thy devices have brought these things upon thee: this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it hath touched thy heart.

Ill deeds and ill counsel of thine have brought all this upon thee; the due reward of thy wickedness, how bitter the taste of it, how it wrings thy heart!

Ventrem meum, ventrem meum doleo; sensus cordis mei turbati sunt in me. Non tacebo, quoniam vocem buccinæ audivit anima mea, clamorem prælii.

My bowels, my bowels are in pain, the senses of my heart are troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.

Deep, deep rankles the wound; my very heart-strings echo lament; no rest is mine, since my ear caught bray of trumpet and cry of battle.

Contritio super contritionem vocata est, et vastata est omnis terra: repente vastata sunt tabernacula mea; subito pelles meæ.

Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the earth is laid waste: my tents are destroyed on a sudden, and my pavilions in a moment.

Tale upon tale of ruin; a whole land laid waste, no cabin or hovel spared, suddenly, all in a moment!

Usquequo videbo fugientem; audiam vocem buccinæ?

How long shall I see men fleeing away, how long shall I hear the sound of the trumpet?

Always the sight of men fleeing, always the sound of the trumpet in my ears!

Quia stultus populus meus me non cognovit: filii insipientes sunt et vecordes: sapientes sunt ut faciant mala, bene autem facere nescierunt.

For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish and senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Ah, reckless people of mine, that would not acknowledge me; blind fools, for mischief so shrewd, in well-doing so untutored!

Aspexi terram, et ecce vacua erat et nihili; et cælos, et non erat lux in eis.

I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them.

Earthward I looked, and all was void and empty; heavenward, and in heaven no light shone;

Vidi montes, et ecce movebantur: et omnes colles conturbati sunt.

I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled: and all the hills were troubled.

looked at mountain and hill-side, and saw them stir and tremble;

Intuitus sum, et non erat homo: et omne volatile cæli recessit.

I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds of the air were gone.

looked for some sign of man, and in vain; the very birds in heaven had all taken flight.

Aspexi, et ecce Carmelus desertus, et omnes urbes ejus destructæ sunt a facie Domini, et a facie iræ furoris ejus.

I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation.

It was a garden I looked at, but a garden untenanted; no city in it but had perished at the Lord’s glance, before the frown of his vengeance.

Hæc enim dicit Dominus: Deserta erit omnis terra, sed tamen consummationem non faciam.

For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy.

For it was so the Lord’s sentence ran; the whole country-side should be abandoned, and still he will not have taken full toll.

Lugebit terra, et mœrebunt cæli desuper, eo quod locutus sum. Cogitavi, et non pœnituit me, nec aversus sum ab eo.

The earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament from above: because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented, neither am I turned away from it.

At his sentence, earth should mourn and heaven grow dark with sorrow, yet of his decree there should be no repenting; he would not go back from it.

A voce equitis et mittentis sagittam fugit omnis civitas: ingressi sunt ardua, et ascenderunt rupes: universæ urbes derelictæ sunt, et non habitat in eis homo.

At the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is fled away: they have entered into thickets and have climbed up the rocks: all the cities are forsaken, and there dwelleth not a man in them.

Everywhere, at the noise of archer and horseman, the townsfolk flee away, take to the hills and climb their high rocks; never a town but is left deserted of its inhabitants.

Tu autem vastata, quid facies? cum vestieris te coccino, cum ornata fueris monili aureo, et pinxeris stibio oculos tuos, frustra componeris: contempserunt te amatores tui; animam tuam quærent.

But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life.

And thou, Jerusalem, when thy turn comes to be despoiled, what shift wilt thou make? Vain was it to dress in scarlet, and deck thyself with chains of gold, and with antimony darken thy eyes; vain were those arts, thy lovers are weary of thee now, and thy life is forfeit.

Vocem enim quasi parturientis audivi, angustias ut puerperæ: vox filiæ Sion intermorientis, expandentisque manus suas: Væ mihi, quia defecit anima mea propter interfectos!

For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as of a woman in labour of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion, dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted because of them that are slain.

Cries of anguish I hear, as from a woman in the throes of travail; it is queen Sion, gasping out her life, and crying with hands outspread, Woe is me, I swoon away, here in the slaughter-house!