Quod factum est verbum Domini ad Jeremiam prophetam contra gentes.

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gentiles,

Here follows the doom which the Lord pronounced to the prophet Jeremias against the nations of the world.

Ad Ægyptum, adversum exercitum Pharaonis Nechao regis Ægypti, qui erat juxta fluvium Euphraten in Charcamis, quem percussit Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis, in quarto anno Joakim filii Josiæ regis Juda.

Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.

And first against Egypt, whose army stood at Charcamis, by the river Euphrates, under its king Pharao Nechao, and there was defeated by Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Joachim’s reign over Juda, that was son to Josias.

Præparate scutum et clypeum, et procedite ad bellum.

Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.

Buckler, there, and shield; march we to battle!

Jungite equos, et ascendite, equites: state in galeis, polite lanceas, induite vos loricis.

Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.

Yoke steed, and, horsemen, mount; stand to your ranks, helmeted; scour lance, and don breastplate!

Quid igitur? vidi ipsos pavidos, et terga vertentes, fortes eorum cæsos: fugerunt conciti, nec respexerunt: terror undique, ait Dominus.

What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back: terror was round about, saith the Lord.

What means it? Here be cowards turning their backs, here be great warriors slain; pell-mell they flee, and never a glance behind; peril is all around, the Lord says.

Non fugiat velox, nec salvari se putet fortis: ad aquilonem juxta flumen Euphraten victi sunt, et ruerunt.

Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river Euphrates.

For the swift no escape, for the strong no prevailing; there in the north, by Euphrates banks, they fail and fall!

Quis est iste, qui quasi flumen ascendit, et veluti fluviorum intumescunt gurgites ejus?

Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers?

Can it be a river that comes up in flood, eddies are these of a foaming torrent?

Ægyptus fluminis instar ascendit, et velut flumina movebuntur fluctus ejus, et dicet: Ascendens operiam terram: perdam civitatem, et habitatores ejus.

Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth: I will destroy the city, and its inhabitants.

Like river in flood, like foaming torrent marches Egypt to battle, threatening to cover earth with its advance, drown city and citizen.

Ascendite equos, et exsultate in curribus, et procedant fortes, Æthiopia et Libyes tenentes scutum, et Lydii arripientes et jacientes sagittas.

Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield, and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows.

Ay, mount horse, dizzily reel the chariot; way there for the warriors, Ethiop and Libyan with their great shields, men of Lydia that ply bow and shoot arrow so well!

Dies autem ille Domini Dei exercituum dies ultionis, ut sumat vindictam de inimicis suis: devorabit gladius, et saturabitur, et inebriabitur sanguine eorum: victima enim Domini Dei exercituum in terra aquilonis juxta flumen Euphraten.

For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by the river Euphrates.

Alas, not yours the day; this day the Lord, the God of hosts, has chosen for his day of vengeance, when he will take toll of his enemies; fed and glutted his sword shall be, drink deep of men’s blood; here, on Euphrates banks, the Lord, the God of hosts, will claim his sacrifice.

Ascende in Galaad, et tolle resinam, virgo filia Ægypti: frustra multiplicas medicamina: sanitas non erit tibi.

Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.

Egypt, poor maid, to Galaad betake thee, to find balm for thy wounds! Salve after salve thou wilt try in vain; there is no healing thee.

Audierunt gentes ignominiam tuam, et ululatus tuus replevit terram: quia fortis impegit in fortem, et ambo pariter conciderunt.

The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and both are fallen together.

Thy shame has come to all men’s ears, earth echoes with thy lament; warrior leaned upon warrior of thine for support, and they fell both together.

Verbum quod locutus est Dominus ad Jeremiam prophetam, super eo quod venturus esset Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis, et percussurus terram Ægypti:

The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:

And thus the Lord prophesied to Jeremias the coming of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, and his victory over Egypt.

Annuntiate Ægypto, et auditum facite in Magdalo, et resonet in Memphis, et in Taphnis: dicite: Sta, et præpara te, quia devorabit gladius ea quæ per circuitum tuum sunt.

Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee.

Here is news for Egypt; cry it in Magdalus, wake the echoes of Memphis, in Taphnis tell it abroad! Stand to arms, make ready for battle; thy border countries have fallen a prey to the sword already!

Quare computruit fortis tuus? non stetit, quoniam Dominus subvertit eum.

Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because the Lord hath overthrown them.

Why have thy warriors melted away? Stand they could not, when the Lord was minded to overthrow them.

Multiplicavit ruentes, ceciditque vir ad proximum suum, et dicent: Surge, et revertamur ad populum nostrum, et ad terram nativitatis nostræ, a facie gladii columbæ.

He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the sword of the dove.

Many he brought to earth; stumbled they, man over his fellow, crying out, Up, to men of our own race return we, to the land of our birth; escape we from the invader’s sword!

Vocate nomen Pharaonis regis Ægypti: tumultum adduxit tempus.

Call ye the name of Pharao king of Egypt, a tumult time hath brought.

What name shall we give to Pharao? Call him, Din of Battle at Last.

Vivo ego, inquit Rex (Dominus exercituum nomen ejus), quoniam sicut Thabor in montibus, et sicut Carmelus in mari, veniet.

As I live, (saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

By his own life he has sworn it, that King whose name is the Lord of hosts; Pharao’s conqueror is on the way, towering high as Thabor among the hills, as Carmel above the sea.

Vasa transmigrationis fac tibi, habitatrix filia Ægypti: quia Memphis in solitudinem erit, et deseretur, et inhabitabilis erit.

Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and uninhabited.

Poor maid of Egypt, an exile’s pack provide thee! A lonely wilderness Memphis shall be, where none may dwell henceforward.

Vitula elegans atque formosa Ægyptus, stimulator ab aquilone veniet ei.

Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.

Fitting emblem of Egypt, a heifer lithe and graceful; from the north a gad-fly shall come to trouble her rest.

Mercenarii quoque ejus, qui versabantur in medio ejus quasi vituli saginati, versi sunt, et fugerunt simul, nec stare potuerunt: quia dies interfectionis eorum venit super eos, tempus visitationis eorum.

Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their visitation.

But those mercenaries of hers that went to and fro like bullocks full-fed, see how they have turned about and taken flight all at once, none ready to stand his ground! The day has come when they are marked down for slaughter; they shall be called to account at last.

Vox ejus quasi æris sonabit: quoniam cum exercitu properabunt, et cum securibus venient ei quasi cædentes ligna.

Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.

Loud her voice shall rise above the clash of bronze, now that the invader’s army draws near, pitiless as woodmen that go a-hewing;

Succiderunt saltum ejus, ait Dominus, qui supputari non potest: multiplicati sunt super locustas, et non est eis numerus.

They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number.

forest is none so deep they shall not lay it bare, numberless as the locust-swarm.

Confusa est filia Ægypti, et tradita in manu populi aquilonis.

The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

Poor Egypt, all shame and confusion, prey of the northern folk!

Dixit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Ecce ego visitabo super tumultum Alexandriæ, et super Pharaonem, et super Ægyptum, et super deos ejus, et super reges ejus, et super Pharaonem, et super eos qui confidunt in eo:

The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt, and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him.

The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has pronounced his doom: I mean to have a reckoning now with Ammon of Thebes, with Pharao and Egypt, with all its gods and all its kings, with Pharao and all who trust in Pharao’s aid!

et dabo eos in manu quærentium animam eorum, et in manu Nabuchodonosor regis Babylonis, et in manu servorum ejus: et post hæc habitabitur sicut diebus pristinis, ait Dominus.

And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.

I mean to give them up into the hands of their mortal enemies, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon and his vassals; then Egypt shall have rest, as Egypt did of old.

Et tu ne timeas, serve meus Jacob, et ne paveas, Israël: quia ecce ego salvum te faciam de longinquo, et semen tuum de terra captivitatis tuæ: et revertetur Jacob, et requiescet, et prosperabitur, et non erit qui exterreat eum.

And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.

Have thou no fear, the Lord says, Jacob, that art my servant still; not for Israel is danger brewing. From that far country of exile I mean to restore thee, restore those children of thine; Jacob shall return, and live at ease, every blessing shall enjoy, and enemies have none to fear.

Et tu noli timere, serve meus Jacob, ait Dominus, quia tecum ego sum: quia ego consumam cunctas gentes ad quas ejeci te, te vero non consumam: sed castigabo te in judicio, nec quasi innocenti parcam tibi.

And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.

For thee no terrors, Jacob that art my servant, the Lord says; am I not at thy side? Of all the lands in which I have dispersed thee I will take full toll, but not of thee; I would but chastise thee with due measures kept, lest I should leave thee altogether acquitted.