In illo tempore, ait Dominus, ejicient ossa regum Juda, et ossa principum ejus, et ossa sacerdotum, et ossa prophetarum, et ossa eorum qui habitaverunt Jerusalem, de sepulchris suis:

At that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the kings of Juda, and the bones of the princes thereof, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

All the tombs in Jerusalem will be rifled, the Lord says, when that day comes, tomb of king and prince of Juda’s line, tomb of priest and prophet, tomb of common citizen; naked their bones shall lie,

et expandent ea ad solem, et lunam, et omnem militiam cæli, quæ dilexerunt, et quibus servierunt, et post quæ ambulaverunt, et quæ quæsierunt, et adoraverunt. Non colligentur, et non sepelientur: in sterquilinium super faciem terræ erunt.

And they shall spread them abroad to the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and adored: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth.

with sun and moon and all the starry host to witness it, their gods aforetime; gods so loved, so well served, so hailed, so courted, so adored! Those bones there shall be none to gather, none to bury; they shall lie like dung on the bare ground.

Et eligent magis mortem quam vitam, omnes qui residui fuerint de cognatione hac pessima, in universis locis quæ derelicta sunt, ad quæ ejeci eos, dicit Dominus exercituum.

And death shall be chosen rather than life by all that shall remain of this wicked kindred in all places, which are left, to which I have cast them out, saith the Lord of hosts.

And the living shall envy the dead; so poor a home shall be left, the Lord of hosts says, to the remnant of a guilty race, in the far lands to which I have banished them.

Et dices ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus: Numquid qui cadit non resurget? et qui aversus est non revertetur?

And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?

Give them this message from the Lord: A man falls but to rise, errs but to retrieve his path;

Quare ergo aversus est populus iste in Jerusalem aversione contentiosa? Apprehenderunt mendacium, et noluerunt reverti.

Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting? they have laid hold on lying, and have refused to return.

how is it that this rebellious people of mine at Jerusalem has rebelled so obstinately? They cling to their illusion, and return no more.

Attendi, et auscultavi: nemo quod bonum est loquitur; nullus est qui agat pœnitentiam super peccato suo, dicens: Quid feci? Omnes conversi sunt ad cursum suum, quasi equus impetu vadens ad prælium.

I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle.

Listen I never so attentively, wholesome word I hear none; never a man that repents of his sin, asks himself what his life has been. No, each one follows his own bent, reckless as war-horse charging into battle.

Milvus in cælo cognovit tempus suum: turtur, et hirundo, et ciconia custodierunt tempus adventus sui: populus autem meus non cognovit judicium Domini.

The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord.

Yet the kite, circling in air, knows its time; turtle-dove can guess, and swallow, and stork, when they should return; only for my people the divine appointment passes unobserved.

Quomodo dicitis: Sapientes nos sumus, et lex Domini nobiscum est? vere mendacium operatus est stylus mendax scribarum!

How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Indeed the lying pen of the scribes hath wrought falsehood.

What, still boasting that you are wise, that the Lord’s law finds its home among you? Nay, but the scribes, with their false penmanship, have construed all amiss.

Confusi sunt sapientes; perterriti et capti sunt: verbum enim Domini projecerunt, et sapientia nulla est in eis.

The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them.

In all their wisdom, how disappointed, how bewildered, how entrapped! God’s word they cast away, and wisdom left them.

Propterea dabo mulieres eorum exteris, agros eorum hæredibus, quia a minimo usque ad maximum omnes avaritiam sequuntur: a propheta usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt mendacium.

Therefore will I give their women to strangers, their fields to others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest all deal deceitfully.

Alien lords their wives shall have, alien masters their lands; (high and low, ill-gotten gains they covet; treacherous the ways alike of prophet and of priest;

Et sanabant contritionem filiæ populi mei ad ignominiam, dicentes: Pax, pax! cum non esset pax.

And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: when there was no peace.

here lies my people grievously hurt, and they tend her unconcernedly; All’s well, they say, all’s well, when in truth all goes amiss.

Confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt: quinimmo confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Idcirco cadent inter corruentes: in tempore visitationis suæ corruent, dicit Dominus.

They are confounded, because they have committed abomination: yea rather they are not confounded with confusion, and they have not known how to blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord.

Shamed they needs must be, that did so detestably; shamed, but never ashamed, for indeed they have lost the power to blush; theirs to fall in the common ruin, crushed to earth, the Lord says, when I call all to account).

Congregans congregabo eos, ait Dominus. Non est uva in vitibus, et non sunt ficus in ficulnea: folium defluxit, et dedi eis quæ prætergressa sunt.

Gathering I will gather them together, saith the Lord, there is no grape on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig tree, the leaf is fallen: and I have given them the things that are passed away.

I will make an end of them once for all, the Lord says; never a grape on the vine, or a fig on the fig-tree, every leaf withered; and I have given them … what has passed them by.

Quare sedemus? convenite, et ingrediamur civitatem munitam, et sileamus ibi: quia Dominus Deus noster silere nos fecit, et potum dedit nobis aquam fellis: peccavimus enim Domino.

Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and hath given us water of gall to drink: for we have sinned against the Lord.

Why do we linger here? Muster we, and man the stronghold, and wait there uncomplaining; silence the Lord our God has imposed on us, given us a draught to dull the senses; the Lord, whom our sins have offended.

Exspectavimus pacem, et non erat bonum: tempus medelæ, et ecce formido.

We looked for peace and no good came: for a time of healing, and behold fear.

How we long for better times, and no relief comes to us; for remedy at last, and danger still threatens!

A Dan auditus est fremitus equorum ejus; a voce hinnituum pugnatorum ejus commota est omnis terra: et venerunt, et devoraverunt terram et plenitudinem ejus; urbem et habitatores ejus.

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan, all the land was moved at the sound of the neighing of his warriors: and they came and devoured the land, and all that was in it: the city and its inhabitants.

All the way from Dan the noise of horses reaches us, gallant chargers neighing in their pride, till earth trembles with the echoes of it; on they come, bearing ruin to field and crop, to city and citizen!

Quia ecce ego mittam vobis serpentes regulos, quibus non est incantatio: et mordebunt vos, ait Dominus.

For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

With such a brood of deadly serpents I am plaguing you, the Lord says, charm is none shall rid you of its bite.

Dolor meus super dolorem, in me cor meum mœrens.

My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.

Grief beyond all grief, that bows down my heart within me!

Ecce vox clamoris filiæ populi mei de terra longinqua: Numquid Dominus non est in Sion? aut rex ejus non est in ea? Quare ergo me ad iracundiam concitaverunt in sculptilibus suis, et in vanitatibus alienis?

Behold the voice of the daughter of my people from a far country: Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? why then have they provoked me to wrath with their idols, and strange vanities?

So cries my own people in its distress from a country far away. Does the Lord dwell in Sion no longer? Is she forsaken by her king?And she? What of the idols, what of the alien gods that turned me into her enemy?

Transiit messis, finita est æstas, et nos salvati non sumus.

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Harvest-time is over, summer is gone, and still no deliverance has come to us.

Super contritione filiæ populi mei contritus sum, et contristatus: stupor obtinuit me.

For the affliction of the daughter of my people I am afflicted, and made sorrowful, astonishment hath taken hold on me.

Wounded she lies, my own people, and is not her wound mine? Shall I not go mourning, bewildered by grief?

Numquid resina non est in Galaad? aut medicus non est ibi? quare igitur non est obducta cicatrix filiæ populi mei?

Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there? Why then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?

Grows the balm in Galaad no more, is the healer’s art lost there, that the people I love should lie wounded, and the wound will not close?