ORATIO JEREMIÆ PROPHETÆ

THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE PROPHET.

Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis; intuere et respice opprobrium nostrum.

Bethink thee, Lord, of our ill case; see where we lie humiliated, and seeing take pity!

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach.

Hæreditas nostra versa est ad alienos, domus nostræ ad extraneos.

New tenants our lands have, our homes foreign masters;

Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.

Pupilli facti sumus absque patre, matres nostræ quasi viduæ.

orphaned sons of widowed mothers were not more defenceless.

We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.

Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus; ligna nostra pretio comparavimus.

Ours to buy the very water we drink, pay a price for every stick of fire-wood;

We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.

Cervicibus nostris minabamur, lassis non dabatur requies.

led hither and thither under the yoke, with no respite given,

We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us.

Ægypto dedimus manum et Assyriis, ut saturaremur pane.

we must make our peace with men of Egypt or Assyria, for a belly-full of bread.

We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.

Patres nostri peccaverunt, et non sunt: et nos iniquitates eorum portavimus.

So must we bear the guilt of our fathers, that sinned and are gone!

Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities.

Servi dominati sunt nostri: non fuit qui redimeret de manu eorum.

Slaves for our masters now, and none to ransom us;

Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.

In animabus nostris afferebamus panem nobis, a facie gladii in deserto.

bread won out in the desert, and at peril of our lives from the sword’s point!

We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.

Pellis nostra quasi clibanus exusta est, a facie tempestatum famis.

What wonder if our skins are burnt dry as an oven, seared by long famine?

Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.

Mulieres in Sion humiliaverunt, et virgines in civitatibus Juda.

Never a woman in Sion, never a maid in all Juda’s cities, but has met with dishonour;

They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities of Juda.

Principes manu suspensi sunt; facies senum non erubuerunt.

merciless hands hurry our princes to the gallows; reverence is none for grey hairs.

The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect the persons of the ancient.

Adolescentibus impudice abusi sunt, et pueri in ligno corruerunt.

Toiling at the mill, the flower of our youth, or staggering under loads of wood;

They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood.

Senes defecerunt de portis, juvenes de choro psallentium.

never an old man left to sit at the gate, or a young man to wake the echoes of the harp;

The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers.

Defecit gaudium cordis nostri; versus est in luctum chorus noster.

gone, all our mirth, all our music drowned in sadness.

The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning.

Cecidit corona capitis nostri: væ nobis, quia peccavimus!

Alas, we are sinners; the wreath has faded from our brows;

The crown is fallen from our head woe to us, because we have sinned.

Propterea mœstum factum est cor nostrum; ideo contenebrati sunt oculi nostri,

there are sad hearts everywhere, and dim eyes.

Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become dim,

propter montem Sion quia disperiit; vulpes ambulaverunt in eo.

What, does not the hill of Sion lie desolate, ravaged by the foxes?

For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon it.

Tu autem, Domine, in æternum permanebis, solium tuum in generationem et generationem.

Lord, thou abidest ever; age after age thy throne endures;

But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to generation.

Quare in perpetuum oblivisceris nostri, derelinques nos in longitudine dierum?

and wilt thou still be forgetful of us, through the long years leave us forsaken?

Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a long time?

Converte nos, Domine, ad te, et convertemur; innova dies nostros, sicut a principio.

Bring us back to thee, Lord, and let us find our home; bring back to us the days of our youth;

Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning.

Sed projiciens repulisti nos: iratus es contra nos vehementer.

wouldst thou altogether abandon us, shall thy indignation know no measure?

But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry with us.