And I said: Hear, O ye princes of Jacob, and ye chiefs of the house of Israel: Is it not your part to know judgment,

Et dixi: Audite, princeps Jacob, et duces domus Israël: numquid non vestrum est scire judicium,

But no, this is my word to you, chieftains of Jacob’s line, rulers of Israel: Who should acclaim justice, if not you?

You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones?

qui odio habetis bonum, et diligitis malum; qui violenter tollitis pelles eorum desuper eis, et carnem eorum desuper ossibus eorum;

Alas, that you should be the foes of right, the friends of wrong! Beasts of prey, that will have skin and flesh both, leave nothing save the bare bone.

Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin from off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle, and as flesh in the midst of the pot.

qui comederunt carnem populi mei, et pellem eorum desuper excoriaverunt, et ossa eorum confregerunt, et conciderunt sicut in lebete, et quasi carnem in medio ollæ?

My people! And you will gnaw flesh of them, tear skin of them, break bones of them; cut them to pieces, meat for your pot, roast for your oven!

Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved wickedly in their devices.

Tunc clamabunt ad Dominum, et non exaudiet eos, et abscondet faciem suam ab eis in tempore illo, sicut nequiter egerunt in adinventionibus suis.

What marvel, if the Lord will not listen to such cry as yours, turns his back on you in your distress, for your ill deserving?

Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him.

Hæc dicit Dominus super prophetas, qui seducunt populum meum: qui mordent dentibus suis, et prædicant pacem; et si quis non dederit in ore eorum quippiam, sanctificant super eum prælium.

And this message the Lord has for prophets that guide my people amiss, prophets that must have their mouths filled ere they will cry, All’s well; sop thou must give them, else thou shalt be their sworn enemy.

Therefore night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness to you instead of divination; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them.

Propterea nox vobis pro visione erit, et tenebræ vobis pro divinatione; et occumbet sol super prophetas, et obtenebrabitur super eos dies.

Visions would you see, all shall be night around you, search you the skies, you shall search in the dark; never a prophet but his sun is set, his day turned into twilight!

And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners shall be confounded: and they shall all cover their faces, because there is no answer of God.

Et confundentur qui vident visiones, et confundentur divini; et operient omnes vultos suos, quia non est responsum Dei.

Seers that see nothing, baffled diviners, acknowledge they, finger on lip, word from God is none.

But yet I am filled with the strength of the spirit of the Lord, with judgment, and power: to declare unto Jacob his wickedness, and to Israel his sin.

Verumtamen ego repletus sum fortitudine spiritus Domini, judicio, et virtute, ut annuntiem Jacob scelus suum, et Israël peccatum suum.

But here stands one that is full of the Lord’s spirit; vigour it lends me, and discernment, and boldness, fault of Jacob to denounce, guilt of Israel to proclaim.

Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: you that abhor judgment, and pervert all that is right.

Audite hoc, principes domus Jacob, et judices domus Israël, qui abominamini judicium, et omnia recta pervertitis:

A word with you, chieftains of Jacob’s line, rulers of Israel, that hold right abominable, and all justice pervert;

You that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

qui ædificatis Sion in sanguinibus, et Jerusalem in iniquitate.

that build up strength of Sion, fortunes of Jerusalem, with deeds of bloodshed and of wrong!

Her princes have judged for bribes,and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.

Principes ejus in muneribus judicabant, et sacerdotes ejus in mercede docebant, et prophetæ ejus in pecunia divinabant: et super Dominum requiescebant, dicentes: Numquid non Dominus in medio nostrum? non venient super nos mala.

Never a judge but has his price; never a priest tradition teaches, but for hire; never a prophet but must have his hand lined with silver! And all the while, how lean they on the Lord! Is not he in their midst (they ask)? How should harm befall them?

Therefore, because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple as the high places of the forests.

Propter hoc, causa vestri, Sion quasi ager arabitur, et Jerusalem quasi acervus lapidum erit, et mons templi in excelsa silvarum.

Trust me, for such guilt as yours I will turn mount Sion into plough-lands; standing heaps of stones that were once Jerusalem, and brushwood of the high forest growing over the Temple hill.