In die autem vigesimo quarto mensis hujus, convenerunt filii Israël in jejunio et in saccis, et humus super eos.

And in the four and twentieth day of the month the children of Israel came together with fasting and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.

Then, on the twenty-fourth day of this same month, the men of Israel met together, fasting, and with sackcloth about them, and sprinkled with dust,

Et separatum est semen filiorum Israël ab omni filio alienigena: et steterunt, et confitebantur peccata sua, et iniquitates patrum suorum.

And the seed of the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger: and they stood, and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

and the whole breed of Israel severed itself from all contact with alien folk. They met to confess their sins, and all the guilt their fathers had brought on them.

Et consurrexerunt ad standum: et legerunt in volumine legis Domini Dei sui, quater in die, et quater confitebantur, et adorabant Dominum Deum suum.

And they rose up to stand: and they read in the book of the law of the Lord their God, four times in the day, and four times they confessed, and adored the Lord their God.

The day was divided into four parts; first they would stand in their places, while the terms of the Divine law were read to them, then they would make confession, and offer worship to the Lord their God.

Surrexerunt autem super gradum Levitarum Josue, et Bani, et Cedmihel, Sabania, Bonni, Sarebias, Bani, et Chanani: et clamaverunt voce magna ad Dominum Deum suum.

And there stood up upon the step of the Levites, Josue, and Bani, and Cedmihel, Sabania, Bonni, Sarebias, Bani, and Chanani: and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

It was for the Levites to mount upon the pulpit, Josue, Bani, Cedmihel, Sabania, Bonni, Sarebias (Bani), and Chanani, and cry out in a loud voice to the Lord their God.

Et dixerunt Levitæ Josue, et Cedmihel, Bonni, Hasebnia, Serebia, Odaia, Sebnia, Phathathia: Surgite, benedicite Domino Deo vestro ab æterno usque in æternum: et benedicant nomini gloriæ tuæ excelso in omni benedictione et laude.

And the Levites Josue and Cedmihel, Bonni, Hasebnia, Serebia, Oduia, Sebnia, and Phathahia, said: Arise, bless the Lord your God from eternity to eternity: and blessed be the high name of thy glory with all blessing and praise.

…This was the prayer offered by the Levites, Josue, Cedmihel, Bonni, Hasebnia, Serebia, Odaia, Sebnia and Phathahia. Up, friends, and bless the Lord your God, as blessed he must be from the beginning to the end of time! Blessed be thy glorious name, O Lord, that is beyond all blessing, and all praise!

Tu ipse, Domine, solus, tu fecisti cælum, et cælum cælorum, et omnem exercitum eorum: terram, et universa quæ in ea sunt: maria, et omnia quæ in eis sunt: et tu vivificas omnia hæc, et exercitus cæli te adorat.

Thou thyself, O Lord alone, thou hast made heaven, and the heaven of heavens, and all the host thereof: the earth and all things that are in it: the seas and all that are therein: and thou givest life to all these things, and the host of heaven adoreth thee.

Heaven is of thy fashioning, and the heaven of heavens, and all the hosts that dwell there, earth and sea, and all that earth and sea hold; to all these thou givest the life they have; none so high in heaven but must pay thee worship.

Tu ipse, Domine Deus, qui elegisti Abram, et eduxisti eum de igne Chaldæorum, et posuisti nomen ejus Abraham:

Thou, O Lord God, art he who chosest Abram, and broughtest him forth out of the fire of the Chaldeans, and gavest him the name of Abraham.

It was thou, Lord God, that didst make choice of Abram, and beckon him away from Chaldaea, from the City of Fire. And now thou wouldst call him Abraham;

et invenisti cor ejus fidele coram te, et percussisti cum eo fœdus ut dares ei terram Chananæi, Hethæi, et Amorrhæi, et Pherezæi, et Jebusæi, et Gergesæi, ut dares semini ejus: et implesti verba tua, quoniam justus es.

And thou didst find his heart faithful before thee: and thou madest a covenant with him, to give him the land of the Chanaanite, of the Hethite, and of the Amorrhite, and of the Pherezite, and of the Jebusite, and of the Gergezite, to give it to his seed: and thou hast fulfilled thy words, because thou art just.

a loyal servant thou didst find him, and didst make a covenant with him, promising that his race should inherit the lands of Chanaanite and Hethite, Amorrhite and Pherezite, Jebusite and Gergesite. That promise, in thy faithfulness, thou didst make good.

Et vidisti afflictionem patrum nostrorum in Ægypto, clamoremque eorum audisti super mare Rubrum.

And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt: and thou didst hear their cry by the Red Sea.

Thou hadst an eye for the affliction our fathers suffered in Egypt, an ear for their cry of distress at the Red Sea;

Et dedisti signa atque portenta in Pharaone, et in universis servis ejus, et in omni populo terræ illius: cognovisti enim quia superbe egerant contra eos: et fecisti tibi nomen, sicut et in hac die.

And thou shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharao, and upon all his servants, and upon the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them: and thou madest thyself a name, as it is at this day.

the pride of Pharao and Pharao’s court and all his people had not passed unregarded; there were portents, and marvels, and thy name won renown, as it has won renown this day.

Et mare divisisti ante eos, et transierunt per medium maris in sicco: persecutores autem eorum projecisti in profundum, quasi lapidem in aquas validas.

And thou didst divide the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land: but their persecutors thou threwest into the depth, as a stone into mighty waters.

Thou didst part the waters at their coming, so that they crossed the sea dry-shod, didst hurl their pursuers into the depths of it, so that they sank like a stone beneath the rushing waves.

Et in columna nubis ductor eorum fuisti per diem, et in columna ignis per noctem, ut appareret eis via per quam ingrediebantur.

And in a pillar of a cloud thou wast their leader by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, that they might see the way by which they went.

Thou thyself didst lead thy people on their journey, hidden by day in a pillar of cloud, by night in a pillar of fire, to light the path they must tread.

Ad montem quoque Sinai descendisti, et locutus es cum eis de cælo, et dedisti eis judicia recta, et legem veritatis, cæremonias, et præcepta bona:

Thou camest down also to mount Sinai, and didst speak with them from heaven, and thou gavest them right judgments, and the law of truth, ceremonies, and good precepts.

There, on mount Sinai, thou didst keep tryst with them; thy voice came from heaven to teach them thy just decrees, thy abiding law with all its observances, all its wholesome bidding.

et sabbatum sanctificatum tuum ostendisti eis: et mandata, et cæremonias, et legem præcepisti eis in manu Moysi servi tui.

Thou madest known to them thy holy sabbath, and didst prescribe to them commandments, and ceremonies, and the law by the hand of Moses thy servant.

There thou didst reveal to them how thy sabbath should be kept holy; law and observance and award thou, through Moses, didst hand down to them.

Panem quoque de cælo dedisti eis in fame eorum, et aquam de petra eduxisti eis sitientibus, et dixisti eis ut ingrederentur et possiderent terram, super quam levasti manum tuam ut traderes eis.

And thou gavest them bread from heaven in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst, and thou saidst to them that they should go in, and possess the land, upon which thou hadst lifted up thy hand to give it them.

When they were hungry, thou didst give them bread from heaven; when they were thirsty, thou didst bring water out of the rock; and for the goal of their journey didst beckon them on to take possession of this same land, which thou hadst sworn to give them.

Ipsi vero et patres nostri superbe egerunt, et induraverunt cervices suas, et non audierunt mandata tua.

But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments.

But now our fathers sinned through pride in their turn; spurned the yoke, and would not listen to thy commandments.

Et noluerunt audire, et non sunt recordati mirabilium tuorum quæ feceras eis. Et induraverunt cervices suas, et dederunt caput ut converterentur ad servitutem suam, quasi per contentionem. Tu autem, Deus propitius, clemens, et misericors, longanimis, et multæ miserationis, non dereliquisti eos,

And they would not hear, and they remembered not thy wonders which thou hadst done for them. And they hardened their necks, and gave the head to return to their bondage, as it were by contention. But thou, a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion, didst not forsake them.

No memory of the wondrous protection thou hadst given them could win their obedience; they would spurn the yoke, and take their own defiant path, the path that led back to slavery. But thou, a God so indulgent, so kind, so merciful, so patient, so pitying, wouldst not abandon them;

et quidem cum fecissent sibi vitulum conflatilem, et dixissent: Iste est deus tuus, qui eduxit te de Ægypto: feceruntque blasphemias magnas:

Yea when they had made also to themselves a molten calf, and had said: This is thy God, that brought thee out of Egypt: and had committed great blasphemies:

not even when they made a molten calf, and hailed it very blasphemously as the God that had rescued them from Egypt;

tu autem in misericordiis tuis multis non dimisisti eos in deserto: columna nubis non recessit ab eis per diem ut duceret eos in viam, et columna ignis per noctem ut ostenderet eis iter per quod ingrederentur.

Yet thou, in thy many mercies, didst not leave them in the desert: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, and the pillar of fire by night to shew them the way by which they should go.

still in thy great mercy thou wouldst not cast them off in the desert. Never lacked they by day the pillar of cloud that led them, never by night the pillar of fire that shone upon their path;

Et spiritum tuum bonum dedisti, qui doceret eos: et manna tuum non prohibuisti ab ore eorum, et aquam dedisti eis in siti.

And thou gavest them thy good Spirit to teach them, and thy manna thou didst not withhold from their mouth, and thou gavest them water for their thirst.

still thy gracious spirit gave its warnings, still thou wouldst not refuse manna to feed them, water to quench their thirst.

Quadraginta annis pavisti eos in deserto, nihilque eis defuit: vestimenta eorum non inveteraverunt, et pedes eorum non sunt attriti.

Forty years didst thou feed them in the desert, and nothing was wanting to them: their garments did not grow old, and their feet were not worn.

All those forty years in the desert thou didst feed them, and nothing did they lack; never a garment threadbare, never a foot sore with travel.

Et dedisti eis regna, et populos, et partitus es eis sortes: et possederunt terram Sehon, et terram regis Hesebon, et terram Og regis Basan.

And thou gavest them kingdoms, and nations, and didst divide lots for them: and they possessed the land of Sehon, and the land of the king of Hesebon, and the land of Og king of Basan.

Whole kingdoms, whole nations thou didst subdue before them, to allot them lands of their own; nothing Sehon possessed, that reigned at Hesebon, or Og, that was king in Basan, but should be theirs.

Et multiplicasti filios eorum sicut stellas cæli, et adduxisti eos ad terram de qua dixeras patribus eorum ut ingrederentur et possiderent.

And thou didst multiply their children as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them to the land concerning which thou hadst said to their fathers, that they should go in and possess it.

By now, thou hadst given increase to their race till they were countless as the stars in heaven; it was the fathers thou hadst first bidden to invade the land and take possession of it,

Et venerunt filii, et possederunt terram, et humiliasti coram eis habitatores terræ Chananæos, et dedisti eos in manu eorum, et reges eorum, et populos terræ, ut facerent eis sicut placebant illis.

And the children came and possessed the land, and thou didst humble before them the inhabitants of the land, the Chanaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as it pleased them.

but it was their sons that reached the goal. At their coming, thou didst crush the pride of the Chanaanites that dwelt here, kings and people alike were a prey for the conqueror, left at his mercy.

Ceperunt itaque urbes munitas et humum pinguem, et possederunt domos plenas cunctis bonis: cisternas ab aliis fabricatas, vineas, et oliveta, et ligna pomifera multa: et comederunt, et saturati sunt, et impinguati sunt, et abundaverunt deliciis in bonitate tua magna.

And they took strong cities and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods: cisterns made by others, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: and they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and abounded with delight in thy great goodness.

So it was that our fathers gained cities well fortified, lands well tilled; houses full of all they needed, wells other men had dug for them, vineyard and olive-yard and orchard already planted. Now they might eat their fill, glut their appetites with all the good things thy mercy had bestowed.

Provocaverunt autem te ad iracundiam, et recesserunt a te, et projecerunt legem tuam post terga sua: et prophetas tuos occiderunt, qui contestabantur eos ut reverterentur ad te: feceruntque blasphemias grandes.

But they provoked thee to wrath, and departed from thee, and threw thy law behind their backs: and they killed thy prophets, who admonished them earnestly to return to thee: and they were guilty of great blasphemies.

Then it was they defied thy anger, thy worship forsaken, thy laws forgotten, and slew the prophets that adjured them to come back to thee. And thou, in return for such foul impieties,

Et dedisti eos in manu hostium suorum, et afflixerunt eos. Et in tempore tribulationis suæ clamaverunt ad te, et tu de cælo audisti, et secundum miserationes tuas multas dedisti eis salvatores, qui salvarent eos de manu hostium suorum.

And thou gavest them into the hands of their enemies, and they afflicted them. And in the time of their tribulation they cried to thee, and thou heardest from heaven, and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies thou gavest them saviours, to save them from the hands of their enemies.

didst give their enemies the mastery over them, till they fell into sore distress. But when, in their misery, they cried out to thee, thou, in heaven, didst not refuse them audience; ever thou wouldst send, of thy great mercy, a champion to bring them rescue.

Cumque requievissent, reversi sunt ut facerent malum in conspectu tuo, et dereliquisti eos in manu inimicorum suorum, et possederunt eos. Conversique sunt, et clamaverunt ad te: tu autem de cælo exaudisti, et liberasti eos in misericordiis tuis, multis temporibus.

But after they had rest, they returned to do evil in thy sight: and thou leftest them in the hand of their enemies, and they had dominion over them. Then they returned, and cried to thee: and thou heardest from heaven, and deliveredst them many times in thy mercies.

Still the days of peace saw them defying thy will, until thou must needs put them at their enemies’ mercy; still their repentant cries reached thy hearing, and won them merciful deliverance.

Et contestatus es eos ut reverterentur ad legem tuam. Ipsi vero superbe egerunt, et non audierunt mandata tua, et in judiciis tuis peccaverunt, quæ faciet homo, et vivet in eis: et dederunt humerum recedentem, et cervicem suam induraverunt, nec audierunt.

And thou didst admonish them to return to thy law. But they dealt proudly, and hearkened not to thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them: and they withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

And thou, all the while, wast pleading with them to return to thy allegiance, while they, too proud to heed thy bidding, transgressed the commandments that bring man life; always the unwilling shoulder, the stubborn neck, the deaf ear.

Et protraxisti super eos annos multos, et contestatus es eos in spiritu tuo per manum prophetarum tuorum: et non audierunt, et tradidisti eos in manu populorum terrarum.

And thou didst forbear with them for many years, and didst testify against them by thy spirit by the hand of thy prophets: and they heard not, and thou didst deliver them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Through long years thy patience lasted, and thou wast content to warn them through inspiration given to thy prophets; then at last, when these went unheard, thou didst give thy people up into the hands of the Gentiles.

In misericordiis autem tuis plurimis non fecisti eos in consumptionem, nec dereliquisti eos: quoniam Deus miserationum et clemens es tu.

Yet in thy very many mercies thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them: because thou art a merciful and gracious God.

And even so, in thy clemency, thou wouldst not make an end of us; even now thou hast not abandoned us, so pitying, so merciful a God thou art.

Nunc itaque Deus noster magne, fortis et terribilis, custodiens pactum et misericordiam, ne avertas a facie tua omnem laborem, qui invenit nos, reges nostros, et principes nostros, et sacerdotes nostros, et prophetas nostros, et patres nostros, et omnem populum tuum a diebus regis Assur usque in diem hanc.

Now therefore our God, great, strong and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy, turn not away from thy face all the labour which hath come upon us, upon our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and all the people from the days of the king of Assur, until this day.

To thee, then, we turn, who art our God, to thee, the great, the strong, the terrible God, who dost not forget thy covenant, or the mercy thou hast promised. Do not think scorn of all the misery that has come upon us, king and prince, priest and prophet, in our fathers’ time and since, from the day when the king of Assyria became our enemy.

Et tu justus es in omnibus quæ venerunt super nos: quia veritatem fecisti, nos autem impie egimus.

And thou art just in all things that have come upon us: because thou hast done truth, but we have done wickedly.

The fault was never thine, if all this has overtaken us; thine the faithfulness, ours the unnatural rebellion.

Reges nostri, principes nostri, sacerdotes nostri et patres nostri non fecerunt legem tuam, et non attenderunt mandata tua, et testimonia tua quæ testificatus es in eis.

Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept thy law, and have not minded thy commandments, and thy testimonies which thou hast testified among them.

King and prince and priest together, our fathers have neglected thy law; the decrees thou hadst enjoined, the warning thou gavest, went alike unheeded.

Et ipsi in regnis suis, et in bonitate tua multa quam dederas eis, et in terra latissima et pingui quam tradideras in conspectu eorum, non servierunt tibi, nec reversi sunt a studiis suis pessimis.

And they have not served thee in their kingdoms, and in thy manifold goodness, which thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land, which thou deliveredst before them, nor did they return from their most wicked devices.

The royal majesty, the blessings showered on them, the wide domains thou didst subdue at their onslaught, were not enough to win obedience from them, or recall them from their rebellious ways.

Ecce nos ipsi hodie servi sumus: et terra quam dedisti patribus nostris ut comederent panem ejus, et quæ bona sunt ejus, et nos ipsi servi sumus in ea.

Behold we ourselves this day are bondmen: and the land, which thou gavest our fathers, to eat the bread thereof, and the good things thereof, and we ourselves are servants in it.

Here are we, this day, living as slaves; here are the wide lands, the rich lands thou gavest to our fathers, to till and to enjoy, and we are living on them in slavery.

Et fruges ejus multiplicantur regibus quos posuisti super nos propter peccata nostra: et corporibus nostris dominantur, et jumentis nostris secundum voluntatem suam: et in tribulatione magna sumus.

And the fruits thereof grow up for the kings, whom thou hast set over us for our sins, and they have dominion over our bodies, and over our beasts, according to their will, and we are in great tribulation.

The harvests ripen for alien kings, our masters now in punishment of our guilt; our bodies, our beasts are theirs, to treat as they will, and oppression is all about us.

Super omnibus ergo his nos ipsi percutimus fœdus, et scribimus: et signant principes nostri, Levitæ nostri, et sacerdotes nostri.

And because of all this we ourselves make a covenant, and write it, and our princes, our Levites, and our priests sign it.

In such a plight we turn to thee, binding ourselves by a covenant; that covenant we here record in writing, rulers and Levites and priests have set their names to it.