Diligite justitiam, qui judicatis terram. Sentite de Domino in bonitate, et in simplicitate cordis quærite illum:

Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth. Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart.

Listen, all you who are judges here on earth. Learn to love justice; learn to think high thoughts of what God is, and with sincere hearts aspire to him.

quoniam invenitur ab his qui non tentant illum, apparet autem eis qui fidem habent in illum.

For he is found by them that tempt him not: and he sheweth himself to them that have faith in him.

Trust him thou must, if find him thou wouldst; he does not reveal himself to one that challenges his power.

Perversæ enim cogitationes separant a Deo; probata autem virtus corripit insipientes.

For perverse thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise:

Man’s truant thoughts may keep God at a distance, but when the test of strength comes, folly is shewn in its true colours;

Quoniam in malevolam animam non introibit sapientia, nec habitabit in corpore subdito peccatis.

For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.

never yet did wisdom find her way into the schemer’s heart, never yet made her home in a life mortgaged to sin.

Spiritus enim sanctus disciplinæ effugiet fictum, et auferet se a cogitationibus quæ sunt sine intellectu, et corripietur a superveniente iniquitate.

For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding, and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in.

A holy thing it is, the spirit that brings instruction; how it shrinks away from the touch of falsehood, holds aloof from every rash design! It is a touchstone, to betray the neighbourhood of wrong-doing.

Benignus est enim spiritus sapientiæ, et non liberabit maledicum a labiis suis: quoniam renum illius testis est Deus, et cordis illius scrutator est verus, et linguæ ejus auditor.

For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit the evil speaker from his lips: for God is witness of his reins, and he is a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.

A good friend to man is this spirit of wisdom, that convicts the blasphemer of his wild words; God can witness his secret thoughts, can read his heart unerringly, and shall his utterance go unheard?

Quoniam spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum, et hoc quod continet omnia, scientiam habet vocis.

For the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that, which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice.

No, the spirit of the Lord fills the whole world; bond that holds all things in being, it takes cognisance of every sound we utter;

Propter hoc qui loquitur iniqua non potest latere, nec præteriet illum corripiens judicium.

Therefore he that speaketh unjust things cannot be hid, neither shall the chastising judgment pass him by.

how should ill speech go unmarked, or the scrutiny of justice pass it by?

In cogitationibus enim impii interrogatio erit; sermonum autem illius auditio ad Deum veniet, ad correptionem iniquitatum illius.

For inquisition shall be made into the thoughts of the ungodly; and the hearing of his words shall come to God, to the chastising of his iniquities.

The hidden counsel of the godless will all come to light; no word of it but reaches the divine hearing, and betrays their wicked design;

Quoniam auris zeli audit omnia, et tumultus murmurationum non abscondetur.

For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of murmuring shall not be hid.

that jealous ear is still listening, and all their busy murmuring shall stand revealed.

Custodite ergo vos a murmuratione quæ nihil prodest, et a detractione parcite linguæ: quoniam sermo obscurus in vacuum non ibit, os autem quod mentitur occidit animam.

Keep yourselves therefore from murmuring, which profiteth nothing, and refrain your tongue from detraction, for an obscure speech shall not go for nought: and the mouth that belieth, killeth the soul.

Beware, then, of whispering, and to ill purpose; ever let your tongues refrain from calumny. Think not that the secret word goes for nought; lying lips were ever the soul’s destroying.

Nolite zelare mortem in errore vitæ vestræ, neque acquiratis perditionem in operibus manuum vestrarum.

Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands.

Death for its goal, is not life’s aim missed? Labours he well, that labours to bring doom about his ears?

Quoniam Deus mortem non fecit, nec lætatur in perditione vivorum.

For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.

Death was never of God’s fashioning; not for his pleasure does life cease to be;

Creavit enim ut essent omnia, et sanabiles fecit nationes orbis terrarum: et non est in illis medicamentum exterminii, nec inferorum regnum in terra.

For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.

what meant his creation, but that all created things should have being? No breed has he created on earth but for its thriving; none carries in itself the seeds of its own destruction. Think not that mortality bears sway on earth;

Justitia enim perpetua est, et immortalis.

For justice is perpetual and immortal.

no end nor term is fixed to a life well lived …

Impii autem manibus et verbis accersierunt illam, et æstimantes illam amicam, defluxerunt; et sponsiones posuerunt ad illam, quoniam digni sunt qui sint ex parte illius.

But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and esteeming it a friend have fallen away, and have made a covenant with it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.

It is the wicked that have brought death on themselves, by word and deed of their own; court death, and melt away in its embrace, keep tryst with it, and lay claim to its partnership.