Væ coronæ superbiæ, ebriis Ephraim, et flori decidenti, gloriæ exsultationis ejus, qui erant in vertice vallis pinguissimæ, errantes a vino.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory of his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine.

Out upon the drunken lords of Ephraim, and the city that is their boast, their crown! Quickly shall it fade, this flower, in the pride of its beauty. Careless they dwell at the head of yonder fruitful valley, all besotted with their wine;

Ecce validus et fortis Dominus sicut impetus grandinis; turbo confringens, sicut impetus aquarum multarum inundantium et emissarum super terram spatiosam.

Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious land.

and the Lord will come upon them like a rough, boisterous hail-storm, like a destroying whirlwind, like a swift flood that rises and spreads out over the plain.

Pedibus conculcabitur corona superbiæ ebriorum Ephraim.

The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet.

Trodden under foot it shall lie, the crown that was drunken Ephraim’s boast;

Et erit flos decidens gloriæ exsultationis ejus, qui est super verticem vallis pinguium, quasi temporaneum ante maturitatem autumni, quod, cum aspexerit videns, statim ut manu tenuerit, devorabit illud.

And the fading flower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon as he taketh it in his hand, he will eat it up.

that flower, whose brief bloom once delighted him, shall look down over the fruitful valley no more. Fig ripens to its cost, that ripens ere autumn brings the harvest, no sooner seen than plucked and eaten by the first that passes by!

In die illa erit Dominus exercituum corona gloriæ, et sertum exsultationis residuo populi sui;

In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of his people:

But the Lord has his own people still left him; to these he shall be a crown to boast of, a garland of pride;

et spiritus judicii sedenti super judicium, et fortitudo revertentibus de bello ad portam.

And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.

his the justice inspires them when they sit in judgement; his the courage that rallies them when they fall back, fighting, to the gates.

Verum hi quoque præ vino nescierunt, et præ ebrietate erraverunt; sacerdos et propheta nescierunt præ ebrietate; absorpti sunt a vino, erraverunt in ebrietate, nescierunt videntem, ignoraverunt judicium.

But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment.

What, these too? These too fuddled with wine, bemused with their revelling? High revel they hold, priest and prophet together, till all are fuddled and sodden with wine, their wits bemused; what wonder if the true seer goes unrecognized, if justice is forgotten?

Omnes enim mensæ repletæ sunt vomitu sordiumque, ita ut non esset ultra locus.

For all tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place.

No room is left at their tables for aught but filth and vomit.

Quem docebit scientiam? et quem intelligere faciet auditum? Ablactatos a lacte, avulsos ab uberibus.

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts.

Here is one (they say) has knowledge to impart, has a message to make known, to whom? Does he think we are children new-weaned, fresh from their mothers’ milk?

Quia manda, remanda; manda, remanda; exspecta, reexspecta; exspecta, reexspecta; modicum ibi, modicum ibi.

For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there.

It is ever, Pass the word on, pass the word on, Wait a while yet, wait a while yet, A word with you, here, A word with you, there!

In loquela enim labii, et lingua altera loquetur ad populum istum.

For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people.

Here is stammering speech, here is outlandish talk for our folk to listen to!

Cui dixit: Hæc est requies mea, reficite lassum; et hoc est meum refrigerium: et noluerunt audire.

To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is my refreshing: and they would not hear.

Yet he did but counsel rest and repose; rest none other, repose none other, than to give respite to a weary nation. And listen they would not;

Et erit eis verbum Domini: Manda, remanda; manda, remanda; exspecta, reexspecta; exspecta, reexspecta; modicum ibi, modicum ibi; ut vadant, et cadant retrorsum, et conterantur, et illaqueentur, et capiantur.

And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

to them, the Lord’s message was all Pass the word on, pass the word on, Wait a while yet, wait a while yet, A word with you, here, and a word with you, there! And so they will go on their way, to stumble backwards and break their bones, to fall into a trap and lie there caught.

Propter hoc audite verbum Domini, viri illusores, qui dominamini super populum meum, qui est in Jerusalem.

Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem.

Hear the Lord’s word, then, you mockers, that bear rule over my people in Jerusalem.

Dixistis enim: Percussimus fœdus cum morte, et cum inferno fecimus pactum: flagellum inundans cum transierit, non veniet super nos quia posuimus mendacium spem nostram, et mendacio protecti sumus.

For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.

Did you think to make terms with death, enter into alliance with the grave itself, that the flood of ruin should pass you by, so confident in your vain hopes, so armed with illusion?

Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego mittam in fundamentis Sion lapidem, lapidem probatum, angularem, pretiosum, in fundamento fundatum; qui crediderit, non festinet.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.

A message to you, then, from the Lord God, See, I am laying a stone in the foundations of Sion that has been tested and found true, a corner-stone, a stone of worth, built into the foundations themselves. Hurry to and fro who will; faith knows better.

Et ponam in pondere judicium, et justitiam in mensura; et subvertet grando spem mendacii, et protectionem aquæ inundabunt.

And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its protection.

You shall have justice dealt out to you by weight, your sentence shall be strictly measured; shattered, the vain hopes, as by a storm of hail, buried the illusion as by a deluge.

Et delebitur fœdus vestrum cum morte, et pactum vestrum cum inferno non stabit: flagellum inundans cum transierit, eritis ei in conculcationem.

And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it.

Hold they shall not, your terms with death, your compact with the grave; when the flood of ruin sweeps past, it shall leave you prostrate.

Quandocumque pertransierit, tollet vos, quoniam in mane diluculo pertransibit in die et in nocte; et tantummodo sola vexatio intellectum dabit auditui.

Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.

It will carry you away as it passes; pass it will, suddenly, in the space of a day and a night, and the very alarm of it will make you understand the revelation at last.

Coangustatum est enim stratum, ita ut alter decidat; et pallium breve utrumque operire non potest.

For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both.

Too narrow a bed, and one or the other must fall out; a short cloak is no covering for two.

Sicut enim in monte divisionum stabit Dominus; sicut in valle quæ est in Gabaon irascetur, ut faciat opus suum, alienum opus ejus: ut operetur opus suum, peregrinum est opus ejus ab eo.

For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him.

Who stands there? None other than the Lord himself, as he stood once on the mountain of Disruption, vengeful still, as when he stood in the valley at Gabaon; but now, his own purpose to achieve, he lends himself to the purpose of another, now his will is, to let the alien have his will.

Et nunc nolite illudere, ne forte constringantur vincula vestra; consummationem enim et abbreviationem audivi a Domino Deo exercituum, super universam terram.

And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.

Mock, then, no more, if you would not see your chains riveted tighter; the Lord God of hosts is my witness, he means to make a short and sharp reckoning with the whole earth.

Auribus percipite, et audite vocem meam: attendite, et audite eloquium meum.

Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.

Listen now, and give me a hearing, mark well the message I bring.

Numquid tota die arabit arans ut serat? proscindet et sarriet humum suam?

Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and harrow his ground?

Plough the farmer must, ere he sow, but will he be ever ploughing? For hoe and harrow is there no rest?

Nonne cum adæquaverit faciem ejus, seret gith et cyminum sparget? et ponet triticum per ordinem, et hordeum, et milium, et viciam in finibus suis?

Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and millet, and vetches in their bounds?

Nay, he will level it anon, plant fennel, sow cummin, with a border of wheat or barley, millet or vetch;

Et erudiet illum in judicio; Deus suus docebit illum.

For he will instruct him in judgment: his God will teach him.

such lore he has learned, such prudence his God has given him.

Non enim in serris triturabitur gith, nec rota plaustri super cyminum circuibit; sed in virga excutietur gith, et cyminum in baculo.

For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a staff.

What, shall sledge crush the fennel seed, threshing-wheel pass to and fro over the cummin? A switch for the fennel, a rod for the cummin, and they shall be beaten enough.

Panis autem comminuetur; verum non in perpetuum triturans triturabit illum, neque vexabit eum rota plaustri, neque ungulis suis comminuet eum.

But bread corn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it with its teeth.

Thrashed the corn must be, sure enough, yet not for ever does the wheel harry it, do the spikes wear it down.

Et hoc a Domino Deo exercituum exivit, ut mirabile faceret consilium, et magnificaret justitiam.

This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.

This lesson, too, the Lord would teach us; learn we how wonderful are his designs, how high above us his dealings.