Jeremiæ 6
1 Confortamini filii Beniamin in medio Ierusalem, et in Thecua clangite buccina, et super Bethacarem levate vexillum: quia malum visum est ab Aquilone, et contritio magna.
Run and hide, descendants of Benjamin, get out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa; light a signal fire in Beth-haccherem, for disaster and terrible destruction is arriving from the north.
2 Speciosæ et delicatæ assimilavi filiam Sion.
Even though she is pretty and delightful, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.
3 Ad eam venient pastores, et greges eorum: fixerunt in ea tentoria in circuitu: pascet unusquisque eos, qui sub manu sua sunt.
“Shepherds” and their “flocks” will come to attack her; they will set up their tents all around her, each one looking after his own.
4 Sanctificate super eam bellum: consurgite, et ascendamus in meridie: Væ nobis, quia declinavit dies, quia longiores factæ sunt umbræ vesperi.
They get ready for battle against her, saying, “Come on, we'll attack at noon! Oh no, the day is almost over, the evening shadows are growing long.
5 Surgite, et ascendamus in nocte, et dissipemus domus eius.
Come on, we'll attack at night instead and destroy her fortresses!”
6 Quia hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Cædite lignum eius, et fundite circa Ierusalem aggerem: hæc est civitas visitationis, omnis calumnia in medio eius.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Cut down the trees and make a siege ramp to use against Jerusalem. This city needs to be punished because it's full of people mistreating one another.
7 Sicut frigidam fecit cisterna aquam suam, sic frigidum fecit malitiam suam: iniquitas et vastitas audietur in ea, coram me semper infirmitas et plaga.
Like a spring gushing out water, so she pours out her evil. The sounds of violence and abuse echo inside her. I see people sick and wounded everywhere.
8 Erudire Ierusalem, ne forte recedat anima mea a te, ne forte ponam te desertam terram inhabitabilem.
I'm warning you, people of Jerusalem, I'm going to give up on you in disgust. I will destroy you and leave your country uninhabited.
9 Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Usque ad racemum colligent quasi in vinea reliquias Israel: converte manum tuam quasi vindemiator ad cartallum.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Even those left in Israel will be taken, just as grapes left on a vine are taken by the one harvesting the grapes who checks the branches again.
10 Cui loquar? Et quem contestabor ut audiat? Ecce incircumcisæ aures eorum, et audire non possunt: Ecce verbum Domini factum est eis in opprobrium: et non suscipient illud.
Who can I give this warning to? Who's going to listen to me? Can't you see that they refuse to listen? They can't hear what I'm saying. See how offensive the Lord's message is to them. They don't like it at all.
11 Idcirco furore Domini plenus sum, laboravi sustinens: effunde super parvulum foris, et super consilium iuvenum simul: vir enim cum muliere capietur, senex cum pleno dierum.
But as for me, I'm full of the Lord's anger; I have a hard time keeping it in. The Lord replies, Pour it out on children in the street, and on groups of young people, because both husband and wife are going to be captured—it's everyone, and it doesn't matter how old they are.
12 Et transibunt domus eorum ad alteros, agri et uxores pariter: quia extendam manum meam super habitantes terram, dicit Dominus.
Their houses will be given to others, their fields and wives too, because I'm going to punish everyone living in this country, declares the Lord.
13 A minore quippe usque ad maiorem omnes avaritiæ student: et a propheta usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt dolum.
Everyone cheats because they're greedy, poor and rich alike. Even prophets and priests—they are all dishonest liars!
14 Et curabant contritionem filiæ populi mei cum ignominia, dicentes: Pax, pax: et non erat pax.
They give my wounded people first aid, but they don't really care about them. They tell them, “Don't worry! We have peace!” even as war approaches.
15 Confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt: quin potius confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Quam ob rem cadent inter ruentes: in tempore visitationis suæ corruent, dicit Dominus.
Were they ashamed of the disgusting things they did? No, they weren't ashamed at all, they couldn't even blush. So they will fall just like the others, when I punish them; they will drop down dead, says the Lord.
16 Hæc dicit Dominus: State super vias, et videte, et interrogate de semitis antiquis, quæ sit via bona, et ambulate in ea: et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris. Et dixerunt: Non ambulabimus.
This is what the Lord says: Go and stand where the roads divide, and look. Find out which are the old paths. Ask, “What's the right way?” Then follow it and you'll be content. But you refused, saying, “We won't go that way!”
17 Et constitui super vos speculatores. Audite vocem tubæ. Et dixerunt: Non audiemus.
I put watchmen in charge of you and told you, make sure you listen for the trumpet call warning you of danger. But you answered, “We won't listen!”
18 Ideo audite Gentes, et cognosce congregatio, quanta ego faciam eis.
So now you other nations can listen and find out what's going to happen to them.
19 Audi terra: Ecce ego adducam mala super populum istum, fructum cogitationum eius: quia verba mea non audierunt, et legem meam proiecerunt.
Earth, you listen too! I am bringing disaster down on this people, the end result of what they themselves planned. It's because they paid no attention to what I said, and rejected my instructions.
20 Ut quid mihi thus de Saba affertis, et calamum suave olentem de terra longinqua? Holocautomata vestra non sunt accepta, et victimæ vestræ non placuerunt mihi.
What's the point of offering me frankincense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a far-away land? I don't accept your burnt offerings; I'm not pleased with your sacrifices.
21 Propterea hæc dicit Dominus: Ecce ego dabo in populum istum ruinas, et ruent in eis patres et filii simul, vicinus, et proximus peribunt.
So this is what the Lord says: I'm going to put blocks in front of these people to trip them up. Fathers and sons will fall down dead, friends and neighbors too.
22 Hæc dicit Dominus: Ecce populus venit de terra Aquilonis, et gens magna consurget a finibus terræ.
This is what the Lord says: Look! An army is invading from the north; a powerful nation is getting ready to attack all the way from the ends of the earth.
23 Sagittam et scutum arripiet: crudelis est, et non miserebitur. Vox eius quasi mare sonabit: et super equos ascendent, præparati quasi vir ad prælium, adversum te filia Sion.
They pick up their bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their war-cries are like the sea roaring, and they ride horses lined up ready to attack you, Daughter of Zion.
24 Audivimus famam eius, dissolutæ sunt manus nostræ: tribulatio apprehendit nos, dolores ut parturientem.
The people reply, “We've heard the news, and our hands are limp with shock! We're overcome with agony, suffering pain like a woman in labor.
25 Nolite exire ad agros, et in via ne ambuletis: quoniam gladius inimici pavor in circuitu.
Don't go to the field! Don't walk down the road! The enemy is armed with swords! Terror is everywhere!”
26 Filia populi mei accingere cilicio, et conspergere cinere: luctum unigeniti fac tibi, planctum amarum, quia repente veniet vastator super nos.
Oh my people, put on sackcloth and roll around in ashes. Mourn and cry bitterly like you would for an only son, because the destroyer will come down on you suddenly.
27 Probatorem dedi te in populo meo robustum: et scies, et probabis viam eorum.
Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals so you can test my people as if they were metal, so you can know what they're made of and how they act.
28 Omnes isti principes declinantes, ambulantes fraudulenter, æs et ferrum: universi corrupta sunt.
They're all stubborn rebels going around talking slander. They are hard as bronze and iron; they are all corrupt.
29 Defecit sufflatorium, in igne consumptum est plumbum, frustra conflavit conflator: malitiæ enim eorum non sunt consumptæ.
The bellows in the refiner's furnace blow powerfully, burning away the lead. But this refining is pointless, because the wicked are not purified.
30 Argentum reprobum vocate eos, quia Dominus proiecit illos.
They are identified as impure silver to be rejected, because the Lord has rejected them.
