Jeremiæ 3
1 Vulgo dicitur: Si dimiserit vir uxorem suam, et recedens ab eo, duxerit virum alterum: numquid revertetur ad eam ultra? numquid non polluta, et contaminata erit mulier illa? tu autem fornicata es cum amatoribus multis: tamen revertere ad me, dicit Dominus, et ego suscipiam te.
If a man put away his wife, and she depart from him, and become another man's, shall she return to him any more at all? shall not that woman be utterly defiled? you you have gone a-whoring with many shepherds, and have returned to me, says the Lord.
2 Leva oculos tuos in directum, et vide ubi non prostrata sis: in viis sedebas, expectans eos quasi latro in solitudine: et polluisti terram in fornicationibus tuis, et in malitiis tuis.
Lift up your eyes [to look] straight forward, and see where you have not been utterly defiled. You have sat for them by the wayside as a deserted crow, and have defiled the land with your fornications and your wickedness.
3 Quam ob rem prohibitæ sunt stillæ pluviarum, et serotinus imber non fuit: frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere.
And you did retain many shepherds for a stumbling block to yourself: you had a whore's face, you did become shameless towards all.
4 Ergo saltem amodo voca me: Pater meus, dux virginitatis meæ tu es:
Hast you not called me as it were a home, and the father and guide of your virgin-time?
5 Numquid irasceris in perpetuum, aut perseverabis in finem? Ecce locuta es, et fecisti mala, et potuisti.
Will [God's anger] continue for ever, or be preserved to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done these bad things, and had power [to do them].
6 Et dixit Dominus ad me in diebus Iosiæ regis: Numquid vidisti quæ fecerit aversatrix Israel? abiit sibimet super omnem montem excelsum, et sub omni ligno frondoso, et fornicata est ibi.
And the Lord said to me in the days of Josias the king, Hast you seen what things the house of Israel has done to me? they have gone on every high mountain, and under every shady tree, and have committed fornication there.
7 Et dixi, cum fecisset hæc omnia: Ad me revertere: et non est reversa. Et vidit prævaricatrix soror eius Iuda,
And I said after she had committed all these acts of fornication, Turn again to me. Yet she returned not. And faithless Juda saw her faithlessness.
8 quia pro eo, quod mœchata esset aversatrix Israel, dimisissem eam, et dedissem ei libellum repudii: et non timuit prævaricatrix Iuda soror eius, sed abiit, et fornicata est etiam ipsa.
And I saw that (for all the sins of which she was convicted, wherein the house of Israel committed adultery, and I put her away, and gave into her hands a bill of divorcement, ) yet faithless Juda feared not, but went and herself also committed fornication.
9 Et facilitate fornicationis suæ contaminavit terram, et mœchata est cum lapide et ligno.
And her fornication was nothing accounted of; and she committed adultery with wood and stone.
10 Et in omnibus his non est reversa ad me prævaricatrix soror eius Iuda in toto corde suo, sed in mendacio, ait Dominus.
And for all these things faithless Juda turned not to me with all her heart, but falsely.
11 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Iustificavit animam suam aversatrix Israel, comparatione prævaricatricis Iudæ.
And the Lord said to me, Israel has justified himself more than faithless Juda.
12 Vade, et clama sermones istos contra Aquilonem, et dices: Revertere aversatrix Israel, ait Dominus, et non avertam faciem meam a vobis: quia sanctus ego sum, dicit Dominus, et non irascar in perpetuum.
Go and read these words towards the north, and you shall say, Return to me, O house of Israel, says the Lord; and I will not set my face against you: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not be angry with you for ever.
13 Verumtamen scito iniquitatem tuam, quia in Dominum Deum tuum prævaricata es: et dispersisti vias tuas alienis sub omni ligno frondoso, et vocem meam non audisti, ait Dominus.
Nevertheless, know your iniquity, that you have sinned against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to strangers under every shady tree, but you did not listen to my voice, says the Lord.
14 Convertimini filii revertentes, dicit Dominus: quia ego vir vester: et assumam vos unum de civitate, et duos de cognatione, et introducam vos in Sion.
Turn, you children that have revolted, says the Lord; for I will rule over you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you in to Sion:
15 Et dabo vobis pastores iuxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina.
and I will give you shepherds after my heart, and they shall certainly tend you with knowledge.
16 Cumque multiplicati fueritis, et creveritis in terra in diebus illis, ait Dominus: non dicent ultra: Arca testamenti Domini: neque ascendet super cor, neque recordabuntur illius: nec visitabitur, nec fiet ultra.
And it shall come to pass that when you are multiplied and increased upon the land, says the Lord, in those days they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel: it shall not come to mind; it shall not be named; neither shall it be visited; nor shall [this] be done any more.
17 In tempore illo vocabunt Ierusalem Solium Domini: et congregabuntur ad eam omnes Gentes in nomine Domini in Ierusalem, et non ambulabunt post pravitatem cordis sui pessimi.
In those days and at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered to it: and they shall not walk any more after the imaginations of their evil heart.
18 In diebus illis ibit domus Iuda ad domum Israel, et venient simul de terra Aquilonis ad terram, quam dedi patribus vestris.
In those days the house of Juda, shall come together to the house of Israel, and they shall come, together, from the land of the north, and from all the countries, to the land, which I caused their fathers to inherit.
19 Ego autem dixi: Quomodo ponam te in filios, et tribuam tibi terram desiderabilem, hereditatem præclaram exercituum Gentium? Et dixi: Patrem vocabis me, et post me ingredi non cessabis.
And I said, So be it, Lord, for [you said] I will set you amongst children, and will give you a choice land, the inheritance of the Almighty God of the Gentiles: and I said, You shall call me Father; and you shall not turn away from me.
20 Sed quomodo si contemnat mulier amatorem suum, sic contempsit me domus Israel, dicit Dominus.
But as a wife acts treacherously against her husband, so has the house of Israel dealt treacherously against me, says the Lord.
21 Vox in viis audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israel: quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam, obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.
A voice from the lips was heard, [even] of weeping and supplication of the children of Israel: for they have dealt unrighteously in their ways, they have forgotten God their Holy One.
22 Convertimini filii revertentes, et sanabo aversiones vestras. Ecce nos venimus ad te: tu enim es Dominus Deus noster.
Turn, you children that are given to turning, and I will heal your bruises. Behold, we will be your servants; for you are the Lord our God.
23 Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium: vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel.
Truly the hills and the strength of the mountains were a lying refuge: but by the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 Confusio comedit laborem patrum nostrorum ab adolescentia nostra, greges eorum, et armenta eorum, filios eorum, et filias eorum.
But shame has consumed the labours of our fathers from our youth; their sheep and their calves, and their sons and their daughters.
25 Dormiemus in confusione nostra, et operiet nos ignominia nostra: quoniam Domino Deo nostro peccavimus nos, et patres nostri ab adolescentia nostra usque ad diem hanc: et non audivimus vocem Domini Dei nostri.
We have lain down in our shame, and our disgrace has covered us: because we and our fathers have sinned before our God, from our youth until this day; and we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God.
