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 divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers— and you would return to Me?”
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 the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Quam ob rem prohibitae sunt stillae pluviarum, et serotinus imber non fuit: frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere.
Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Ergo saltem amodo voca me: Pater meus, dux virginitatis meae tu es:
Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.
5 Numquid irasceris in perpetuum, aut perseverabis in finem? Ecce locuta es, et fecisti mala, et potuisti.
Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.”
6 Et dixit Dominus ad me in diebus Iosiae regis: Numquid vidisti quae fecerit aversatrix Israel? abiit sibimet super omnem montem excelsum, et sub omni ligno frondoso, et fornicata est ibi.
Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there.
7 Et dixi, cum fecisset haec omnia: Ad me revertere: et non est reversa. Et vidit praevaricatrix soror eius Iuda,
I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
8 quia pro eo, quod moechata esset aversatrix Israel, dimisissem eam, et dedissem ei libellum repudii: et non timuit praevaricatrix Iuda soror eius, sed abiit, et fornicata est etiam ipsa.
She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
9 Et facilitate fornicationis suae contaminavit terram, et moechata est cum lapide et ligno.
Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
10 Et in omnibus his non est reversa ad me praevaricatrix soror eius Iuda in toto corde suo, sed in mendacio, ait Dominus.
Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
11 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Iustificavit animam suam aversatrix Israel, comparatione praevaricatricis Iuda.
And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
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, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Verumtamen scito iniquitatem tuam, quia in Dominum Deum tuum praevaricata es: et dispersisti vias tuas alienis sub omni ligno frondoso, et vocem meam non audisti, ait Dominus.
Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’”
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.
“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.
15 Et dabo vobis pastores iuxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina.
Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
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.
“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.
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.
At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
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 Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.
19 Ego autem dixi: Quomodo ponam te in filios, et tribuam tibi terram desiderabilem, hereditatem praeclaram exercituum Gentium? Et dixi: Patrem vocabis me, et post me ingredi non cessabis.
Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.
20 Sed quomodo si contemnat mulier amatorem suum, sic contempsit me domus Israel, dicit Dominus.
But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”
21 Vox in viis audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israel: quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam, obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.
A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.
22 Convertimini filii revertentes, et sanabo aversiones vestras. Ecce nos venimus ad te: tu enim es Dominus Deus noster.
“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
23 Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium: vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel.
Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
24 Confusio comedit laborem patrum nostrorum ab adolescentia nostra, greges eorum, et armenta eorum, filios eorum, et filias eorum.
From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for— their flocks and herds, their sons and 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.
Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
