Jeremiæ 5
1 Circuite vias Ierusalem, et aspicite, et considerate, et quaerite in plateis eius, an inveniatis virum facientem iudicium, et quaerentem fidem: et propitius ero ei.
Go quickly through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and get knowledge, and make a search in her wide places if there is a man, if there is one in her who is upright, who keeps faith; and she will have my forgiveness.
2 Quod si etiam Vivit Dominus, dixerint: et hoc falso iurabunt.
And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false.
3 Domine oculi tui respiciunt fidem: percussisti eos, et non doluerunt: attrivisti eos, et renuerunt accipere disciplinam: induraverunt facies suas supra petram, et noluerunt reverti.
O Lord, do not your eyes see good faith? you have given them punishment, but they were not troubled; you have sent destruction on them, but they did not take your teaching to heart: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they would not come back.
4 Ego autem dixi: Forsitan pauperes sunt et stulti, ignorantes viam Domini, iudicium Dei sui.
Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God.
5 Ibo igitur ad optimates, et loquar eis: ipsi enim cognoverunt viam Domini, iudicium Dei sui. et ecce magis hi simul confregerunt iugum, ruperunt vincula.
I will go to the great men and have talk with them; for they have knowledge of the way of the Lord and of the behaviour desired by their God. But as for these, their one purpose is a broken yoke and burst bands.
6 Idcirco percussit eos leo de silva, lupus ad vesperam vastavit eos, pardus vigilans super civitates eorum: omnis, qui egressus fuerit ex eis, capietur: quia multiplicatae sunt praevaricationes eorum, confortatae sunt aversiones eorum.
And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing.
7 Super quo propitius tibi esse potero? filii tui dereliquerunt me, et iurant in his, qui non sunt dii: saturavi eos, et moechati sunt, et in domo meretricis luxuriabantur.
How is it possible for you to have my forgiveness for this? your children have given me up, taking their oaths by those who are no gods: when I had given them food in full measure, they were false to their wives, taking their pleasure in the houses of loose women.
8 Equi amatores, et emissarii facti sunt: Unusquisque ad uxorem proximi sui hinniebat.
They were full of desire, like horses after a meal of grain: everyone went after his neighbour's wife.
9 Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus? et in gente tali non ulciscetur anima mea?
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
10 Ascendite muros eius, et dissipate, consummationem autem nolite facere: auferte propagines eius, quia non sunt Domini.
Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
11 Praevaricatione enim praevaricata est in me domus Israel, et domus Iuda, ait Dominus.
For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord.
12 Negaverunt Dominum, et dixerunt: Non est ipse: neque veniet super nos malum: gladium et famem non videbimus.
They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food:
13 Prophetae fuerunt in ventum locuti, et responsum non fuit in eis: haec ergo evenient illis.
And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; so it will be done to them.
14 Haec dicit Dominus Deus exercituum: Quia locuti estis verbum istud: ecce ego do verba mea in ore tuo in ignem, et populum istum in ligna, et vorabit eos.
For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, has said: Because you have said this, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and they will be burned up by it.
15 Ecce ego adducam super vos gentem de longinquo domus Israel, ait Dominus: gentem robustam, gentem antiquam, gentem, cuius ignorabis linguam, nec intelliges quid loquatur.
See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words.
16 Pharetra eius quasi sepulchrum patens, universi fortes.
Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war.
17 Et comedet segetes tuas, et panem tuum: devorabit filios tuos, et filias tuas: comedet gregem tuum, et armenta tua: comedet vineam tuam et ficum tuam: et conteret urbes munitas tuas, in quibus tu habes fiduciam, gladio.
They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.
18 Verumtamen in diebus illis, ait Dominus, non faciam vos in consummationem.
But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not let your destruction be complete.
19 Quod si dixeritis: Quare fecit nobis Dominus Deus noster haec omnia? dices ad eos: Sicut dereliquistis me, et servistis deo alieno in terra vestra, sic servietis alienis in terra non vestra.
And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours.
20 Annunciate hoc domui Iacob, et auditum facite in Iuda, dicentes:
Say this openly in Jacob and give it out in Judah, saying,
21 Audi popule stulte, qui non habes cor: qui habentes oculos non videtis: et aures, et non auditis.
Give ear now to this, O foolish people without sense; who have eyes but see nothing, and ears without the power of hearing:
22 Me ergo non timebitis, ait Dominus: et a facie mea non dolebitis? Qui posui arenam terminum mari, praeceptum sempiternum, quod non praeteribit: et commovebuntur, et non poterunt: et intumescent fluctus eius, et non transibunt illud:
Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it.
23 populo autem huic factum est cor incredulum et exasperans, recesserunt et abierunt.
But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone.
24 Et non dixerunt in corde suo: Metuamus Dominum Deum nostrum, qui dat nobis pluviam temporaneam et serotinam in tempore suo: plenitudinem annuae messis custodientem nobis.
And they do not say in their hearts, Now let us give worship to our God, who gives the rain, the winter and the spring rain, at the right time; who keeps for us the ordered weeks of the grain-cutting.
25 Iniquitates vestrae declinaverunt haec: et peccata vestra prohibuerunt bonum a vobis:
Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.
26 Quia inventi sunt in populo meo impii insidiantes quasi aucupes, laqueos ponentes, et pedicas ad capiendos viros.
For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it.
27 Sicut decipula plena avibus, sic domus eorum plenae dolo: ideo magnificati sunt et ditati.
As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth.
28 Incrassati sunt et impinguati: et praeterierunt sermones meos pessime. Causam viduae non iudicaverunt, causam pupilli non direxerunt, et iudicium pauperum non iudicaverunt.
They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.
29 Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus? aut super gentem huiuscemodi non ulciscetur anima mea?
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
30 Stupor et mirabilia facta sunt in terra:
A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land;
31 prophetae prophetabant mendacium, et sacerdotes applaudebant manibus suis: et populus meus dilexit talia: quid igitur fiet in novissimo eius?
The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?
