Jeremiæ 9
1 Quis dabit capiti meo aquam, et oculis meis fontem lacrymarum? et plorabo die ac nocte interfectos filiae populi mei.
If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people!
2 Quis dabit me in solitudine diversorium viatorum, et derelinquam populum meum, et recedam ab eis? quia omnes adulteri sunt, coetus praevaricatorum.
If only I had in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men.
3 Et extenderunt linguam suam quasi arcum mendacii et non veritatis: confortati sunt in terra, quia de malo ad malum egressi sunt, et me non cognoverunt, dicit Dominus.
Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord.
4 Unusquisque se a proximo suo custodiat, et in omni fratre suo non habeat fiduciam: quia omnis frater supplantans supplantabit, et omnis amicus fraudulenter incedet.
Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil.
5 Et vir fratrem suum deridebit, et veritatem non loquentur: docuerunt enim linguam suam loqui mendacium: ut inique agerent, laboraverunt.
Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.
6 Habitatio tua in medio doli: in dolo renuerunt scire me, dicit Dominus.
There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.
7 Propterea haec dicit Dominus exercituum: Ecce ego conflabo, et probabo eos: quid enim aliud faciam a facie filiae populi mei?
So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing.
8 Sagitta vulnerans lingua eorum, dolum locuta est: in ore suo pacem cum amico suo loquitur, et occulte ponit ei insidias.
His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.
9 Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus? aut in gente huiusmodi non ulciscetur anima mea?
Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
10 Super montes assumam fletum ac lamentum, et super speciosa deserti planctum: quoniam incensa sunt, eo quod non sit vir pertransiens: et non audierunt vocem possidentis: a volucre caeli usque ad pecora transmigraverunt et recesserunt.
Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.
11 Et dabo Ierusalem in acervos arenae, et cubilia draconum: et civitates Iuda dabo in desolationem, eo quod non sit habitator.
And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.
12 Quis est vir sapiens, qui intelligat hoc, et ad quem verbum oris Domini fiat ut annunciet istud, quare perierit terra, et exusta sit quasi desertum, eo quod non sit qui pertranseat?
Who is the wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through?
13 Et dixit Dominus: Quia dereliquerunt legem meam, quam dedi eis, et non audierunt vocem meam, et non ambulaverunt in ea:
And the Lord said, Because they have given up my law which I put before them, giving no attention to my voice and not being guided by it;
14 et abierunt post pravitatem cordis sui, et post Baalim: quod didicerunt a patribus suis.
But they have been walking in the pride of their hearts, going after the Baals, as their fathers gave them teaching.
15 Idcirco haec dicit Dominus exercituum Deus Israel: Ecce ego cibabo populum istum absinthio, et potum dabo eis aquam fellis.
So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink.
16 Et dispergam eos in Gentibus, quas non noverunt ipsi et patres eorum: et mittam post eos gladium, donec consumantur.
And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them.
17 Haec dicit Dominus exercituum Deus Israel: Contemplamini, et vocate lamentatrices ut veniant: et ad eas, quae sapientes sunt, mittite, et properent:
This is what the Lord of armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come:
18 festinent, et assumant super nos lamentum: deducant oculi nostri lacrymas, et palpebrae nostrae defluant aquis.
Let them quickly make cries of sorrow for us, so that drops may be flowing from our eyes till they are streaming with water.
19 Quia vox lamentationis audita est de Sion: Quomodo vastati sumus et confusi vehementer? quia dereliquimus terram, quoniam deiecta sunt tabernacula nostra.
For a sound of weeping goes up from Zion, a cry, How has destruction come on us? we are overcome with shame because we have gone away from our land; he has sent us out from our house.
20 Audite ergo mulieres verbum Domini: et assumant aures vestrae sermonem oris eius: et docete filias vestras lamentum: et unaquaeque proximam suam planctum.
But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.
21 quia ascendit mors per fenestras nostras, ingressa est domos nostras, disperdere parvulos deforis, iuvenes de plateis.
For death has come up into our windows, forcing its way into our great houses; cutting off the children in the streets and the young men in the wide places.
22 Loquere: Haec dicit Dominus: Et cadet morticinum hominis quasi stercus super faciem regionis, et quasi foenum post tergum metentis, et non est qui colligat.
The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up.
23 Haec dicit Dominus: Non glorietur sapiens in sapientia sua, et non glorietur fortis in fortitudine sua, et non glorietur dives in divitiis suis:
This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth:
24 sed in hoc glorietur, qui gloriatur, scire et nosse me, quia ego sum Dominus, qui facio misericordiam, et iudicium, et iustitiam in terra: haec enim placent mihi, ait Dominus.
But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.
25 Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus: et visitabo super omnem, qui circumcisum habet praeputium,
See, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on all those who have circumcision in the flesh;
26 super Aegyptum, et super Iuda, et super Edom, et super filios Ammon, et super Moab, et super omnes qui attonsi sunt in comam, habitantes in deserto: quia omnes gentes habent praeputium, omnis autem domus Israel incircumcisi sunt corde.
On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.
