The evils that threaten Jerusalem. She is invited to return, and walk in the good way, and not to rely on sacrifices without obedience.

 1 Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction.
Confortamini, filii Benjamin, in medio Jerusalem : et in Thecua clangite buccina, et super Bethacarem levate vexillum, quia malum visum est ab aquilone, et contritio magna.

 2 I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate woman.
Speciosae et delicatae assimilavi filiam Sion.

 3 The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them that are under his hand.
Ad eam venient pastores et greges eorum, fixerunt in ea tentoria in circuitu, pascet unusquisque eos qui sub manu sua sunt.

 4 Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday: woe unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are grown longer.
Sanctificate super eam bellum : consurgite, et ascendamus in meridie : vae nobis, quia declinavit dies, quia longiores factae sunt umbrae vesperi!

 5 Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses.
Surgite, et ascendamus in nocte, et dissipemus domus ejus.

 6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a trench about Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her.
Quia haec dicit Dominus exercituum : Caedite lignum ejus, et fundite circa Jerusalem aggerem. Haec est civitas visitationis, omnis calumnia in medio ejus.

 7 As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold: violence and spoil shall be heard in her, infirmity and stripes are continually before me.
Sicut frigidam fecit cisterna aquam suam, sic frigidum fecit malitiam suam. Iniquitas et vastitas audietur in ea, coram me semper infirmitas et plaga.

 8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited.
Erudire, Jerusalem, ne forte recedat anima mea a te; ne forte ponam te desertam, terram inhabitabilem.

 9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a grape gatherer into the basket.
Haec dicit Dominus exercituum : Usque ad racemum colligent quasi in vinea reliquias Israel. Converte manum tuam quasi vindemiator ad cartallum.

 10 To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear: behold the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and and they will not receive it.
Cui loquar, et quem contestabor ut audiat? Ecce incircumcisae aures eorum, et audire non possunt : ecce verbum Domini factum est eis in opprobrium, et non suscipient illud.

 11 Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the child abroad, and upon the council of the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient and he that is full of days.
Idcirco furore Domini plenus sum, laboravi sustinens. Effunde super parvulum foris, et super consilium juvenum simul : vir enim cum muliere capietur, senex cum pleno dierum.

 12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands and their wives together: for I will stretch forth my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
Et transibunt domus eorum ad alteros, agri et uxores pariter, quia extendam manum meam super habitantes terram, dicit Dominus :

 13 For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit.
a minore quippe usque ad majorem, omnes avaritiae student, et a propheta usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt dolum.

 14 And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace.
Et curabunt contritionem filiae populi mei cum ignominia, dicentes : Pax, pax! et non erat pax.

 15 They were confounded, because they committed abomination: yea, rather they were not confounded with confusion, and they knew not how to blush: wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord.
Confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt : quin potius confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Quam ob rem cadent inter ruentes : in tempore visitationis suae corruent, dicit Dominus.

 16 Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see and ask for the old paths which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: we will not walk.
Haec dicit Dominus : State super vias, et videte, et interrogate de semitis antiquis quae sit via bona, et ambulate in ea : et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris. Et dixerunt : Non ambulabimus.

 17 And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.
Et constitui super vos speculatores : audite vocem tubae. Et dixerunt : Non audiemus.

 18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great things I will do to them.
Ideo audite, gentes, et cognosce, congregatio, quanta ego faciam eis.

 19 Hear, O earth: Behold I will bring evils upon this people, the fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words, and they have cast away my law.
Audi, terra : ecce ego adducam mala super populum istum, fructum cogitationum ejus, quia verba mea non audierunt, et legem meam projecerunt.

 20 To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the sweet smelling cane from a far country? your holocausts are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
Ut quid mihi thus de Saba affertis, et calamum suave olentem de terra longinqua? Holocautomata vestra non sunt accepta, et victimae vestrae non placuerunt mihi.

 21 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring destruction upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall, neighbour and kinsman shall perish.
Propterea haec dicit Dominus : Ecce ego dabo in populum istum ruinas : et ruent in eis patres et filii simul, vicinus et proximus peribunt.

 22 Thus saith the Lord: Behold a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth.
Haec dicit Dominus : Ecce populus venit de terra aquilonis, et gens magna consurget a finibus terrae.

 23 They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall mount upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of Sion.
Sagittam et scutum arripiet : crudelis est et non miserebitur : vox ejus quasi mare sonabit : et super equos ascendent, praeparati quasi vir ad praelium adversum te, filia Sion.

 24 We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labor.
Audivimus famam ejus, dissolutae sunt manus nostrae : tribulatio apprehendit nos, dolores ut parturientem.

 25 Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword of the enemy, and fear is on every side.
Nolite exire ad agros, et in via ne ambuletis, quoniam gladius inimici, pavor in circuitu.

 26 Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
Filia populi mei, accingere cilicio, et conspergere cinere : luctum unigeniti fac tibi, planctum amarum, quia repente veniet vastator super nos.

 27 I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou shalt know and prove their way.
Probatorem dedi te in populo meo robustum : et scies, et probabis viam eorum.

 28 All of these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they are brass and iron: they are all corrupted.
Omnes isti principes declinantes, ambulantes fraudulenter, aes et ferrum : universi corrupta sunt.

 29 The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed.
Defecit sufflatorium, in igne consumptum est plumbum : frustra conflavit conflator, malitiae enim eorum non sunt consumptae.

 30 Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.
Argentum reprobum vocate eos, quia Dominus projecit illos.