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 goes and marries someone else, could he ever go back to her? Wouldn't the country be made totally unclean by this? But you have done worse by prostituting yourselves with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me? declares 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.
Look up at the bare hilltops. Is there anywhere that you haven't had sex? You sat at the roadside like someone from the desert waiting for your lovers to pass by. You have made the land unclean with your prostitution and evil.
3 Quam ob rem prohibitæ sunt stillæ pluviarum, et serotinus imber non fuit: frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere.
That's why no showers have been sent, and no spring rains have fallen. But you just stare back shamelessly like a prostitute; you refuse to accept you've done anything wrong.
4 Ergo saltem amodo voca me: Pater meus, dux virginitatis meæ tu es:
Didn't you just tell me, “My father, you've been such a close friend to me since I was little.
5 Numquid irasceris in perpetuum, aut perseverabis in finem? Ecce locuta es, et fecisti mala, et potuisti.
You won't be angry with me for a long time, will you? You won't go on being like that forever?” This is what you've said, but you keep on sinning as much as you can.
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.
During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord told me, Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has prostituted herself on every high hill and under every green tree.
7 Et dixi, cum fecisset hæc omnia: Ad me revertere: et non est reversa. Et vidit prævaricatrix soror eius Iuda,
I hoped that after she'd done all this she'd come back to me. But she didn't come back, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw what happened.
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.
She saw that because of everything unfaithful Israel had done on committing adultery, I sent her away, giving her a certificate of divorce. But her unfaithful sister Judah wasn't afraid and prostituted herself too.
9 Et facilitate fornicationis suæ contaminavit terram, et mœchata est cum lapide et ligno.
Israel didn't care about the immorality, as she made herself and the land unclean, committing adultery by worshiping stones and trees.
10 Et in omnibus his non est reversa ad me prævaricatrix soror eius Iuda in toto corde suo, sed in mendacio, ait Dominus.
Despite all this, her unfaithful sister Judah didn't come back to me in sincerity. She only pretended to do so, declares the Lord.
11 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Iustificavit animam suam aversatrix Israel, comparatione prævaricatricis Iudæ.
The Lord told me, Unfaithful Israel showed that she wasn't as guilty as 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.
Now go and announce this message to the north: Come back, unfaithful Israel, declares the Lord. I won't be angry with you anymore, because I am merciful, declares the Lord. I won't be angry forever.
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.
Just admit you did wrong, that you rebelled against the Lord your God. You spread yourself around, committing adultery by worshiping foreign gods under every green tree, refusing to do what I told you, declares 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.
Come back, unfaithful children, declares the Lord, because I am married to you. I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and bring you to Zion.
15 Et dabo vobis pastores iuxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina.
I will give you shepherds who are like me who will feed you wisely and with 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.
At that time as you increase in number in the country, declares the Lord, no one will be talking about the Ark of the Lord's Agreement anymore. People won't need to think about it or remember it or wonder what happened to it; and certainly won't need to make a new one.
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.
When that time comes Jerusalem will be called the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will come together in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. They won't be stubborn or wicked anymore.
18 In diebus illis ibit domus Iuda ad domum Israel, et venient simul de terra Aquilonis ad terram, quam dedi patribus vestris.
At that time the people of Judah will join with the people of Israel, and they will return from the land of the north to the country I gave to your forefathers to own.
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.
I said to myself, I really want you to be my children, and to give you the best country, the most beautiful place of any nation. I hoped you would call me “Father,” and never give up following me.
20 Sed quomodo si contemnat mulier amatorem suum, sic contempsit me domus Israel, dicit Dominus.
But just like a wife might betray her husband, you have betrayed me, people of Israel, declares the Lord.
21 Vox in viis audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israel: quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam, obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.
Voices are crying on bare hilltops—the Israelites weeping and pleading for mercy, because they have gone astray 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.
Come back, unfaithful children, and I will heal your unfaithfulness. “We're here! Yes, we're coming back to you, because you are the Lord our God.”
23 Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium: vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel.
There's no doubt that pagan worship from the hills is pure lies; the idolatry that comes from the mountains is just noise. Israel's salvation is in the Lord our God alone.
24 Confusio comedit laborem patrum nostrorum ab adolescentia nostra, greges eorum, et armenta eorum, filios eorum, et filias eorum.
All our lives pagan idolatry has destroyed what our fathers worked so hard 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.
We should lie down in shame, and have our disgrace bury us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, us and our fathers. From when we were young right up to now we have not obeyed what the Lord our God told us to do.
