< Jeremias 38 >

1 At that time, says the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.
Audivit autem Saphatias filius Mathan, et Gedelias filius Phassur, et Iuchal filius Selemiæ, et Phassur filius Melchiæ, sermones, quos Ieremias loquebatur ad omnem populum, dicens:
2 Thus says the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go you and destroy not Israel.
Hæc dicit Dominus: Quicumque manserit in civitate hac, morietur gladio, et fame, et peste: qui autem profugerit ad Chaldæos, vivet, et erit anima eius sospes et vivens.
3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, [saying], I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn you in compassion.
Hæc dicit Dominus: Tradendo tradetur civitas hæc in manu exercitus regis Babylonis, et capiet eam.
4 For I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall yet take your timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.
Et dixerunt principes regi: Rogamus ut occidatur homo iste: de industria enim dissolvit manus virorum bellantium, qui remanserunt in civitate hac, et manus universi populi, loquens ad eos iuxta verba hæc: siquidem homo iste non quærit pacem populo huic, sed malum.
5 For you have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant you, and praise.
Et dixit rex Sedecias: Ecce ipse in manibus vestris est: nec enim fas est regem vobis quidquam negare.
6 For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, [saying], Arise you, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.
Tulerunt ergo Ieremiam, et proiecerunt eum in lacum Melchiæ filii Amelech, qui erat in vestibulo carceris: et submiserunt Ieremiam funibus in lacum, in quo non erat aqua, sed lutum: descendit itaque Ieremias in cœnum.
7 For thus says the Lord to Jacob; Rejoice you, and exult over the head of the nations: make proclamation, and praise you: say, The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.
Audivit autem Abdemelech Æthiops vir eunuchus, qui erat in domo regis quod misissent Ieremiam in lacum: porro rex sedebat in porta Beniamin.
8 Behold, I bring them from the north, and will gather them from the end of the earth to the feast of the passover: and [the people] shall beget a great multitude, and they shall return hither.
Et egressus est Abdemelech de domo regis, et locutus est ad regem, dicens:
9 They went forth with weeping, and I will bring them back with consolation, causing them to lodge by the channels of waters in a straight way, and they shall not err in it: for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Domine mi rex, male fecerunt viri isti omnia quæcumque perpetrarunt contra Ieremiam prophetam, mittentes eum in lacum ut moriatur ibi fame, non sunt enim panes ultra in civitate.
10 Hear the words of the Lord, you nations, and proclaim [them] to the islands afar off; say, He that scattered Israel will also gather him, and keep him as one that feeds his flock.
Præcepit itaque rex Abdemelech Æthiopi, dicens: Tolle tecum hinc triginta viros, et leva Ieremiam prophetam de lacu antequam moriatur.
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them [that were] stronger than he.
Assumptis ergo Abdemelech secum viris, ingressus est domum regis, quæ erat sub cellario: et tulit inde veteres pannos et antiqua, quæ computruerant, et submisit ea ad Ieremiam in lacum per funiculos.
12 And they shall come, and shall rejoice in the mount of Sion, and shall come to the good things of the Lord, [even] to a land of corn, and wine, and fruits, and cattle, and sheep: and their soul shall be as a fruitful tree; and they shall hunger no more.
Dixitque Abdemelech Æthiops ad Ieremiam: Pone veteres pannos, et hæc scissa et putrida sub cubito manuum tuarum: et super funes: fecit ergo Ieremias sic:
13 Then shall the virgins rejoice in the assembly of youth, and the old men shall rejoice; and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will make them merry.
Et extraxerunt Ieremiam funibus, et eduxerunt eum de lacu: mansit autem Ieremias in vestibulo carceris.
14 I will expand and cheer with wine the soul of the priests the sons of Levi, and my people shall be satisfied with my good things: thus says the Lord.
Et misit rex Sedecias, et tulit ad se Ieremiam prophetam ad ostium tertium, quod erat in domo Domini: et dixit rex ad Ieremiam: Interrogo ego te sermonem, ne abscondas a me aliquid.
15 A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing; Rachel would not cease weeping for her children, because they are not.
Dixit autem Ieremias ad Sedeciam: Si annunciavero tibi, numquid non interficies me? et si consilium dedero tibi, non me audies.
16 Thus says the Lord; Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from your tears: for their is a reward for your works; and they shall return from the land of [your] enemies.
Iuravit ergo rex Sedecias Ieremiæ clam, dicens: Vivit Dominus, qui fecit nobis animam hanc, si occidero te, et si tradidero te in manus virorum istorum, qui quærunt animam tuam.
17 [There shall be] an dwelling [home] for your children.
Et dixit Ieremias ad Sedeciam: Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum Deus Israel: Si profectus exieris ad principes regis Babylonis, vivet anima tua, et civitas hæc non succendetur igni: et salvus eris tu, et domus tua.
18 I have heard the sound of Ephraim lamenting, [and saying], You have chastened me, and I was chastened; I as a calf was not [willingly] taught: turn you me, and I shall turn; for you [are] the Lord my God.
Si autem non exieris ad principes regis Babylonis, tradetur civitas hæc in manus Chaldæorum, et succendent eam igni: et tu non effugies de manu eorum.
19 For after my captivity I repented; and after I knew, I groaned for the day of shame, and showed you that I bore reproach from my youth.
Et dixit rex Sedecias ad Ieremiam: Solicitus sum propter Iudæos, qui transfugerunt ad Chaldæos: ne forte tradar in manus eorum, et illudant mihi.
20 Ephraim is a beloved son, a pleasing child to me: for because my words are in him, I will surely remember him: therefore I made haste [to help] him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord.
Respondit autem Ieremias: Non te tradent. audi quæso vocem Domini, quam ego loquor ad te, et bene tibi erit, et vivet anima tua.
21 Prepare yourself, O Sion; execute vengeance; look to your ways: return, O virgin of Israel, by the way by which you went, return mourning to your cities.
Quod si nolueris egredi: iste est sermo, quem ostendit mihi Dominus:
22 How long, O disgraced daughter, will you turn away? for the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.
Ecce omnes mulieres, quæ remanserunt in domo regis Iuda, educentur ad principes regis Babylonis: et ipsæ dicent: Seduxerunt te, et prævaluerunt adversum te viri pacifici tui, demerserunt in cœno, et in lubrico pedes tuos, et recesserunt a te.
23 For thus says the Lord; They shall yet speak this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn his captivity; blessed be the Lord on his righteous holy mountain!
Et omnes uxores tuæ, et filii tui educentur ad Chaldæos: et non effugies manus eorum, sed in manu regis Babylonis capieris: et civitatem hanc comburet igni.
24 And there shall be dwellers in the cities of Juda, and in all his land, together with the husbandman, and [the shepherd] shall go forth with the flock.
Dixit ergo Sedecias ad Ieremiam: Nullus sciat verba hæc, et non morieris.
25 For I have saturated every thirsting soul, and filled every hungry soul.
Si autem audierint principes quia locutus sum tecum, et venerint ad te, et dixerint tibi: Indica nobis quid locutus sis cum rege, ne celes nos, et non te interficiemus: et quid locutus est tecum rex:
26 Therefore I awake, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
Dices ad eos: Prostravi ego preces meas coram rege, ne me reduci iuberet in domum Ionathan, et ibi morerer.
27 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of man, and the seed of beast.
Venerunt ergo omnes principes ad Ieremiam, et interrogaverunt eum: et locutus est eis iuxta omnia verba, quæ præceperat ei rex, et cessaverunt ab eo: nihil enim fuerat auditum.
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I watched over them, to pull down, and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, says the Lord.
Mansit vero Ieremias in vestibulo carceris usque ad diem, quo capta est Ierusalem: et factum est ut caperetur Ierusalem.
29 In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.
30 But every one shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him that eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
32 not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
33 For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
34 And they shall not at all teach every one his [fellow] citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.
35 Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the moon and the stars for a light by night, and [makes] a roaring in the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; the Lord Almighty is his name:
36 if these ordinances cease from before me, says the Lord, then shall the family of Israel cease to be a nation before me forever.
37 Though the sky should be raised to a [greater] height, says the Lord, and though the ground of the earth should be sunk [lower] beneath, yet I will not cast off the family of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done.
38 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.
39 And the measurement of it shall proceed in front of them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it shall be compassed with a circular wall of choice stones.
40 And all the Asaremoth even to Nachal Kedron, as far as the corner of the horse-gate eastward, shall be holiness to the Lord; and it shall not fail any more, and shall not be destroyed for ever.

< Jeremias 38 >