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.
It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.
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.
Lift up thy eyes on high: and see where thou hast not prostituted thyself: Thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications, and with thy wickedness.
3 Quam ob rem prohibitæ sunt stillæ pluviarum, et serotinus imber non fuit: frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere.
Therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward rain: thou hadst a harlot’s forehead, thou wouldst not blush.
4 Ergo saltem amodo voca me: Pater meus, dux virginitatis meæ tu es:
Therefore at least at this time call to me: Thou art my father, the guide of my virginity:
5 Numquid irasceris in perpetuum, aut perseverabis in finem? Ecce locuta es, et fecisti mala, et potuisti.
Wilt thou be angry for ever, or wilt thou continue until the end? Behold, thou hast spoken, and hast done evil things, and hast been able.
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.
And the Lord said to me in the days of king Josias: Hast thou seen what rebellious Israel hast done? she hath gone out of herself upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and hath played the harlot there.
7 Et dixi, cum fecisset hæc omnia: Ad me revertere: et non est reversa. Et vidit prævaricatrix soror eius Iuda,
And when she had done all these things, I said: Return to me, and she did not return. And her treacherous sister Juda saw,
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.
That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away, and had given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.
9 Et facilitate fornicationis suæ contaminavit terram, et mœchata est cum lapide et ligno.
And by the facility of her fornication she defiled the land, and played the harlot with stones and with stocks.
10 Et in omnibus his non est reversa ad me prævaricatrix soror eius Iuda in toto corde suo, sed in mendacio, ait Dominus.
And after all this, her treacherous sister Juda hath not returned to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith the Lord.
11 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Iustificavit animam suam aversatrix Israel, comparatione prævaricatricis Iudæ.
And the Lord said to me: The rebellious Israel hath justified her soul, in comparison of the treacherous Juda.
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.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and thou shalt say: Return, O rebellious Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not turn away my face from you: for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I will not be angry for ever.
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.
But yet acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God: and thou hast scattered thy ways to strangers under every green tree, and hast not heard my voice, saith 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.
Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am your husband: and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a kindred, and will bring you into Sion.
15 Et dabo vobis pastores iuxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina.
And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
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.
And when you shall be multiplied, and increase in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come upon the heart, neither shall they remember it, neither shall it be visited, neither shall that be done any more.
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.
At that time Jerusalem shall be called the thrown of the Lord: and all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of their most wicked heart.
18 In diebus illis ibit domus Iuda ad domum Israel, et venient simul de terra Aquilonis ad terram, quam dedi patribus vestris.
In those days the house of Juda shall go to the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers.
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.
But I said: How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the Gentiles? And I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt cease to walk after me.
20 Sed quomodo si contemnat mulier amatorem suum, sic contempsit me domus Israel, dicit Dominus.
But as a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.
21 Vox in viis audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israel: quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam, obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.
A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Convertimini filii revertentes, et sanabo aversiones vestras. Ecce nos venimus ad te: tu enim es Dominus Deus noster.
Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions. Behold we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God.
23 Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium: vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel.
In very deed the hills were liars. and the multitude of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 Confusio comedit laborem patrum nostrorum ab adolescentia nostra, greges eorum, et armenta eorum, filios eorum, et filias eorum.
Confusion hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their 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 shall sleep in our confusion, and our shame shall cover us, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth even to this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God.
