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 from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again? Would that land not be greatly polluted? You have lived as a prostitute who has many lovers; and would you return to me?—this is Yahweh's declaration.
2 Leva oculos tuos in directum, et vide ubi non prostrata sis. In viis sedebas, exspectans eos quasi latro in solitudine: et polluisti terram in fornicationibus tuis, et in malitiis tuis.
Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and look! Is there any place where you have not had illicit sex? By the roadsides you sat waiting for your lovers, as an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Quam ob rem prohibitæ sunt stillæ pluviarum, et serotinus imber non fuit. Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi; noluisti erubescere.
So the showers have been withheld and the spring rains have not come; yet you have the forehead of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Ergo saltem amodo voca me: Pater meus, dux virginitatis meæ tu es:
Have you not just now called to me: 'My father! My closest friend even from my youth!
5 numquid irasceris in perpetuum, aut perseverabis in finem? ecce locuta es, et fecisti mala, et potuisti.
Will he always be angry? Will he always keep his wrath to the end?' Look! This is what you have said, but you do all the evil you can!”
6 Et dixit Dominus ad me in diebus Josiæ regis: Numquid vidisti quæ fecerit aversatrix Israël? Abiit sibimet super omnem montem excelsum, et sub omni ligno frondoso, et fornicata est ibi.
Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Do you see what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up every high hill and under every leafy tree, and there she has acted like a prostitute.
7 Et dixi, cum fecisset hæc omnia: Ad me revertere: et non est reversa. Et vidit prævaricatrix soror ejus Juda
I said, 'After she does all these things, she will return to me,' but she did not return. Then her faithless sister Judah saw these things.
8 quia pro eo quod mœchata esset aversatrix Israël, dimisissem eam, et dedissem ei libellum repudii: et non timuit prævaricatrix Juda soror ejus, sed abiit, et fornicata est etiam ipsa:
So I saw that, in the same way that faithless Israel had committed adultery and I had sent her away and had given a bill of divorce against her, her faithless sister Judah did not fear; she also went out and acted like a prostitute.
9 et facilitate fornicationis suæ contaminavit terram, et mœchata est cum lapide et ligno:
Her prostitution was nothing to her; she defiled the land, and she committed adultery with stones and trees.
10 et in omnibus his non est reversa ad me prævaricatrix soror ejus Juda in toto corde suo, sed in mendacio, ait Dominus.
Then after all of this, her faithless sister Judah returned to me, not with all her heart, but with a lie—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
11 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Justificavit animam suam aversatrix Israël, comparatione prævaricatricis Judæ.
Then Yahweh said to me, “Faithless Israel has been more righteous than faithless Judah!
12 Vade, et clama sermones istos contra aquilonem, et dices: Revertere, aversatrix Israël, 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 to the north. Say, 'Return, faithless Israel!—this is Yahweh's declaration—I will not always be angry with you. Since I am faithful—this is Yahweh's declaration—I will not stay 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.
Acknowledge your iniquity, for you have transgressed against Yahweh your God; you have shared your ways with strangers under every leafy tree! For you have not listened to my voice!—this is Yahweh's declaration.
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, faithless people!—this is Yawheh's declaration—I am your husband! I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion!
15 Et dabo vobis pastores juxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina.
I will give you shepherds after my heart, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and insight.
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.
Then it will happen that you will increase and bear fruit in the land in those days—this is Yahweh's declaration-they will no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!” This matter will no longer come up in their hearts or be remembered; it will not be missed, and another one will not be made.'
17 In tempore illo vocabunt Jerusalem solium Domini: et congregabuntur ad eam omnes gentes in nomine Domini in Jerusalem, et non ambulabunt post pravitatem cordis sui pessimi.
In that time they will proclaim about Jerusalem, 'This is Yahweh's throne,' and all the other nations will gather at Jerusalem in Yahweh's name. They will no longer walk in the stubbornness of their wicked hearts.
18 In diebus illis ibit domus Juda ad domum Israël, et venient simul de terra aquilonis ad terram quam dedi patribus vestris.
In those days, the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. They will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
19 Ego autem dixi: Quomodo ponam te in filios, et tribuam tibi terram desiderabilem, hæreditatem præclaram exercituum gentium? Et dixi: Patrem vocabis me, et post me ingredi non cessabis.
As for me, I said, 'How I want to treat you as my son and give you a pleasant land, an inheritance more beautiful than what is in any other nation!' I would have said, 'You will call me “my father”.' I would have said that you would not turn from following me.
20 Sed quomodo si contemnat mulier amatorem suum, sic contempsit me domus Israël, dicit Dominus.
But like a woman faithless to her husband, you have betrayed me, house of Israel—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
21 Vox in viis audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israël: quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam; obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.
A voice is heard on the plains, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel! For they have changed their ways; they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
22 Convertimini, filii revertentes, et sanabo aversiones vestras. Ecce nos venimus ad te: tu enim es Dominus Deus noster.
“Return, faithless people! I will heal you of treachery!” “Behold! We will come to you, for you are Yahweh our God!
23 Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium: vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israël.
Surely lies come from the hills, a confusing noise from the mountains; surely Yahweh 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.
Yet shameful idols have consumed what our ancestors have worked for— their flocks and cattle, 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.
Let us lie down in shame. May our shame cover us, for we have sinned against Yahweh our God! We ourselves and our ancestors, from the time of our youthfulness to this present day, have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God!”
