Liber Ieremiae, 3

1. Si dimiserit vir uxorem suam, et recedens ab eo duxerit virum alterum, numquid revertetur ad eam ultra? Numquid non polluta et contaminata est terra illa? Tu autem fornicata es cum amatoribus multis et reverteris ad me?, dicit Dominus.

1. "If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the LORD.

2. Leva oculos tuos ad colles et vide, ubi non prostrata sis. In viis sedebas exspectans eos quasi Arabs in solitudine; et polluisti terram in fornicationibus tuis et in malitia tua.

2. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile harlotry.

3. Quam ob rem prohibitae sunt stillae pluviarum, et serotinus imber non fuit. Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi; noluisti erubescere.

3. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have a harlot's brow, you refuse to be ashamed.

4. Nonne amodo vocas me: “Pater meus, dux adulescentiae meae tu es!

4. Have you not just now called to me, `My father, thou art the friend of my youth --

5. Numquid irascetur in perpetuum aut perseverabit in finem?”. Ecce locuta es et fecisti mala et praevaluisti”.

5. will he be angry for ever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

6. Et dixit Dominus ad me in diebus Iosiae regis: “Numquid vidisti, quae fecerit aversatrix Israel? Abiit sibimet super omnem montem excelsum et sub omni ligno frondoso et fornicata est ibi.

6. The LORD said to me in the days of King Josi'ah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot?

7. Et dixi: “Cum fecerit haec omnia, ad me revertetur”; et non est reversa. Et vidit praevaricatrix soror eius, Iuda;

7. And I thought, `After she has done all this she will return to me'; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it.

8. et vidit quia pro eo quod moechata esset aversatrix Israel, dimisissem eam et dedissem ei libellum repudii, et non timuit praevaricatrix Iuda, soror eius, sed abiit et fornicata est etiam ipsa;

8. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot.

9. et facilitate fornicationis suae contaminavit terram et moechata est cum lapide et ligno.

9. Because harlotry was so light to her, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.

10. Sed in omnibus his non est reversa ad me praevaricatrix soror eius Iuda in toto corde suo sed in mendacio”, ait Dominus.

10. Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the LORD."

11. Et dixit Dominus ad me: “Iustificavit animam suam aversatrix Israel comparatione praevaricatricis Iudae.

11. And the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah.

12. Vade et clama sermones istos contra aquilonem et dices: Revertere, aversatrix Israel, ait Dominus, et non avertam faciem meam a vobis, quia pius ego sum, dicit Dominus, et non irascar in perpetuum.

12. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, `Return, faithless Israel, says the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the LORD; I will not be angry for ever.

13. Verumtamen scito iniquitatem tuam, quia in Dominum Deum tuum praevaricata es et dispersisti vias tuas alienis sub omni ligno frondoso; et vocem meam non audistis, ait Dominus.

13. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.

14. Convertimini, filii, qui aversi estis a me, dicit Dominus, quia ego Dominus vester sum; et assumam vos unum de civitate et duos de cognatione et introducam vos in Sion;

14. Return, O faithless children, says the LORD; for I am your master; 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 iuxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina.

15. "`And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and 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 requiretur, nec fiet ultra.

16. And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again.

17. In tempore illo vocabunt Ierusalem Solium Domini, et congregabuntur ad eam omnes gentes in nomine Domini in Ierusalem; et non ambulabunt ultra post pravitatem cordis sui pessimi.

17. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

18. In diebus illis ibit domus Iudae ad domum Israel, et venient simul de terra aquilonis ad terram, quam dedi in hereditatem patribus vestris.

18. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19. Ego autem dixi: Quomodo ponam te in filiis et tribuam tibi terram desiderabilem, hereditatem praeclarissimam inter gentes? Et dixi: Patrem vocabitis me et post me ingredi non cessabitis.

19. "`I thought how I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beauteous of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.

20. Sed, quomodo contemnit mulier amatorem suum, sic contempsistis me, domus Israel”, dicit Dominus.

20. Surely, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.'"

21. Vox in collibus audita est, ploratus et supplicatio filiorum Israel, quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam, obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.

21. A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.

22. “Convertimini, filii, qui aversi estis a me, et sanabo aversiones vestras”. “Ecce nos venimus ad te; tu enim es Dominus Deus noster.

22. "Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

23. Vere mendaces erant colles et tumultus montium; vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel.

23. Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

24. Confusio comedit laborem patrum nostrorum ab adulescentia nostra, greges eorum et armenta eorum, filios eorum et filias eorum.

24. "But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, 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 adulescentia nostra usque ad hanc diem et non audivimus vocem Domini Dei nostri”.

25. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."