6:1 Confortamini, filii Benjamin, in medio Jerusalem : et in Thecua clangite buccina, et super Bethacarem levate vexillum, quia malum visum est ab aquilone, et contritio magna.

6:1 Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction.

6:2 Speciosæ et delicatæ assimilavi filiam Sion.

6:2 I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate woman.

6:3 Ad eam venient pastores et greges eorum ; fixerunt in ea tentoria in circuitu : pascet unusquisque eos qui sub manu sua sunt.

6:3 The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them that are under his hand.

6:4 Sanctificate super eam bellum : consurgite, et ascendamus in meridie : væ nobis, quia declinavit dies ; quia longiores factæ sunt umbræ vesperi !

6:4 Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday: woe unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are grown longer.

6:5 Surgite, et ascendamus in nocte, et dissipemus domus ejus.

6:5 Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses.

6:6 Quia hæc dicit Dominus exercituum : Cædite lignum ejus, et fundite circa Jerusalem aggerem. Hæc est civitas visitationis : omnis calumnia in medio ejus.

6:6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a trench about Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her.

6:7 Sicut frigidam fecit cisterna aquam suam, sic frigidam fecit malitiam suam. Iniquitas et vastitas audietur in ea, coram me semper infirmitas et plaga.

6:7 As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold: violence and spoil shall be heard in her, infirmity and stripes are continually before me.

6:8 Erudire, Jerusalem, ne forte recedat anima mea a te ; ne forte ponam te desertam, terram inhabitabilem.

6:8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited.

6:9 Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum : Usque ad racemum colligent quasi in vinea reliquias Israël. Converte manum tuam quasi vindemiator ad cartallum.

6:9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a grapegatherer into the basket.

6:10 Cui loquar, et quem contestabor ut audiat ? ecce incircumcisæ aures eorum, et audire non possunt : ecce verbum Domini factum est eis in opprobrium, et non suscipient illud.

6:10 To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear: behold the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and they will not receive it.

6:11 Idcirco furore Domini plenus sum ; laboravi sustinens. Effunde super parvulum foris, et super consilium juvenum simul : vir enim cum muliere capietur ; senex cum pleno dierum.

6:11 Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the child abroad, and upon the council of the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient and he that is full of days.

6:12 Et transibunt domus eorum ad alteros, agri et uxores pariter, quia extendam manum meam super habitantes terram, dicit Dominus :

6:12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands and their wives together: for I will stretch forth my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.

6:13 a minore quippe usque ad majorem omnes avaritiæ student, et a propheta usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt dolum.

6:13 For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit.

6:14 Et curabant contritionem filiæ populi mei cum ignominia, dicentes : Pax, pax ! et non erat pax.

6:14 And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace.

6:15 Confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt : quin potius confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Quam ob rem cadent inter ruentes : in tempore visitationis suæ corruent, dicit Dominus.

6:15 They were confounded, because they committed abomination: yea, rather they were not confounded with confusion, and they knew not how to blush: wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord.

6:16 Hæc dicit Dominus : State super vias, et videte, et interrogate de semitis antiquis quæ sit via bona, et ambulate in ea : et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris. Et dixerunt : Non ambulabimus.

6:16 Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: We will not walk.

6:17 Et constitui super vos speculatores : Audite vocem tubæ. Et dixerunt : Non audiemus.

6:17 And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.

6:18 Ideo audite, gentes, et cognosce, congregatio, quanta ego faciam eis.

6:18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great things I will do to them.

6:19 Audi, terra : ecce ego adducam mala super populum istum, fructum cogitationum ejus : quia verba mea non audierunt, et legem meam projecerunt.

6:19 Hear, O earth: Behold I will bring evils upon this people, the fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words, and they have cast away my law.

6:20 Ut quid mihi thus de Saba affertis, et calamum suave olentem de terra longinqua ? Holocautomata vestra non sunt accepta, et victimæ vestræ non placuerunt mihi.

6:20 To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the sweet smelling cane from a far country? your holocausts are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.

6:21 Propterea hæc dicit Dominus : Ecce ego dabo in populum istum ruinas : et ruent in eis patres et filii simul ; vicinus et proximus peribunt.

6:21 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring destruction upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall, neighbour and kinsman shall perish.

6:22 Hæc dicit Dominus : Ecce populus venit de terra aquilonis, et gens magna consurget a finibus terræ.

6:22 Thus saith the Lord: Behold a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth.

6:23 Sagittam et scutum arripiet : crudelis est et non miserebitur. Vox ejus quasi mare sonabit : et super equos ascendent, præparati quasi vir ad prælium adversum te, filia Sion.

6:23 They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall mount upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of Sion.

6:24 Audivimus famam ejus ; dissolutæ sunt manus nostræ : tribulatio apprehendit nos, dolores ut parturientem.

6:24 We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labour.

6:25 Nolite exire ad agros, et in via ne ambuletis, quoniam gladius inimici, pavor in circuitu.

6:25 Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword of the enemy, and fear is on every side.

6:26 Filia populi mei, accingere cilicio, et conspergere cinere : luctum unigeniti fac tibi, planctum amarum, quia repente veniet vastator super nos.

6:26 Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

6:27 Probatorem dedi te in populo meo robustum : et scies, et probabis viam eorum.

6:27 I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou shalt know, and prove their way.

6:28 Omnes isti principes declinantes, ambulantes fraudulenter, æs et ferrum : universi corrupti sunt.

6:28 All these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they are brass and iron: they are all corrupted.

6:29 Defecit sufflatorium ; in igne consumptum est plumbum : frustra conflavit conflator, malitiæ enim eorum non sunt consumptæ.

6:29 The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed.

6:30 Argentum reprobum vocate eos, quia Dominus projecit illos.

6:30 Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.