An exhortation both to king and people to return of God. The sentence of God upon Joachaz, Joakim, and Jechonias.

 1 Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,
Haec dicit Dominus : Descende in domum regis Juda, et loqueris ibi verbum hoc,

 2 And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people, who enter in by these gates.
et dices : Audi verbum Domini, rex Juda, qui sedes super solium David : tu et servi tui, et populus tuus, qui ingredimini per portas istas.

 3 Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgment and justice, and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place.
Haec dicit Dominus : Facite judicium et justitiam, et liberate vi oppressum de manu calumniatoris : et advenam, et pupillum, et viduam nolite contristare, neque opprimatis inique, et sanguinem innocentem ne effundatis in loco isto.

 4 For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people.
Si enim facientes feceritis verbum istud, ingredientur per portas domus hujus, reges sedentes de genere David super thronum ejus, et ascendentes currus et equos, ipsi, et servi, et populus eorum.

 5 But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
Quod si non audieritis verba haec : in memetipso juravi, dicit Dominus, quia in solitudinem erit domus haec.

 6 For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable.
Quia haec dicit Dominus super domum regis Juda : Galaad, tu mihi caput Libani, si non posuero te solitudinem, urbes inhabitabiles!

 7 And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.
Et sanctificabo super te, interficientem virum, et arma ejus : et succident electas cedros tuas, et praecipitabunt in ignem.

 8 And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every man to his neighbour: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?
Et pertransibunt gentes multae per civitatem hanc, et dicet unusquisque proximo suo : Quare fecit Dominus sic civitati huic grandi?

 9 And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.
Et respondebunt : Eo quod dereliquerint pactum Domini Dei sui, et adoraverint deos alienos et servierint eis.

 10 Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Nolite flere mortuum, neque lugeatis super eum fletu : plangite eum qui egreditur, quia non revertetur ultra, nec videbit terram nativitatis suae.

 11 For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more:
Quia haec dicit Dominus ad Sellum, filium Josiae, regem Juda, qui regnavit pro Josia patre suo, qui egressus est de loco isto : Non revertetur huc amplius,

 12 But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more.
sed in loco ad quem transtuli eum, ibi morietur, et terram istam non videbit amplius.

 13 Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages.
Vae qui aedificat domum suam in injustitia, et coenacula sua non in judicio : amicum suum opprimet frustra, et mercedem ejus non reddet ei :

 14 Who saith: I will build me a wide house and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion.
qui dicit : Aedificabo mihi domum latam, et coenacula spatiosa : qui aperit sibi fenestras et facit laquearia cedrina, pingitque sinopide.

 15 Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?
Numquid regnabis quoniam confers te cedro? pater tuus numquid non comedit et bibit, et fecit judicium et justitiam tunc cum bene erat ei?

 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?
Judicavit causam pauperis et egeni in bonum suum : numquid non ideo quia cognovit me? dicit Dominus.

 17 But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works.
Tui vero oculi et cor ad avaritiam, et ad sanguinem innocentem fundendum, et ad calumniam, et ad cursum mali operis.

 18 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my Lord, or, Alas, the noble one.
Propterea haec dicit Dominus ad Joakim, filium Josiae, regem Juda : Non plangent eum : Vae, frater! et vae soror! Non concrepabunt ei : Vae domine! et vae inclyte!

 19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
Sepultura asini sepelietur, putrefactus et projectus extra portas Jerusalem.

 20 Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
Ascende Libanum, et clama : et in Basan da vocem tuam, et clama ad transeuntes, quia contriti sunt omnes amatores tui.

 21 I spoke to thee in thy prosperity: and thou saidst: I will not hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice.
Locutus sum ad te in abundantia tua, et dixisti : Non audiam : haec est via tua ab adolescentia tua, quia non audisti vocem meam.

 22 The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness.
Omnes pastores tuos pascet ventus, et amatores tui in captivitatem ibunt : et tunc confunderis, et erubesces ab omni malitia tua.

 23 Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour?
Quae sedes in Libano, et nidificas in cedris, quomodo congemuisti cum venissent tibi dolores, quasi dolores parturientis?

 24 As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, quia si fuerit Jechonias, filius Joakim, regis Juda, annulus in manu dextera mea, inde evellam eum,

 25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
et dabo te in manu quaerentium animam tuam, et in manu quorum tu formidas faciem, et in manu Nabuchodonosor regis Babylonis, et in manu Chaldaeorum :

 26 And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:
et mittam te, et matrem tuam quae genuit te, in terram alienam, in qua nati non estis, ibique moriemini.

 27 And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.
Et in terram ad quam ipsi levant animam suam ut revertantur illuc, non revertentur.

 28 Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
Numquid vas fictile atque contritum vir iste Jechonias? numquid vas absque omni voluptate? Quare abjecti sunt ipse et semen ejus, et projecti in terram quam ignoraverunt?

 29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
Terra, terra, terra, audi sermonem Domini.

 30 Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.
Haec dicit Dominus : Scribe virum istum sterilem, virum qui in diebus suis non prosperabitur : nec enim erit de semine ejus vir qui sedeat super solium David, et potestatem habeat ultra in Juda.