The prophet laments the miseries of his people: and their sins, which are the cause of them. He exhorts them to repentance.

 1 Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.
Quis dabit capiti meo aquam, et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum, et plorabo die ac nocte interfectos filiae populi mei?

 2 Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors.
Quis dabit me in solitudine diversorium viatorum, et derelinquam populum meum et recedam ab eis? Quia omnes adulterati sunt, coetus praevaricatorum.

 3 And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth, for they have proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith the Lord.
Et extenderunt linguam suam quasi arcum mendacii et non veritatis. Confortati sunt in terra, quia de malo ad malum egressi sunt, et me non cognoverunt, dicit Dominus.

 4 Let every man take heed of his neighbour, and let him not trust in any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully.
Unusquisque se a proximo suo custodiat, et in omni fratre suo non habeat fiduciam : quia omnis frater supplantans supplantabit, et omnis amicus fraudulenter incedet,

 5 And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies: they have laboured to commit iniquity.
et vir fratrem suum deridebit, et veritatem non loquentur : docuerunt enim linguam suam loqui mendacium : ut inique agerent laboraverunt.

 6 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord.
Habitatio tua in medio doli : in dolo renuerunt scire me, dicit Dominus.

 7 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will melt, and try them: for what else shall I do before the daughter of my people?
Propterea haec dicit Dominus exercituum : Ecce ego conflabo, et probabo eos : quid enim aliud faciam a facie filiae populi mei?

 8 Their tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait for him.
Sagitta vulnerans lingua eorum, dolum locuta est. In ore suo pacem cum amico suo loquitur, et occulte ponit ei insidias.

 9 Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation?
Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus, aut in gente hujusmodi non ulciscetur anima mea?

 10 For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts they are gone away and departed.
Super montes assumam fletum ac lamentum, et super speciosa deserti planctum, quoniam incensa sunt, eo quod non sit vir pertransiens, et non audierunt vocem possidentis : a volucre caeli usque ad pecora transmigraverunt et recesserunt.

 11 And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps of sand, and dens of dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an inhabitant.
Et dabo Jerusalem in acervos arenae, et cubilia draconum : et civitates Juda dabo in desolationem, eo quod non sit habitator.

 12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why the land hath perished, and is burnt up like a wilderness, which none passeth through?
Quis est vir sapiens qui intelligat hoc, et ad quem verbum oris Domini fiat, ut annuntiet istud, quare perierit terra, et exusta sit quasi desertum, eo quod non sit qui pertranseat?

 13 And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law, which I gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in it.
Et dixit Dominus : Quia dereliquerunt legem meam quam dedi eis, et non audierunt vocem meam, et non ambulaverunt in ea :

 14 But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.
et abierunt post pravitatem cordis sui, et post Baalim, quod didicerunt a patribus suis :

 15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
idcirco haec dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israel : Ecce ego cibabo populum istum absinthio, et potum dabo eis aquam fellis.

 16 And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they be consumed.
Et dispergam eos in gentibus quas non noverunt ipsi et patres eorum, et mittam post eos gladium, donec consumantur.

 17 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste:
Haec dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israel : Contemplamini, et vocate lamentatrices, et veniant : et ad eas quae sapientes sunt mittite, et properent :

 18 Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters.
festinent, et assumant super nos lamentum : deducant oculi nostri lacrimas, et palpebrae nostrae defluant aquis.

 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our dwellings are cast down.
Quia vox lamentationis audita est de Sion : Quomodo vastati sumus, et confusi vehementer? quia dereliquimus terram, quoniam dejecta sunt tabernacula nostra.

 20 Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and every one her neighbour mourning.
Audite ergo, mulieres, verbum Domini, et assumant aures vestrae sermonem oris ejus, et docete filias vestras lamentum, et unaquaeque proximam suam planctum :

 21 For death is come up through our windows, it is entered into our houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the streets.
quia ascendit mors per fenestras nostras, ingressa est domos nostras, disperdere parvulos deforis, juvenes de plateis.

 22 Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the mower, and there is none to gather it.
Loquere : Haec dicit Dominus : Et cadet morticinum hominis quasi stercus super faciem regionis, et quasi foenum post tergum metentis, et non est qui colligat.

 23 Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches:
Haec dicit Dominus : Non glorietur sapiens in sapientia sua, et non glorietur fortis in fortitudine sua, et non glorietur dives in divitiis suis :

 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord.
sed in hoc glorietur, qui gloriatur, scire et nosse me, quia ego sum Dominus qui facio misericordiam, et judicium, et justitiam in terra : haec enim placent mihi, ait Dominus.

 25 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that hath the foreskin circumcised.
Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et visitabo super omnem qui circumcisum habet praeputium,

 26 Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled round, that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
super Aegyptum, et super Juda, et super Edom, et super filios Ammon, et super Moab, et super omnes qui attonsi sunt in comam, habitantes in deserto : quia omnes gentes habent praeputium, omnis autem domus Israel incircumcisi sunt corde.