DENISON

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sicut cera a fácie ignis, et sicut aquæ quæ decúrrunt in præceps. In scélere Jacob omne istud, et in peccátis domus Israël. Quod scelus Jacob? nonne Samaría? et quæ excélsa Judæ? nonne Jerúsalem? Et ponam Samaríam quasi acérvum lápidum in agro, cum plantátur vínea; et détraham in vallem lápides ejus, et fundaménta ejus revelábo. Et ómnia sculptília ejus concidéntur, et omnes mercédes ejus comburéntur igne, et ómnia idóla ejus ponam in perditiónem, quia de mercédibus meretrícis congregáta sunt, et usque ad mercédem meretrícis reverténtur. Super hoc plangam, et ululábo; vadam spoliátus, et nudus; fáciam planctum velut dracónum, et luctum quasi struthiónum: quia desperáta est plaga ejus, quia venit usque ad Judam; tétigit portam pópuli mei usque ad Jerúsalem. In Geth nolíte annuntiáre; lácrimis ne plorétis; in domo púlveris púlvere vos conspérgite. Et transíte vobis, habitátio pulchra, confúsa ignomínia: non est egréssa quæ hábitat in éxitu: planctum domus vicína accípiet ex vobis, quæ stetit síbimet. Quia infirmáta est in bonum, quæ hábitat in amaritudínibus; quia descéndit malum a Dómino in portam Jerúsalem. Tumúltus quadrígæ stupóris habitánti Lachis: princípium peccáti est fíliæ Sion, quia in te invénta sunt scélera Israël. Proptérea dabit emissários super hæreditátem Geth, domus mendácii in deceptiónem régibus Israël. Adhuc haeredem addúcam tibi quæ hábitas in Marésa; usque ad Odóllam véniet glória Israël. Decalváre, et tóndere super fílios deliciárum tuárum; diláta calvítium tuum sicut áquila, quóniam captívi ducti sunt ex te. II. Væ qui cogitátis inútile, et operámini malum in cubílibus vestris! In luce matutína fáciunt illud, quóniam contra Deum est manus eórum. Et concupiérunt agros, et violénter tulérunt: et rapuérunt domos, et calumniabántur virum, et domum ejus: virum, et hæreditátem ejus. Idcírco hæc dicit Dóminus: Ecce ego cógito super famíliam istam malum, unde non auferétis colla vestra, et non ambulábitis supérbi: quóniam tempus péssimum est. In die illa sumétur super vos parábola, et cantábitur cánticum cum suavitáte, dicéntium: Depopulatióne vastáti sumus; pars pópuli mei commutáta est: quómodo recédet a me, cum revertátur, qui regiónes

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nostras dívidat? Propter hoc non erit tibi mittens funículum sortis in cœtu Dómini. Ne loquámini loquéntes; non stillábit super istos, non comprehéndet confúsio. Dicit domus Jacob: Numquid abbreviátus est spíritus Dómini, aut tales sunt cogitatiónes ejus? nonne verba mea bona sunt cum eo qui recte gráditur? et e contrário pópulus meus in adversárium consurréxit. Désuper túnica pállium sustulístis: et eos qui transíbant simplíciter convertístis in bellum. Mulíeres pópuli mei ejecístis de domo deliciárum suárum; a párvulis eárum tulístis laudem meam in perpétuum. Súrgite, et ite, quia non habétis hic réquiem: propter immundítiam ejus corrumpétur putrédine péssima. Útinam non essem vir habens spíritum, et mendácium pótius lóquerer! Stillábo tibi in vinum et in ebrietátem; et erit super quem stillátur pópulus iste. Congregatióne congregábo, Jacob, totum te; in unum condúcam relíquias Israël: páriter ponam illum quasi gregem in ovíli, quasi pecus in médio caulárum: tumultuabúntur a multitúdine hóminum. Ascéndet enim pandens iter ante eos: dívident, et transíbunt portam, et ingrediéntur per eam: et transíbit rex eórum coram eis, et Dóminus in cápite eórum. III. Et dixi: Audíte, princeps Jacob, et duces domus Israël: numquid non vestrum est scire judícium, qui ódio habétis bonum, et dilígitis malum; qui violénter tóllitis pelles eórum désuper eis, et carnem eórum désuper óssibus eórum; qui comedérunt carnem pópuli mei, et pellem eórum désuper excoriavérunt, et ossa eórum confregérunt, et concidérunt sicut in lebéte, et quasi carnem in médio ollæ? Tunc clamábunt ad Dóminum, et non exáudiet eos, et abscóndet fáciem suam ab eis in témpore illo, sicut néquiter égerunt in adinventiónibus suis. Hæc dicit Dóminus super prophétas, qui sedúcunt pópulum meum: qui mordent déntibus suis, et praedicant pacem; et si quis non déderit in ore eórum quíppiam, sanctíficant super eum praelium. Proptérea nox vobis pro visióne erit, et ténebræ vobis pro divinatióne; et occúmbet sol super prophétas, et obtenebrábitur super eos dies. Et confundéntur qui vident visiónes, et confundéntur divíni; et opérient omnes vultos suos, quia non est respónsum Dei. Verúmtamen ego replétus sum fortitúdine spíritus Dómini, judício, et virtúte, ut annún-

[Micah 1:4-3:8]

...shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that run down a steep place. 5 For the wickedness of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Juda? are they not Jerusalem? 6 And I will make Samaria as a heap of stones in the field when a vineyard is planted: and I will bring down the stones thereof into the valley, and will lay her foundations bare. 7 And all her graven things shall be cut in pieces, and all her wages shall be burnt with fire, and I will bring to destruction all her idols: for they were gathered together of the hire of a harlot, and unto the hire of a harlot they shall return. 8 Therefore will I lament and howl: I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches. 9 Because her wound is desperate, because it is come even to Juda, it hath touched the gate of my people even to Jerusalem. 10 Declare ye it not in Geth, weep ye not with tears: in the house of Dust sprinkle yourselves with dust. 11 And pass away, O thou that dwellest in the Beautiful place, covered with thy shame: she went not forth that dwelleth in the confines: the House adjoining shall receive mourning from you, which stood by herself. 12 For she is become weak unto good that dwelleth in bitterness: for evil is come down from the Lord into the gate of Jerusalem. 13 A tumult of chariots hath astonished the inhabitants of Lachis: it is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Sion, for in thee were found the crimes of Israel. 14 Therefore shall she send messengers to the inheritance of Geth: the houses of lying to deceive the kings of Israel. 15 Yet will I bring an heir to thee that dwellest in Maresa: even to Odollam shall the glory of Israel come. 16 Make thee bald, and be polled for thy delicate children: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle: for they are carried into captivity from thee.

1 Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God. 2 And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time. 4 In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land? 5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord. 6 Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them. 7 The house of Jacob saith: Is the spirit of the Lord straitened, or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly? 8 But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war. 9 You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise for ever from their children. 10 Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption. 11 Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop. 12 I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as the sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men. 13 For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide, and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.

1 And I said: Hear, O ye princes of Jacob, and ye chiefs of the house of Israel: Is it not your part to know judgment, 2 You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones? 3 Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin from off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle, and as flesh in the midst of the pot. 4 Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved wickedly in their devices. 5 Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him. 6 Therefore night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness to you instead of divination; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them. 7 And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners shall be confounded: and they shall all cover their faces, because there is no answer of God. 8 But yet I am filled with the strength of the spirit of the Lord, with judgment, and power: to declare...

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-ciem Jacob scelus suum, et Israël peccátum suum. Audíte hoc, príncipes domus Jacob, et júdices domus Israël, qui abominámini judícium, et ómnia recta pervértitis: qui ædificátis Sion in sanguínibus, et Jerúsalem in iniquitáte. Príncipes ejus in munéribus judicábant, et sacerdótes ejus in mercéde docébant, et prophétæ ejus in pecúnia divinábant: et super Dóminum requiescébant, dicéntes: Numquid non Dóminus in médio nostrum? non vénient super nos mala. Propter hoc, causa vestri, Sion quasi ager arábitur, et Jerúsalem quasi acérvus lápidum erit, et mons templi in excélsa silvárum. IIII. Et erit: in novíssimo diérum erit mons domus Dómini præparátus in vértice móntium, et sublímis super colles: et fluent ad eum pópuli, et properábunt gentes multæ, et dicent: Veníte, ascendámus ad montem Dómini, et ad domum Dei Jacob: et docébit nos de viis suis, et íbimus in sémitis ejus, quia de Sion egrediétur lex, et verbum Dómini de Jerúsalem. Et judicábit inter pópulos multos, et corrípiet gentes fortes usque in longínquum: et concídent gládios suos in vómeres, et hastas suas in ligónes: non sumet gens advérsus gentem gládium, et non discent ultra belligeráre. Et sedébit vir subtus vitem suam et subtus ficum suam, et non erit qui detérreat, quia os Dómini exercítuum locútum est. Quia omnes pópuli ambulábunt unusquísque in nómine dei sui; nos autem ambulábimus in nómine Dómini Dei nostri, in ætérnum et ultra. In die illa, dicit Dóminus, congregábo claudicántem, et eam quam ejéceram cólligam, et quam afflíxeram: et ponam claudicántem in relíquias, et eam quæ laboráverat, in gentem robústam: et regnábit Dóminus super eos in monte Sion, ex hoc nunc et usque in ætérnum. Et tu, turris gregis nebulósa fíliæ Sion, usque ad te véniet, et véniet potéstas prima, regnum fíliæ Jerúsalem. Nunc quare mœróre contráheris? numquid rex non est tibi, aut consiliárius tuus périit, quia comprehéndit te dolor sicut parturiéntem? Dole et sátage, fília Sion, quasi partúriens, quia nunc egrediéris de civitáte, et habitábis in regióne, et vénies usque ad Babylónem: ibi liberáberis, ibi rédimet te Dóminus de manu inimicórum tuórum. Et nunc congregátæ sunt super te gentes multæ, quæ dicunt: Lapidétur, et aspíciat in Sion óculus noster. Ipsi autem non cognovérunt cogitatiónes Dómini, et non intellexérunt consílium ejus, quia congregávit eos quasi fœnum áreæ. Surge, et tritú-

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-ra, fília Sion, quia cornu tuum ponam férreum, et úngulas tuas ponam aereas; et commínues pópulos multos, et interfícies Dómino rapínas eórum, et fortitúdinem eórum Dómino univérsæ terræ. V. Nunc vastáberis, fília latrónis. Obsidiónem posuérunt super nos: in virga percútient maxíllam júdicis Israël. Et tu, Béthlehem Éphrata, párvulus es in míllibus Juda; ex te mihi egrediétur qui sit dominátor in Israël, et egréssus ejus ab inítio, a diébus æternitátis. Propter hoc dabit eos usque ad tempus in quo partúriens páriet, et réliquiæ fratrum ejus converténtur ad fílios Israël. Et stabit, et pascet in fortitúdine Dómini, in sublimitáte nóminis Dómini Dei sui: et converténtur, quia nunc magnificábitur usque ad términos terræ. Et erit iste pax: cum vénerit Assýrius in terram nostram, et quando calcáverit dómibus nostris, et suscitábimus super eum septem pastóres et octo primátes hómines; et pascent terram Assur in gládio, et terram Nemrod in lánceis ejus, et liberábit ab Assur cum vénerit in terram nostram, et cum calcáverit in fínibus nostris. Et erunt réliquiæ Jacob in médio populórum multórum quasi ros a Dómino, et quasi stillæ super herbam, quæ non exspéctat virum, et non præstolátur fílios hóminum. Et erunt réliquiæ Jacob in géntibus, in médio populórum multórum, quasi leo in juméntis silvárum, et quasi cátulus leónis in grégibus pécorum, qui cum transíerit, et conculcáverit, et céperit, non est qui éruat. Exaltábitur manus tua super hostes tuos, et omnes inimíci tui interíbunt. Et erit in die illa, dicit Dóminus: áuferam equos tuos de médio tui, et dispérdam quadrígas tuas. Et perdam civitátes terræ tuæ, et déstruam omnes munitiónes tuas: et áuferam malefícia de manu tua, et divinatiónes non erunt in te: et períre fáciam sculptília tua et státuas tuas de médio tui, et non adorábis ultra ópera mánuum tuárum: et evéllam lucos tuos de médio tui, et cónteram civitátes tuas. Et fáciam, in furóre et in indignatióne, ultiónemin ómnibus géntibus quæ non audiérunt. VI. Audíte quæ Dóminus lóquitur: Surge, conténde judício advérsum montes, et áudiant colles vocem tuam. Áudiant montes judícium Dó-

[Micah 3:8-6:2]

...unto Jacob his wickedness, and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: you that abhor judgment, and pervert all that is right. 10 You that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Her princes have judged for bribes, and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us. 12 Therefore, because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple as the high places of the forests.

1 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains, and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it. 2 And many nations shall come in haste, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into spades: nation shall not take sword against nation: neither shall they learn war any more. 4 And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken. 5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god: but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. 6 In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth: and her that I had cast out, I will gather up: and her whom I had afflicted. 7 And I will make her that halted, a remnant: and her that hath been afflicted, a mighty nation: and the Lord will reign over them in mount Sion, from this time now and for ever. 8 And thou, O cloudy tower of the flock, of the daughter of Sion, unto thee shall it come: yea the first power shall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 Now, why art thou drawn together with grief? Hast thou no king in thee, or is thy counsellor perished, because sorrow hath taken thee as a woman in labour? 10 Be in pain and labour, O daughter of Sion, as a woman that bringeth forth: for now shalt thou go out of the city, and shalt dwell in the country, and shalt come even to Babylon, there thou shalt be delivered: there the Lord will redeem thee out of the hand of thy enemies. 11 And now many nations are gathered together against thee, and they say: Let her be stoned: and let our eye look upon Sion. 12 But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: because he hath gathered them together as the hay of the floor. 13 Arise, and tread, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thy horn iron, and thy hoofs I will make brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples, and shalt immolate the spoils of them to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth.

1 Now shalt thou be laid waste, O daughter of the robber: they have laid siege against us, with a rod shall they strike the cheek of the judge of Israel. 2 And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. 3 Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth: and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of the Lord his God: and they shall be converted, for now shall he be magnified even to the ends of the earth. 5 And this man shall be our peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall set his foot in our houses: and we shall raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. 6 And they shall feed the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nemrod with the spears thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our borders. 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as a dew from the Lord, and as drops upon the grass, which waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the children of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forests, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who when he shall go through and tread down, and take, there is none to deliver. 9 Thy hand shall be lifted up over thy enemies, and all thy enemies shall be cut off. 10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will take away thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots. 11 And I will destroy the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strong holds, and I will take away sorceries out of thy hand, and there shall be no divinations in thee. 12 And I will destroy thy graven things, and thy statues out of the midst of thee: and thou shalt no more adore the works of thy hands. 13 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: and will crush thy cities. 14 And I will execute vengeance in wrath and in indignation among all the nations that have not given ear.

1 Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord...