| 9 προσευχὴ Εζεκιου βασιλέως τῆς Ιουδαίας ἡνίκα ἐμαλακίσθη καὶ ἀνέστη ἐκ τῆς μαλακίας αὐτοῦ 10 ἐγὼ εἶπα ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἡμερῶν μου ἐν πύλαις ᾅδου καταλείψω τὰ ἔτη τὰ ἐπίλοιπα 11 εἶπα οὐκέτι μὴ ἴδω τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οὐκέτι μὴ ἴδω ἄνθρωπον 12 ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας μου κατέλιπον τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ζωῆς μου ἐξῆλθεν καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἀ{P'} ἐμοῦ ὥσπερ ὁ καταλύων σκηνὴν πήξας τὸ πνεῦμά μου πα{R'} ἐμοὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἱστὸς ἐρίθου ἐγγιζούσης ἐκτεμεῖν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ παρεδόθην 13 ἕως πρωὶ ὡς λέοντι οὕτως τὰ ὀστᾶ μου συνέτριψεν ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς νυκτὸς παρεδόθην 14 ὡς χελιδών οὕτως φωνήσω καὶ ὡς περιστερά οὕτως μελετήσω ἐξέλιπον γάρ μου οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τοῦ βλέπειν εἰς τὸ ὕψος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς τὸν κύριον ὃς ἐξείλατό με 15 καὶ ἀφείλατό μου τὴν ὀδύνην τῆς ψυχῆς 16 κύριε περὶ αὐτῆς γὰρ ἀνηγγέλη σοι καὶ ἐξήγειράς μου τὴν πνοήν καὶ παρακληθεὶς ἔζησα 17 εἵλου γάρ μου τὴν ψυχήν ἵνα μὴ ἀπόληται καὶ ἀπέρριψας ὀπίσω μου πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου 18 οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἐν ᾅδου αἰνέσουσίν σε οὐδὲ οἱ ἀποθανόντες εὐλογήσουσίν σε οὐδὲ ἐλπιοῦσιν οἱ ἐν ᾅδου τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην σου 19 οἱ ζῶντως εὐλογήσουσίν σε ὃν τρόπον κἀγώ ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς σήμερον παιδία ποιήσω ἃ ἀναγγελοῦσιν τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου 20 κύριε τῆς σωτηρίας μου καὶ οὐ παύσομαι εὐλογῶν σε μετὰ ψαλτηρίου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς μου κατέναντι τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ |
9 These are the words Ezechias king of Juda wrote, upon falling sick and recovering of his illness. 10 It seemed as if I must go down to the gates of the world beneath, in the noontide of my years; the remnant of life that I hoped for, hoped for in vain. 11 No more (thought I) to lift up my eyes to the Lord God in this land of the living, to see men’s faces, and quiet homes, no more![2] 12 This familiar world[3] taken away from me, folded up like a shepherd’s tent, my life cut short like the weaver’s thread! And he had cut me off while the web was still in the making; before the day reached its evening, he would make an end of me. 13 All night long I lay still, as if he had been a lion that had broken all my bones; before the day reached its evening he would make an end of me. 14 My voice was as feeble as the voice of a nestling swallow or murmuring dove; my eyes wearied out with ever straining upwards. Lord, I am in hard straits; win my release for me! 15 And yet, what words can I use, what answer can I expect, when it is he himself that has brought this upon me? With bitter heart I pass all my years in review.[4] 16 Lord, so frail a thing is life; on so little does my mortal breath depend! Thou canst chastise me, thou canst make me live.[5] 17 Bitter, bitter the discipline that brings me peace!
And now thou hast saved the life that was in peril, thrusting away all my sins out of thy sight. 18 Thou hast no praise in the world beneath, death cannot honour thee; those who go down into the grave have no promise of thine to hope for; 19 it is living men, as I am a living man to-day, that give thee thanks, pass on from father to son the story of thy faithfulness. 20 Lord, be my saviour still; so, all day long, the Lord’s house shall ring with the music of our psalms. |
9 Scriptura Ezechiæ, regis Juda, cum ægrotasset et convaluisset de infirmitate sua. 10
Ego dixi in dimidio dierum meorum:
Vadam ad portas inferi;
quæsivi residuum annorum meorum. 11
Dixi: Non videbo Dominum Deum
in terra viventium;
non aspiciam hominem ultra,
et habitatorem quietis. 12
Generatio mea ablata est, et convoluta est a me,
quasi tabernaculum pastorum.
Præcisa est velut a texente vita mea;
dum adhuc ordirer, succidit me:
de mane usque ad vesperam finies me. 13
Sperabam usque ad mane;
quasi leo, sic contrivit omnia ossa mea:
de mane usque ad vesperam finies me. 14
Sicut pullus hirundinis, sic clamabo;
meditabor ut columba.
Attenuati sunt oculi mei, suspicientes in excelsum.
Domine, vim patior: responde pro me. 15
Quid dicam, aut quid respondebit mihi,
cum ipse fecerit?
Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos
in amaritudine animæ meæ. 16
Domine, si sic vivitur,
et in talibus vita spiritus mei,
corripies me, et vivificabis me. 17
Ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima.
Tu autem eruisti animam meam
ut non periret;
projecisti post tergum tuum
omnia peccata mea. 18
Quia non infernus confitebitur tibi,
neque mors laudabit te:
non exspectabunt qui descendunt in lacum
veritatem tuam. 19
Vivens, vivens ipse confitebitur tibi,
sicut et ego hodie;
pater filiis notam faciet
veritatem tuam. 20
Domine, salvum me fac!
et psalmos nostros cantabimus
cunctis diebus vitæ nostræ
in domo Domini. |