2 Esdras 15

Behold, speak thou in the ears of my people the words of prophecy, which ^aI will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord: ²and cause them to be written in ^bpaper: for ^cthey are faithful and true. ³Fear not the imaginations against thee, let not the incredulity of them trouble thee, that speak against thee. ⁴For ^dall the unfaithful shall die in their unfaithfulness. ⁵Behold, saith the Lord, I will bring plagues upon the world; the sword, famine, death, and destruction. ⁶For wickedness hath exceedingly polluted the whole earth, and their hurtful works are fulfilled. ⁷Therefore saith the Lord, ⁸I will hold my tongue no more as touching their wickedness, which they profanely commit, neither will I suffer them in those things, in which they wickedly exercise themselves: behold, ^ethe innocent and righteous blood crieth unto me, and ^ethe souls of the just complain continually. ⁹And therefore, saith the Lord, I will surely avenge them, and receive unto me all the innocent blood from among them. ¹⁰Behold, my people is led ^fas a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them now ^gto dwell in the land of Egypt: ¹¹but I will bring them ^hwith a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, and smite Egypt with plagues, as before, and will destroy all the land thereof. ¹²ⁱEgypt shall mourn, and the foundation of it shall be smitten with the plague and punishment that God shall bring upon it. ¹³They that till the ground shall mourn: for their seeds shall fail through the blasting and hail, and with ^ja fearful constellation. ^14kWoe to the world and them that dwell therein! ¹⁵For the sword and their destruction draweth nigh, and ^lone people shall stand up to fight against another, and swords in their hands. ¹⁶For there shall be sedition among men, and invading one another; they shall not regard their kings nor princes, and the course of their actions shall stand in their power. ¹⁷A man shall desire to go into a city, and shall not be able. ¹⁸For because of their pride the cities shall be troubled, the houses shall be destroyed, and men shall be afraid. ¹⁹A man shall have no pity upon his neighbour, but shall destroy their houses with the sword, and spoil their goods, ^mbecause of the lack of bread, and for great tribulation. ²⁰Behold, saith God, I will call together all the kings of the earth to reverence me, which are from the rising of the sun, from the south, from the east, and ⁿLibanus; to turn themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them. ²¹Like as they do yet this day unto ⁿⁿmy chosen, so will I do also, and ^orecompense in their bosom. Thus saith the Lord God; ²²My right hand shall not spare the sinners, and my sword shall not cease over ^pthem that shed innocent blood upon earth. ²³The fire is gone forth from his wrath, and hath consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like the straw that is kindled. ²⁴Woe to them that sin, and keep not my commandments! saith the Lord. ²⁵I will not spare them: go your way, ye children, from the power, defile not my sanctuary. ²⁶For the Lord knoweth all them that sin against him, and therefore delivereth he them unto death and destruction. ²⁷For now are the plagues come upon the whole earth, and ye shall remain in them: for God shall not deliver you, because ye have sinned against him.

²⁸Behold a horrible vision, and the appearance thereof from the east: ²⁹where the nations of ^qthe dragons of Arabia shall come out with many chariots, and the multitude of them shall be carried as the wind upon earth, that all they which hear them may fear and tremble. ³⁰Also the ^rCarmanians raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood, and with great power shall they come, and join battle with them, and shall waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians. ³¹And then shall ^qthe dragons have the upper hand, remembering their nature; and if they shall turn themselves, conspiring together in great power to persecute ^rthem, ³²then ^rthese shall be troubled, and keep silence through their power, and shall flee. ³³And from the land of the Assyrians shall the enemy besiege them, and consume some of them, and in their host shall be fear and dread, and strife among their kings. ³⁴Behold clouds from the east and from the north unto the south, and they are very horrible to look upon, full of wrath and storm. ³⁵They shall smite one upon another, and ^sthey shall smite down a great multitude of stars upon the earth, even their own ^tstar; and ^ublood shall be from the sword unto the belly, ³⁶and dung of men unto the camel’s hough. ³⁷And there shall be great fearfulness and trembling upon earth: and they that see the wrath shall be afraid, and trembling shall come upon them. ³⁸And then shall there come great storms from the south, and from the north, and another part from the west. ³⁹And strong winds shall arise from the east, and shall open it; and ^xthe cloud which he raised up in wrath, and ^tthe star stirred to cause fear toward the east and west wind, shall be destroyed. ⁴⁰The great and mighty clouds shall be lifted up ^xfull of wrath, and ^tthe star, that they may make all the earth afraid, and them that dwell therein; and they shall pour out over every high and eminent place ^ya horrible star, ⁴¹fire, and hail, and flying swords, and many waters, that all fields may be full, and all rivers, with the abundance of great waters. ⁴²And they shall break down the cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of the wood, and grass of the meadows, and their corn. ⁴³And they shall go stedfastly unto Babylon, and ^zmake her afraid. ⁴⁴They shall come to her, and besiege her, ^athe star and all wrath shall they pour out upon her: then shall the dust and ^bsmoke go up unto the heaven, and ^call they that be about her shall bewail her. ⁴⁵And they that remain under her shall do service unto them that have ^zput her in fear.

⁴⁶And thou, ^dAsia, that art partaker of the hope of Babylon, and art the glory of her person: ⁴⁷woe be unto thee, thou wretch, because thou hast made thyself like unto her; and hast deckt thy daughters in whoredom, that they might please and glory in thy lovers, which have alway desired to commit whoredom with thee! ⁴⁸Thou hast followed her that is hated in all her works and inventions: therefore saith God, ^49eI will send plagues upon thee; widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, to waste thy houses with destruction and death. ⁵⁰And the glory of thy power ^fshall be dried up as a flower, when the heat shall arise that is sent over thee. ⁵¹Thou shalt be weakened as a poor woman with stripes, and as one chastised with wounds, so that the mighty and lovers shall not be able to receive thee. ^52gWould I with jealousy have so proceeded against thee, saith the Lord, ⁵³if thou hadst not alway slain ^hmy chosen, exalting the stroke of thine hands, and saying over their dead, ⁱwhen thou wast drunken, ^54kSet forth the beauty of thy countenance? ⁵⁵The reward of thy whoredom shall be ^lin thy bosom, therefore shalt thou receive recompence. ⁵⁶Like as thou hast done unto ^hmy chosen, saith the Lord, even so shall God do unto thee, and shall deliver thee into mischief. ⁵⁷Thy children shall die of hunger, and thou shalt fall through the sword: thy cities shall be broken down, and all thine shall perish with the sword in the field. ⁵⁸They that be in the mountains shall die of hunger, and ^meat their own flesh, and drink their own blood, for very hunger of bread, and thirst of water. ⁵⁹Thou, as unhappy shalt come through the sea, and receive plagues again. ⁶⁰And in the passage they shall rush on the ⁿidle city, and shall destroy some portion of thy land, and ^qconsume part of thy glory, and shall return to Babylon that was destroyed. ⁶¹And thou shalt be cast down by them ^oas stubble, and they shall be unto thee as fire; ⁶²and shall consume thee, and thy cities, thy land, and thy mountains; all thy woods and thy fruitful trees shall they burn up with fire. ⁶³Thy children shall they carry away captive, and, look, ^pwhat thou hast, they shall spoil it, and ^qmar the ^qbeauty of thy face.

XVI.