2 Esdras 15:1–16:78

¹Behold, speak thou in the ears of my people the words of prophecy, which I will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord: ²And cause them to be written in paper: for they are faithful and true. ³Fear not the imaginations against thee, let not the incredulity of them trouble thee, that speak against thee. ⁴For all 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, the innocent and righteous blood crieth unto me, and the 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 as a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them now to dwell in the land of Egypt: ¹¹But I will bring them with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, and smite Egypt with plagues, as before, and will destroy all the land thereof.

¹²Egypt 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 a fearful constellation. ¹⁴Woe to the world and them that dwell therein! ¹⁵For the sword and their destruction draweth nigh, and one people shall stand up and 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, because 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 Libanus; to turn themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them. ²¹Like as they do yet this day unto my chosen, so will I do also, and recompense in their bosom. Thus saith the Lord God; ²²My right hand shall not spare the sinners, and my sword shall not cease over them that shed innocent blood upon the 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 an horrible vision, and the appearance thereof from the east: ²⁹Where the nations of the 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 Carmanians 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 the dragons have the upper hand, remembering their nature; and if they shall turn themselves, conspiring together in great power to persecute them, ³²Then these shall be trouble, 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 they shall smite down a great multitude of stars upon the earth, even their own star; and blood 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 the cloud which he raised up in wrath, and the star stirred to cause fear toward the east and west wind, shall be destroyed. ⁴⁰The great and mighty clouds shall be puffed up full of wrath, and the 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 an 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 make her afraid. ⁴⁴They shall come to her, and besiege her, the star and all wrath shall they pour out upon her: then shall the dust and smoke go up unto the heaven, and all they that be about her shall bewail her. ⁴⁵And they that remain under her shall do service unto them that have put her in fear.

⁴⁶And thou, Asia, 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 decked thy daughters in whoredom, that they might please and glory in thy lovers, which have always desired to commit whoredom with thee! ⁴⁸Thou hast followed her that is hated in all her works and inventions: therefore saith God, ⁴⁹I 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 shall be dried up as a flower, 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. ⁵²Would I with jealousy have so proceeded against thee, saith the Lord, ⁵³If thou hadst not always slain my chosen, exalting the stroke of thine hands, and saying over their dead, when thou wast drunken, ⁵⁴Set forth the beauty of thy countenance? ⁵⁵The reward of thy whoredom shall be in thy bosom, therefore shalt thou receive recompence. ⁵⁶Like as thou hast done unto my 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 eat 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 idle city, and shall destroy some portion of thy land, and consume part of thy glory, and shall return to Babylon that was destroyed. ⁶¹And thou shalt be cast down by them as 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, what thou hast, they shall spoil it, and mar the beauty of thy face.

Chapter 16

¹Woe be unto thee, Babylon, and Asia! woe be unto thee, Egypt and Syria! ²Gird up yourselves with cloths of sack and hair, bewail your children, and be sorry; for your destruction is at hand. ³A sword is sent upon you, and who may turn it back? ⁴A fire is sent among you, and who may quench it? ⁵Plagues are sent unto you, and what is he that may drive them away? ⁶May any man drive away an hungry lion in the wood? or may any one quench the fire in stubble, when it hath begun to burn? ⁷May one turn again the arrow that is shot of a strong archer? ⁸The mighty Lord sendeth the plagues, and who is he that can drive them away? ⁹A fire shall go forth from his wrath, and who is he that may quench it? ¹⁰He shall cast lightnings, and who shall not fear? he shall thunder, and who shall not be afraid? ¹¹The Lord shall threaten, and who shall not be utterly beaten to powder at his presence? ¹²The earth quaketh, and the foundations thereof; the sea ariseth up with waves from the deep, and the waves of it are troubled, and the fishes thereof also, before the Lord, and before the glory of his power: ¹³For strong is his right hand that bendeth the bow, his arrows that he shooteth are sharp, and shall not miss, when they begin to be shot into the ends of the world. ¹⁴Behold, the plagues are sent, and shall not return again, until they come upon the earth. ¹⁵The fire is kindled, and shall not be put out, till it consume the foundation of the earth. ¹⁶Like as an arrow which is shot of a mighty archer returneth not backward: even so the plagues that shall be sent upon earth shall not return again. ¹⁷Woe is me! woe is me! who will deliver me in those days?

¹⁸The beginning of sorrows and great mournings; the beginning of famine and great death; the beginning of wars, and the powers shall stand in fear; the beginning of evils! what shall I do when these evils shall come? ¹⁹Behold, famine and…