6 Ezra (2 Esdras 15–16)

Behold, speak in the ears of my people the words of prophecy which I shall put into your mouth, says the Lord,

and have them written on paper, for they are faithful and true.

Do not fear the plots against you, and do not let the unbelief of those who speak against you trouble you.

For every unbeliever will die in his unbelief.

Behold, I am bringing evils upon the whole world, says the Lord: sword and famine and death and destruction,

because iniquity has overspread the whole earth, and their harmful works are complete.

Therefore says the Lord:

I will no longer keep silent about their impieties which they commit irreligiously, nor will I bear with the wicked things they do. Behold, innocent and righteous blood cries out to me, and the souls of the righteous cry out unceasingly.

I will surely avenge them, says the Lord, and will require from them all the innocent blood.

Behold, my people is led like a flock to the slaughter; I will no longer allow them to dwell in the land of Egypt,

but I will bring them out with a mighty hand and an uplifted arm, and I will strike Egypt with a plague as before, and destroy all its land.

Let Egypt mourn, and its foundations, at the plague of scourging and chastisement which the Lord brings.

Let the farmers who till the ground mourn, for their seed will fail, and their trees will be ruined by blight and hail and by a terrible storm.

Woe to the world and those who dwell in it!

For the sword and their destruction have drawn near, and nation will rise against nation in battle, with swords in their hands.

For there will be unrest among men; growing strong against one another, they will not heed their king or the chief of their nobles in his power.

For a man will long to go into a city and will not be able.

Because of their pride the cities will be thrown into confusion, houses will be destroyed, men will be afraid.

A man will not pity his neighbour, but will make an assault on their houses with the sword, to plunder their goods, because of hunger for bread and great tribulation.

Behold, I call together, says God, all the kings of the earth to fear me, from the east and from the south, from the east wind and from Lebanon, to turn upon one another and repay what they have done to them.

As they do to this day to my chosen ones, so I will do and repay into their bosom. Thus says the Lord God:

My right hand will not spare the sinners, and the sword will not cease from those who shed innocent blood on the earth.

And fire went out from his wrath and consumed the foundations of the earth and the sinners like burnt straw.

Woe to those who sin and do not keep my commandments, says the Lord;

I will not spare them. Depart, you apostate children; do not defile my sanctuary.

For the Lord knows all who forsake him; therefore he has given them up to death and slaughter.

For evils have already come upon the whole world, and you will remain in them; for God will not deliver you, because you have sinned against him.

Behold a terrible sight, and its appearance is from the east!

And nations of dragons of Arabia will come out with many chariots, and from the day of their setting out their hissing is carried over the earth, so that all who hear them fear and tremble.

The Carmonians, raging in wrath, will go out like wild boars from the forest, and will come with great power and join battle with them, and will lay waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth.

And after this the dragons, remembering their origin, will prevail; and if they turn, conspiring with great power to pursue them,

then these will be thrown into confusion and fall silent before their power, and will turn their feet in flight;

and from the territory of the Assyrians an ambusher will besiege them and destroy one of them, and there will be fear and trembling in their army and unrest among their kings.

Behold, clouds from the east and from the north to the south, and their appearance very terrible, full of wrath and storm;

and they will dash against one another and pour out a heavy storm upon the earth, and their own storm, and there will be blood from the sword up to the horse's belly

and a man's thigh and a camel's hock, and there will be great fear and trembling on the earth;

and those who see that wrath will shudder, and trembling will seize them. And after this great storm clouds will be stirred up

from the south and the north, and another part from the west.

And the winds from the east will prevail and shut it in, and the cloud which he raised in wrath; and the storm that was to cause destruction will be driven violently toward the south and the west.

And great and mighty clouds, full of wrath and storm, will rise up to destroy all the earth and those who dwell in it, and they will pour out upon every high and lofty place a terrible storm,

fire and hail and flying swords and many waters, so that all the plains and all the streams are filled with the abundance of those waters.

And they will tear down cities and walls and mountains and hills and the trees of the forests and the grass of the meadows and their grain.

And they will pass on steadily as far as Babylon and destroy it.

They will gather against her and surround her and pour out the storm and all their wrath upon her; and dust and smoke will go up to heaven, and all around will mourn for her.

And those who remain will serve those who destroyed her.

And you, Asia, who share in the beauty of Babylon and the glory of her person,

woe to you, wretched one, because you have made yourself like her; you have adorned your daughters for fornication, to please and to boast in your lovers who have always desired you.

You have imitated the hateful harlot in all her works and her devices; therefore says God:

I will send evils upon you: widowhood, poverty and famine and sword and pestilence, to lay waste your houses, to ruin and death.

And the glory of your power will wither like a flower, when the heat rises that is sent upon you.

And you will be weakened and made poor by the blow, and scourged with wounds, so that you cannot receive your mighty ones and your lovers.

Would I be so jealous against you, says the Lord,

if you had not always killed my chosen ones, exulting with clapping of hands and speaking over their death when you were drunk?

Adorn the beauty of your face!

The harlot's wages are in your bosom; therefore you will receive your recompense.

As you do to my chosen ones, says the Lord, so God will do to you, and will deliver you to evils.

Your children will die of hunger, and you will fall by the sword, and your cities will be crushed, and all your people in the field will fall by the sword;

and those who are in the mountains will perish of hunger, and they will eat their own flesh and drink blood for hunger of bread and thirst for water.

Unhappy above all, you will come and will receive evils again.

And as they pass they will dash against the idle city and destroy some portion of your land and wipe out part of your glory, as they return again from Babylon overthrown.

And you will be torn down by them like stubble, and they will be fire to you.

And they will devour you and your cities, your land and your mountains; they will burn all your forests and fruit trees with fire.

They will lead your children away captive, and take your wealth as plunder, and wipe out the glory of your face.

Woe to you, Babylon and Asia; woe to you, Egypt and Syria!

Gird yourselves with sackcloth and haircloth, and wail for your children and grieve for them, for your destruction has drawn near.

The sword has been sent upon you, and who is there to turn it back?

Fire has been sent upon you, and who is there to quench it?

Evils have been sent upon you, and who is there to drive them back?

Can anyone drive back a hungry lion in the forest, or quench a fire in the stubble once it has begun to burn?

Can anyone turn back an arrow shot by a strong archer?

The Lord God sends the evils, and who will drive them back?

Fire will go out from his anger, and who is there to quench it?

He will flash lightning, and who will not fear? He will thunder, and who will not shudder?

The Lord will threaten, and who will not be utterly crushed before his face?

The earth has trembled, and its foundations; the sea surges from the depth, and its waves will be thrown into turmoil, and its fish, before the face of the Lord and before the glory of his power.

For strong is his right hand that bends the bow; his arrows that are shot by him are sharp, and they will not fail when they begin to be shot to the ends of the earth.

Behold, the evils are sent and will not turn back until they come upon the earth.

The fire is kindled and will not be quenched until it consumes the foundations of the earth.

As an arrow shot by a mighty archer does not return, so the evils that have been sent upon the earth will not turn back.

Woe is me, woe is me! Who will deliver me in those days?

The beginning of pains, and much groaning; the beginning of famine, and many will perish; the beginning of wars, and the powers will be afraid; the beginning of evils, and all will tremble.

What will they do in these things, when the evils come?

Behold, famine and plague and tribulation and anguish are sent as scourges for correction.

And in all these things they will not turn from their iniquities, nor will they always remember the scourges.

Behold, there will be cheapness of grain on the earth, so that they think peace is assured for them; and then evils will spring up on the earth, sword, famine and great confusion.

For very many of those who dwell on the earth will perish by famine, and the sword will destroy the rest who survive the famine;

and the dead will be thrown out like dung, and there will be no one to console them; for the earth will be left desolate, and its cities will be thrown down.

No one will be left to till the earth and sow it.

The trees will give fruit, and who will gather it?

The grapes will ripen, and who will tread them? For there will be great desolation in the land;

for a man will long to see a man, or to hear his voice.

For ten will be left from a city, and two from the field, who have hidden themselves in the thick woods and in the clefts of the rocks.

As in an olive grove three or four olives are left on each tree,

or as in a vineyard that has been harvested a few clusters are left by those who search the vineyard carefully,

so in those days three or four will be left by those who search their houses with the sword.

And the earth will be left desolate, and its fields will turn to briars, and its roads and all its paths will grow thorns, because no sheep will pass through it.

Virgins will mourn, having no bridegrooms; women will mourn, having no husbands; their daughters will mourn, having no helpers.

Their bridegrooms will be destroyed in war, and their husbands will perish in famine.

But hear these things and understand them, servants of the Lord.

Behold the word of the Lord: receive it; do not disbelieve what the Lord says:

Behold, the evils draw near and do not delay.

As a pregnant woman in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draws near, has pains around her womb two or three hours before, and when the child comes out of the womb it does not delay a moment,

so the evils will not delay in coming forth upon the earth, and the world will groan, and pains will grip it on every side.

Hear the word, my people: prepare yourselves for battle, and in the evils be like strangers on the earth:

let him who sells be like one who will flee, and him who buys like one who will lose;

let him who trades be like one who will not get the profit, and him who builds like one who will not live in it;

let him who sows be like one who will not reap, and so him who prunes like one who will not gather the grapes;

let those who marry be like those who will have no children, and those who do not marry like widowers.

Therefore those who labour, labour in vain;

for foreigners will reap their fruits and plunder their goods and overthrow their houses and take their children captive, for in captivity and famine they beget their children.

And those who trade, trade for plunder; the more they adorn their cities and houses and possessions and their own persons,

the more I will be jealous against them for their sins, says the Lord.

As a right and very good woman is jealous of a harlot,

so righteousness will be jealous of iniquity when she adorns herself, and will accuse her to her face, when he comes who will defend the one who searches out every sin on earth.

Therefore do not be like her or like her works.

For behold, yet a little while, and iniquity will be taken away from the earth, and righteousness will reign over us.

Let not the sinner say that he has not sinned; for he will burn coals of fire on the head of him who says, 'I have not sinned before God and his glory.'

Behold, the Lord knows all the works of men, and their devices, their thoughts and their hearts.

He who said, 'Let the earth be made,' and it was made; 'Let the heaven be made,' and it was made;

and at his word the stars were established, and he knows the number of the stars;

he who searches the deep and its treasures, who has measured the sea and what it contains;

who has shut in the sea in the midst of the waters and by his word hung the earth upon the water;

who spread out the heaven like a vault and founded it upon the waters;

who placed springs of water in the desert and pools on the tops of the mountains, to send down rivers from the heights, that the earth might drink;

who formed man and put a heart in the midst of his body, and sent him spirit and life and understanding,

and the breath of God almighty, who made all things and searches out what is hidden in hidden places.

Surely he knows your devices and what you think in your hearts. Woe to those who sin and wish to hide their sins!

Therefore the Lord will strictly search out all their works and will expose you all.

And you will be put to shame when your sins come out before men, and your iniquities will be the accusers that stand on that day.

What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins before God and his angels?

Behold, God is the judge; fear him. Cease from your sins and forget your iniquities, never to do them again, and God will lead you out and deliver you from all tribulation.

For behold, the burning wrath of a great multitude is kindled against you, and they will seize some of you and feed you what is sacrificed to idols.

And those who consent to them will be held in derision and reproach by them, and trodden underfoot.

For there will be in place after place, and in the neighbouring cities, a great uprising against those who fear the Lord.

They will be like madmen, sparing no one, plundering and laying waste those who still fear the Lord,

for they will lay waste and plunder their goods and drive them out of their houses.

Then the testing of my chosen ones will appear, like gold that is tested by fire.

Hear, my chosen ones, says the Lord: behold, the days of tribulation are at hand, and I will deliver you from them.

Do not fear and do not doubt, for God is your leader.

And you who keep my commandments and precepts, says the Lord God, do not let your sins weigh you down, nor your iniquities lift themselves up over you.

Woe to those who are bound by their sins and covered by their iniquities, as a field is choked by undergrowth and its seed covered with thorns, so that no one passes through it, and it is shut out and thrown to be consumed by fire.