- 2 Esdras
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15
1 Behold, speak thou in the ears of my people the words of prophecy, which I will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord: 2 and cause thou them to be written in paper: for they are faithful and true. 3 Fear not their imaginations against thee, let not the unbelief of them that speak against thee trouble thee. 4 For all the unbelievers shall die in their unbelief.
5 Behold, saith the Lord, I bring evils upon the whole earth; sword and famine, and death and destruction. 6 For wickedness hath prevailed over every land, and their hurtful works are come to the full. 7 Therefore saith the Lord, 8 I will hold my peace no more as touching their wickedness, which they profanely commit, neither will I suffer them in these things, which they wickedly practise: behold, the innocent and righteous blood crieth unto me, and the souls of the righteous cry out continually. 9 I will surely avenge them, saith the Lord, and will receive unto me all the innocent blood from among them. 10 Behold, my people is led as a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them now to dwell in the land of Egypt: 11 but I will bring them out with a mighty hand and with a high arm, and will smite Egypt with plagues, as aforetime, and will destroy all the land thereof. 12 Let Egypt mourn, and the foundations thereof, for the plague of the chastisement and the punishment that God shall bring upon it. 13 Let the husbandmen that till the ground mourn: for their seeds shall fail and their trees shall be laid waste through the blasting and hail, and a terrible star. 14 Woe to the world and them that dwell therein! 15 for the sword and their destruction draweth nigh, and nation shall rise up against nation to battle with weapons in their hands. 16 For there shall be sedition among men; and waxing strong one against another, they shall not regard their king nor the chief of their great ones, in their might. 17 For a man shall desire to go into a city, and shall not be able. 18 For because of their pride the cities shall be troubled, the houses shall be destroyed, and men shall be afraid. 19 A man shall have no pity upon his neighbor, but shall make an assault on their houses with the sword, and spoil their goods, because of the lack of bread, and for great tribulation.
20 Behold, saith God, I call together all the kings of the earth, to stir up them that 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. 21 Like as they do yet this day unto my chosen, so will I do also, and recompense in their bosom. Thus saith the Lord God: 22 My right hand shall not spare the sinners, and my sword shall not cease over them that shed innocent blood upon the earth. 23 And a fire is gone forth from his wrath, and hath consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like the straw that is kindled. 24 Woe to them that sin, and keep not my commandments! saith the Lord. 25 I will not spare them: go your way, ye rebellious children, defile not my sanctuary. 26 For the Lord knoweth all them that trespass against him, therefore hath he delivered them unto death and destruction. 27 For now are the evils come upon the whole earth, and ye shall remain in them: for God shall not deliver you, because ye have sinned against him.
28 Behold, a vision horrible, and the appearance thereof from the east! 29 And the nations of the dragons of Arabia shall come out with many chariots, and from the day that they set forth the hissing of them is carried over the earth, so that all they which shall hear them may fear also and tremble. 30 Also the Carmonians 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 with their teeth. 31 And then shall the dragons have the upper hand, remembering their * Or, birth nature; and if they shall turn themselves, conspiring together in great power to persecute them, 32 then these shall be troubled, and keep silence through their power, and shall turn and flee. 33 And from the land of the Assyrians shall the lier in wait besiege them, and consume one of them, and upon their host shall be fear and trembling, and sedition against their kings. 34 Behold, clouds from the east and from the north unto the south, and they are very horrible to look upon, full of wrath and storm. 35 They shall dash one against another, and they shall pour out a plentiful † Lat. star. storm upon the earth, even their own star; and there shall be blood from the sword unto the horse’s belly, 36 and to the thigh of man, and to the camel’s hough. 37 And there shall be fearfulness and great trembling upon earth: and they that see that wrath shall be afraid, and trembling shall take hold upon them. 38 And after this shall there be stirred up great storms from the south, and from the north, and another part from the west. 39 And strong winds shall arise from the east, and shall shut it up, even the cloud which he raised up in wrath; and the star that was to cause destruction by the east wind shall be violently driven toward the south and west. 40 And great clouds and mighty and full of wrath shall be lifted up, and the star, that they may destroy all the earth, and them that dwell therein; and they shall pour out over every high and eminent one a terrible star, 41 fire, and hail, and flying swords, and many waters, that all plains may be full, and all rivers, with the abundance of those waters. 42 And they shall break down the cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of the wood, and grass of the meadows, and their corn. 43 And they shall go on stedfastly unto Babylon, and destroy her. 44 They shall come unto her, and compass her about; 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. 45 And they that remain shall do service unto them that have put her in fear.
46 And thou, Asia, that art partaker in the beauty of Babylon, and in the glory of her person: 47 woe unto thee, thou wretch, because thou hast made thyself like unto her; thou hast decked thy daughters in whoredom, that they might please and glory in thy lovers, which have alway desired thee to commit whoredom withal! 48 Thou hast followed her that is hateful in all her works and inventions: therefore saith God, 49 I will send evils upon thee; widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, to waste thy houses unto destruction and death. 50 And the glory of thy power shall be dried up as a flower, when the heat shall arise that is sent over thee. 51 Thou shalt be weakened as a poor woman with stripes, and as one chastened with wounds, so that thy mighty ones and thy lovers thou shalt not be able to receive. 52 Would I with jealousy have so proceeded against thee, saith the Lord, 53 if thou hadst not always slain my chosen, exalting the stroke of thine hands, and saying over their ‡ Lat. death. dead, when thou wast drunken, 54 Set forth the beauty of thy countenance? 55 The reward of a harlot shall be in thy bosom, therefore shalt thou receive recompense. 56 Like as thou shalt do unto my chosen, saith the Lord, even so shall God do unto thee, and shall deliver thee into mischief. 57 And thy children shall die of hunger, and thou shalt fall by the sword: and thy cities shall be broken down, and all thine shall perish by the sword in the field. 58 And they 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. 59 Thou unhappy above all shalt come and shalt again receive evils. 60 And in the passage they shall rush on the § Another reading is, hateful. idle city, and shall destroy some portion of thy land, and mar part of thy glory, and shall return again to Babylon that was destroyed. 61 And thou shalt be cast down by them as stubble, and they shall be unto thee as fire; 62 and shall devour thee, and thy cities, thy land, and thy mountains; all thy woods and thy fruitful trees shall they burn up with fire. 63 They shall carry thy children away captive, and shall spoil thy wealth, and mar the glory of thy face.

- 2 Esdras
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*15:31 Or, birth

†15:35 Lat. star.

‡15:53 Lat. death.

§15:60 Another reading is, hateful.

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