2 Esdras 16
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1WO to ther, Babylon & Asia: wo to thee, Egypt and Syria. 2Gird your selues with sacke & heereclothe, and mourne your children, & be sorie: for your destruction is at hand. 3A sworde is sent vnto you, and who wil turne it backe? a fyre is sent among you, & who wil quenche it? 4Plagues are sent vnto you, and who can driue them away? 5May any man driue away an hungrie lion in the wood? or quenche the fyre in stubble when it hathe once begonne to burne? may one turne againe the arowe, that is shot of a strong archer? 6The mightie Lord sendeth the plagues, and who can driue them away? the fyre is gone forthe in his wrath, and who can quench it? 7He shal cast lightenings, & who shal not feare? he shal thunder, and who shal not be afraied? 8The Lord shal threaten, & who shal not vtterly be broken in pieces at his presence? the earth quaketh & the fundacion thereof: the sea ariseth vp with waues from the depe, & the waues thereof are troubled, & the fishes thereof, before the Lord and the glorie of his power. 9For strong is his right hand, that bendeth the bowe: his arrowes that he shooteth, are sharpe, & shal not misse, when they beginne to be shot into the ends of the worlde. 10Beholde, the plagues are sent, & shal not turne againe, til they come vpon earth. 11The fyre is kindled, & shal not be put out, til it consume the fundacions of the earth. 12As an arow which is shot of a mightie archer, returneth not backward, so the plagues that shalbe sent vpon earth, shal not turne againe. 13Wo is me, wo is me: who wil deliuer me in those daies? 14The beginning of sorowes and great mourning: the beginning of famine, and great death: the beginning of warres, and the powers shal feare: the beginning of euils, and all shal tremble. What shal I do in these things, when the plagues come? 15Beholde, famine and plague, and trouble, and anguish are sent as scourges for amendement. 16But for all these things they wil not turne from their wickednes, nor be alway mindeful of the scourges. 17Beholde, vitailes shalbe so good cheape vpon earth, that they shal thinke them selues to be in good case: but then shal the euils bud forthe vpon earth, euen the sworde, the famine and great confusion. 18For many of them that dwell vpon earth, shal perish with famine, and the other that escape the famine, shal the sworde destroy. 19And the dead shalbe cast out as dongue, and there shalbe no man to comforte them: for the earth shalbe wasted, and the cities shalbe cast downe. 20There shalbe no man left to till the earth, and to sowe it: the trees shal giue frute, but who shal gather them? 21The grapes shalbe ripe, but who shal treade them? for all places shalbe desolate, so that one man shal desire to se another, or to heare his voyce. 22For of one citie there shalbe ten left, and two of the field, which shal hide them selues in the thicke woods, and in the cleftes of rockes. 23As when there remaine thre or foure oliues in the place where oliues growe, or among other trees, 24Or as when a vineyarde is gathered, there are left some grapes of them that diligently soght thorowe the vineyarde: 25So in those daies there shalbe thre or foure left by them that searche their houses with the sworde. 26And the earth shalbe left waste, and the fields thereof shal waxe olde, & her waies and all her paths shal growe full of thornes, because no man shal trauail therethrough. 27The virgines shal mourne, hauing no bridegromes: the women shal make lamentacion, hauing no housbands: their daughters shal mourne hauing no helpers. 28In the warres shal their bridegromes be destroied, and their housbands shal perish with famine. 29But, ye seruants of the Lord, heare these things, and marke them. 30Beholde the worde of the Lord, receaue it: beleue not the gods of whome the Lord speaketh: beholde the plagues drawe nere, and are not slacke. 31As a trauailing woman which in the ninthe moneth bringeth forthe her sonne, when the houre of birth is come, two or thre houres afore the peines come vpon her bodie, and when the childe cometh to the birth, they tarie not a whit, 32So shal not the plagues be slacke to come vpon the earth, & the worlde shal mourne, & sorowes shal come vpon it on euerie side. 33O my people, heare my worde: make you ready to the battel, and in the troubles be euen as strangers vpon earth. 34He that selleth, let him be as he that fleeth his way: & he that byeth, as one that wil lose. 35Who so occupieth marchandise, as he that winneth not: and he that buyldeth, as he that shal not dwell therein: 36He that soweth, as one that shal not reape: he that cutteth the vine, as he that shal not gather the grapes: 37They that mary, as they that shal get no children: and they that mary not, so as the widdowes. 38Therefore they that labour, labour in vaine. 39For strangers shal reape their frutes, and spoile their goods, and ouerthrowe their houses, and take their children captiue: for in captiuitie & famine shal they get their children. 40And they that occupie their marchandise with couetousnes, the more they decke their cities, their houses, their possessions, and their owne persones, 41So muche more wil I be angrie against them for their sinnes, saith the Lord. 42As a whore enuieth an honest and vertuous woman, 43So shal righteousnes hate iniquitie, when she decketh her self, & shal accuse her openly, when he shal come that shal bridle the autor of all sinne vpon earth. 44And therefore be ye not like thereunto, nor to the workes thereof: for or euer it be long, iniquitie shalbe taken away out of the earth, and righteousnes shal reigne among you. 45Let not the sinner say, that he hathe not sinned: for coles of fyre shal burne vpon his head, which saith, I haue not sinned before the Lord God and his glorie. 46Beholde, the Lord knoweth all the workes of men, their imaginacions, their thoghtes and their hearts. 47For assone as he said, Let the earth be made, it was made: let the heauen be made, and it was created. 48By his worde were the starres established, and he knoweth the nomber of them. 49He searcheth the depth, and the treasures thereof: he hathe measured the sea, and what it conteineth. 51He spreadeth out the heauen like a vawte: vpon the waters hathe he founde it. 52In the desert hathe he made springs of water, and poles vpon the toppe of the mountaines, to powre out floods from the hie rockes to water the earth. 53He made man, and put his heart in the middes of the bodie, and gaue him breth, life and vnderstanding. 54And the Spirit of the almightie God, which made all things, & hathe searched all the hid things in the secrets of the earth, 55He knoweth your inuencions, and what ye imagine in your heart when ye sinne & wolde hide your sinnes. 56Therefore hathe the Lord searched and soght out all your workes, and wil put you all to shame. 57And when your sinnes are broght forthe before men, ye shalbe confounded, and your owne sinnes shal stand as your accusers in that day. 58What wil ye do, or how wil ye hide your sinnes before God and his Angels? 59Beholde, God him selfe is the iudge: feare him: cease from your sinnes, and forget your iniquities, and medle no more from hence forthe with them: so shal God lead you forthe, and deliuer you from all trouble. 60For beholde, the heate of a great multitude is kindled against you, and they shal take away certeine of you, and shal slaye you for meat to the idoles. 61And they that consent vnto them, shalbe had in derision and in reproche, and troden vnder foote. 62For in euerie place and cities that are nere, there shalbe great insurrection against those that feare the Lord. 63They shalbe like mad men: they shal spare none: they shal spoyle, & waste suche as yet feare the Lord. 64For they then shal waste and spoile their goods, and cast them out of their houses. 65Then shal the tryal of my chosen appeare, as the golde is tryed by the fyre. 66Heare, ô ye my beloued, saith the Lord: beholde, the daies of trouble are at hand, but I wil deliuer you from them: be not ye afraied: doute not, for God is your captaine. 67Who so kepeth my commandements and precepts, saith the Lord God, let not your sinnes weigh you downe, and let not your iniquities lift them selues vp. 68Wo vnto them that are bounde with their sinnes, and couered with their iniquities, as a field is hedged in with bushes, and the path thereof couered with thornes, wherby no man may trauail: it is shut vp, and is appointed to be deuoured with fyre.