| Woe be unto thee Babylon and Asia, woe be unto thee Egypt and Syria: gird yourselves with clothes of sack and hear, and mourn for your childern, be sorry, for your destruction is at hand. A sword is sent upon you, and who will turn it back? A fire is kindled among you, and who will quench it: Plagues are sent unto you, and what is he that will drive them away? May any man drive away an hungry lion in the woods? Or may any man quench the fire in the stubble, when it hath gone to burn? May one turn again the arrow, that is shot of a strong archer? The mighty Lord sendeth the plagues, and what is he that will drive them away? The fire is kindled and gone forth in his wrath, and what is he that will quench it? He shall cast lightings, and who shall no fear? He shall thunder, and who shall not be afraid: The Lord shall threaten and who shall not utterly be beaten to powder at his presence? The earth quaketh, and the foundations thereof: the sea ariseth up with waves from the deep, and the floods of it are unquiet and the fishes thereof also before the Lord, and before the glory of his power. For strong is his right hand that holdeth the bow, his arrows that he shooteth, are sharp, and shall not miss, when they begin to be shot to the ends of the world.
Behold, the plagues are sent, and shall not turn again, till they come upon the earth. The fire is kindled, and shall not be put out, till it consume the foundations of the earth. Like as an arrow shot of a mighty archer, returneth not backward: even so the plagues that shall be sent upon the earth, shall not turn again. Woe is me, woe is me, who will deliver me in those days? The beginning of sorrows and great mourning: the beginning of *darth and great death: the beginning of wars, and the powers shall stand in fear: the beginning of evils, and they shall tremble everyone. What shall I do in these things, when the plagues come? Behold, hunger, and plague, trouble and anguish are sent, as scourging for amendment. But for all these things they shall not turn from their wickedness, nor be always mindful of the scourging.
Behold, vitals shall be so good cheap upon the earth, that they shall think them selves to be in good case? And even then shall mischief grow up upon the earth, wars, darth and great disquietness. For many of them that dwell upon the earth shall perish of hunger, and the other that escape the hunger, shall the sword destroy: And the dead shall be cast out as dung, and there should be no man to comfort them. For the earth shall be wasted, and the cities shall be cast down: there shall be no man left to till the earth and to sew it. The trees shall give fruit, and who shall pluck them of and gather them? The grapes shall be ripe, and who shall tread them: for all the places shall be desolate of men, so that one man shall desire to see another, or to hear his voice. For of one whole city there shall be ten left, and two in the field, which shall hide themselves in the thick bushes, and in the cliffs of stones: like as when there remain three or four olives upon the tree, or as when a vineyard is gathered there are left some grapes, of them that diligently sought through the vineyard.
Even so, in those days there shall be three or four left, for them that search their houses with the sword. And the earth shall be left waste, and the fields thereof shall wear old: and her ways and her paths shall grow full of thorns, because no man shall travel there through. The daughters shall mourn, having no bridegrooms: the women shall make lamentation, having no husbands, their daughters shall mourn, having no help of their bride groom. In the wars shall they be destroyed, and their husbands shall perish of hunger. O' ye servants of the Lord, hear these things, and mark them. Behold, the word of the Lord, O' receive it: behold the plagues draw near, and are not slack in tarrying. Like as a travailing woman, which after nine months bringeth forth a son, when the hour of the birth is come, an hour two or three afore that the pains come upon her body, and when the child cometh to the birth, they tarry not the twinkling of an lie: Even so shall not the plagues be slack to come upon the earth, and the world shall mourn, and sorrows shall come upon it on every side.
O' my people, hear my word, make you ready to the battle: and in all evil be as pilgrims upon the earth He that selleth, let him be as he that flyeth his way: and he that buyeth, as one that will lease. Who so occupieth merchandise, as he that winneth not: and he that buildeth, as he that shall not dwell therin: he that soweth, as one that shall not reap: he that twisteth the vineyard, as he that shall not gather the grapes: they that marry, as they that shall get no children: and they that marry not, as the widows: and therefore they that labor, labor in vain. For strangers shall reap their fruits, and spoil their goods, overthrow their houses, and take their children captive, for in captivity and hunger shall they get children. And they that occupy their merchandise with robbery, how long deck they their cities, their houses, their possessions, their persons? the more will I punish them for their sins, sayeth the Lord. Like as an whore envieth an honest woman, so shall righteousness hate iniquity, when she decketh herself, and shall accuse her to her face, when he cometh that defendeth, which shall make inquisition for all sin upon the earth. And therefore be not ye like thereunto, near to the works thereof: for or ever it be long, iniquity shall be taken away out of the earth, and righteousness shall reign among you.
Let not the sinner say, that he hath not sinned: for coals of fire shall burn upon his head, which sayeth before the Lord God and his glory: I have not sinned. Behold, the Lord knoweth all the works of men, their |
