2 Esdras 15 — ASVBT
15Verse 1Behold, speak thou in the ears of my people the words of prophecy, which I will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord:Verse 2and cause thou them to be written in paper: for they are faithful and true.Verse 3Fear not their imaginations against thee, let not the unbelief of them that speak against thee trouble thee.Verse 4For all the unbelievers shall die in their unbelief.Verse 5Behold, saith the Lord, I bring evils upon the whole earth; sword and famine, and death and destruction.Verse 6For wickedness hath prevailed over every land, and their hurtful works are come to the full.Verse 7Therefore saith the Lord,Verse 8I 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 practice: behold, the innocent and righteous blood crieth unto me, and the souls of the righteous cry out continually.Verse 9I will surely avenge them, saith the Lord, and will receive unto me all the innocent blood from among them.Verse 10Behold, my people is led as a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them now to dwell in the land of Egypt:Verse 11but 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.Verse 12Let Egypt mourn, and the foundations thereof, for the plague of the chastisement and the punishment that God shall bring upon it.Verse 13Let 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.Verse 14Woe to the world and them that dwell therein!Verse 15for the sword and their destruction draweth nigh, and nation shall rise up against nation to battle with weapons in their hands.Verse 16For 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.Verse 17For a man shall desire to go into a city, and shall not be able.Verse 18For because of their pride the cities shall be troubled, the houses shall be destroyed, and men shall be afraid.Verse 19A man shall have no pity upon his neighbor, but shall make an assault on their houses with the sword, and plunder their goods, because of the lack of bread, and for great tribulation.Verse 20Behold, 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 Lebanon; to turn themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them.Verse 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:Verse 22My right hand shall not spare the sinners, and my sword shall not cease over them that shed innocent blood upon the earth.Verse 23And 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.Verse 24Woe to them that sin, and keep not my commandments! saith the Lord.Verse 25I will not spare them: go your way, ye rebellious children, defile not my sanctuary.Verse 26For the Lord knoweth all them that trespass against him, therefore hath he delivered them unto death and destruction.Verse 27For 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.Verse 28Behold, a vision horrible, and the appearance thereof from the east!Verse 29And 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 that shall hear them may fear also and tremble.Verse 30Also 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.Verse 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,Verse 32then these shall be troubled, and keep silence through their power, and shall turn and flee.Verse 33And 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.Verse 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.Verse 35They shall dash one against another, and they shall pour out a plentiful storm upon the earth, even their own star; and there shall be blood from the sword unto the horse’s belly,Verse 36and to the thigh of man, and to the camel’s hock.Verse 37And 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.Verse 38And after this shall there be stirred up great storms from the south, and from the north, and another part from the west.Verse 39And 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.Verse 40And 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,Verse 41fire, and hail, and flying swords, and many waters, that all plains may be full, and all rivers, with the abundance of those waters.Verse 42And they shall break down the cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of the wood, and grass of the meadows, and their grain.Verse 43And they shall go on steadfastly unto Babylon, and destroy her.Verse 44They 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 are about her shall bewail her.Verse 45And they that remain shall do service unto them that have put her in fear.Verse 46And thou, Asia, that art partaker in the beauty of Babylon, and in the glory of her person:Verse 47woe 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, who have always desired thee to commit whoredom withal!Verse 48Thou hast followed her that is hateful in all her works and inventions: therefore saith God,Verse 49I will send evils upon thee; widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, to waste thy houses unto destruction and death.Verse 50And the glory of thy power shall be dried up as a flower, when the heat shall arise that is sent over thee.Verse 51Thou 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.Verse 52Would I with jealousy have so proceeded against thee, saith the Lord,Verse 53if thou hadst not always slain my chosen, exalting the stroke of thy hands, and saying over their dead, when thou wast drunk,Verse 54Set forth the beauty of thy countenance?Verse 55The reward of a harlot shall be in thy bosom, therefore shalt thou receive recompense.Verse 56Like as thou shalt do unto my chosen, saith the Lord, even so shall God do unto thee, and shall deliver thee into mischief.Verse 57And 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.Verse 58And they that are 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.Verse 59Thou unhappy above all shalt come and shalt again receive evils.Verse 60And in the passage they shall rush on the 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.Verse 61And thou shalt be cast down by them as stubble, and they shall be unto thee as fire;Verse 62and shall devour thee, and thy cities, thy land, and thy mountains; all thy woods and thy fruitful trees shall they burn up with fire.Verse 63They shall carry thy children away captive, and shall plunder thy wealth, and mar the glory of thy face.