2 Esdras 16

1Woe to you, Babylon and Asia! Woe to you, Egypt and Syria!

2Mourn for them, because your destruction has drawn near.

3A sword has been sent upon you, and who is there to turn it back?

4Fire has been sent upon you, and who is there to quench it?

5Evils have been sent upon you, and who is there to drive them away?

6Can anyone beat back a hungry lion in the forest, or quench a fire when straw has been set ablaze?

7Or can anyone turn back an arrow shot by a strong archer?

8A strong archer has shot an arrow; who will turn it back? The Lord God sends evils, and who will drive them away?

9Evils, and who will repel them? Fire will come forth from his wrath, and who is there to quench it?

10Will there be anyone to extinguish him? He will flash forth, and who will not fear?

11He will thunder, and who will not tremble? The Lord will threaten, and who

12Will not the earth be utterly crushed before him? The earth quakes, and its foundations; the sea surges from the deep, and its waves and its fish will be troubled before the Lord and before the glory of his power.

13For mighty 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.

14to the ends of the earth. Behold, evils are sent out, and they will not return until

15Fire is kindled, and it will not be quenched,

16As an arrow shot by a strong archer does not return, so the evils that have been sent upon the earth will not return.

17Woe is me, woe is me! Who will deliver me in those days?

18In those days: the beginning of pains and much groaning, the beginning of famine and many will perish, the beginning of wars and they will be afraid, the beginning of evils and all will tremble.

19What will they do in these things, when evils come?

20Behold, famine and plague and tribulation have been sent as scourges for correction.

21Yet in all these things they will not turn from their iniquities, nor will they always remember the scourges.

22Behold, grain will soon be cheap upon the earth, so that they will think peace has been secured for them. Then evils will spring up upon the earth: sword and famine.

23And they will lose their lives upon the earth, and the sword will scatter those who survive the famine.

24And the dead will be cast out like dung, and they will have no one to comfort them, and the earth will be left desolate, and its cities will be demolished.

25No farmer will be left to till the earth and to sow it.

26The trees will bear fruit, and who will gather it?

27The grape will yield itself for the vintage, and who will gather it? For there will be great desolation in places.

28For a man will long to see another man, or at least to hear his voice.

29For ten will be left from a city, and two from the countryside, who have hidden themselves in the forest and in clefts of the rocks.

30As in an olive orchard three or four olives are left,

31or as in a harvested vineyard an exposed cluster remains from those who carefully search the vintage,

32So in those days, three or four will remain from those who search their houses with the sword.

33And the land will be left desolate, and its fields will grow old, and its roads and all its paths will sprout thorns, because sheep will not pass through them.

34Virgins will mourn, having no bridegrooms; women will mourn, having no husbands; their daughters will mourn, having no help.

35Not having help, their bridegrooms will be consumed in war, and their husbands will perish by famine.

36But hear these things and know them, servants of the Lord. Behold, the word of the Lord; receive it; do not disbelieve the things he speaks.

37Behold, the word of the Lord: receive it; do not disbelieve what the Lord says.

38Behold, evils are drawing near and are not delayed, just as a pregnant woman in the ninth month with her child, when the hour of her delivery draws near, for two or three hours great pains surround her womb, and when the child comes forth from the womb, it will not delay.

39As when a pregnant woman in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draws near, two or three hours beforehand labor pains surround her womb, and when the child comes forth from the womb, it does not delay a single moment,

40so also the evils will not delay to come forth upon the earth, and the age will groan, and pains will surround it.

41Hear the word, my people: prepare yourselves for battle, and in the midst of evils be like strangers on the earth.

42So be as strangers in the land; the one who sells, as one who will flee;

43and the one who buys, like one who is about to lose; and the one who trades, like one who will gain no profit;

44and the one who sows, like one who will not reap; so also the one who prunes the vines, like one who will not gather the grapes.

45Those who marry, as though they will have no children; and those who do not marry, as widowers.

46they marry, as though widowed; therefore those who labor labor without cause

47for foreigners will reap their fruits and plunder their goods and overturn their houses and take their children captive, because in captivity and famine they beget their children.

48And those who conduct business do so for plunder, as long as they adorn themselves;

49their cities and their houses and their possessions and their own persons; so much the more

50the more I will be zealous against them for their sins, says the Lord. How

51As a respectable and very beautiful woman is indignant toward a prostitute, so righteousness will be indignant toward iniquity when it adorns itself, and will accuse it to its face when he comes who defends the one who searches out every sin upon the earth. Therefore do not be like it or its works.

52For behold, yet a little while, and iniquity will be taken away from the earth, and

53righteousness will reign over us. Let not the sinner say that he has not sinned,

54For coals of fire will burn upon the head of the one who says, “I have not sinned before God and his glory.” Behold, the Lord knows.

55all the works of men and their devices and their thoughts and their hearts. He who said, “Let the earth be made,” and it was made;

56He who said, “Let heaven be made,” and it was made; and by his word the stars were founded.

57By his word the stars were established, and he knows the number of the stars.

58He searches the deep and its treasures; he has measured the sea and what it contains; he has enclosed the sea in the midst of the waters and suspended the earth.

59He who hung the earth upon the water by his word, and stretched out the heaven like a vault;

60He stretched out heaven like a vaulted chamber, and founded it upon the waters; who placed springs of waters in the desert.

61He placed pools upon the mountain tops, to send forth rivers from the heights so that the earth might drink.

62He formed man, and put a heart in the midst of the body, and gave him spirit and life and understanding,

63the breath of God Almighty, who made all things and searches out hidden things in hidden places. Surely he knows your devising.

64Woe to those who sin and want to hide their sins!

65Therefore the Lord will search out all their works and will expose you all. And you

66And you will be put to shame when your sins come forth before men, and your iniquities will stand as accusers on that day.

67What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins before God

68Behold, God is judge; fear him. Cease from your sins, and forget your iniquities, never to practice them again; and God will lead you out and deliver you from every tribulation.

69For behold, a burning wrath is kindled against you, a great multitude, and they will seize some of you and feed them with meat sacrificed to idols.

70some of you, and they will feed you food sacrificed to idols. And those who consent to them will be for them an object of derision and reproach and trampling underfoot.

71For there will be much uprising in place after place and in the neighboring cities.

72They will be like madmen, sparing no one, plundering and ravaging those who still fear the Lord.

73For they will ravage and plunder their goods and their houses.

74Then the testing of my chosen ones will appear, like gold that is tested by fire.

75Hear, my chosen ones, says the Lord: behold, days of tribulation are here, and from them I will deliver you. Do not fear or hesitate,

76Do not fear or hesitate, for God is your guide.

77For God is your guide. And you who keep my commandments and my ordinances, says the Lord God, do not let your sins weigh you down, nor let your iniquities prevail over you.

78your sins, nor let your iniquities prevail over you. Woe to those who are bound fast by their sins and covered over by their iniquities, just as a field is hemmed in by a forest and its seed is covered by thorns, through which no man passes; it is shut off and given over to be devoured by fire.