1   Beholde, speake thou in the eares of my people the wordes of prophesie, which I will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord:

2   And cause them to be written in a letter: for they are faithfull and true.

3   Feare not the imaginations against thee: let not the vnfaithfulnesse of the speakers trouble thee, that spake against thee.

4   For euery vnfaithfull shall die in his vnfaithfulnesse.

5   Beholde, sayth the Lord, I will bring plagues vpon all the worlde, the sworde, famine, death, and destruction:

6   Because that iniquitie hath fully polluted all the earth, and their wicked workes are fulfilled.

7   Therefore, sayth the Lorde, I will holde my tongue no more for their wickednesse, (they do vngodly) neither will I suffer them in the things, that they doe wickedly.

8   Beholde, ^note the innocent and righteous blood cryeth vnto me, and the soules of the iust crie continually.

9   I will surely auenge them, sayth the Lord, and receiue vnto me all the innocent blood from among them,

10   Beholde, my people is led as a flocke to the slaughter: I will not suffer them nowe to dwell in the land of Egypt,

11   But I will bring them out with a mightie hand, & a stretched out arme, and smite it &wt; plagues as afore, and will destroy all the land thereof.

12   Egypt shall mourne, and the foundations thereof shall be smitten with the plague and punishment, that God shall bring vpon it.

13   The plowmen that till the grounde, shall mourne: for their seedes shall faile through the blasting and haile, and by an horrible starre.

14   Wo to the world, & to them þt; dwell therein.

15   For the sword, and their destruction draweth neere, and one people shall stand vp to fight against another with swordes in their hands.

16   For there shall be sedition among men, and one shall inuade another: they shall not regarde their King, and the princes shal measure their doings by their power.

17   A man shall desire to goe into a citie, & shall not be able.

18   Because of their pride the cities shalbe troubled, the houses shall be afraide, and men shall feare.

19   A man shall haue no pitie vpon his neighbour, but shall destroy their houses with the sword, and their goods shall be spoyled for lacke of bread, and because of great trouble.

20   Behold, saith God, I call together all þe; Kings of the earth to reuerence me, which are from the ^note East, and from the South, from the East, and from Libanus, to turne vpon them, & to repay the things that they haue done to them.

21   As they doe yet this day vnto my chosen, so will I doe also, and recompense them in their bosome: thus sayth the Lord God,

22   My right hand shall not spare the sinners, neither shall the sworde cease from them, that shead innocent blood vpon earth.

23   The fire is gone out from his wrath, and hath consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners like the strawe, that is kindled.

24   Woe to them that sinne, and keepe not my commandements, sayth the Lord.

25   I will not spare them: depart, O children, from the power: defile not my Sanctuarie.

26   For the Lord knoweth all them that sinne against him, and therefore deliuereth he them vnto death and destruction.

27   For nowe are the plagues come vpon the world, & ye shall remaine in them: for God will not deliuer you, because ye haue sinned against him.

28   Beholde, an horrible vision commeth from the East,

29   Where generations of dragons of Arabia shall come out with many charets, and the multitude of them shall be caried as the winde vpon the earth, that all they which heare them, may feare and tremble.

30   Euen the Carmanians raging in wrath, shall goe forth as the bores of the forest, and shall come with great power, and stand against them in battell, and shall destroy a portion of the lande of the Assyrians.

31   But after this shall the dragons haue the vpper hand, and remember their nature, and shal turne about, and conspire to consume them with a great power.

32   Then these shall be troubled, and keepe silence by their power, and shall flee.

33   From the land of the Assyrians shall the enemie besiege them, and consume some of them, and in their hoste shall be feare and dread, and strife among their kings.

34   Behold cloudes from the East, and from the North vnto the South, and they are very horrible to looke vpon, full of wrath and storme?

35   They shall smite one vpon another: and they shall smite downe a great multitude of starres vpon the earth, euen their owne starre, and the blood shal be from the sworde vnto the belly,

36   And the dongue of man vnto þe; Camels litter.

37   And there shall be great fearefulnesse, and trembling vpon earth, and they that see the wrath, shall be afraide, and a trembling shall come vpon them.

38   And then there shall come great stormes from the South, and from the North, and part from the West.

39   And from the East shall windes arise & shall open it with the cloude, which he raised vp in wrath, and the starre, raysed to feare the East and West winde, shall be destroyed.

40   And the great and mightie cloudes shall be lift vp, full of wrath, and the starre, that they may make all the earth afraide, & them that dwell therein, & that they may poure out ouer euery hie place, and lifted vp, an horrible constellation,

41   As fyre & hayle, and flying swordes, and many waters, that all fieldes may be full, and all riuers with the abundance of great waters.

42   And they shall breake downe the cities, and walles, and mountaines, and hilles, and the trees of the wood, and the grasse of the medowes, and their corne.

43   And they shall goe with a streight course vnto Babylon, and make it afraide.

44   They shall come to her, and besiege her, and shall poure forth the constellation, & all the wrath against her: then shall the dust and smoke goe vp vnto the heauen, & all they that be about her, shall bewayle her.

45   And they that remaine vnder her, shall doe seruice vnto them, that haue put her in feare.

46   ¶2; And thou Asia, that art partaker of þe; hope of Babylon, and the glorie of her person,

47   Woe vnto thee, O wretch, because thou hast made thy selfe like vnto her, and hast deckt thy daughters in whoredome, that they might please and glorie in thy louers, which haue alway desired to commit whoredome with thee.

48   Thou hast followed her þt; is hated in all her workes, and in her inuentions: therefore saith God,

49   I wil send plagues vpon thee, widowhood, pouertie, and famine, and the sword, and pestilence, to waste thine houses with destruction and death,

50   And the glory of thy power shall be dryed vp, as a flower when the heate ryseth, that is sent vpon thee.

51   Thou shalt be sicke as a poore wife that is plagued and beaten of women, so that the mightie and the louers shall not be able to receiue thee.

52   Would I thus hate thee, sayth the Lord,

53   If thou hadst not alway slaine my chosen, exalting the stroke of thine handes, and saide ouer their death, when thou wast drunken,

54   Set forth the beautie of thy countenance?

55   The rewarde of thy whoredome shalbe in thy bosome: therefore shalt thou receiue a rewarde.

56   As thou hast done vnto my chosen, saith the Lord, so will God doe vnto thee, and will deliuer thee vnto the plague.

57   And thy children shall die of hunger, & thou shalt fall by the sworde, and thy cities shall be broken downe, and all thy men shall fall by the sword in the fielde.

58   And they that be in the mountaines shal dye of hunger, and eate their owne flesh, & drinke their owne blood for want of bread and thirst of water.

59   And thou, as vnhappie, shalt come thorowe the sea, and receiue plagues againe.

60   In the passage they shall cast downe þe; slaine citie, and shall roote out one part of thy land, and consume the portion of thy glorie, and shall returne to her that was destroyed.

61   Wh&ebar; thou shalt be cast downe, thou shalt be to them as stubble, and they shall be to thee as fire.

62   And they shall destroy thee, and thy cities, thy land, and thy mountaines: all thy woods, and all thy fruitfull trees shall they burne with fire.

63   Thy children shall they carie away captiue, and shall spoyle thy substance, and marre the beautie of thy face.

Previous section

Next section