THE PROPHECIE OF BARVCH. Chap. I. The Iewes in Babylon hauing heard Baruchs booke redde, 6. send the same, with money to Ierusalem, 10. requesting their bretheren there to offer sacrifice, and to pray for the king and prince of Babylon; and for them, 15. acknowleging their manifold sinnes.

1   And these be the wordes of the booke, that Baruch the sonne of Nerias, the sonne of Maasias, the sonne of Sedecias, the sonne of Sedei, the sonne of Helcias wrote in Babylon,

2   in the fifth yeare, in the seuenth day of the moneth, at ^note the time that the Chaldees tooke Ierusalem, and burnt it with fyre.

3   And Baruch redde the wordes of this booke vnto the eares of Iechonias the sonne of Ioakim king of Iuda, and to the eares of al the people comming to the booke,

4   and to the eares of the mightie, the sonnes of the kinges, and to the eares of the ancients, and to the eares of the people, from the least euen to the greatest of them, that dwelt in Babylon, by the riuer Sodi.

5   Who hearing it wept, and fasted, and prayed in the sight of our Lord.

6   And they gathered money, according as euerie mans hand was able,

7   and they sent into Ierusalem to Ioakim the sonne of Helcias, the sonne of Salom, priest, and to the priests, and to al the people, that were found with him in Ierusalem.

8   When he tooke the vessels of the temple of our Lord, which had bene taken away out of the temple, to returne them into the Land of Iuda the tenth day of the moneth Siuan, the siluer vessels, which Sedecias the sonne of Iosias the king of Iuda made,

9   after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had taken Iechonias, and the princes, and al the mightie, and the people of the land from Ierusalem, and brought them bound into Babylon.

10   And they said: Behold we haue sent you money, with the which bye ye holocausts, and frankincense, and make ^note manna, and offer for sinne at the altar of the Lord our God:

11   and pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his sonne, that their dayes may be as the dayes of heauen vpon the earth:

12   and that our Lord geue vs strength, and illuminate our

eyes, that we may liue vnder the shadow of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and vnder the shadow of Balthasar his sonne, and ^note may serue them manie dayes, and may find grace in their sight.

13   And for our selues pray ye to the Lord our God: because we haue sinned to the Lord our God, and his furie is not turned away from vs euen to this day.

14   And read ye this booke, which we haue sent to you to be recited in the temple of our Lord, in a solemne day, and in a day couenient.

15   And you shal say: To the Lord our God iustice: but to vs confusion of our face: as is this day to al Iuda, and them that dwel in Ierusalem,

16   to our kinges, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophetes, and to our fathers.

17   We haue sinned before the Lord our God, and beleued him not, hauing diffidence in him:

18   and we would not be made subiect to him, and we haue not heard the voice of the Lord our God, to walke in his commandments, which he hath geuen vs.

19   From the day, that he brought our fathers out of the Land of Ægypt, euen to this day, we would not be brought to beleue the Lord our God: and ^note dissipated we reuolted, that we might not heare his voice.

20   And manie euils and maledictions haue clouen to vs, which our Lord appoynted to Moyses his seruant: who brought our fathers out of the Land of Ægypt, to geue vs a land flowing with milke and honie, as at this present day.

21   And we haue not heard the voice of the Lord our God according to al the wordes of the prophets, which he hath sent to vs:

22   and we haue gone away euerie man into the sense of our malignant hart, to serue strange goddes, doing euils before the eyes of the Lord our God. Chap. II. ^note The same captiues further confesse, that their calamities are iustly comen vpon them for their iniquities, 11. and therfore lamentably pray for Gods mercie, as he promised by Moyses to penitents.

1   For the which thing the Lord our God hath established his word, that he spake to vs, and to our iudges, that haue iudged Israel, and to our kinges, and to our princes, and to al Israel and Iuda:

2   that our Lord might bring vpon vs great euils, which were not done vnder the heauen, as haue bene done in Ierusalem, according to the thinges that are written in the law of Moyses:

3   that a man ^note should eate the flesh of his sonne, and the flesh of his daughter.

4   And he hath geuen

them vnder the hand of al the kinges, that are round about vs into reproch, and into desolation among al peoples, into which our Lord hath dispersed vs.

5   And we are made vnderneath, and not aboue: because we haue sinned to the Lord our God, in not obeying his voice.

6   To the Lord our God iustice: but to vs, and to our fathers confusion of face, as is this day.

7   Because our Lord hath spoken vpon vs al these euils, that are come vpon vs:

8   and we haue not besought the face of the Lord our God, to returne euerie one of vs from our most wicked waies.

9   And our Lord hath watched in euils, and hath brought them vpon vs: because our Lord is iust in al his workes, which he hath commanded vs:

10   and we haue not heard his voice to walke in the precepts of our Lord, which he hath geuen before our face.

11   And now ô Lord God of Israel, which brought out thy people out of the Land of Ægypt in a strong hand, and in signes, and in wonders, and in thy great strength, and in a mightie arme, and madest thee a name as is this day:

12   we haue sinned, we haue done impiously, we haue dealt vniustly ô Lord our God, in al thy ^note iustices.

13   Let thy wrath be turned away from vs: because we are left a few among the nations, where thou hast dispersed vs.

14   Heare ô Lord our prayers, and our petitions, and bring vs out for thine owne sake: and grant vs to fynde grace before their face, that haue led vs away:

15   that al the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, and that thy name is inuocated vpon Israel, and vpon his stocke.

16   Looke ô Lord from thy holie house vpon vs, and incline thine eare, and heare vs.

17   Open thine eies, & see: because the dead that are in hel, whose spirite is taken from their bowels, shal not geue honour and iustification to our Lord:

18   but the soule, that is sorowful for the greatnes of euil, and goeth crooked, and weake, and the eyes fayling, and the hungrie soule geueth glorie and iustice to thee their Lord.

19   For not according to the iustices of our fathers doe we powre out prayers, and aske mercie before thy sight ô Lord our God:

20   but because thou hast sent thy wrath, and thy furie vpon vs, as thou hast spoken by the hande of thy seruants the prophets, saying:

21   Thus sayth our Lord: Bowe downe your shoulder, & your necke, and doe workes for the king of Babylon: and you shal sitte in the land, which I haue geuen to your fathers.

22   But if you wil not heare the voice of the Lord your God, to worke for

the king of Babylon: I wil make you to faile out of the cities of Iuda, and from without Ierusalem,

23   and I wil take from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of ioy, and the voice of the bridegrome, and the voice of the bride, and al the land shal be without foote steppe that inhabite it.

24   And they heard not thy voice, to worke for the king of Babylon: and thou hast established thy wordes, which thou spakest by the handes of thy seruants the prophets, that the bones of our kinges, and of our fathers should be transported out of their place:

25   and behold they are cast forth in the heate of the sunne, and in the frost of the night: and they are dead in verie sore paines, in famine, and by sword, and by casting forth. ^note

26   And hast made the temple, in which thy name was there inuocated, as it is this day, for the iniquitie of the house of Israel, and of the house of Iuda.

27   And thou hast done in vs ô Lord our God according to al thy goodnes, and according to al that thy great compassion:

28   as thou spakest by the hand of thy seruant Moyses, in the day, that thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel,

29   saying: If you wil not heare my voice, this great multitude shal be turned into a verie litle one among the Gentiles, whither I wil disperse them:

30   because I know that the people wil not heare me. for it is a people of a stiffe necke: and they shal be conuerted to their hart in the land of their captiuitie:

31   and they shal knowe that I am the Lord their God: and I wil geue them a hart, and they shal vnderstand: and eares, and they shal heare.

32   And they shal praise me in the land of their captiuitie, and shal be mindful of my name.

33   And they shal turne away them selues from their hard backe, and from their malignant workes: because they shal remember the way of their fathers, that sinned against me.

34   And I wil recal them backe into the land, which I sware to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and they shal haue the dominion therof: and I wil multiplie them, and they shal not be lesned.

35   And I wil establish vnto them ^note an other testament euerlasting, that I be their God, and they shal be my people: and I wil no more moue my people, the children of Israel from the land, that I haue geuen them. Chap. III. VVith further confession of their sinnes, 8. they acknowlege their iust captiuitie: 12. because they haue left true wisdome: 16. which was geuen

to their fathers: 23. not to rich men, or mightie giants, 29. but to those that serue God. 34. whom the starres obey. 36. with a cleare prophecie of Christ.

1   And now ô Lord omnipotent, God of Israel, the soule in distresses, & the pensiue spirite cryeth to thee:

2   heare Lord, and haue mercie, because thou art a merciful God, and haue mercie vpon vs: because we haue sinned before thee.

3   Because thou sittest for euer, and shal we perish euerlastingly?

4   O Lord omnipotent, God of Israel, heare now the prayer of ^note the dead of Israel, and of their children, that haue sinned before thee, and haue not heard the voice of the Lord their God, and euils haue stoocke fast to vs.

5   Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but remember thy hand, and thy name in this time:

6   because thou art the Lord our God, and we wil praise thee ô Lord:

7   because for this end thou hast geuen thy feare in our hartes, and that we may inuocate thy name, and may praise thee in our captiuitie, because we are conuerted from the iniquitie of our fathers, which haue sinned before thee.

8   And behold we are in our captiuitie, this day, wherby thou hast dispersed vs into reproch, and into malediction, and into sinne, according to al the iniquities of our fathers, which haue reuolted from thee ô Lord our God.

9    ^noteHeare Israel the commandments of life: harken with your eares, that you may know prudence.

10   What is the matter Israel that thou art in the land of the enemies?

11   Thou art waxen old in a strange land, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art reputed with them that goe downe into hel.

12   Thou hast forsaken the fountaine of wisdom:

13   for if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst verely dwelt in peace euerlasting.

14   Learne where wisedom is, where strength is, where vnderstanding is: that thou mayst know withal where is the long continuance of life and liuing, where the light of the eyes, and peace is.

15   Who hath found the place therof? and who hath entered into the treasures therof?

16   Where are the princes of the Gentiles, and they that rule ouer the beasts, that are vpon the earth?

17   that play with the birdes of the heauen,

18   that treasure vp siluer, and gold, wherin men haue confidence, and is there no end of their getting? which fashion siluer & are careful, ^note neither is there invention of their workes?

19   They are destroyed, and are gone downe to hel, and others are risen vp in their place.

20   Yong

men saw the light, and dwelt vpon the earth: but the way of discipline they knew not,

21   neither vnderstood they the pathes therof, neither haue their children receiued it, it is made farre from their face.

22   It hath not bene heard in the Land of Chanaan, neither hath it bene seene in Theman.

23   The children of Agar also, that seke out the prudence, that is of the earth, marchants of Merrhe, and of Theman, and ^note fablers, and searchers of prudence and vnderstanding: but the way of wisedome they haue not knowne, neither haue they remembred the pathes therof.

24   O Israel how great is the house of God, and how great is the place of his possession.

25   It is great, and hath no end: high and vnmesurable.

26   There were the Giants those renowned, that were from the beginning, of big stature, expert in warre?

27   These did not our Lord choose, neither found they the way of discipline: therfore did they perish.

28   And because they had not wisedom, they perished through their follie.

29   Who hath ascended into heauen, and taken her, and brought her downe from the clowdes? ^note

30   Who hath passed ouer the sea, and found her, and brought her aboue chosen gold?

31   There is none that can know her waies, nor that can search out her pathes:

32   but he that knoweth al thinges, knoweth her, & hath found her out by his prudence: he that prepared the earth in time euerlasting, and replenished it with cattel, and fourefooted beastes:

33   he that sendeth forth light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.

34   And the starres haue geuen light in their watches, and reioyced:

35   they were called, and they said: here we are: and they haue shined to him with cheerfulnes, that made them.

36    ^noteThis is our God, and there shal none other be estemed against him.

37   He found out al the way of discipline, and deliuered it to Iacob his seruant, and to Israel his beloued.

38   After these thinges he was sene vpon the earth, and was conuersant with men. Chap. IIII. ^note Gods people neglecting his grace offered to them, more then to other nations, 6. are seuerely punished, 15. by captiuitie: 18. but are reserued 22. and repenting shal be released: 31. and their enimies destroyed.

1   This is ^note the booke of the commandments of God, and the law, that is for euer: al that hold it, shal come to life: but they that haue forsaken it, into death.

2   Returne

Iacob, and take hold of it, walke by the way to the brightnes of it, against the light therof.

3   Deliuer not thy glorie to an other, & dignitie to a strange nation.

4   We are blessed ô Israel: because the thinges that please God, are manifest to vs.

5   Be of good comfort ô people of God, memorable Israel:

6   you are sold to the Gentiles, not into perdition: but for that in anger you prouoked God to wrath, you are deliuered to the aduersaries.

7   For you haue exasperated him, that made you, the eternal God, immolating to diuels, and not to God.

8   For you haue forgotten God, who hath nourished you, and your nource Ierusalem you haue made sorowful.

9   For she saw the wrath comming from God to you, and she sayd: Heare ye confines of Sion, for God hath brought me great mourning:

10   For I haue sene the captiuitie of my people, and of my sonnes, and daughters, which the euerlasting hath brought vpon them.

11   For I nourished them with ioyfulnes: but I haue left them with weeping and mourning.

12   Let no man reioyce ouer me a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken of manie for the sinnes of my children, because they haue declined from the law of God.

13   And his iustices they haue not knowne, nor walked by the wayes of Gods commandments, neither haue they entered by the pathes of his truth and iustice.

14   Let the borderers of Sion come, and remember the captiuitie of my sonnes & daughters, which the euerlasting hath brought vpon them.

15   For he hath brought vpon them a nation from a farre, a wicked nation, and of an other tongue:

16   which haue not reuerenced the ancient, nor pitied the children, & haue led away the beloued of the widow, and made the sole woman desolate of children.

17   But ^note as for me what can I helpe you?

18   For he that hath brought the euils vpon you, he wil deliuer you out of the handes of your enemies.

19   walke children, walke: for I am left alone.

20   I haue put of the stole of peace, and I haue put vpon me the sackcloth of prayer, and I wil crie to the Highest in my dayes.

21   Be of good comfort my children, crie to our Lord, and he wil deliuer you out of the hand of the princes your enemies.

22   For I haue hoped in the euerlasting for your saluation: & ioy is come to me from the holie one vpon the mercie, which shal come to you from our euerlasting sauiour.

23   For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but our Lord wil bring you backe to me with ioy and gladnes for euer.

24   For as the neighbours of Sion haue seene your captiuitie from God: so shal they see also with celeritie your saluation from God, which shal come vpon you with great honour, and euerlasting brightnes.

25   Children patiently sustaine the wrath, which is come vpon you: for thyne enemie hath persecuted thee, but thou shalt quickly see his destruction: and thou shalt get vp vpon his necke.

26   My delicate ones haue walked rough waies, for they are led as a flocke taken violently of the enemies.

27   Be of good comfort children, and crie out to our Lord: for there shal be remembrance of you with him, that hath led you away.

28   For as your minde hath bene to stray from God: ten tymes so much shal you returning againe seeke him.

29   For he that hath brought the euils vpon you, he againe wil bring vnto you euerlasting ioy with your saluation.

30   Be of good comfort Ierusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee.

31   The wicked afflicters shal perish, that haue vexed thee: & they that haue reioyced in thy ruine, shal be punished.

32   The cities which thy children haue serued, shal be punished: and she that receiued thy children.

33   For as she hath reioyced in thy ruine, and bene glad at thy fal: so shal she be made sorowful in her owne desolation.

34   And the reioycing of her multitude shal be cut of, & her gladnes shal be turned to mourning.

35   For fyre shal come vpon her from the euerlasting in long during dayes, and she shal be inhabited of diuels a great time.

36   Looke about ô Ierusalem toward the East, and see the ioy that commeth to thee from God.

37   For behold thy children come, whom thou hast let goe dispersed, they come gathered together from the East euen to the West, in the word of the holie one reioycing to the honor of God. Chap. V. A consolatorie prophecie to Ierusalem, that her children shal be reduced with ioy from captiuitie.

1   Pvt of Ierusalem the robe of mourning, and of thy vexation: and put on the beautie, and honor of that euerlasting glorie, which thou hast of God.

2   God wil cloath thee with the dublet ^note of iustice, and wil put vpon thy head the mitre of euerlasting honour.

3   For God wil shew his brightnes in thee, which is vnder the heauen.

4   For thy name shal be named of God to thee for euer. The peace of iustice, and honor of pietie.

5   Arise Ierusalem, and stand on high: and looke

about toward the East, and see thy children gathered together from the rysing of the sunne to the going downe, in the word of the holie reioycing at the memorie of God.

6   For they went out from thee on foote led by the enimies: but our Lord wil bring them to the exalted into honour as children of the kingdom.

7   For God hath apoynted to humble euerie high mountaine, and euerlasting rockes, and to fil vp valleis to be equal with the earth: that Israel may walke diligently to the honour of God.

8   And the woods also, and euerie tree of sweetnes haue ouershadowed Israel by the commandment of God.

9   For God wil bring Israel with ioyfulnes in the light of his maiestie, with mercie, and iustice, which is of him. Chap. VI. ^note Ieremie by his epistle forwarneth the Iewes, that they shal be captiues in Babylon: and after seuentie yeares shal be released: 3. exhorting them, al that time to auoid idolatrie: 7. largerly shewing the vanitie of idols.

A Copie of the Epistle that Ieremie sent to them that were ^note to be led away captiues into Babylon, by the king of Babylon, to tel them according to that which was commanded him of God.

1   For the sinnes that you haue sinned before God, you shal be led away captiue into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon.

2   Being entered therfore into Babylon, you shal be there manie yeares, and long times euen vnto ^note seuen generations: and after this I wil bring you forth from thence with peace.

3   But now you shal see in Babylon goddes of gold, and of siluer, and of stone, and of wood to be caried vpon shoulders, shewing feare to the Gentiles.

4   Beware therfore lest you also be like to the doing of strangers, and you be afrayd, and feare take you in them.

5   Seeing therfore the multitude adoring behind, and before, say you in your hartes: Thou oughest to be adored ô Lord.

6   For mine ^note Angel is with you: and my selfe ^note wil aske account of your soules.

7   For their tongue polished by the craftesman, them selues also layd ouer with gold, and siluer are false thinges, and they can not speake.

8   And as to a virgin that loueth ornaments: so taking gold their goddes are forged.

9   Their goddes certes haue golden crownes vpon their heades: wherof the priestes secretely conuey away from them gold, and siluer, and bestow it on them selues.

10   Yea and they geue therof to strumpettes,

and they decke whores: and againe when they receiue it of the harlots, they decke their goddes.

11   But these are not deliuered from the rust, and the moth.

12   And these being couered with a purple garment, they wype their face for the dust of the house, which is very much among them.

13   And he hath a scepter as a man, as a iudge of the countrie, that killeth him not that offendeth against him.

14   He hath also in his hand a sword, and an axe, but him selfe he deliuereth not from the sword, and from robbers, wherby be it knowne to you that they are not goddes.

15   Therfore feare them not. For as a mans vessel being broken is made vnprofitable: such also are their goddes:

16   they being placed in the house, their eies are ful of dust by the feete of them that goe in.

17   And as vpon one, that hath offended the king, the gates be shut round about, or as the dead brought to the graue, so doe the priestes gard the doores with shuttings, and lockes, lest they be spoyled of theeues.

18   They light candles to them, and that manie, of the which they can see none: but they are as beames in the house.

19   And they say that the serpents which are of the earth, gnaw out their hartes, whiles they eate them and their garment, and they feele not.

20   Their faces are blacke with the smoke, that is made in the house.

21   The owles, and the swallowes flye vpon their bodie, and vpon their head, and the birdes also, the cattes in like manner.

22   Wherby you may knowe that they are not goddes. Therfore feare them not.

23   The gold also which they haue, is for bewtie, vnles a man wype of the rust, they shal not shine: for neither when they were moulten, did they feele.

24   With ^note al price are they bought, whereas there is no breath in them.

25   As being without feete they are caried vpon shoulders, shewing their basenes to men. Be they confounded also that worship them.

26   Therfore if they fal to the ground, they rise not vp of them selues, nor if a man set him vpright, shal he stand by him self, but as to dead men their giftes shal be set before them.

27   Their priestes sel their sacrifices, and abuse them: likwise also their wiues plucking from them, impert nothing, neither to the sicke, nor to the begger.

28   Of their sacrifices wemen in childbed, and in flowers doe touche: knowing therfore by these thinges that they are not goddes, feare them not.

29   For whence are they called goddes? Because wemen offer to the goddes of siluer, and gold, and wood:

30   And priestes sitte in their houses, hauing their garments

rent, and their heades, & beard shauen, whose heades be bare.

31   And they were crying before their goddes, as at the supper of the dead.

32   The priests take away their garments, and they cloath their wiues & their children.

33   Neither if they suffer anie euil, nor if anie good of anie man, are they able to recompence it: neither can they make a king, nor take him away:

34   In like maner they can neither geue riches, nor requyre euil. If a man vow a vow vnto them, and performe it not; neither this doe they require.

35   They deliuer not a man from death, nor saue the weake from the mightier.

36   The blind man they restore not to his sight: they shal not deliuer a man out of necessitie.

37   They shal not pitie the widow, nor doe good to the fatherlesse.

38   Like vnto the stones of the mountaine are their goddes, of wood, and of stone, and of gold, and of siluer. & they that worship them, shal be confounded:

39   How then is it to be supposed, or to be sayd, that they are goddes?

40   Moreouer the Chldees themselues not honoring them: who when they heare that the dumme can not speake, they offer it to Bel, requesting of him, that it may speake.

41   As though they could feele that haue no motion: and they when they shal vnderstand, wil leaue them: for their goddes them selues haue no sense.

42   And wemen compassed with cordes, sit in the waies, burning the bones of oliues.

43   And when one of them being drawen of some passenger shal lie with him, she vpbraydeth her neighbour, that she is not counted worthie, as her self, neither is her cord broken.

44   But al thinges that are done about them. are false, how is it then to be thought, or to be sayd, that they be goddes? And they are made by craftesmen, & by goldsmithes. They shal be nothing els, but that which the priestes wil haue them to be.

46   For the artificers themselues, that make them, are of no long time. Why, can those thinges then that are made by them, be goddes?

47   But they haue left forged things & reproch, to them that shal come after.

48   For when battel commeth vpon them, and euils: the priestes deuise with them selues, where they may hide them selues with them.

49   How then may they be thought, that they are goddes, which neither deliuer them selues from battel, nor saue them selues from euils?

50   For seing they be of wood, & layd ouer with gold, and with siluer, it shal be knowne afterwards that they are false thinges, of al the Gentiles, and kinges: Which are manifest that they are

no goddes, but the workes of mens handes, and no worke of God is with them.

51   Whence then is it knowne, that they are not goddes, but the workes of mens handes, & no worke of God is in them?

52   A king to the countrie they raise not vp, neither shal they geue rayne to men.

53   Iudgement also they shal not decerne, neither shal they deliuer countries from iniurie: because they can not do nothing, as choughes betwen the heauen and the earth.

54   For when fire shal fal into the house of the woodden, and siluer, and golden goddes, their priestes in dede shal flee, and be deliuered: but themselues as beames shal be burnt in the middes.

55   And king and battel they shal not resist. How is it then to be supposed, or to be receiued that they are goddes?

56   Not from theeues, nor from robbers shal the goddes of wood, and of stone, and layd ouer with gold, and with siluer deliuer them selues, stronger then which are the wicked men.

57   The gold, and siluer, and the garment where with they are couered, they shal take from them, and shal depart, neither shal they helpe themselues.

58   Therfore it is better to be a king shewing his strength: or a profitable vessel in the house, wherin he wil glorie that possesseth it: or a doore in the house, which kepeth the thinges that are therin, then false goddes.

59   The sunne certes, and the moone, and the starres wheras they are bright, and sent forth for profitable vses, obey.

60   Likewise also the lightning, when it shal appeare is perspicuous: and the winde also bloweth the self same in euerie countrie.

61   And the clowdes, which when God shal command to walke throughout the whole world, they doe that which is commanded them.

62   The fyre also being sent from aboue to consume mountaines, and woodes, doeth that which is commanded it. But these neither in shapes, nor in vertues are like to one of them.

63   Wherfore neither is it to be thought, nor to be said, that they be goddes: wheras they can neither iudge iudgment, nor doe anie thing for men.

64   Knowing therfore that they are not goddes, then feare them not.

65   For neither shal they curse kinges, nor blesse them.

66   Signes also in the heauen to the Gentiles they shew not, neither shal they shine as the sunne, nor geue light as the moone.

67   Beastes are better then they, which can flie vnder the roofe, and profite themselues.

68   By no meanes therfore is it manifest vnto vs, that they are goddes: for which cause feare them not.

69   For as in a garden of cucumbers a scarcrow

keepeth nothing, so are their goddes of wood, and of siluer, and layd ouer with gold.

70   After the same sorte also in a garden the white thorne, vpon the which euerie bird sitteth. In like manner also their goddes of wood, and layd ouer with gold, and with siluer, are like to a dead bodie cast forth in the darke.

71   By the purple also and the murex colour layde vpon them, which fadeth, you shal know that they are not goddes. At the last also they are consumed, and shal be a reproch in the countrie.

72   Better is therfore the iust man, that hath not Idols: for he shal be farre from reproches.

Previous section

Next section