2 Esdras
1Behold, speak you in the ears of MY people the Words of prophecy, which I will put in your mouth, says YAHWEH:
2And cause them to be written on paper: for they are trustworthy and true. — Is.51:16 Jer 1:9
3Fear not the imaginations against you, let not the unbelief of them trouble you, that speak against you.
4For all the unbeliever shall die in their unbelief.
5Behold, says YAHWEH, I will bring evil plagues upon the world; the sword, famine, death, and destruction.
6For injustice has exceedingly polluted the whole earth, and their harmful deeds are fulfilled.
7Therefore says YAHWEH, I will hold MY tongue no more concerning their wicked checedless deeds, which they profanely commit, neither will I tolerate their wicked practices, in which they wickedly exercise themselves:
8Behold, the innocent and righteous blood cries out to ME, and the souls of the righteous cry out continually.
9And therefore, says YAHWEH, I will surely avenge them, and receive to MYSELF all the innocent blood from among them.
10Behold, MY people is led as a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them to dwell any longer in the land of Egypt
11But I will bring them with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, and will smite Egypt with plagues, as before, and will destroy all its lands.
12Egypt shall mourn, and the foundation of it shall be smitten with the plague and punishment that I YAHWEH shall bring upon it.
13They that till the ground shall mourn: for their seeds shall fail, and their trees shall be ruined by blight and hail, and by a terrible tempest.
14Woe to the world and them that dwell therein!
15For the sword and misery draws near them, and nation shall stand up and fight against nation, with swords in their hands. — Mt 24:7. Mk 13:8
16For there shall be sedition and unrest among men, and invading one another; they shall not regard their kings nor princes, and the course of their actions shall stand in their power.
17A man shall desire to go into a city, and shall not be able.
18For because of their pride the cities shall be troubled and be in confusion, the houses shall be destroyed, and people shall be afraid. — Lk 21:26
19A man shall have no pity upon his neighbor, but shall destroy their houses with the sword, and spoil their property, because of the lack of bread, and because of great tribulation.
20Behold, says YAHWEH, I call together all the kings of the earth to reverence and fear ME, from the rising of the sun and from the south, from the east, and the west; to turn to each another and repay the things that they have done to them.
21Just as they have done this day to MY chosen people, so will I do also, and will repay into their bosom. Thus says YAHWEH ALMIGHTY;
22MY right hand shall not spare the sinners, and MY sword shall not cease from them that shed innocent blood upon the earth.
23The fire will go forth from MY wrath, and will consume the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like straw that is kindled.
24Woe to those who sin and do not observe MY commandments! says YAHWEH.
25I will not spare them: depart, you faithless children! and defile not MY Kodesh Place.
26For I YAHWEH knows all them that sin against ME, and therefore delivers them to death and destruction.
27For now are the calamities come upon the whole earth, and you shall remain in them: for I YAHWEH shall not deliver you, because you have sinned against ME.
28Behold, a terrifying sight, and the appearance thereof from the east:
29Where the nations of the dragons of Arabia shall come out with many chariots, and the multitude of them shall be carried as the wind upon earth, that all they which hear them may fear and tremble.
30Also the Carmanians from the north, raging in wrath, shall go forth as wild boars of the forest, and with great power shall they come, and engage them in battle, and shall waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians.
31And then shall the dragons, remembering their origin; shall become still stronger; and conspiring together in great power and turn to pursue them, shall have the upper hand,
32Then these shall be disorganized and silenced by their power, and shall turn and flee.
33And from the land of the Assyrians shall the enemy besiege them, and consume some of them, and fear and dread shall come upon their army, and strife among their kings.
34Behold clouds from the east, and from the north to the south, and their appearance is very horrible to look upon, full of wrath and storm.
35They shall smite one another and shall pour out a heavy tempest upon the earth, and their own tempest,
36And there shall be blood from the sword as high as a horse's belly and a man's thigh and a camel's hock.
37And there shall be great fearfulness and trembling upon earth: and they that see the wrath shall be sore afraid, and they shall be seized with trembling.
38And, after that, great storm clouds shall be stirred up from the south, and from the north, and another part from the west.
39And strong winds shall arise from the east, and shall prevail over the great storm cloud which I raised in MY wrath, and shall dispel it; and the tempest to cause great fear and destruction, and shall be driven violently toward the south and west.
40And great and mighty clouds full of wrath and tempest shall rise up to destroy the inhabitants of the earth and make all the earth afraid, and they shall pour out over every high and lofty place (or person), a horrible tempest,
41Fire, and hail and flying swords and floods of water, that all the fields and all the streams may be filled with the abundance of those waters.
42And they shall destroy the cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of the wood, and grass of the meadows, and their corn.
43And they shall go steadfastly to Babylon, and shall destroy her.
44They shall come to her, and besiege her, they shall pour out the tempest and all its wrath upon her: then shall the dust and smoke go up to the heaven, and all they that be about her shall bewail her.
45And they that survive shall do service to them that have put her in fear.
46And you, Asia, that are partakers of the glamour of Babylon, and are the splendor of her person:
47Woe be to you, miserable wretch! Because you have made yourself like to her; and have decked your daughters in whoredom, that they might please and glory in your lovers, which have always lusted to commit whoredom with you.
48You have imitated and followed her that is hated in all her works and inventions: therefore says YAHWEH,
49I will send plagues upon you; widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, to lay waste your houses with destruction and death.
50And the splendor of your power shall be dried up as a flower, when the heat rises that is sent over you.
51You shall be weakened like a wretched woman beaten with stripes, and is wounded, so that you cannot receive your mighty lovers.
52Would I have dealt with you with a jealous wrath? says YAHWEH,
53If you had not always slain MY chosen people, leaping for joy and clapping your hands, and talking about their dead, when you were drunken,
54Set forth the beauty of your countenance!
55The reward of a whore is in your bosom, therefore you shall receive your recompense.
56Like as you have done to MY chosen people, says YAHWEH, even so shall YAHWEH the ALMIGHTY do to you, and shall deliver you over to adversities.
57Your children shall die of hunger, and you shall fall by the sword, and your cities shall be broken down, and all your people who are in the open country shall perish with the sword.
58They that be in the mountains and highlands shall die of hunger, and they shall eat their own flesh in hunger for bread and drink their own blood in thirst for water.
59Unhappy above all others, you shall come through the sea, and receive plagues again.
60And in the passage they shall wreck the hateful unprofitable city, and shall destroy some portion of your land, and abolish a part of your glory, as they return from the devastated Babylon.
61And you shall be cast down by them like stubble, and they shall be like fire to you;
62And they shall consume you, and your cities, your land, and your mountains; they shall burn with fire all your woods and your fruitful trees.
63Your children shall then be carried away captive, and shall plunder your wealth, and mar the beauty of your face.
