4 Esdras (2 Esdras) 15

Behold, speak in the ears of my people the words of prophecy which I will put into your mouth, says the Lord;

and cause them to be written on a scroll, for they are faithful and true.

Do not fear the schemings against you, nor let the unbelief of those who speak against you trouble you.

For every unbeliever shall die in his unbelief.

Behold, I bring, says the Lord, upon the world evils: the sword, and famine, and death, and destruction;

because iniquity has utterly defiled all the earth, and their hurtful deeds are fulfilled.

Therefore says the Lord:

I will no longer be silent concerning the impieties which they irreverently commit, nor will I bear with them in the things which they wickedly practise. Behold, innocent and righteous blood cries out to me, and the souls of the righteous cry out without ceasing.

Avenging I will avenge them, says the Lord, and I will take to myself all the innocent blood from among them.

Behold, my people are led like a flock to the slaughter; I will no longer suffer them to dwell in the land of Egypt;

but I will bring them out with a mighty hand and a high arm, and will strike Egypt with plagues as before, and will lay waste all its land.

Egypt shall mourn, and its foundations, smitten with plague and chastisement which God shall bring upon it.

The husbandmen who till the ground shall mourn, because their seeds shall fail from the blight, and the hail, and the dreadful star.

Woe to the world, and to those who dwell in it;

for the sword and their destruction have drawn near, and nation shall rise up against nation to battle, and a sword in their hands.

For there shall be instability among men, and growing strong one against another, they shall pay no regard to their king, nor to the chiefs of the course of their deeds, in their power.

For a man shall desire to go into the city, and shall not be able.

For because of their pride the cities shall be thrown into confusion, the houses shall be destroyed, and men shall be afraid.

A man shall have no pity on his neighbour, but shall fall upon their houses with the sword to ravage their goods, because of the famine of bread and the great tribulation.

Behold, I summon, says God, all the kings of the earth to fear me, those from the east, and from the south, and from the east wind, and from Lebanon, to turn them upon themselves, and to repay what they have given to those kings;

just as they do to my chosen ones to this day, so I will do, and will repay into their bosom. Thus says the Lord God.

My right hand shall not spare the sinners, nor shall the sword cease over those who shed innocent blood upon the earth.

A fire has gone forth from his wrath, and has devoured the foundations of the earth, and the sinners like burning straw.

Woe to those who sin, and do not keep my commandments, says the Lord.

I will not spare them. Depart, you children, from the power. Do not defile my sanctuary,

for the Lord knows all who transgress against him; therefore he has delivered them over to death and to slaughter.

For now the evils have come upon the world, and you shall remain in them; for God will not deliver you, because you have sinned against him.

Behold, a dreadful vision, and its face from the east.

And the nations of the dragons of Arabia shall come out in many chariots, and like the wind their number is borne over the earth, so that all who hear them shall fear and tremble;

the Carmonians, raging in wrath, shall come out like wild boars from the forest, and shall come with great power, and shall stand in battle against them, and shall lay waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians.

And after this the dragons, mindful of their origin, shall prevail; and they shall turn, conspiring together with great power, to pursue them.

These shall be troubled, and shall fall silent in their strength, and shall turn their feet to flight,

and from the territory of the Assyrians an ambusher shall besiege them, and shall destroy one of them, and there shall be fear and trembling in their army, and contention among their kings.

Behold, clouds from the east, and from the north as far as the south, and their faces exceedingly dreadful, full of wrath and tempest,

and they shall dash one against another, and shall pour down a vast star upon the earth, even their own star; and there shall be blood from the sword as high as the belly,

and the dung of a man as high as the camel's underbelly; and there shall be great fear and trembling upon the earth.

And those who behold that wrath shall be horrified, and trembling shall take hold of them; and after this great clouds shall be set in motion

from the south and the north, and another portion from the west;

and the winds from the east shall prevail, and shall shut it in, and the cloud which it raised up in wrath; and the star, raised to cause terror, shall be driven against the east wind and the west.

And great and mighty clouds, full of wrath, shall be lifted up, and a star, to terrify all the earth and its inhabitants, and they shall pour out upon every high and lofty place a dreadful star,

fire and hail and flying swords and many waters, so that even all the fields and all the streams shall be filled with the fullness of many waters.

And they shall demolish the cities, and the walls, and the mountains, and the hills, and the trees of the forests, and the hay of the meadows, and their grain.

And they shall pass on steadily as far as Babylon, and shall destroy it;

they shall come together against it, and surround it, and pour out the star and all wrath upon it; and dust and smoke shall rise up to heaven, and all round about shall mourn for it.

And those who are left under it shall serve those who terrified it.

And you, O Asia, who are in accord with the hope of Babylon, and the glory of her person,

woe to you, wretched one, because you have made yourself like her, and have adorned your daughters for fornication, to please and to glory in your lovers, who have always desired to commit fornication with you.

You have imitated that hateful one in all her works, and in her devices; therefore God says,

I will send upon you evils: widowhood, poverty, and famine, and the sword, and pestilence, to lay waste your houses with ruin and death, and the glory of your strength.

Like a flower you shall wither, when the heat that is sent upon you arises,

you shall be weakened like a poor woman, smitten and chastised by women, so that the powerful and your lovers cannot receive you.

Should I have been so jealous for you, says the Lord,

had you not slain my chosen ones at all times, exulting with the clapping of hands, and speaking over their death, when you were drunken,

Adorn the appearance of your face?

The wages of your fornication shall be in your bosom; for this you shall receive recompense.

As you have done to my chosen ones, says the Lord, so shall God do to you, and shall deliver you over to evil.

And your children shall perish by famine; and you shall fall by the sword, and your cities shall be crushed, and all your people in the field shall fall by the sword.

And those who are in the mountains shall perish of hunger, and shall eat their own flesh, and drink blood, from hunger for bread and thirst for water.

Unhappy, you shall come across the seas, and again you shall receive evils.

And in passing they shall strike the slain city, and shall lay waste some portion of your land, and shall destroy part of your glory, as they return again to overthrown Babylon.

And you shall be broken down by them for stubble, and they shall be a fire to you;

and they shall devour you, and your cities, your land and your mountains; all your forests and your fruitful trees they shall burn with fire.

They shall lead your children captive, and shall take your wealth as plunder, and shall destroy the glory of your countenance.