4 Esdras 16

¹Table OF

²Gird yourselves with sackcloths and shirts of hair, and mourn for your children, and be sorry: because your destruction is at hand.

³The sword is sent in upon you, and who is he that can turn it away?

⁴Fire is sent in upon you, and who is he that can quench it?

⁵Evils are sent in upon you, and who is he that can repel them?

⁶Shall any man repel the lion being hungry in the wood, or quench the fire in stubble, forthwith when it beginneth to burn?

⁷Shall any man repel the arrow shot of a strong archer?

⁸Our strong Lord sendeth in evils, & who is he that can repel them?

⁹Fire came forth from his wrath, and who is he that can quench it?

¹⁰He will lighten, who shall not fear, he will thunder, and who shall not be afraid?

¹¹Our Lord will threaten, and who shall not utterly be destroyed before his face?

¹²The earth hath trembled, and the foundations thereof, the sea tosseth up waves from the depth, and the floods of it shall be destroyed, and the fishes thereof at the face of our Lord, and at the glory of his power:

¹³because his right hand is strong which bendeth the bow, his arrows be sharp that are shot of him, they shall not miss, when they shall begin to be shot into the ends of the earth.

¹⁴Behold evils are sent, and they shall not return till they come upon the earth.

¹⁵The fire is kindled and it shall not be quenched, till it consume the foundations of the earth.

¹⁶For as the arrow shot of a strong archer returneth not, so shall not the evils return back, that shall be sent upon the earth.

¹⁷Woe is me: woe is me: who shall deliver me in those days?

¹⁸The beginning of sorrows and much mourning, the beginning of famine and much destruction. The beginning of wars and the potestates shall fear, the beginning of evils and all shall tremble.

¹⁹In these what shall I do, when the evils shall come?

²⁰Behold famine, and plague, & tribulation, and distress are sent all as scourges for amendment,

²¹and in all these they will not convert themselves from their iniquities, neither will they be always mindful of the scourges.

²²Behold, there shall be good cheap victuals upon the earth, so that they may think that peace is directly coming toward them, & then shall evils spring upon the earth, sword, famine, and great confusion.

²³For by famine many that inhabit the earth shall die, and the sword shall destroy the rest that remained alive of the famine,

²⁴and the dead shall be cast forth as dung, and there shall be none to comfort them. For the earth shall be left desert, and the cities thereof shall be thrown down.

²⁵There shall not be left a man to till the ground and to sow it.

²⁶The trees shall yield fruits, and who shall gather them?

²⁷The grape shall become ripe, and who shall tread it? For there shall be great desolation to

²⁸For a man shall desire to see a man, or to hear his voice.

²⁹For there shall be left ten of a city, and two of the field that have hid themselves in thick woods, and cliffs of rocks.

³⁰As there are left in the olivet, and on every tree, three or four olives.

³¹Or as in a vineyard when it is gathered there are grapes left by them, that diligently search the vineyard:

³²so shall there be left in those days three or four, by them that search their houses in the sword.

³³And the earth shall be left desolate, and the fields thereof shall wax old, and the ways thereof, and all the paths thereof shall bring forth thorns, because no man shall pass by it.

³⁴Virgins shall mourn having no bridegrooms, women shall mourn having no husbands, their daughters shall mourn having no help:

³⁵Their bridegrooms shall be consumed in battle, and their husbands be destroyed in famine.

³⁶But hear these things, and know them ye servants of our Lord.

³⁷Behold the word of our Lord, receive it: believe not the gods of whom our Lord speaketh.

³⁸Behold the evils approach, and slack not.

³⁹As a woman with child when she bringeth forth her child in the ninth month, the hour of her deliverance approaching, two or three hours before, pains come about her womb, and the infants coming out of her womb, they will not tarry one moment.

⁴⁰So the evils shall not slack to come forth upon the earth, and the world shall lament, and sorrows shall hold it round about.

⁴¹Hear the word, my people: prepare yourselves unto the fight, & in the evils so be ye as strangers of the earth.

⁴²He that selleth as if he should fly, & he that buyeth as he that should lose it.

⁴³He that playeth the merchant, as he that should take no fruit: and he that buildeth as he that should not inhabit.

⁴⁴He that soweth, as he that shall not reap: so he also that pruneth a vineyard, as if he should not have the vintage.

⁴⁵They that marry so as if they should not get children, and they that marry not, so as it were widows.

⁴⁶Wherefore they that labour, labour without cause:

⁴⁷for foreigners shall reap their fruits, and shall violently take their goods, and overthrow their houses, and lead their children captive, because in captivity, and famine they beget their children.

⁴⁸And they that play the merchants by robbery, the longer they adorn their cities and houses, and their possessions and persons:

⁴⁹so much the more will I be zealous toward them, upon their sins, saith our Lord.

⁵⁰As a whore envieth an honest and very good woman:

⁵¹so shall justice hate impiety when she adorneth herself, and accuseth her to her face, when he shall come that may defend him that searcheth out all upon the earth.

⁵²Therefore be not made like to her, nor to her works.

⁵³For yet a little while and iniquity shall be taken away from the earth, and justice shall reign over you.

⁵⁴Let not the sinner say he hath not sinned: because he shall burn coals of fire upon his head, that saith I have not sinned before our Lord God and his glory.

⁵⁵Behold our Lord shall know all the works of men, and their inventions, and their cogitations, and their hearts. . Luc. 16. .

⁵⁶For he said: Let the earth be made, and it was made: let the heaven be made, and it was made.

⁵⁷And by his word the stars were made, and he knoweth the number of the stars. . v. 4. Job. 38.

⁵⁸Who searcheth the depth and the treasures thereof: who hath measured the sea, and capacity thereof.

⁵⁹Who hath shut up the sea in the midst of waters, and hath hanged the earth upon the waters with his word.

⁶⁰Who hath spread heaven as it were a vault, over the waters he hath founded it.

⁶¹Who hath put fountains of waters in the desert, and lakes upon the tops of mountains, to send forth rivers from the high rock to water the earth.

⁶²Who made man and put his heart in the midst of the body, and gave him spirit, life, and understanding.

⁶³And the inspiration of God omnipotent that made all things, and searcheth all hid things, in the secrets of the earth.

⁶⁴He knoweth your invention, and what you think in your hearts sinning, and willing to hide your sins.

⁶⁵Wherefore our Lord in searching hath searched all your works, and he will put you all to open shame,

⁶⁶and you shall be confounded when your sins shall

⁶⁷What will you do? Or how shall you hide your sins before God and his Angels?

⁶⁸Behold God is the Judge, fear him. Cease from your sins, and now forget your iniquities to do them any more, and God will bring you out, and deliver you from all tribulation.

⁶⁹For behold the heat of a great multitude is kindled over you, and they shall take certain of you by violence, and shall make the slain to be meat for idols.

⁷⁰And they that shall consent unto them, shall be to them in derision, and in reproach, and in conculcation.

⁷¹for there shall be place against places, and against the next cities great insurrection upon them that fear our Lord.

⁷²They shall be as it were mad sparing nobody, to spoil and waste yet them that fear our Lord.

⁷³because they shall waste and spoil the goods, and shall cast them out of their houses.

⁷⁴Then, shall appear the probation of mine elect, as gold that is proved by the fire.

⁷⁵Hear my beloved, saith our Lord: Behold the days of tribulation are come: and out of them I will deliver you.

⁷⁶Do not fear, nor stagger, because God is your guide.

⁷⁷And he that keepeth my commandments, and precepts, saith our Lord God: Let not your sins overweigh you, nor your iniquities be advanced over you.

⁷⁸Woe to them that are entangled with their sins, and are covered with their iniquities, as a field is entangled with the wood, and the path thereof covered with thorns, by which no man passeth, and it is closed out, and cast to be devoured of the fire. A TABLE OF THE EPISTLES, TAKEN FORTH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, upon certain festival days. The other feasts, and all the Sundays have their Epistles in the new Testament. As is there noted. In the feast of our Blessed Lady's Conception. . v. 22. to the v. 36. S. John Evangelist. . v. 1. to 7. The Epiphany. Isaiæ 60. v. 1. to v. 7. Candlemass day. . v. 1. to v. 5. S. Thomas Aquinas. . v. 7. to v. 15. The Annunciation of our B. Lady. Isaiæ. 7. v. 11. to v. 16. S. Mark. Ezechiel. 1. v. 5. to v. 14. S. Philippe and S. James. . v. 1. to v. 6. S. John ante portam Latinam, the same. The Nativity of S. John Baptist. . v. 1. to v. 6. & v. 23. Visitation of our B. Lady. . v. 8. to v. 15. The octave of S. Peter and S. Paul. . v. 10. to v. 16. S. Mary Magdalene. . v. 2. to 6. & ca. 8. v. 6. to 8. S. Anne. Proverb. 31. v. 10. to the end of the chap. The Assumption of our B. Lady. . v. 11. to 21. Decollation of S. John Baptist. Jere. 1. v. 17. to the end. The Nativity of our B. Lady. Proverb. 8. v. 22. to 36.