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(Cont. from Page
18/5/99).
THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES FROM 2 ESDRAS 15:20-63
& "See how I summon before Me all the kings of the earth, says God, from sunrise and south wind, from east and south, to turn back and repay what they have been given. I will do to them as they are doing to My chosen people even to this day; I will pay them back in their own coin. These are the words of the Lord God: I will show sinners no pity; the sword will not spare those murderers who stain the ground with innocent blood. The Lord's anger has overflowed in fire to scorch the earth to its foundations and consume sinners like burning straw. Alas for sinners who flout My commands! says the Lord; I will show them no mercy. Away from Me, you rebels! Do not bring your pollution near My holiness. The Lord well knows all who sin against Him, and has consigned them to death and destruction. Already disaster has fallen upon the world, and you will never escape it; God will refuse to rescue you, because you have sinned against Him. How terrible the sight of what is coming from the east! Hordes of dragons from Arabia will sally forth with countless chariots, and from the first day of their advance their hissing will spread across the land, to fill all who hear them with fear and consternation. The Carmanians, mad with rage, will rush like wild boars out of the forest, advancing in full force to join battle with them, and will devastate whole tracts of Assyria with their tusks. But then the dragons will summon up their native fury, and will prove the stronger. They will rally and join forces, and fall on them with overwhelming might until they are routed, until their power is silenced, and every one of them turns to flight. Then their way will be blocked by a lurking enemy from Assyria, who will destroy one of them. Fear and panic will spread in their army, and wavering among their kings. See the clouds stretching from east and north to south! Their appearance is hideous, full of fury and tempest. They will clash together, they will pour over the land a vast storm; blood, shed by the sword, will reach as high as a horse's belly, a man's thigh, or a camel's hock. Terror and trembling will cover the earth; all who see the raging fury will shudder and be stricken with panic. Then vast storm-clouds will approach from north and south, and others from the west. But the winds from the east will be stronger still, and will hold in check the raging cloud and its leader; and the storm which was bent on destruction will be fiercely driven back to the south and west by the winds from the east. Huge mighty clouds, full of fury, will mount up and ravage the whole land and its inhabitants; a terrible storm will sweep over the great and the powerful, with fire and hail and flying swords; and a deluge of water will flood all the fields and rivers. They will flatten to the ground cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees in the woods and crops in the fields. They will advance all the way to Babylon, and blot it out. When they reach it, they will surround it, and let loose a storm in all its fury. The dust and smoke will reach the sky, and all her neighbours will mourn for Babylon. Any of her survivors will be enslaved by her destroyers. And you, Asia, who have shared the beauty and the splendour of Babylon, alas for you, poor wretch! Like her you have dressed up your daughters as whores, to attract and catch your lovers who have always lusted for you. You have copied all the schemes and practices of that vile harlot. Therefore God says, I will bring upon you terrible evils: widowhood and poverty, famine, sword, and plague, bringing ruin to your homes, bringing violence and death. Your strength and splendour will wither like a flower, when that scorching heat bears down upon you. Then you will be a poor weak woman, bruised, beaten, and wounded, unable to receive your wealthy lovers any more. Should I be so fierce with you, says the Lord, if you had not killed My chosen ones continually, gloating over the blows you struck them, and hurling your drunken taunts at their corpses? Paint you
face; make yourself beautiful! The harlot's pay shall be yours; you will get
what you have earned. What you do to My chosen
people, God will do to you, says the Lord; He will consign you to a terrible
fate. Your children will die of hunger; you will fall by the
sword, your cities will be blotted out, and all your people will fall on the
field of battle. Those who are up on the mountains will be dying of hunger, and
their hunger and thirst will force them to gnaw their own flesh and drink their
own blood. You will be foremost in misery, and still there will be more to come.
As the victors go past on their way home from the sack of Babylon, they will
smash your peaceful city, destroy a great part of your territory, and bring much
of your splendour to an end. They will destroy you (Cont. on Page 19/5/99B).
19/5/99A. |
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