1. Afterwards the Ancient of days repented, and said, In vain have I
destroyed all the inhabitants of the earth.
2. And he sware by his great name, _saying_, Henceforwards I will not
act thus towards all those who dwell upon earth.
3. But I will place a sign in the heavens;[114] and it shall be a
faithful witness[115] between me and them for ever, as long as the days
of heaven and earth last upon the earth.
4. Afterwards, according to this my decree, when I shall be disposed to
seize them beforehand, by the instrumentality of angels, in the day of
affliction and trouble, my wrath and my punishment shall remain upon
them, my punishment and my wrath, saith God the Lord of spirits.
5. O ye kings, O ye mighty, who inhabit the world, you shall behold my
Elect One, sitting upon the throne of my glory. And he shall judge
Azazeel, all his associates, and all his hosts, in the name of the Lord
of spirits.
6. There likewise I beheld hosts of angels who were moving in
punishment, confined in a net-work of iron and brass. Then I inquired of
the angel of peace, who proceeded with me, To whom those under
confinement were going.
7. He said, To each of their elect and their beloved, that they may be
cast into the fountains and deep recesses of the valley.
8. And that valley shall be filled with their elect and beloved; the
days of whose life shall be consumed, but the days of their error shall
be innumerable.
9. Then shall princes combine together, and conspire. The chiefs of the
east, among the Parthians and Medes, shall remove kings, in whom a
spirit of perturbation shall enter. They shall hurl them from their
thrones, springing as lions from their dens, and like famished wolves
into the midst of the flock.
10. They shall go up, and tread upon the land of their elect. The land
of their elect shall be before them. The threshing-floor, the path, and
the city of my righteous _people_ shall impede _the progress of_ their
horses. They shall rise up to destroy each other; their right hand shall
be strengthened; nor shall a man acknowledge his friend or his brother;
11. Nor the son his father and his mother; until the number of the dead
bodies shall be _completed_, by their death and punishment. Neither
shall this take place without cause.
12. In those days shall the mouth of hell be opened, into which they
shall be immerged; hell shall destroy and swallow up sinners from the
face of the elect.
Footnote 114:
Gen. ix. 13. “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a
token of a covenant between me and the earth.”
Footnote 115:
_faith_, or _fidelity_.