Al are admonished, that extreme calamities shal fal vpon this world,
36. the penitent returning to iustice shal escape, 55. & as al thinges
were made by Gods omnipotent powre at his wil, so al thinges shal serue
to the reward of the blessed, and punishment of the wicked.
VVOE to thee Babylon & Asia, woe to thee AEgypt, and Syria. 2 Gird
yourselues with sackclothes and shirtes of heare, & mourne for your
children, & be sorie: because your destruction is at hand. 3 The sword
is sent in vpon you, and who is he that can turne it away? 4 Fire is
sent in vpon you, and who is he that can quench it? 5 Euiles are sent
in vpon you, and who is he that can repel them? 6 Shal anie man repel
the lion being hungrie in the woode, or quench the fire in stubble,
forthwith when it beginneth to burne? 7 Shal anie man repel the arrow
shot of a strong archer? 8 Our strong Lord sendeth in euiles, and who
is he that can repel them? 9 Fire came forth from his wrath, and who is
he that can quench it? 10 He wil lighten, who shal not feare, he wil
thunder, and who shal not be afrayed? 11 Our Lord wil threaten, and who
shal not vtterly be destroyed before his face? 12 The earth hath
trembled, and the fundations thereof, the sea tosseth vp waues from the
depth, and the floudes of it shal be destroyed, and the fishes thereof
at the face of our Lord, and at the glorie of his powre: 13 because his
right hand is strong which bendeth the bow, his arrowes be sharpe that
are shot of him, they shal not misse, when they shal begine to be shot
into the endes of the earth. 14 Behold euiles are sent, and they shal
not returne til they come vpon the earth. 15 The fire is kindled and it
shal not be quenched, til it consume the fundations of the earth. 16
For as the arrow shot of a strong archer returneth not, so shal not the
euils returne backe, that shal be sent vpon the earth. 17 Woe is me,
woe is me: who shal deliuer me in those dayes? 18 The beginning of
sorrowes and much mourning, the beginning of famine and much
destruction. The beginning of warres and the potestates shal feare, the
beginning of euiles and al shal tremble. 19 In these what shal I doe,
when the euils shal come? 20 Behold famine, and plague, and
tribulation, and distresse are sent al as scourges for amendment, 21
and in al these they wil not conuert themselues from their iniquities,
neither wil they be alwayes mindful of the scourges. 22 Behold, there
shal be good cheape victuals vpon the earth, so that they may thinke
that peace is directly coming toward them, and then shal euiles spring
vpon the earth, sword, famine, and great confusion. 23 For by famine
manie that inhabit the earth shal dye, and the sword shal destroy the
rest that remained aliue of the famine, 24 and the dead shal be cast
forth as dung, and there shal be none to comfort them. For the earth
shal be left desert, and the cities therof shal be throwen downe. 25
There shal not be left a man to til the ground and to sow it. 26 The
trees shal yeeld fruites, and who shal gather them? 27 The grape shal
become ripe, & who shal tread it? For there shal be great desolation to
places. 28 For a man shal desire to see a man, or to heare his voyce.
29 For there shal be leaft ten of a citie, and two of the field that
haue hid themselues in thicke woodes, and cliffes of rockes. 30 As
there are left in the oliuet, and on euerie tree, three of foure
oliues. 31 Or as in a vinyeard when it is gathered there are grapes
left by them, that diligently search the vineyard: 32 so shal there be
left in those dayes three or foure, by them that search their houses in
the sword. 33 And the earth shal be left desolate, and the fildes
thereof shal waxe old, & the wayes thereof, and al the pathes thereof
shal bringforth thornes, because no man shal passe by it. 34 Virgins
shal mourne hauing no bridegromes, wemen shal mourne hauing no
husbandes, their daughters shal mourne hauing no helpe: 35 their
bridegromes shal be consumed in battel, and their husbandes be
destroyed in famine. 36 But heare these thinges, and know them ye
seruantes of our Lord. 37 Behold the word of our Lord, receiue it:
beleue not the goddes of whom our Lord speaketh. 38 Behold the euiles
approch, and slacke not. 39 As a woman with childe when shee bringeth
forth her child in the ninth moneth, the houre of her deliuerance
approching, two or three howres before, paines come about her wombe,
and the infants coming out of her wombe, they wil not tarrie one
moment. 40 So the euiles shal not slacke to come forth vpon the earth,
and the world shal lament, and sorowes shal hold it round about. 41
Heare the word, my people: prepare yourselues vnto the fight, & in the
euiles so be ye as strangers of the earth. 42 He that selleth as if he
should flee, and he that byeth as he that should lose it. 43 He that
playeth the marchant, as he that should take no fruite: and he that
buildeth as he that should not inhabite. 44 He that soweth, as he that
shal not reape: so he also that pruneth a vinyeard, as if he should not
haue the vintage. 45 They that marie so as if they should not get
children, & they that marie not, so as if were widowes. 46 Wherfore
they that labour, labour without cause: 47 for foreners shal reape
their fruites, & shal violently take their goodes, and ouerthrow their
houses, and lead theire children captiue, because in captiuitie, and
famine they beget their children. 48 And they that play the marchantes
by robrie, the longer they adorne their cities and houses, and their
possessions and persons: 49 so much the more wil I be zealous toward
them, vpon their sinnes, sayth our Lord. 50 As a whore enuieth an
honest & very good woman: 51 so shal iustice hate impietie when she
adorneth herselfe, and accuseth her to her face, when he shal come that
may defend him that searcheth out al vpon the earth. 52 Therefore be
not made like to her, nor to her workes. 53 For yet a little whyle &
iniquitie shal be taken away from the earth, & iustice shal reigne ouer
you. 54 Let not the sinner say he hath not sinned: because he shal
burne coales of fire vpon his head, that sayth I haue not sinned before
our Lord God and his glorie. 55 Behold our Lord shal know al the workes
of men, and their inuentions, & their cogitations, and their hartes.
(Eccli 23 / Luke 16) 56 For he sayd: Let the earth be made, and it was
made: let the heauen be made, & it was made. (Gen 1) 57 And by his
worde the starrs were made, & he noweth the number of the starres. (Ps
146:4) 58 Who searcheth the depth and the treasures therof: who hath
measured the sea, & capacitie therof. (Job 38) 59 Who hath shut vp the
sea in the midest of waters, & hath hanged the earth vpon the waters
with his word. 60 Who hath spred heauen as it were a vault, ouer the
waters he hath founded it. 61 Who hath put fountaines of waters in the
desert, and lakes vpon the toppes of mountaines, to send forth riuers
from the high rocke to watter the earth. 62 Who made man & put his hart
in the midds of the bodie, and gaue him spirit, life and vnderstanding.
63 And the inspiration of God omnipotent that made al thinges, and
searcheth al hid thinges, in the secretes of the earth. 64 He knoweth
your inuention, and what you thinke in your hartes sinning, and willing
to hide your sinnes. 65 Wherfore our Lord in searching hath searched al
your workes, and he wil put you al to open shame, 66 and you shal be
confounded when your sinnes shal come forth before men, and the
iniquities shal be they, that shal stand accusers in that day. 67 What
wil you doe? or how shal you hide your sinnes before God and his
Angels? 68 Behold God is the Iudge, feare him. Cease from your sinnes,
and now forget your iniquities to doe them anie more, & God wil bring
you out, and deliuer you from al tribulation. 69 For behold the heate
of a great multitude is kindled ouer you, and they shal take certaine
of you by violence, & shal make the slaine to be meate for idols. 70
And they that shal consent vnto them, shal be to them in derision, and
in reproch, and in conculcation. 71 For there shal be place against
places, and against the next cities great insurrection vpon them that
feare our Lord. 72 They shal be as it were madde sparing no bodie, to
spoyle and waste yet them that feare our Lord. 73 because they shal
waste and spoyle the goodes, and shal cast them out of their houses. 74
Then shal appeare the probation of mine elect, as gold that is proued
by the fire. 75 Heare be beloued, sayth our Lord: Behold the dayes of
tribulation are come: and out of them I wil deliuer you. 76 Doe not
feare, nor stagger, because God is your guide. 77 And he that kepeth my
commandmentes, and precepts, sayth our Lord God: Let not your sinnes
ouerway you, nor your inquities be aduanced ouer you. 78 Woe to them
that are entangled with their sinnes, and are couered with their
iniquities, as a filde is entangled with the wood, & the path therof
couered with thornes, by which no man passeth, & it is closed out, &
cast to be deuoured of the fire.