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.