1 Maccabees 3

1 The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse; and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up, 2 And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies. 3 Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts. 4 Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms. 5 And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee, and will make an example of thee. 6 And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee? 7 Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among the rivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches: the waters are its walls. 8 Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers. 9 Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters. 10 Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemies. 11 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater. 12 Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour thy bars. 13 Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick. 14 There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust. 15 Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away. 16 Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were. 17 Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 18 Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? 19 The Prophecy of Habakkuk 21 The burden that Habakkuk the prophet saw. 22 How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save? 23 Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful. 24 Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth. 25 Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told. 26 For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own. 27 They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed. 28 Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat. 29 They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand. 30 And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it. 31 Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god. 32 Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction. 33 Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself? 34 And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler. 35 He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice. 36 Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty. 37 For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations. 39 I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to him that reproveth me. 40 And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it. 41 For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack. 42 Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith. 43 And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be honoured: who hath enlarged his desire like hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied: but will gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all people. 44 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a dark speech concerning him: and it shall be said: Woe to him that heapeth together that which is not his own? how long also doth he load himself with thick clay? 45 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them? 46 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of the people shall spoil thee: because of men’s blood, and for the iniquity of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 47 Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his house, that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered out of the hand of evil. 48 Thou hast devised confusion to thy house, thou hast cut off many people, and thy soul hath sinned. 49 For the stone shall cry out of the wall: and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer. 50 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity. 51 Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint. 52 For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea. 53 Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness. 54 Thou art filled with shame instead of glory: drink thou also, and fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory. 55 For the iniquity of Libanus shall cover thee, and the ravaging of beasts shall terrify them because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 56 What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols. 57 Woe to him that saith to wood: Awake: to the dumb stone: Arise: can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold, and silver, and there is no spirit in the bowels thereof. 58 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. 60 A PRAYER OF Habakkuk THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES.