The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
they shall be, free of chill and wasting diseases,
and shall die struck down by sleep; and down to Acheron,
into the house of Hades, they shall pass, and there
shall hold honor, since they were the race of the blessed,
happy men, to whom Sabaoth gave a noble mind,
and with whom he always took counsel besides.
But these, blessed, even having gone down into Hades,
shall remain so. Then again, heavy and strong thereafter,
a second, other race of earthborn men shall come,
the Titans. And one likeness shall belong to all alike—
one form, one stature, one nature, and one voice—
as long ago, from the first generation, God had set it
within their breasts. But these too, having hearts too proud,
shall in the end take counsel, driven on toward ruin,
to make open war against the starry heaven.
And then upon them shall come the flood of the great ocean,
its waters raging. But great Sabaoth, in wrath,
shall shut it back and hold it, for he had not sworn
to make a flood again upon evil-hearted men.
But whenever the boundless swell of many waters,
of the rising wave, drives now this way, now that,
to cease from its fury, and into the deep places of the sea
lessens its measure, toward harbors and rugged shores,
bounding it about the earth—the great god of the high thunderbolt—
then indeed the child of the great God, to mankind
shall come, clothed in flesh, made like mortals upon earth,
bearing four vowels, and the unvoiced letter within him
twofold; and I will tell you the whole number outright:
for eight units, and as many tens besides these,
and eight hundreds shall he declare his name
to men without faith; but do you take it to heart—
the child of the immortal, highest God is Christ.
He himself shall fulfill God's law, not tear it down,
bearing its very likeness stamped upon him, and shall teach all things.
To him priests shall bring their offerings, gold set forth,
myrrh, and frankincense too—for all this he shall accept.
But when a voice, out of the desolate land,
shall come proclaiming to mortals, and cry out to all
to make the pathways straight, and to cast away
wickedness from the heart, and to be made bright by water
in every limb, so that men, born again from above,
may no longer at all transgress the bounds of the just—
but that one, the barbarous-minded, bound fast by the dancing,
shall cut him down and pay it as a wage; then a sign to mortals
shall come of a sudden, when, kept safe, there arrives
out of the land of Egypt a fair stone; and against it
the people of the Hebrews shall stumble; but nations shall gather,
led by his guidance; for indeed the god who rules on high
they shall come to know, through this path, in the common light.
For he shall show eternal life to mankind