The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
proclaiming, wretched one, the pollution of ten thousand men—
for many lengths of time, as the years wheel round,
shields and bucklers and spears and armor of every kind;
and no longer will they cut wood from the forest for the flame of fire.
and then from the sun God will send a king,
who will stop all the earth from evil war,
some he will kill, but with others he will seal faithful oaths—
nor indeed shall he accomplish any of this on his private judgment,
but obeying the noble decrees of the great God.—
and the temple of the great God, again, with its surpassing wealth
will be laden, with gold and silver and purple
adornment; and the earth, fruit-bearing, and the sea
will be full of good things. and kings will begin
to rage against one another, working evils in their hearts—
envy is no good thing for wretched mortals.
but again the kings of the nations, against this land,
will rush together, bringing doom upon themselves;
for they will wish to sack the shrine of the great God
and its noblest men, whenever they come upon the land.
the defiled kings will set, ringing the city,
each his own throne, and his disobedient host.
and then God will speak with a great voice to all
the untaught, empty-minded people, and judgment for them
will come from the great God, and all will perish
by the immortal hand; and from heaven will fall
fiery swords upon the earth; torches, great gleams
will come, blazing bright into the midst of men.
and the all-begetting earth will be shaken on that day
by the immortal hand, and the fish that swim the sea,
and every beast that treads the earth and the numberless flocks of birds,
and every soul of men, and the whole sea
will shudder before the immortal face, and there will be fear.
the towering peaks and the huge hills of the mountains
he will rend, and murky darkness will appear to all.
and misty ravines in the high mountains
will be full of corpses; and rocks will run
with blood, and every torrent will fill the plain.
and the well-built walls will all fall to the ground,
walls of hostile men, because they did not know the law
nor the judgment of the great God, but with senseless hearts
all rushing upon the Holy Place, you lifted your spears.
and God will judge all by war and by the sword,
and by fire and by drenching rain; and there will be
brimstone from heaven, and stone besides and hail,
much and harsh; and death will come upon the four-footed beasts.
and then at last they will recognize the deathless God, arbiter of these matters;
wailing and shrieking over the boundless earth
will come, of men perishing; and all the unclean
will bathe in blood; and the earth itself will drink
the blood of the perishing, and beasts will glut themselves on flesh.