The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The cities of the Carians beside the waters of Maeander,
however beautifully towered they stand, bitter famine shall destroy them,
when Maeander hides away his dark water.
But when reverence has perished from among mankind
and faith and justice are hidden away in the world,
-- turncoats -- and men, daring unholy deeds,
living in outrage, work reckless and evil works,
and no one takes account of the reverent, but even themselves,
all of them, great fools, destroy through folly,
delighting in outrage and holding hands stained with blood --
then shall they know God no longer gentle,
but gnashing in wrath and destroying the whole race
of men together beneath a great burning.
Ah, wretched mortals, change these ways, and do not to full anger
of every kind provoke the great God, but letting fall
swords and groanings and man-slaughters and outrages,
wash your whole body in ever-flowing rivers,
and stretching out your hands to heaven for the deeds done before,
ask forgiveness, and with prayers of praise for your bitter
impiety make atonement; God will grant repentance
and will not destroy; he will stay his wrath again, if only all of you
practice reverence, most honored, in your hearts.
But if you do not obey me, evil-minded ones, but loving
impiety, receive all this with wicked ears,
flame shall descend across the entire earth, together with a great portent
of sword and trumpet, together with the rising sun;
the whole world shall hear a bellowing and a mighty roar.
It shall burn all the earth, and destroy the whole race of men
and all the cities and the rivers together and the sea;
it shall consume all things, and the dust shall be a smoldering ash.
But when all has already become ash and cinder,
and God has put to sleep the boundless fire he himself kindled,
God himself shall again shape anew the bones and ashes
of men, and shall raise mortals up again, as they were before.
And then indeed judgment shall be, at which God himself shall sit in judgment,
judging the world anew; and as many as through impiety
have sinned, these shall the poured earth cover over again,
and moldering Tartarus, and the stygian depths of Gehenna.
But as many as are reverent shall live again upon the earth,
when God, the great and immortal, gives them his spirit
and life and imperishable bliss and grace besides,
the reverent; and then all shall look upon themselves,
beholding the sweet and delightful light of the sun.
O most blessed, that man who shall live to see that time.