The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Sixth Oration
I sing from the heart of the great and famous Son of the Immortal,
to whom the Most High Father granted a throne to take up
before he was yet born; since as to the flesh, twice over,
he was raised, washed in the outpourings of the river
Jordan, which runs with grey foot, dragging its waves along.
He who, escaping the fire, shall first see God as sweet,
coming as spirit, on the white wings of a dove.
A pure flower shall bloom, and springs shall gush forth.
I shall show men the paths, and he shall show the ways
of heaven; and he shall teach all with wise words.
He shall come to judgment and shall persuade the disbelieving people,
boasting of the praised lineage of his heavenly Father.
He shall walk the waves on foot, he shall loose men from disease,
he shall raise the dead, he shall drive away many pains;
and from a single wallet of bread there shall be a fill of men,
when the house of David buds forth its shoot; and in his hand
shall be the whole world, and earth, and heaven, and sea.
He shall flash lightning upon the earth, such as once before
was seen, when two were born from one another's ribs.
It shall be, when the earth rejoices in the hope of the child.
But for you alone, Sodom's land, evil sufferings lie in store;
for you in your folly did not perceive your God
when he came before mortal eyes; but with a crown of thorns
you wreathed him, and you mixed a fearful gall
for insolence and for his breath; that shall work you evil sufferings.
O wood, O most blessed, on which God was stretched out,
the earth shall not hold you, but you shall look upon heaven as your home,
when your fiery eye, O God, shall flash its lightning.