The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Mortal men, made of flesh, who are nothing at all,
how quickly you are puffed up, not seeing life's end?
You do not tremble, you do not fear God, your overseer,
the Most High, all-knowing, all-seeing witness of all things,
nourisher of all, the creator, who set sweet breath in all,
and made it the guide of every mortal.
One God there is, who alone rules, immense, unbegotten,
almighty, unseen, yet himself seeing all things,
while he himself is not seen by any mortal flesh.
For what flesh is able, with its own eyes,
to look upon the heavenly and true immortal God, who dwells in heaven?
But men cannot even stand against
the rays of the sun, being born mortal,
men who are veins and flesh set upon bones.
Revere him alone, the only one who is, the guide of the world,
who alone has existed from age to age and unto age,
self-begotten, unbegotten, ruling all things through all,
granting to all mortals judgment in a common light.
For your wicked will you shall receive the wage it deserves,
because, forsaking the true and everlasting God,
you glorify him no longer, and instead of offering sacred hecatombs to him
you have made your sacrifices to the demons who dwell in Hades.
You walk in delusion and in madness, and the straight path,
the true path, you have forsaken, and gone off through thorns
and briers you have wandered — mortals, stop your folly,
wandering in darkness and in the black unlit night;
quit night's shadow behind and grasp instead the radiant light.
See, this light stands clear and unerring for all.
Come, do not chase after darkness and gloom forever.
See how the sweet-gleaming light of the sun shines forth beyond all others.
Know this, and lay up wisdom in your hearts:
there is one God who sends the rains, the winds, the earthquakes,
the lightning bolts, famines, plagues, and grievous sorrows,
and snowfalls and frost. Why should I recount them one by one?
He rules the heavens, he holds the earth, he alone exists.
But if gods are begotten and yet remain immortal,
then more gods would have been born than there are men,
and there would never have been room left for mortals to stand.
But if a thing is wholly begotten, it also perishes, and no god can
be shaped out of a man's loins and a womb.
No — God is one alone, supreme above all, who made
the sky above, the sun, the glittering stars, the moon,
the fruit-bearing earth, and the surging waters of the sea,
the towering mountains, and the ever-flowing streams of springs.
And of the creatures of the water he begets a vast countless multitude,
and the creeping things that move upon the earth are given life,
and the many-colored birds, clear-voiced, warbling,
the tawny, shrill-winged, that stir the air with their pinions,
and in the mountain glens he set the wild race of beasts,
and to us mortals he subjected all the herds and flocks.
Over all he set as ruler one made by God,
and to man he subjected things intricate beyond number and past grasping.
For what creature born of flesh could ever grasp all this?
But he alone knows, who made them from the beginning,
the imperishable creator, eternal, dwelling in the sky,
bringing to the good a far greater wage of good,
but for the wicked and unjust stirring up wrath and fury,
and war, and plague, and tearful sorrows.
Men, why are you uprooted, puffed up in vain?
Be ashamed, you who make gods of weasels and vermin.
Is it not madness and raving that strips the sense from your minds,
when gods steal cooking-pots and plunder kettles?
Instead of dwelling in the golden heaven across the boundless sky,
your gods lie moth-eaten, and thick spiders' webs have caged them in;
bowing down to snakes, dogs, and cats — you fools —
you worship winged things and creeping beasts of the earth,
and stone-carved idols and images made by hands,
and heaps of stones piled up along the roadsides — these you worship,
and many other vanities, shameful even to speak of.
These are gods of men, guides by deceit of the unwitting,
and from their very mouths pours forth death-bearing venom.
But he who is life itself, and imperishable, everlasting light,
and sweeter than honey, a joy for men,
pours it forth — to him alone bow your neck,
and set your path back onto the ages of the righteous.
But you, forsaking all these things, drained the cup filled with judgment,
strong, unmixed, well-weighted, quite undiluted,
all of you, with a spirit maddened by your folly.
You are not willing to sober up and come to a sound mind,
and to know God as king, who watches over all.
Therefore the blaze of burning fire comes upon you,
you will be scorched by torches through the ages, the whole day long,
put to shame for your false and useless idols.
But those who honor the true and everlasting God
inherit life, and for the length of eternal time
they dwell alike in paradise's flourishing garden,
feasting on sweet bread sent down from the star-strewn sky.
Hear me, mortals: the eternal king reigns.
He alone is God the creator, unconquerable, existing;
he himself established the pattern of mortal form,
he himself blended the nature of all things, begetter of life.
Whenever he shall come,
there will be fire in the darkness, in the middle of the black night.
{God} unmade.
Thus the Erythraean spoke to God: 'Why, O Lord,' she said,
'do you lay upon me the necessity of prophecy, and instead not
keep me raised up from the earth, until the most blessed day
of your coming?'