The Burden against Babylon

1This is ye heuy burthe of Babilo, which Esaye the sonne of Amos dyd se.

2Make some tokes to the hie hilles, call vnto them, holde vp youre hode, that the prynces maye go in at the dore.

3For I will sende for my debites and my gyautes (sayeth the LORDE) and in my wrath I will call for soch, as tryumphe in my glory.

4With that, me thought I herde in the moutaynes, a noyse, like as it had bene of a greate people: and a russhinge, as though the kyngdomes of all nacions had come together. (And the LORDE of hoostes was the captayne of the whole armye.)

5As they had come not only out of farre countrees, but also from the endes of the heaues: Eue the LORDE himself with the ministers of his wrath, to destroye the whole lode.

6Mourne therfore, for the daye of the LORDE is at honde, and commeth as a destroyer from ye allmighty.

7Then shall all hondes be letten downe, and all mens hertes shal melt awaie,

8they shal stonde in feare, carefulnesse and sorowe shal come vpo them, and they shal haue payne, as a woman that traueleth with childe. One shall euer be abasshed of another, & their faces shal burne, like ye flame.

9For lo, the daye of the LORDE shall come, terrible, full of indignacion and wrath: to make the londe waist, and to root out the synne therof.

10For the starres and planetes of heauen shal not geue their light, the Sonne shalbe quenched in the rysinge, and the Mone shal not shyne with his light.

11And I wil punysh the wickednesse of the worlde, & the synnes of the vngodly, sayeth the LORDE. The hye stomackes of the proude will I take awaye, and will laye downe the boostinge of tyrauntes.

12I will make a man dearer the fyne golde, and a man to be more worth, the a golden wedge of Ophir.

13Morouer, I will so shake the heaue, that the earth shall remo out of hir place. Thus shall it go wt Babilon, in the wrath of the LORDE of hoostes in ye daye of his fearfull indignacio.

14And Babilon shalbe as an hunted or chased doo, and as a flocke wt out a shepherde. Euery ma shal turne to his owne people, & fle echone into his owne londe.

15Who so is founde alone, shalbe shot thorow: And who so gather together, shalbe destroyed wt the swerde.

16Their children shalbe slayne before their eyes, their houses spoyled, & their wyues rauyshed.

17For lo, I shall bringe vp ye Medes agaynst the, which shal not regarde syluer, nor be desyrous of golde.

18Then shall yonge mens bowes be knapped asunder. The Medes shal haue no pitie vpo wome wt childe, & their faces shall not spare ye childre.

19And Babilo (yt glory of kigdomes and bewtie of the Caldees honor) shalbe destroyed, eue as God destroyed Sodom & Gomorra.

20It shal neuer be more inhabited, nether shal there be eny more dwellinge there, from generacion to generacion. The Arabians shall make no mo tentes there, nether shall the shepardes make their foldes there eny more:

21but wylde beastes shal lie there, & ye houses shalbe full of greate Oules. Estriches shal dwell there, & Apes shal daunse there:

22The litle Oules shall crie in the palaces, one after another, & Dragos shalbe in the pleasaut perlours. And as for Babilons tyme, it is at honde, & hir dayes maye not be longe absent.