A poem for those who are safe from vengeance of the king, but who cannot evade Christ (II. B. 2.)
1.
All base men rejoice and are happy at once,
They who with terror were awaiting the coming of the king,
They bellow, they murder, they swell with pride and they mock those (waiting) in distress (for Christ).
2.
And also those who ought to be mourning with all fountains of tears,
They high (those high men) are raised up on the horns of pride,
Those men thinking madness (is) strength mock the sane weepers.
3.
But why does it please (you), O evil ones, O sons of hell,
Not to avoid but to change the tribunal of justice?
You who are protected under the mortal king, you are not evading Christ.
4.
Behold he will come as lightning, threatening and terrible.
The blaze of the sun, the brightness of the moon will be wrapped in shadows;
The stars plucked from heaven’s poles will seek (make for) deep within the earth.
5.
The earth will blaze from (its) foundation, all the climes of heaven will tremble,
The elements are disturbed, the thunders will bellow,
The trembling firey flashes, the lightning falls often.
6.
He (Christ) who is coming in a fury, a storm becomes strong.
The whole machine of the world having trembled shakes apart,
A globe of seething flame blows through the vast air.
7.
Then they who pierced him, all the impious men saw
the one (Christ) seated on a fiery throne with a terrible expression (who had a terrible expression).
The mountains asking, the hills begging, demanding to be buried.
8.
Soon the hidden things of the heart of each one of them all are exposed,
Words, deeds, the mind (all) seem as if they are a solid body
And they deliver bitter testimony to the father.
9.
The same unjust shameful spirits, which they had suggested,
They unfold in large books the banished writings;
They enumerate the place, the time of the deeds and their manner.
10.
All the line of all the angels becomes angry to the crooked ones;
The elements oppose the heavens, the earth, the seas;
A hostile creature threatens all things.
11.
Behold the chief of the unjust, that fierce beast
is dragged away stripped bare in the presence of all.
His arts stand open, thefts, deceits, frauds, and tricks.
12.
O what harshness, with what bristling voice the judge intones,
When he commands the evil ones to be immersed in the prepared flames.
Soon swallowing living things devours the pot of the Styx devours (them).
13.
The wretched men are being burned both inside and out;
The crackling flames sound harshly as if burning in an oven.
They blow forth from the nostrils and the eyes themselves.
14.
Immortal death kills, it does not destroy entirely;
The fire burns, it does not consume nor does it accept (sin) the failed;
Life dies, death lives the end is always in sight.
15.
The seven plagues (afflictions) renew the self-perpetuating punishments:
Smoke, stench, cold, heat, hunger, fiery thirst,
Worms which destroy the internal organs are never satisfied.
16.
There pain, torment, tears, gnashing of teeth,
The roaring of lions is there, the hissing of serpents,
With which are mixed, they intermingle with, the wailing of those who are weeping.
17.
Huge scarlet striped serpents open their spacious throats,
The eyes of which throw fiery arrows,
Their tails produce (backward gapping) are claws of a scorpion, the soles of their feet give rise to snakes.
18.
Indeed they stretch out to us to be, but they do not cease to be,
They live for (the benefit of) death, they wish to die but they are entirely unable.
Those who have lived badly, they endure life for the sake of torment.
19.
Place these things before your eyes, you trembling insane men;
Mull over these things with precise eagerness (study, focused attention)
Release the neck of the mind from the chains of depraved habits.
20.
For he who imposes on the sinners still the sentence of the verdict
Is prepared to give pardon to the converted.
Let there be safety and honor to the pious king through eternity.
Amen