The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament — Vol. II

Charles — Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha Vol. II — Section 1133

6 And when those things which were predicted have come to pass, Then shall confusion fall upon. all men, And some of them shall fall in battle, And some of them shall perish in anguish, 7 And some of them shall be destroyed by their own. Then the Most High will reveal those peoples whom He has prepared before, And they shall come and make war with the leaders that shall then be left. 8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever gets safe out of the war shall die in the earthquake, And whosoever gets safe out of the earthquake shall be burned by the fire, And whosoever gets safe out of the fire shall be destroyed by famine. 6. The second temple was less esteemed. See Mal. i-ii; 1 En. Ixxxix. 73, 74; Ass. Mos. iv. 8. This temple then was standing when liii-Ixxiv was written. LXIX. 1. last. Syriac =‘ other’. the last waters, &c. See liii. 7. 2-4. This division recalls Sirach xlii. 24. 3. and. So I emend the Syriac (=‘ of’) with Ryssel. kinds: or ‘methods’. 4. beyond those which, The travail-pains of the Messiah are developed in ]xx-lxxii. LXX. 1. The words bracketed spoil the scheme of the writer. In lxviii the last black waters come after the bright twelfth waters. 2. harvest ... spirit. In both cases in the plural in the MS. 3-10. For these last woes cf. xxv. 2-4; xxvii; xlviii. 31-9; 4 Ezra ν. 1-123 vi. 20-4; ix. 1-9; xiii. 29-31. 3, 5. Cf. xviii. 37, 36. 5. the mighty. I have here changed the singular into the plural ; in lxx. 2 the plural into the singular. 6. destroyed by their own. Cf. Mic. vii. 6; Matt. x. 35, 36. The Syriac ‘hindered’ is due to a corruption in the original Hebrew, wz) for 303», 7. whom He has prepared before. Are these the hosts of Gog and Magog? 8. the earthquake ... fire. Cf. xxvii. 7, 10; 4 Ezra ix. 3 and v. 8. shall be destroyed. So Ceriani emends text, which =‘ shall add’, famine. Cf. xxvii. 6. ) τι II BARUCH 70. 9--Τ4. 4