Sibylline Oracles (Christian books 6-8)

Contents

Only books 6-8 are staged; some lines in book 8 were lost in the automatic separation of text from apparatus and are listed in each section's flags.

Reading pages: 6.1–7.161 · 8.1–8.491

1. 6.1The Sibyl proclaims the immortal Son, enthroned by the Father before his birth, baptized in the Jordan, where the Spirit came upon him as a dove.
2. 6.11The Sibyl foretells Christ's miracles, his birth from the house of David, and his appearing like lightning.
3. 6.21The Sibyl pronounces woe on the land that crowned God with thorns and gave him gall, and blesses the wood of the cross, which will see heaven.
4. 7.1The Seventh Book opens with woes on Rhodes, Cyprus, Delos, and Sicily, and recalls the flood from which Noah alone escaped.
5. 7.11The Sibyl foretells the age after the flood, Phrygia's idolatry, and the sufferings of Ethiopia and Egypt.
6. 7.21The Sibyl foretells the end of Apis's worship, woe on Laodicea, and a pillar of fire set by God in heaven to destroy evildoers.
7. 7.31The Sibyl foretells that all will be fulfilled through the house of David, to whom God gave the throne and subjected the angels.
8. 7.41The Sibyl foretells the Persians' incestuous marriages and their wars with Rome.
9. 7.51The Sibyl pronounces woes on Ilium, Colophon, Thessaly, and Corinth.
10. 7.61The Sibyl laments Syria for not knowing its God, the Word who was baptized in the Jordan, author of creation with the Father and the Spirit, who took flesh and returned to the Father.
11. 7.71The Sibyl tells of three towers in heaven where Hope, Piety, and Reverence dwell, and of a sacrifice offered not with incense or slaughter but with prayer and birds released to heaven.
12. 7.81The Sibyl prescribes a prayer with water poured on fire in memory of Christ's baptism, and hospitality to the poor stranger with a threefold prayer.
13. 7.91After a prayer to the undefiled God whom hands did not make, the Sibyl foretells the disappearance of Sardinia beneath the sea.
14. 7.101The Sibyl foretells the ruin of Mygdonia, of the Celtic land by the Alps, and of Rome after its rise over Macedonia.
15. 7.111The Sibyl laments Rome, Syria, and Thebes, and foretells a fire on earth as great as the waters.
16. 7.121The Sibyl foretells the world's destruction by fire and the endless torment of the wicked, who will learn that God's law does not deceive.
17. 7.131The Sibyl condemns false prophets in sheepskins who pretend to be Hebrews for gain, and foretells a new world after the first ogdoad.
18. 7.141The Sibyl foretells darkness and sulphur on the wicked, and then a renewed race eating manna, with God among them.
19. 7.151The Sibyl confesses her own past sins, her many unlawful unions and her neglect of God's word, and foretells her death by stoning.
20. 7.161The Seventh Book ends with the Sibyl calling for her own stoning, by which she will live and look to heaven.
21. 8.1The Eighth Book opens with the Sibyl announcing God's wrath in the last age and reviewing the kingdoms since Babel, ending with Rome.
22. 8.11The Sibyl foretells Rome's universal rule and the final fire, and names love of money as the beginning of all evils.
23. 8.21The Sibyl condemns the love of gold as the source of impiety, war, and broken families, which makes even marriage a matter of gold.
24. 8.31The Sibyl condemns the rich who plunder the poor and foretells a heavenly blow that will raze proud Rome.
25. 8.41The Sibyl mocks Rome's gods as lifeless demons and dead men whose tombs are in Crete, and foretells her desolation.
26. 8.51The Sibyl foretells a grey-headed emperor named like a sea, who travels the world, joins in the mysteries, and makes a boy a god.
27. 8.61The Sibyl foretells mourning at the Tiber and three rulers after Hadrian, the first an old king hoarding the world's wealth.
28. 8.71The Sibyl foretells the return of the fugitive mother-slayer and the fall of Rome's glory and legions.
29. 8.81The Sibyl foretells the coming of the Almighty to judge the living and the dead, and the calamities that will befall Rome.
30. 8.91The Sibyl announces that the end and the last judgment are near, beginning with wrath on Rome, which came naked into the world and will go naked to judgment.
31. 8.101The Sibyl foretells Rome's burning and descent to Hades, and says that death levels rich and poor, who go naked into the earth.
32. 8.111The Sibyl lists the ranks, rites, music, and strife of this life that will have no place among the dead.
33. 8.121The Sibyl foretells, at an appointed time marked by the phoenix, the destruction of Rome's long rule.
34. 8.131The Sibyl foretells that Rome will last 948 years before its doom comes.
35. 8.141The doom of Rome comes when the number of its name is fulfilled.
36. 8.151The Sibyl laments Rome's coming day and foretells the return of the emperor who cut through the Isthmus, and his end in Hades.
37. 8.161The Sibyl foretells the ruin of Thebes, Egypt, Rome, Delos, Samos, and Persia, and the everlasting reign of the holy King who raises the dead.
38. 8.171The Sibyl foretells famine, plague, and tumult at Rome and portents in nature in the last days.
39. 8.181The Sibyl describes the shameless and greedy men of the last days and the falling of the stars.
40. 8.191The Sibyl foretells a comet as a sign of war, and wishes to live not under "the polluted woman" but when heavenly grace reigns and the holy child overcomes evil.
41. 8.201The Sibyl foretells the cosmic signs of the end, the resurrection of the dead, the healing of the lame, deaf, and blind, and a common life on an undivided earth.
42. 8.211The Sibyl foretells the earth's abundance in the age to come and begins the acrostic oracle of the judgment: the earth will sweat, and the King will come from heaven to judge all flesh.
43. 8.231The acrostic continues: Christ judges all souls, fire consumes the world and breaks open Hades, the saints rise, and every secret deed is told.
44. 8.241The acrostic concludes with the darkening of sun, moon, and stars, the river of fire, the sign of the cross for the faithful, and the declaration that this is our God, the Savior and immortal King who suffered for us.
45. 8.251The Sibyl says that Moses with outstretched arms prefigured Christ, the rod of David and the chosen stone, who came in lowliness to renew the man God formed.
46. 8.261The Sibyl tells how the serpent deceived Adam, and how the Almighty, taking the Son as counsellor, said "Let us make" man, and how the Son came, mindful of that purpose, through a holy virgin.
47. 8.271The Sibyl foretells Christ's baptism, his healing, his calming of the sea, and the feeding of the five thousand.
48. 8.281The Sibyl describes Christ as the all-seeing Word, creator and healer, who will be handed over to the lawless, struck, spat upon, and scourged.
49. 8.291The Sibyl foretells Christ's silence under blows, his crown of thorns, the piercing of his side, and the fulfilment of the law in him.
50. 8.301The Sibyl foretells the crucifixion: Christ's outstretched hands, the gall and vinegar, the torn veil, and the three hours of darkness.
51. 8.311The Sibyl foretells Christ's descent to Hades with hope for the saints, his rising on the third day as the first-fruits of resurrection, and his appearing in the flesh with the marks of the nails.
52. 8.321The four marks of the nails signify the four quarters of the world; the Sibyl bids the daughter of Zion rejoice at her gentle King, the Son of God, who comes on a colt to lift her yoke.
53. 8.331The Sibyl bids Zion love Christ, be washed in his blood, and praise him with understanding, and foretells the dissolution of all the elements.
54. 8.341The Sibyl describes the end of the world: the stars fall, all living creatures perish, the sea roars, and men gnash their teeth.
55. 8.351The Sibyl foretells the torment of the wicked, who will long for death in vain, though God gave time for repentance, and affirms that God revealed all this to her.
56. 8.361God speaks through the Sibyl as the one who knows all creatures and every thought, who formed men and will convict them.
57. 8.371God declares that he alone is God, knowing every secret deed, and condemns the making of voiceless idols.
58. 8.381God condemns those who forsake the Creator for sacrifices, lamps, and libations offered to idols and demons.
59. 8.391God condemns worship of dead kings as gods, and declares that he set before men the two ways of life and death.
60. 8.401God teaches that man is his image, and that the true sacrifice is a bloodless table: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping the afflicted.
61. 8.411God foretells that he will test all by fire, raise the dead, destroy the sting of death, and judge the pious and the impious.
62. 8.421God foretells the judgment of those who silenced the holy for gain, and the endless day of light for the approved; a hymn to the eternal God begins.
63. 8.431A hymn praises the self-begotten, eternal God who rules thunder, lightning, rain, and hail, and his Child, begotten before all creation, counsellor and creator.
64. 8.441The hymn tells how God said to the Word, "Let us make man in our form," and how all the elements obeyed his command.
65. 8.451The hymn tells how all creation was ordered for man, and how in the last times the Word came from heaven, took mortal form of the virgin Mary, and Gabriel was sent to her.
66. 8.461The hymn tells of the annunciation: Gabriel bids the virgin receive God; she trembles, then rejoices, and the Word enters her womb and is made flesh.
67. 8.471The hymn tells of the virgin birth, the joy of heaven and earth, the star of the Magi, the babe in the manger shown to the shepherds, and Bethlehem the homeland of the Word.
68. 8.481The Sibyl says that Christians, kin of Christ's heavenly race, love God and neighbour and do not approach temples or honour images with libations, flowers, lamps, or offerings.
69. 8.491The Eighth Book ends: instead of incense and blood sacrifice, Christians are bidden to praise the imperishable God, begetter of all, with pure hearts, love, generous hands, and psalms.