At that time fearful events were stirred up to rebuke (men),
(God) proclaimed in the world truth to souls,
in that
cities were overthrown, to the reproach of paganism.
Jerusalem especially held guilty
the accursed and the crucifiers, who had made bold threats and entered
so as to rebuild the ruins that their own sins had brought about.
Foolish and stupid, they had caused its ruin when it was still standing,
and now that it lies in ruins, they threaten to rebuild it !
When it was established, they tore it down, when it lies waste, they shower
their love on it.
Jerusalem quaked when she saw
That her wreckers had come in again
to disturb her calm
She complained to the Most High
against them, and she was heard
He commanded the wind and it blew
He signalled
the quakes and they came
The lightning and it flashed
the air and it darkened
the walls and they were wrecked
the gates and they were opened
Fire came out and consumed the scholar-scribes
Who had read in
Daniel that she should lay in ruins forever
1
they were chastened again and they learned
They had scattered her through the Lowly one,who had gathered together
her chicks,"
and they imagined He had gathered to her the error of the diviner(s);
they overthrew her because of the True one," they propped her up with
waverers,
they wished to rebuild her again.
They had upturned the great altar at the slaying of the Holy one,
and they imagined that the rebuilder of (pagan) altars would re-establish it.
They destroyed her through the wood of the Living Architect,
they propped her up with the broken reed of paganism;
they made her sad with Zechariah, who had given them joy, (saying)
' Behold your king';
they wanted to make her happy with the divination of the madman,
they proclaimed to her : 'Behold, there comes one furious, who will
rebuild you;
he will enter and sacrifice in you, and pour libations in you—to his demons'.
Daniel passed the sentence against Jerusalem and decreed
She will not be built again
and Sion believed him
The two of them were worn out and they wept
He cut off and cast away their hope
Cana, with its wine, gave comfort
to the two mourners, giving them advice
'Do not aggravate the injustice (done) to the Good one by your mourning'.
...
In the place of the People - uprooted
from all peoples
To see within your wombs
the grave and Golgotha
Who will ever again beleive in
fate and the horoscope ?
Who will ever again affirm
diviners and soothsayers
Who will ever again go astray after auguries and Zodiacal signs ?
All of them have been wrong in everything
So that the Just One will not have to instruct
each one who went astray He broke the one who went astray
so that in him those who have gone astray might learn their lesson
1 "Who had read in Daniel that she should lay in ruins forever" refers to the
Temple Mount - deserted at the time but undergoing a rebuilding project until apparently interrupted by the earthquake.
