earthquakes

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Behold a noise of a tumult, with thunder, and earthquakes, and uproar in the land:

Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people in the world:

Hear thou, Thomas, the things which must come to pass in the last times: there shall be famine and war and earthquakes in divers places, snow and ice and great drought shall there be, and many dissensions among the peoples, blasphemy, iniquity, envy and villainy, indolence, pride and intemperance, so that every man shall speak that which pleaseth him. And my priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto me with deceitful mind: therefore will I not look upon them. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the house of the Lord and turning unto the world and setting up ( or , transgressing) landmarks in the house of God. And they shall claim (vindicate) for themselves many [things and] places that were lost and that shall be subject unto Caesar as also they were aforetime: giving poll-taxes of (for) the cities, even gold and silver, and the chief men of the cities shall be condemned, and their substance brought into† the treasury of the kings, and they shall be filled.

And in the sixth part earthquakes and terrors.

When, earth being shaken by earthquakes, cities fall.

With thunders and earthquakes shall stop the din

Thus shalt thou be by earthquakes overthrown

By chasms, and earthquakes come headlong down

Earthquakes, and great plagues be on every land,

And Phrygia shall with earthquakes groan again

Shall there be many earthquakes. And the king

That the Most High may have compassion; then will their women bear much fruit, and then fighteth the Lord for thy race with terrible and great signs, for the bondage inflicted on them. Their full storehouses will be found empty of wine and of every fruit: their land will boil over with creeping things and every deadly thing. Earthquakes and much destruction will there be. Then will the Most High accomplish his judgment on that place, and will lead forth thy seed out of the bondage of the heathen which rule over them with violence, and they will be saved from the reproaches of their enemies. But the head of the king will be for (an object of) revenge: bitterly standeth he up against them, but they cry, and the Lord heareth them and poureth out his wrath upon the Leviathan the sea serpent, and smiteth the lawless Thalkon with the sword: for against the God of gods raiseth he up his pride. But then, Jacob, appeareth thy righteousness and that of thy fathers, and of them that shall be after thee, walking in thy righteousness: and then shall thy seed blow with the trumpet, and the whole kingdom of Edom shall perish, with all the kings and peoples of the Moabites.

And God said: I will not again curse the earth for man's sake, for the guise of man's heart hath left off from his youth. And therefore I will not again destroy together all living as I have done. But it shall be, when the dwellers upon earth have sinned, I will judge them by famine or by the sword or by fire or by pestilence (lit. death), and there shall be earthquakes, and they shall be scattered into places not inhabited (or, the places of their habitation shall be scattered). But I will not again spoil the earth with the water of a flood, and in all the days of the earth seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and autumn, day and night shall not cease, until I remember them that dwell on the earth, even until the times are fulfilled.

Great are you, O Lord Almighty, and great is Your power, and of Your understanding there is no number. Our Creator and Saviour, rich in benefits, long-suffering, and the bestower of mercy, who does not take away Your salvation from Your creatures: for You are good by nature, and sparest sinners, and invitest them to repentance; for admonition is the effect of Your bowels of compassion. For how should we abide if we were required to come to judgment immediately, when, after so much long-suffering, we hardly get clear of our miserable condition? The heavens declare Your dominion, and the earth shakes with earthquakes, and, hanging upon nothing, declares Your unshaken steadfastness. The sea raging with waves, and feeding a flock of ten thousand creatures, is bounded with sand, as standing in awe at Your command, and compels all men to cry out: How great are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom have You made them all: the earth is full of Your creation. And the bright host of angels and the intellectual spirits say to Palmoni, There is but one holy Being; and the holy seraphim, together with the six-winged cherubim, who sing to You their triumphal song, cry out with never-ceasing voices, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! heaven and earth are full of Your glory; and the other multitudes of the orders, angels archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and powers cry aloud, and say, Blessed be the glory of the Lord out of His place. But Israel, Your Church on earth, taken out of the Gentiles, emulating the heavenly powers night and day, with a full heart and a willing soul sings, The chariot of God is ten thousandfold thousands of them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sinai, in the holy place. The heaven knows Him who fixed it as a cube of stone, in the form of an arch, upon nothing, who united the land and water to one another, and scattered the vital air all abroad, and conjoined fire therewith for warmth, and the comfort against darkness. The choir of stars strikes us with admiration, declaring Him that numbers them, and showing Him that names them; the animals declare Him that puts life into them; the trees show Him that makes them grow: all which creatures, being made by Your word, show forth the greatness of Your power. Wherefore every man ought to send up an hymn from his very soul to You, through Christ, in the name of all the rest, since He has power over them all by Your appointment. For You are kind in Your benefits, and beneficent in Your bowels of compassion, who alone art almighty: for when You will, to be able is present with You; for Your eternal power both quenches flame, and stops the mouths of lions, and tames whales, and raises up the sick, and overrules the power of all things, and overturns the host of enemies, and casts down a people numbered in their arrogance. You are He who art in heaven, He who art on earth, He who art in the sea, He who art in finite things, Yourself unconfined by anything. For of Your majesty there is no boundary; for it is not ours, O Lord, but the oracle of Your servant, who said, And you shall know in your heart that the Lord your God He is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath, and there is none other besides You: for there is no God besides You alone, there is none holy besides You, the Lord, the God of knowledge, the God of the saints, holy above all holy beings; for they are sanctified by Your hands. You are glorious, and highly exalted, invisible by nature, and unsearchable in Your judgments; whose life is without want, whose duration can never alter or fail, whose operation is without toil, whose greatness is unlimited, whose excellency is perpetual, whose habitation is inaccessible, whose dwelling is unchangeable, whose knowledge is without beginning, whose truth is immutable, whose work is without assistants, whose dominion cannot be taken away, whose monarchy is without succession, whose kingdom is without end, whose strength is irresistible, whose army is very numerous: for You are the Father of wisdom, the Creator of the creation, by a Mediator, as the cause; the Bestower of providence, the Giver of laws, the Supplier of want, the Punisher of the ungodly, and the Rewarder of the righteous; the God and Father of Christ, and the Lord of those that are pious towards Him, whose promise is infallible, whose judgment without bribes, whose sentiments are immutable, whose piety is incessant, whose thanksgiving is everlasting, through whom adoration is worthily due to You from every rational and holy nature.

"The present dread you are under seems to me to have seized upon you very unreasonably. It is true, you might justly be dismayed at that providential chastisement which hath befallen you; but to suffer yourselves to be equally terrified at the invasion of men is unmanly. As for myself, I am so far from being affrighted at our enemies after this earthquake, that I imagine that God hath thereby laid a bait for the Arabians, that we may be avenged on them; for their present invasion proceeds more from our accidental misfortunes, than that they have any great dependence on their weapons, or their own fitness for action. Now that hope which depends not on men's own power, but on others' ill success, is a very ticklish thing; for there is no certainty among men, either in their bad or good fortunes; but we may easily observe that fortune is mutable, and goes from one side to another; and this you may readily learn from examples among yourselves; for when you were once victors in the former fight, your enemies overcame you at last; and very likely it will now happen so, that these who think themselves sure of beating you will themselves be beaten. For when men are very confident, they are not upon their guard, while fear teaches men to act with caution; insomuch that I venture to prove from your very timorousness that you ought to take courage; for when you were more bold than you ought to have been, and than I would have had you, and marched on, Athenio's treachery took place; but your present slowness and seeming dejection of mind is to me a pledge and assurance of victory. And indeed it is proper beforehand to be thus provident; but when we come to action, we ought to erect our minds, and to make our enemies, be they ever so wicked, believe that neither any human, no, nor any providential misfortune, can ever depress the courage of Jews while they are alive; nor will any of them ever overlook an Arabian, or suffer such a one to become lord of his good things, whom he has in a manner taken captive, and that many times also. And do not you disturb yourselves at the quaking of inanimate creatures, nor do you imagine that this earthquake is a sign of another calamity; for such affections of the elements are according to the course of nature, nor does it import any thing further to men, than what mischief it does immediately of itself. Perhaps there may come some short sign beforehand in the case of pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes; but these calamities themselves have their force limited by themselves [without foreboding any other calamity]. And indeed what greater mischief can the war, though it should be a violent one, do to us than the earthquake hath done? Nay, there is a signal of our enemies' destruction visible, and that a very great one also; and this is not a natural one, nor derived from the hand of foreigners neither, but it is this, that they have barbarously murdered our ambassadors, contrary to the common law of mankind; and they have destroyed so many, as if they esteemed them sacrifices for God, in relation to this war. But they will not avoid his great eye, nor his invincible right hand; and we shall be revenged of them presently, in case we still retain any of the courage of our forefathers, and rise up boldly to punish these covenant-breakers. Let every one therefore go on and fight, not so much for his wife or his children, or for the danger his country is in, as for these ambassadors of ours; those dead ambassadors will conduct this war of ours better than we ourselves who are alive. And if you will be ruled by me, I will myself go before you into danger; for you know this well enough, that your courage is irresistible, unless you hurt yourselves by acting rashly."

“But,” continues Celsus, “what great deeds did Jesus perform as being a God? Did he put his enemies to shame, or bring to a ridiculous conclusion what was designed against him?” Now to this question, although we are able to show the striking and miraculous character of the events which befell Him, yet from what other source can we furnish an answer than from the Gospel narratives, which state that “there was an earthquake, and that the rocks were split asunder, and the tombs opened, and the veil of the temple rent in twain from top to bottom, and that darkness prevailed in the day-time, the sun failing to give light?” But if Celsus believe the Gospel accounts when he thinks that he can find in them matter of charge against the Christians, and refuse to believe them when they establish the divinity of Jesus, our answer to him is: “Sir, either disbelieve all the Gospel narratives, and then no longer imagine that you can found charges upon them; or, in yielding your belief to their statements, look in admiration on the Logos of God, who became incarnate, and who desired to confer benefits upon the whole human race. And this feature evinces the nobility of the work of Jesus, that, down to the present time, those whom God wills are healed by His name. And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Cæsar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place, Phlegon too, I think, has written in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his Chronicles.”

Figure 17.-- The seventh and last pentacle of Saturn.-- This pentacle is fit for exciting earthquakes, seeing that the power of each order of angels herein invoked is sufficient to make the whole Universe tremble.

Agares. —The Second Spirit is a Duke called Agreas, or Agares. He is under the Power of the East, and cometh up in the form of an old fair Man, riding upon a Crocodile, carrying a Goshawk upon his fist, and yet mild in appearance. He maketh them to run that stand still, and bringeth back runaways. He teaches all Languages or Tongues presently. He hath power also to destroy Dignities both Spiritual and Temporal, and causeth Earthquakes. He was of the Order of Virtues. He hath under his government 31 Legions of Spirits. And this is his Seal or Character which thou shalt wear as a Lamen before thee.

[On witnessing] comets, earthquakes, thunder, or windy storms one says, “Blessed be He whose strength and might fill the world.” [On seeing] mountains, hills, seas, rivers or deserts one says, “Blessed be He who made creation.” Rabbi Judah says: one who sees the Great Sea should say, “Blessed be He who made the Great Sea,” if he sees it at intervals. For rain and for good news one says, “Blessed be He that is good and grants good.” For bad news one says, “Blessed be the true judge.”

MISHNAH: On ziqin, earthquakes, lightning, thunder, and hurricanes, one says: Praise to Him Whose power fills the world. On mountains, hills, seas, rivers, and deserts, one says: Praise to the Maker of Creation. Rebbi Yehudah says, he who sees the ocean says: Praise to Him Who made the ocean; if he sees it at intervals. On rains and good tidings one says: Praise to Him Who is good and does good. On bad news, one says: Praise to the True Judge.

Elijah, may he be well remembered, asked Rebbi Nehorai: Why do earthquakes occur in the world? He said to him, because of sin concerning heave and tithes. One verse says (Deut. 11:12): The eyes of the Eternal, your God, are permanently on it. Another verse says (Ps. 104:32): He who gazes on the Earth and it trembles, He touches mountains and they smoke. How can these two verses coexist? If Israel fulfill the will of the Omnipresent and separate their tithes following the rules, “the eyes of the Eternal, your God, are permanently on it from the start to the end of the year” and they will not be hurt by anything. If Israel do not fulfill the will of the Omnipresent and do not separate their tithes following the rules, “He gazes on the Earth and it trembles.” He said to him, my son, that is the reasonable explanation. But the main thing is that if the Holy One, praise to Him, sees theatres and circuses existing in safety and quiet, but His temple is destroyed, He is menacing His world to destroy it; that is what is written (Jer. 25:30): “He will roar on His Place,” about His place. Rebbi Aḥa said, because of homosexual activity. The Holy One, praise to Him, said: You made your member tremble for something that is not for you; by your life, I shall make My world tremble because of that man. But the rabbis said, because of quarrels (Zach. 14:5): “You will flee by the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach Aẓel.” Rebbi Samuel said, an earthquake presages a change of government, as one says (Jer. 51:29): “The earth quaked and trembled,” why? “for the intentions of the Eternal overtake Babylon.”

So far if [the corral] was fenced in on four sides. If it was fenced in on three sides and breached on one side, and [an animal] left through the breach, what is the rule? Let us hear from the following: “If his wall fell in from the noise of earthquakes or thunder and he rebuilt it as required, he is not liable, otherwise he is liable.” The only problem is if three better built walls fell together with it.

For shooting stars, earthquakes, thunders, storms and lightnings he says, "Blessed...Whose strength and might fill the world." For mountains, hills, seas, rivers and deserts he says, "Blessed... Who hast made the creation." R. Judah states: He who beholds the ocean says, "Blessed... Who hast made the ocean," but only when he beholds it at intervals.

And for earthquakes. What is an earthquake? Rab Kattina said : A subterranean rumbling. Rab Kattina was journeying by the way, and when he reached the entrance of the house of a necromancer a rumbling noise broke forth. He said, "Does the necromancer know what this rumbling is?" The latter called to him, "Kattina, Kattina ! Why should I not know? When the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers His children who dwell in misery among the nations of the world. He causes two tears to descend to the Ocean, and the sound is heard from one end of the world to the other ; and that is the rumbling."