Kebra Nagast

children likewise, Woe be unto us Woe be unto For the glory of the glorious d iter of moved, and the glory of the da Ethiopia, the 1 hath increased. vile, " God is wroth, and who shall show compassion ? God hath made unclean, and who shall purify ? God hath planned, and who shall gainsay His plan ? God hath willed, and who shall oppose His intention ? God speaketh, and everything shall come to pass. God hath abased, and there is none that shall promote to honour. God hath taken away, and theie is none who shall bring back. God hateth, and there is none who shall make Him to love. Woe be unto us Our name was honoured, to-day it is nothing. Woe be unto us From being men of the household we have become men of the outside, and from being men of the inner chambers we have been driven out through our sins. For God loveth the pure, but the priests would have none of the pure, and have loved the impure. And the prophets rebuked us, but we would not accept rebuke, and they [wished to] make us hear, but we would not hear. Woe be unto us Through our sins we are rejected, and because of our defection we shall be punished. Sovereignty profiteth nothing without purity, and judgement profiteth nothing without justice, and riches profit nothing without the fear of God. The priests love the words of fables more than the words of the Scriptures and they love the sound of the harp more than the and they love the service of the sound of the Psalter and they love the disputing world more than prayer and of the world more than the voice of the Godhead the and fornication more than love weeplaughter they and they love the food that passeth away ing of life more than the fasting to God and they love wine and and they sweet drink more than sacrificing to God ! ! ! ! ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 1 Or, cringing, or, degraded. " Kesh, the vile." 92 The ancient Egyptians of ten spoke of