[This entry's sections correspond to the chapters in the King James Bible like so: 1–4 = same; 5 = 7; 6 = 8; 7 = 9; 8 = 11.]
1
In the thirtieth year (of what, I know not; I am only sure that it was indeed the thirtieth year), on day five of month four, I saw God.
He came to me in a vortex that was on fire and smoking. Its aperture opened, revealing the appearance of a wild man whose body was brown like rusty iron: his hair hung over his face down past his feet; so all that could be seen of his visage were two staring eyes, which were like the eyes of a goat.
2
“Mortal,” he said, “stand up. Let us talk.”
So I stood at attention.
“Open up,” he said. “Eat this.” And he held in his hand a scroll that had curses written all over it, front and back; and he put this into my mouth.
3
The scroll tasted as sweet as honey to me.
God said: “Speak the words of this scroll to the other wayfarers.”
Then a wind picked me up and put me down by the river where the wayfarers were encamped. And for a whole week I sat among the captives of the caravan wholly dumbstruck.
Then at the end of my week of speechless astonishment, the word of God came to me, saying: “Mortal, I am appointing you to be a watchman over these wayfarers. I will tell you if any man behaves badly, and you must then alert that man to change his ways: I will hold you responsible for notifying each man of his unrighteous actions; but it will be his own fault whether or not he responds to your warning.”
Then God said to me: “Go out to the rolling plains. I’ll speak to you there.”
So I went out to the rolling plains: and, behold, God was standing, looking just as he had earlier. And he said to me: “Go to your house, and shut yourself inside. You shall remain bound there, and your tongue shall freeze up, so you will not be able to speak. Only when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to the people ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh’.”
4
“Also, mortal, construct a miniature model of Eldorado, and lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the caravansary. Lie upon your left side, to signify the wrongdoing of the northern wayfarers: lie like this for three hundred and ninety days. Then flip over and lie on your right side, for the wrongs of the south: do this for forty days. I have appointed you each day for a year. Thus shall you set your face toward the siege of Eldorado, and you shall prophesy against it. And, behold, I will bind you, so you shall not be able to budge until you have ended the days of the siege. Also take the type of food that the wayfarers should expect to eat during this time: wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and fitches – combine all these to make bread; and this is what you shall eat for all those days when you are lying on your side. Ration yourself out very small portions; drink water by measure as well. And bake the bread with human dung, in the sight of all, so that the population can know how bad things will get.”
Then I cried: “O my god, Yahweh, please consider that I have never polluted my soul the way that you suggest I should do now. I beg you to lighten this burden.”
Then he said to me: “Lo, I will allow you to substitute cow dung, just for your prophetic example; but let the people know that when the actual tragedy happens, they will be cooking with human dung.”
Then Yahweh God said: “Now listen, mortal. Take a barber’s razor, and use it to shave off all your hair. Then divide the hair that you removed into three equal heaps: burn one of the thirds amid the model city that you built; take another third and chop it up with a knife; and scatter the final third to the wind – I will go chase this third third with my sword. But save a few of the hairs and tuck them into your skirt, for safekeeping. Then, after you’re finished with all this, if you happen to find any loose hairs that did not get dealt with, sweep them up and toss them into the fire; because a fire shall soon come chasing after the caravan.”
5
Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying: “Also, mortal, tell the caravan this message from the Volcano:
“Doom! Doom! This is the end! It’s all over now! An evil, an exclusive evil is coming! Time’s up, The day of trouble is here at last! Let not the buyer strategize, nor the seller calculate: for wrath is upon all. They shall dump their silver in the streets, and flee from their gold: their silver and their gold shall not be able to save them in the day of the wrath of the Volcano: they shall not satisfy their desires, neither fill their guts: because their wealth is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.”
6
One day, I was at my house, and the moguls of the select committee of the southern caravan were there with me.
Then the Volcano manifested, and behold: there was the appearance of a wild man with abundant hair, and the eyes of a goat, according to the vision that I saw before. And he put forth his hand and gripped my neck, and brought me with him into Eldorado.
7
Then he cried with a loud voice, saying, “Draw near, all you men in charge of the city.” And, behold, six men came up, and each one had a slaughter weapon in his hand, except one who was clothed with linen, who had a writer’s inkhorn by his side. Yahweh said to this last man: “Go through the city, and set a mark on the foreheads of any souls you can find who have taken no part in the corruption that has overrun Eldorado.” And to the others he said: “Follow him, and smite without pity anyone who lacks the mark.”
8
Then God’s wind lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Temple of the Hairy One: and behold at the front door there were twenty-five moguls; among whom I saw Monsieur Chevrolet and Mister Ford.
Then Yahweh said to me: “Mortal, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city. Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, O mortal!”
And the Spirit of the Volcano blew through me, and said from my mouth: “O moguls of the caravan, I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them! You have multiplied your murders in this city, and you have filled the streets with the slain. Therefore, thus says the volcano of potential: I will break forth upon you. Burning lava will engulf you.”
And it happened that, when I prophesied, Monsieur Chevrolet dropped dead. Then I turned to Yahweh and cried with a loud voice, saying: “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Will you make a full end of all the caravansary’s merchandisers?”
And Yahweh God said: “I will gather any of the people who are willing to let their hardheartedness soften. I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart out of their bosom, and will give them an heart of flesh. But as for those whose heart yearns after their detestable things, I will recompense their way upon their own heads.”
Then did the cherubims lift up their wings and make water upon the automobile beside them, as a warning unto Chevrolet’s compeer Ford.
And the vortex of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and landed atop the mountain which is on the east side of Eldorado.
Afterwards the wind of God took me up, and brought me back to the captives by the river. And I told them all the things that Yahweh had showed me.
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