A widely respected Israeli mystic, Rabbi Yosef Pinto, has claimed that coronavirus was predicted thousands of years ago. He says the virus was announced in the Book of Ezekiel, which describes itself as having been written by the Ezekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of Babylon between 593 and 571 BC.
Initially announcing to the world that he had a vision of a coming global catastrophe in January, days later, the coronavirus began to rapidly spread through China and, shortly after, the world.
The deadly virus has now infected nearly 72,000 people, while killing more than 1,700.
Now, Rabbi Pinto claims his prophecy was indeed the outbreak that soon followed.
He goes further, and claims the coronavirus is such a plague of Biblical proportion foretold in the holy book.
Now living in Morocco, the scholar has warned that the looming pandemic may be even worse than the holocaust in terms of final death counts.
He has since urged people to “pray and repent”.
In what may prove more than coincidental symbolism, China has also not been hit by a plague of locusts spreading from Africa.
Billions of insects have already destroyed food supplies and sources from Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.
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“This will soon become clear to all. I am not trying to scare anyone.
“I am only coming to tell the truth.
“Since the outbreak, tens of thousands have died in China, millions are being held in quarantine, for several weeks.
“Those who don’t die from the disease are dying of hunger.
“Soon, the supply of food will run out and the security forces will realise that they are also in quarantine and they will try to save themselves.”
He pointed to a passage in the Book of Ezekiel in which God pledged to “pour out his anger upon Sin”.
In modern Hebrew, Sin is the name for China, according to The New York Times.
The text reads: “I will pour out my anger upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will destroy the wealth of No.
“I will set fire to Egypt; Sin shall writhe in anguish and No shall be torn apart; and Noph [shall face] adversaries in broad daylight.”
Rabbi Pinto called for everyone to “pray for the entire world, to light candles, and to seek God’s forgiveness”.