\NormalFont\ShortTitle{2 Esdras}

{\MT The Second Book of Esdras

\par }{\IP {\BK{The Second Book of Esdras}} is included in the Slavonic Bible as
{\BK{3 Esdras}}, but is not found in the Greek Septuagint. It is included in the Appendix to the Latin
Vulgate Bible as
{\BK{4 Esdras}}. It is considered to be Apocrypha by most church traditions. It is preserved here for
its supplementary historical value.


\par }\ChapOne{1}{\PP \VerseOne{1}The second book of the prophet Esdras, the son of Saraias, the
son of Azaraias, the son of Helkias, the son of Salemas, the son of Sadoc, the son of Ahitob,

\VS{2}the son of Achias, the son of Phinees, the son of Heli, the son of Amarias,
the son of Aziei, the son of Marimoth, the son of Arna, the son of Ozias, the son of Borith, the son of
Abissei, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar,

\VS{3}the son of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, who was captive in the land of the Medes,
in the reign of Artaxerxes king of the Persians.


\par }{\PP \VS{4}The Lord’s word came to me, saying,

\VS{5}“Go your way and show my people their sinful deeds, and their children their
wickedness which they have done against me, that they may tell their children’s children,

\VS{6}because the sins of their fathers have increased in them, for they have forgotten
me, and have offered sacrifices to foreign gods.

\VS{7}Didn’t I bring them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage? But
they have provoked me to wrath and have despised my counsels.

\VS{8}So pull out the hair of your head and cast all evils upon them, for they have
not been obedient to my law, but they are a rebellious people.

\VS{9}How long shall I endure them, to whom I have done so much good?

\VS{10}I have overthrown many kings for their sakes. I have struck down Pharoah with
his servants and all his army.

\VS{11}I have destroyed all the nations before them. In the east, I have scattered
the people of two provinces, even of Tyre and Sidon, and have slain all their adversaries.

\VS{12}Speak therefore to them, saying:


\par }{\PP \VS{13}“The Lord says, truly I brought you through the sea, and where
there was no path I made highways for you. I gave you Moses for a leader and Aaron for a priest.

\VS{14}I gave you light in a pillar of fire. I have done great wonders amongst you,
yet you have forgotten me, says the Lord.


\par }{\PP \VS{15}“The Lord Almighty says: The quails were for a token to you.
I gave you a camp for your protection, but you complained there.

\VS{16}You didn’t celebrate in my name for the destruction of your enemies, but even
to this day you still complain.

\VS{17}Where are the benefits that I have given you? When you were hungry and thirsty
in the wilderness, didn’t you cry to me,

\VS{18}saying, ‘Why have you brought us into this wilderness to kill us? It would
have been better for us to have served the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness.’

\VS{19}I had pity on your mourning and gave you manna for food. You ate angels’ bread.

\VS{20}When you were thirsty, didn’t I split the rock, and water flowed out in abundance?
Because of the heat, I covered you with the leaves of the trees.

\VS{21}I divided fruitful lands amongst you. I drove out the Canaanites, the Pherezites,
and the Philistines before you. What more shall I do for you?” says the Lord.


\par }{\PP \VS{22}The Lord Almighty says, “When you were in the wilderness, at
the bitter stream, being thirsty and blaspheming my name,

\VS{23}I gave you not fire for your blasphemies, but threw a tree in the water, and
made the river sweet.

\VS{24}What shall I do to you, O Jacob? You, Judah, would not obey me. I will turn
myself to other nations, and I will give my name to them, that they may keep my statutes.

\VS{25}Since you have forsaken me, I also will forsake you. When you ask me to be
merciful to you, I will have no mercy upon you.

\VS{26}Whenever you call upon me, I will not hear you, for you have defiled your
hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder.

\VS{27}It is not as though you have forsaken me, but your own selves,” says the Lord.


\par }{\PP \VS{28}The Lord Almighty says, “Haven’t I asked you as a father his
sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her young babies,

\VS{29}that you would be my people, and I would be your God, that you would be my
children, and I would be your father?

\VS{30}I gathered you together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But
now, what should I do to you? I will cast you out from my presence.

\VS{31}When you offer burnt sacrifices to me, I will turn my face from you, for I
have rejected your solemn feast days, your new moons, and your circumcisions of the flesh.

\VS{32}I sent to you my servants the prophets, whom you have taken and slain, and
torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require from you,” says the Lord.


\par }{\PP \VS{33}The Lord Almighty says, “Your house is desolate. I will cast
you out as the wind blows stubble.

\VS{34}Your children won’t be fruitful, for they have neglected my commandment to
you, and done that which is evil before me.

\VS{35}I will give your houses to a people that will come, which not having heard
of me yet believe me. Those to whom I have shown no signs will do what I have commanded.

\VS{36}They have seen no prophets, yet they will remember their former condition.

\VS{37}I call to witness the gratitude of the people who will come, whose little
ones rejoice with gladness. Although they see me not with bodily eyes, yet in spirit they will believe
what I say.”


\par }{\PP \VS{38}And now, father, behold with glory, and see the people that come
from the east:

\VS{39}to whom I will give for leaders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Oseas, Amos, and
Micheas, Joel, Abdias, and Jonas,

\VS{40}Nahum, and Abacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zachary, and Malachy, who is also called
the Lord’s messenger.



\par }\Chap{2}{\PP \VerseOne{1}The Lord says, “I brought this people out of bondage. I gave them
my commandments by my servants the prophets, whom they would not listen to, but made my counsels void.

\VS{2}The mother who bore them says to them, ‘Go your way, my children, for I am a
widow and forsaken.

\VS{3}I brought you up with gladness, and I have lost you with sorrow and heaviness,
for you have sinned before the Lord God, and done that which is evil before me.

\VS{4}But now what can I do for you? For I am a widow and forsaken. Go your way, my
children, and ask for mercy from the Lord.’

\VS{5}As for me, O father, I call upon you for a witness in addition to the mother
of these children, because they would not keep my covenant,

\VS{6}that you may bring them to confusion, and their mother to ruin, that they may
have no offspring.

\VS{7}Let them be scattered abroad amongst the heathen. Let their names be blotted
out of the earth, for they have despised my covenant.

\VS{8}Woe to you, Assur, you who hide the unrighteous with you! You wicked nation,
remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrah,

\VS{9}whose land lies in lumps of pitch and heaps of ashes. That is what I will also
do to those who have not listened to me,” says the Lord Almighty.


\par }{\PP \VS{10}The Lord says to Esdras, “Tell my people that I will give them
the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given to Israel.

\VS{11}I will also take their glory back to myself, and give these the everlasting
tabernacles which I had prepared for them.

\VS{12}They will have the tree of life for fragrant perfume. They will neither labour
nor be weary.

\VS{13}Ask, and you will receive. Pray that your days may be few, that they may be
shortened. The kingdom is already prepared for you. Watch!

\VS{14}Call heaven and earth to witness. Call them to witness, for I have left out
evil, and created the good, for I live, says the Lord.


\par }{\PP \VS{15}“Mother, embrace your children. I will bring them out with gladness
like a dove does. Establish their feet, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.

\VS{16}I will raise those who are dead up again from their places, and bring them
out from their tombs, for I recognise my name in them.

\VS{17}Don’t be afraid, you mother of children, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.

\VS{18}For your help, I will send my servants Esaias and Jeremy, after whose counsel
I have sanctified and prepared for you twelve trees laden with various fruits,

\VS{19}and as many springs flowing with milk and honey, and seven mighty mountains,
on which roses and lilies grow, with which I will fill your children with joy.

\VS{20}Do right to the widow. Secure justice for the fatherless. Give to the poor.
Defend the orphan. Clothe the naked.

\VS{21}Heal the broken and the weak. Don’t laugh a lame man to scorn. Defend the
maimed. Let the blind man have a vision of my glory.

\VS{22}Protect the old and young within your walls.

\VS{23}Wherever you find the dead, set a sign upon them and commit them to the grave,
and I will give you the first place in my resurrection.

\VS{24}Stay still, my people, and take your rest, for your rest will come.

\VS{25}Nourish your children, good nurse, and establish their feet.

\VS{26}As for the servants whom I have given you, not one of them will perish, for
I will require them from amongst your number.

\VS{27}Don’t be anxious, for when the day of suffering and anguish comes, others
will weep and be sorrowful, but you will rejoice and have abundance.

\VS{28}The nations will envy you, but they will be able to do nothing against you,
says the Lord.

\VS{29}My hands will cover you, so that your children don’t see Gehenna.\FTNT{†}{{\FR 2:29: }{\FT{or,
}}{\FQA{Hell.
}}}

\VS{30}Be joyful, mother, with your children, for I will deliver you, says the Lord.

\VS{31}Remember your children who sleep, for I will bring them out of the secret
places of the earth and show mercy to them, for I am merciful, says the Lord Almighty.

\VS{32}Embrace your children until I come, and proclaim mercy to them, for my wells
run over, and my grace won’t fail.”


\par }{\PP \VS{33}I, Esdras, received a command from the Lord on Mount Horeb to
go to Israel, but when I came to them, they rejected me and rejected the Lord’s commandment.

\VS{34}Therefore I say to you, O nations that hear and understand, “Look for your
shepherd. He will give you everlasting rest, for he is near at hand who will come at the end of the age.

\VS{35}Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, for the everlasting light will shine
on you forevermore.

\VS{36}Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joy of your glory. I call to witness
my saviour openly.

\VS{37}Receive that which is given to you by the Lord, and be joyful, giving thanks
to him who has called you to heavenly kingdoms.

\VS{38}Arise and stand up, and see the number of those who have been sealed at the
Lord’s feast.

\VS{39}Those who withdrew themselves from the shadow of the world have received glorious
garments from the Lord.

\VS{40}Take again your full number, O Zion, and make up the reckoning of those of
yours who are clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord.

\VS{41}The number of your children, whom you long for, is fulfilled. Ask the power
of the Lord, that your people, which have been called from the beginning, may be made holy.”


\par }{\PP \VS{42}I, Esdras, saw upon Mount Zion a great multitude, whom I could
not number, and they all praised the Lord with songs.

\VS{43}In the midst of them, there was a young man of a high stature, taller than
all the rest, and upon every one of their heads he set crowns, and he was more exalted than they were.
I marvelled greatly at this.

\VS{44}So I asked the angel, and said, “What are these, my Lord?”


\par }{\PP \VS{45}He answered and said to me, “These are those who have put off
the mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God. Now they are crowned,
and receive palms.”


\par }{\PP \VS{46}Then said I to the angel, “Who is the young man who sets crowns
on them, and gives them palms in their hands?”


\par }{\PP \VS{47}So he answered and said to me, “He is the Son of God, whom they
have confessed in the world.”

\par }{\PP Then I began to praise those who stood so valiantly for the name of the Lord.


\par }{\PP \VS{48}Then the angel said to me, “Go your way, and tell my people what
kind of things, and how great wonders of the Lord God you have seen.”



\par }\Chap{3}{\PP \VerseOne{1}In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city, I Salathiel,
also called Esdras, was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart,

\VS{2}for I saw the desolation of Zion and the wealth of those who lived at Babylon.

\VS{3}My spirit was very agitated, so that I began to speak words full of fear to
the Most High, and said,

\VS{4}“O sovereign Lord, didn’t you speak at the beginning when you formed the earth—and
that yourself alone—and commanded the dust

\VS{5}and it gave you Adam, a body without a soul? Yet it was the workmanship of your
hands, and you breathed into him the breath of life, and he was made alive in your presence.

\VS{6}You led him into the garden which your right hand planted before the earth appeared.

\VS{7}You gave him your one commandment, which he transgressed, and immediately you
appointed death for him and his descendants. From him were born nations, tribes, peoples, and kindred
without number.

\VS{8}Every nation walked after their own will, did ungodly things in your sight,
and despised your commandments, and you didn’t hinder them.

\VS{9}Nevertheless, again in process of time, you brought the flood on those who lived
in the world and destroyed them.

\VS{10}It came to pass that the same thing happened to them. Just as death came to
Adam, so was the flood to these.

\VS{11}Nevertheless, you left one of them, Noah with his household, and all the righteous
men who descended from him.


\par }{\PP \VS{12}“It came to pass that when those who lived upon the earth began
to multiply, they also multiplied children, peoples, and many nations, and began again to be more ungodly
than their ancestors.

\VS{13}It came to pass, when they did wickedly before you, you chose one from amongst
them, whose name was Abraham.

\VS{14}You loved, and to him only you showed the end of the times secretly by night,

\VS{15}and made an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that you would never
forsake his descendants. To him, you gave Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau.

\VS{16}You set apart Jacob for yourself, but rejected Esau. Jacob became a great
multitude.

\VS{17}It came to pass that when you led his descendants out of Egypt, you brought
them up to Mount Sinai.

\VS{18}You bowed the heavens also, shook the earth, moved the whole world, made the
depths tremble, and troubled the age.

\VS{19}Your glory went through four gates, of fire, of earthquake, of wind, and of
ice, that you might give the law to the descendants of Jacob, and the commandment to the descendants of
Israel.


\par }{\PP \VS{20}“Yet you didn’t take away from them their wicked heart, that
your law might produce fruit in them.

\VS{21}For the first Adam, burdened with a wicked heart transgressed and was overcome,
as were all who are descended from him.

\VS{22}Thus disease was made permanent. The law was in the heart of the people along
with the wickedness of the root. So the good departed away and that which was wicked remained.

\VS{23}So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end. Then you raised
up a servant, called David,

\VS{24}whom you commanded to build a city to your name, and to offer burnt offerings
to you in it from what is yours.

\VS{25}When this was done many years, then those who inhabited the city did evil,

\VS{26}in all things doing as Adam and all his generations had done, for they also
had a wicked heart.

\VS{27}So you gave your city over into the hands of your enemies.


\par }{\PP \VS{28}“Then I said in my heart, ‘Are their deeds of those who inhabit
Babylon any better? Is that why it gained dominion over Zion?’

\VS{29}For it came to pass when I came here, that I also saw impieties without number,
and my soul saw many sinners in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

\VS{30}For I have seen how you endure them sinning, and have spared those who act
ungodly, and have destroyed your people, and have preserved your enemies;

\VS{31}and you have not shown how your way may be comprehended. Are the deeds of
Babylon better than those of Zion?

\VS{32}Or is there any other nation that knows you beside Israel? Or what tribes
have so believed your covenants as these tribes of Jacob?

\VS{33}Yet their reward doesn’t appear, and their labour has no fruit, for I have
gone here and there through the nations, and I see that they abound in wealth, and don’t think about your
commandments.

\VS{34}Weigh therefore our iniquities now in the balance, and theirs also who dwell
in the world, and so will it be found which way the scale inclines.

\VS{35}Or when was it that they who dwell on the earth have not sinned in your sight?
Or what nation has kept your commandments so well?

\VS{36}You will find some men by name who have kept your precepts, but you won’t
find nations.”



\par }\Chap{4}{\PP \VerseOne{1}The angel who was sent to me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an
answer,

\VS{2}and said to me, “Your understanding has utterly failed you regarding this world.
Do you think you can comprehend the way of the Most High?”


\par }{\PP \VS{3}Then I said, “Yes, my Lord.”

\par }{\PP He answered me, “I have been sent to show you three ways, and to set before you three problems.

\VS{4}If you can solve one for me, I also will show you the way that you desire to
see, and I will teach you why the heart is wicked.”


\par }{\PP \VS{5}I said, “Say on, my Lord.”

\par }{\PP Then said he to me, “Go, weigh for me the weight of fire, or measure for me blast of wind,
or call back for me the day that is past.”


\par }{\PP \VS{6}Then answered I and said, “Who of the sons of men is able to do
this, that you should ask me about such things?”


\par }{\PP \VS{7}He said to me, “If I had asked you, ‘How many dwellings are there
in the heart of the sea? Or how many springs are there at the fountain head of the deep? Or how many streams
are above the firmament? Or which are the exits
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 4:7: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin omits
}}{\FQA{of hell? or which are the paths.}}}of hell? Or which are the entrances of paradise?’

\VS{8}perhaps you would say to me, ‘I never went down into the deep, or as yet into
hell, neither did I ever climb up into heaven.’

\VS{9}Nevertheless now I have only asked you about the fire, wind, and the day, things
which you have experienced, and from which you can’t be separated, and yet you have given me no answer
about them.”


\par }{\PP \VS{10}He said moreover to me, “You can’t understand your own things
that you grew up with.

\VS{11}How then can your mind comprehend the way of the Most High? How can he who
is already worn out with the corrupted world understand incorruption?”

\par }{\PP \FTNT{‡}{{\FR 4:11: }{\FT{So the Syriac and Aethiopic. The Latin is corrupt.}}}When I heard these things, I fell
on my face

\VS{12}and said to him, “It would have been better if we weren’t here at all, than
that we should come here and live in the midst of ungodliness, and suffer, and not know why.”


\par }{\PP \VS{13}He answered me, and said,
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 4:13: }{\FT{So the Oriental versions. The Latin is corrupt. See
Judges 9:8.
}}}“A forest of the trees of the field went out, and took counsel together,

\VS{14}and said, ‘Come! Let’s go and make war against the sea, that it may depart
away before us, and that we may make ourselves more forests.’

\VS{15}The waves of the sea also in like manner took counsel together, and said,
‘Come! Let’s go up and subdue the forest of the plain, that there also we may gain more territory.’

\VS{16}The counsel of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it.

\VS{17}Likewise also the counsel of the waves of the sea, for the sand stood up and
stopped them.

\VS{18}If you were judge now between these two, which would you justify, or which
would you condemn?”


\par }{\PP \VS{19}I answered and said, “It is a foolish counsel that they both
have taken, for the ground is given to the wood, and the place of the sea is given to bear its waves.”


\par }{\PP \VS{20}Then answered he me, and said, “You have given a right judgement.
Why don’t you judge your own case?

\VS{21}For just as the ground is given to the wood, and the sea to its waves, even
so those who dwell upon the earth may understand nothing but what is upon the earth. Only he who dwells
above the heavens understands the things that are above the height of the heavens.”


\par }{\PP \VS{22}Then answered I and said, “I beg you, O Lord, why has the power
of understanding been given to me?

\VS{23}For it was not in my mind to be curious of the ways above, but of such things
as pass by us daily, because Israel is given up as a reproach to the heathen. The people whom you have
loved have been given over to ungodly nations. The law of our forefathers is made of no effect, and the
written covenants are nowhere regarded.

\VS{24}We pass away out of the world like locusts. Our life is like a vapour, and
we aren’t worthy to obtain mercy.

\VS{25}What will he then do for his name by which we are called? I have asked about
these things.”


\par }{\PP \VS{26}Then he answered me, and said, “If you are alive you will see,
and if you live long, you will marvel, for the world hastens quickly to pass away.

\VS{27}For it is not able to bear the things that are promised to the righteous in
the times to come; for this world is full of sadness and infirmities.

\VS{28}For the evil\FTNT{†}{{\FR 4:28: }{\FT{so the Syriac and Aethiopic.}}} about which you asked me has been sown, but its harvest
hasn’t yet come.

\VS{29}If therefore that which is sown isn’t reaped, and if the place where the evil
is sown doesn’t pass away, the field where the good is sown won’t come.

\VS{30}For a grain of evil seed was sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning,
and how much wickedness it has produced to this time! How much more it will yet produce until the time
of threshing comes!

\VS{31}Ponder now by yourself, how much fruit of wickedness a grain of evil seed
has produced.

\VS{32}When the grains which are without number are sown, how great a threshing floor
they will fill!”


\par }{\PP \VS{33}Then I answered and said,
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 4:33: }{\FT{So the chief oriental versions.
}}}“How long? When will these things come to pass? Why are our years few and evil?”


\par }{\PP \VS{34}He answered me, and said, “Don’t hurry faster than the Most High;
for your haste is\FTNT{§}{{\FR 4:34: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin is corrupt.
}}} for your own self, but he who is above hurries on behalf of many.

\VS{35}Didn’t the souls of the righteous ask question of these things in their chambers,
saying, ‘How long
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 4:35: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{shall I hope on this fashion?
}}}will we be here? When does the fruit of the threshing floor come?’

\VS{36}To them, Jeremiel the archangel answered, ‘When the number is fulfilled of
those who are like you. For he has weighed the world in the balance.

\VS{37}By measure, he has measured the times. By number, he has counted the seasons.
He won’t
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 4:37: }{\FT{Syr.
}}{\FQA{rest.
}}}move or stir them until that measure is fulfilled.’ ”


\par }{\PP \VS{38}Then I answered, “O sovereign Lord, all of us are full of ungodliness.

\VS{39}Perhaps it is for our sakes that the threshing time of the righteous is kept
back—because of the sins of those who dwell on the earth.”


\par }{\PP \VS{40}So he answered me, “Go your way to a woman with child, and ask
of her when she has fulfilled her nine months, if her womb may keep the baby any longer within her.”


\par }{\PP \VS{41}Then I said, “No, Lord, that can it not.”

\par }{\PP He said to me, “In Hades, the chambers of souls are like the womb.

\VS{42}For just like a woman in labour hurries to escape the anguish of the labour
pains, even so these places hurry to deliver those things that are committed to them from the beginning.

\VS{43}Then you will be shown those things which you desire to see.”


\par }{\PP \VS{44}Then I answered, “If I have found favour in your sight, and if
it is possible, and if I am worthy,

\VS{45}show me this also, whether there is more to come than is past, or whether
the greater part has gone over us.

\VS{46}For what is gone I know, but I don’t know what is to come.”


\par }{\PP \VS{47}He said to me, “Stand up on my right side, and I will explain
the parable to you.”


\par }{\PP \VS{48}So I stood, looked, and saw a hot burning oven passed by before
me. It happened that when the flame had gone by I looked, and saw that the smoke remained.

\VS{49}After this, a watery cloud passed in front of me, and sent down much rain
with a storm. When the stormy rain was past, the drops still remained in it.”


\par }{\PP \VS{50}Then said he to me, “Consider with yourself; as the rain is more
than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the quantity which is past was far greater;
but the drops and the smoke still remained.”


\par }{\PP \VS{51}Then I prayed, and said, “Do you think that I will live until
that time? Or who will be alive in those days?”


\par }{\PP \VS{52}He answered me, “As for the signs you asked me about, I may tell
you of them in part; but I wasn’t sent to tell you about your life, for I don’t know.



\par }\Chap{5}{\PP \VerseOne{1}“Nevertheless, concerning the signs, behold, the days will come
when those who dwell on earth will be taken
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 5:1: }{\FT{So the syriac.
}}}with great amazement, and the way of truth will be hidden, and the land will be barren of faith.

\VS{2}Iniquity will be increased above what now you see, and beyond what you have
heard long ago.

\VS{3}The land that you now see ruling will be a trackless waste, and men will see
it desolate.

\VS{4}But if the Most High grants you to live, you will see what is after the third
period will be troubled. The sun will suddenly shine in the night, and the moon in the day.

\VS{5}Blood will drop out of wood, and the stone will utter its voice. The peoples
will be troubled, and the stars will fall.

\VS{6}He will rule whom those who dwell on the earth don’t expect, and the birds will
fly away together.

\VS{7}The Sodomite sea will cast out fish, and make a noise in the night, which many
have not known; but all will hear its voice.

\VS{8}There will also be chaos in many places. Fires will break out often, and the
wild animals will change their places, and women will bring forth monsters.

\VS{9}Salt waters will be found in the sweet, and all friends will destroy one another.
Then reason will hide itself, and understanding withdraw itself into its chamber.

\VS{10}It will be sought by many, and won’t be found. Unrighteousness and lack of
restraint will be multiplied on earth.

\VS{11}One country will ask another, ‘Has righteousness, or a man that does righteousness,
gone through you?’ And it will say, ‘No.’

\VS{12}It will come to pass at that time that men will hope, but won’t obtain. They
will labour, but their ways won’t prosper.

\VS{13}I am permitted to show you such signs. If you will pray again, and weep as
now, and fast seven days, you will hear yet greater things than these.”


\par }{\PP \VS{14}Then I woke up, and an extreme trembling went through my body,
and my mind was so troubled that it fainted.

\VS{15}So the angel who had come to talk with me held me, comforted me, and set me
on my feet.


\par }{\PP \VS{16}In the second night, it came to pass that
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 5:16: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{Psaltiel.
}}}Phaltiel the captain of the people came to me, saying, “Where have you been? Why is your face
sad?

\VS{17}Or don’t you know that Israel is committed to you in the land of their captivity?

\VS{18}Get up then, and eat some bread, and don’t forsake us, like a shepherd who
leaves the flock in the power of cruel wolves.”


\par }{\PP \VS{19}Then said I to him, “Go away from me and don’t come near me for
seven days, and then you shall come to me.” He heard what I said and left me.


\par }{\PP \VS{20}So I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, like Uriel the
angel had commanded me.

\VS{21}After seven days, the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again,

\VS{22}and my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began to speak words
before the Most High again.

\VS{23}I said, “O sovereign Lord of all the woods of the earth, and of all the trees
thereof, you have chosen one vine for yourself.

\VS{24}Of all the lands of the world you have chosen one
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 5:24: }{\FT{After the Oriental versions. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{pit.
}}}country for yourself. Of all the flowers of the world, you have chosen one lily for yourself.

\VS{25}Of all the depths of the sea, you have filled one river for yourself. Of all
built cities, you have consecrated Zion for yourself.

\VS{26}Of all the birds that are created you have named for yourself one dove. Of
all the livestock that have been made, you have provided for yourself one sheep.

\VS{27}Amongst all the multitudes of peoples you have gotten yourself one people.
To this people, whom you loved, you gave a law that is approved by all.

\VS{28}Now, O Lord, why have you given this one people over to many, and
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 5:28: }{\FT{After the Oriental versions. The Latin reads
}}{\FQA{have prepared.}}}have dishonoured the one root above others, and have scattered your
only one amongst many?

\VS{29}Those who opposed your promises have trampled down those who believed your
covenants.

\VS{30}If you really do hate your people so much, they should be punished with your
own hands.”


\par }{\PP \VS{31}Now when I had spoken these words, the angel that came to me
the night before was sent to me,

\VS{32}and said to me, “Hear me, and I will instruct you. Listen to me, and I will
tell you more.”


\par }{\PP \VS{33}I said, “Speak on, my Lord.”

\par }{\PP Then said he to me, “You are very troubled in mind for Israel’s sake. Do you love that people
more than he who made them?”


\par }{\PP \VS{34}I said, “No, Lord; but I have spoken out of grief; for my heart
is in agony every hour while I labour to comprehend the way of the Most High, and to seek out part of
his judgement.”


\par }{\PP \VS{35}He said to me, “You can’t.”

\par }{\PP And I said, “Why, Lord? Why was I born? Why wasn’t my mother’s womb my grave, that I might
not have seen the travail of Jacob, and the wearisome toil of the people of Israel?”


\par }{\PP \VS{36}He said to me, “Count for me those who haven’t yet come. Gather
together for me the drops that are scattered abroad, and make the withered flowers green again for me.

\VS{37}Open for me the chambers that are closed, and bring out the winds for me that
are shut up in them. Or show me the image of a voice. Then I will declare to you the travail that you
asked to see.”


\par }{\PP \VS{38}And I said, “O sovereign Lord, who may know these things except
he who doesn’t have his dwelling with men?

\VS{39}As for me, I lack wisdom. How can I then speak of these things you asked me
about?”


\par }{\PP \VS{40}Then said he to me, “Just as you can do none of these things
that I have spoken of, even so you can’t find out my judgement, or the end of the love that I have promised
to my people.”


\par }{\PP \VS{41}I said, “But, behold, O Lord, you have made the promise to those
who are alive at the end. What should they do who have been before us, or we ourselves, or those who will
come after us?”


\par }{\PP \VS{42}He said to me, “I will compare my judgement to a ring. Just as
there is no slowness of those who are last, even so there is no swiftness of those who be first.”


\par }{\PP \VS{43}So I answered, “Couldn’t you make them all at once that have
been made, and that are now, and that are yet to come, that you might show your judgement sooner?”


\par }{\PP \VS{44}Then he answered me, “The creature may not move faster than the
creator, nor can the world hold them at once who will be created in it.”


\par }{\PP \VS{45}And I said, “How have you said to your servant, that
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 5:45: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}you will surely make alive at once the creature that you have created?
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 5:45: }{\FT{The Latin omits
}}{\FQA{If...alive at once.
}}}If therefore they will be alive at once, and the creation will sustain them, even so it might
now also support them to be present at once.”


\par }{\PP \VS{46}And he said to me, “Ask the womb of a woman, and say to her,
‘If you bear ten children, why do you it at different times? Ask her therefore to give birth to ten children
at once.”


\par }{\PP \VS{47}I said, “She can’t, but must do it each in their own time.”


\par }{\PP \VS{48}Then said he to me, “Even so, I have given the womb of the earth
to those who are sown in it in their own times.

\VS{49}For just as a young child may not give birth, neither she who has grown old
any more, even so have I organised the world which I created.”


\par }{\PP \VS{50}I asked, “Seeing that you have now shown me the way, I will speak
before you. Is our mother, of whom you have told me, still young? Or does she now draw near to old age?”


\par }{\PP \VS{51}He answered me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will
tell you.

\VS{52}Say to her, ‘Why aren’t they whom you have now brought forth like those who
were before, but smaller in stature?’

\VS{53}She also will answer you, ‘Those who are born in the strength of youth are
different from those who are born in the time of old age, when the womb fails.’

\VS{54}Consider therefore you also, how you are shorter than those who were before
you.

\VS{55}So are those who come after you smaller than you, as born of the creature
which now begins to be old, and is past the strength of youth.”


\par }{\PP \VS{56}Then I said, “Lord, I implore you, if I have found favour in
your sight, show your servant by whom you visit your creation.”



\par }\Chap{6}{\PP \VerseOne{1}He said to me, “In the beginning, when the earth was made, before
the portals of the world were fixed and before the gatherings of the winds blew,

\VS{2}before the voices of the thunder sounded and before the flashes of the lightning
shone, before the foundations of paradise were laid,

\VS{3}before the fair flowers were seen, before the powers of the earthquake were
established, before the innumerable army of angels were gathered together,

\VS{4}before the heights of the air were lifted up, before the measures of the firmament
were named, before the footstool of Zion
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 6:4: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}was established,

\VS{5}before the present years were reckoned, before the imaginations of those who
now sin were estranged, and before they were sealed who have gathered faith for a treasure—

\VS{6}then I considered these things, and they all were made through me alone, and
not through another; just as by me also they will be ended, and not by another.”


\par }{\PP \VS{7}Then I answered, “What will be the dividing of the times? Or when
will be the end of the first and the beginning of the age that follows?”


\par }{\PP \VS{8}He said to me, “From Abraham to Isaac, because Jacob and Esau were
born to him, for Jacob’s hand held Esau’s heel from the beginning.

\VS{9}For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the one that
follows.

\VS{10}\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 6:10: }{\FT{So the Syriac, etc. The Latin is defective.
}}}The beginning of a man is his hand, and the end of a man is his heel. Seek nothing else between
the heel and the hand, Esdras!”


\par }{\PP \VS{11}Then I answered, “O sovereign Lord, if I have found favour in
your sight,

\VS{12}I beg you, show your servant the end of your signs which you showed me part
on a previous night.”


\par }{\PP \VS{13}So he answered, “Stand up upon your feet, and you will hear a
mighty sounding voice.

\VS{14}If the place you stand on is greatly moved

\VS{15}when it speaks don’t be afraid, for the word is of the end, and the foundations
of the earth will understand

\VS{16}that the speech is about them. They will tremble and be moved, for they know
that their end must be changed.”


\par }{\PP \VS{17}It happened that when I had heard it, I stood up on my feet,
and listened, and, behold, there was a voice that spoke, and its sound was like the sound of many waters.

\VS{18}It said, “Behold, the days come when I draw near to visit those who dwell
upon the earth,

\VS{19}and when I investigate those who have caused harm unjustly with their unrighteousness,
and when the affliction of Zion is complete,

\VS{20}and when the seal will be set on the age that is to pass away, then I will
show these signs: the books will be opened before the firmament, and all will see together.

\VS{21}The children a year old will speak with their voices. The women with child
will deliver premature children at three or four months, and they will live and dance.

\VS{22}Suddenly the sown places will appear unsown. The full storehouses will suddenly
be found empty.

\VS{23}The trumpet will give a sound which when every man hears, they will suddenly
be afraid.

\VS{24}At that time friends will make war against one another like enemies. The earth
will stand in fear with those who dwell in it. The springs of the fountains will stand still, so that
for three hours they won’t flow.


\par }{\PP \VS{25}“It will be that whoever remains after all these things that
I have told you of, he will be saved and will see my salvation, and the end of my world.

\VS{26}They will see the men who have been taken up, who have not tasted death from
their birth. The heart of the inhabitants will be changed and turned into a different spirit.

\VS{27}For evil will be blotted out and deceit will be quenched.

\VS{28}Faith will flourish. Corruption will be overcome, and the truth, which has
been so long without fruit, will be declared.”


\par }{\PP \VS{29}When he talked with me, behold, little by little, the place I
stood on
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 6:29: }{\FT{After the Oriental versions. The Latin is corrupt.
}}}rocked back and forth.

\VS{30}He said to me, “I came to show you these things
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 6:30: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin is corrupt.
}}}tonight.

\VS{31}If therefore you will pray yet again, and fast seven more days, I will
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 6:31: }{\FT{The Latin has
}}{\FQA{tell you by day.
}}}again tell you greater things than these.

\VS{32}For your voice has surely been heard before the Most High. For the Mighty
has seen your righteousness. He has also seen your purity, which you have maintained ever since your youth.

\VS{33}Therefore he has sent me to show you all these things, and to say to you,
‘Believe, and don’t be afraid!

\VS{34}Don’t be hasty to think vain things about the former times, that you may not
hasten in the latter times.’ ”


\par }{\PP \VS{35}It came to pass after this, that I wept again, and fasted seven
days in like manner, that I might fulfil the three weeks which he told me.

\VS{36}On the eighth night, my heart was troubled within me again, and I began to
speak in the presence of the Most High.

\VS{37}For my spirit was greatly aroused, and my soul was in distress.

\VS{38}I said, “O Lord, truly you spoke at the beginning of the creation, on the
first day, and said this: ‘Let heaven and earth be made,’ and your word perfected the work.

\VS{39}Then the spirit was hovering, and darkness and silence were on every side.
The sound of man’s voice was not yet there.\FTNT{§}{{\FR 6:39: }{\FT{The Latin adds
}}{\FQA{from you.}}}

\VS{40}Then you commanded a ray of light to be brought out of your treasuries, that
your works might then appear.


\par }{\PP \VS{41}“On the second day, again you made the spirit of the firmament
and commanded it to divide and to separate the waters, that the one part might go up, and the other remain
beneath.


\par }{\PP \VS{42}“On the third day, you commanded that the waters should be gathered
together in the seventh part of the earth. You dried up six parts and kept them, to the intent that of
these some being both planted and tilled might serve before you.

\VS{43}For as soon as your word went out, the work was done.

\VS{44}Immediately, great and innumerable fruit grew, with many pleasant tastes,
and flowers of inimitable colour, and fragrances of most exquisite smell. This was done the third day.


\par }{\PP \VS{45}“On the fourth day, you commanded that the sun should shine,
the moon give its light, and the stars should be in their order;

\VS{46}and gave them a command to serve mankind, who was to be made.


\par }{\PP \VS{47}“On the fifth day, you said to the seventh part, where the water
was gathered together, that it should produce living creatures, fowls and fishes; and so it came to pass

\VS{48}that the mute and lifeless water produced living things as it was told, that
the nations might therefore praise your wondrous works.


\par }{\PP \VS{49}“Then you preserved two living creatures. The one you called
Behemoth, and the other you called Leviathan.

\VS{50}You separated the one from the other; for the seventh part, namely, where
the water was gathered together, might not hold them both.

\VS{51}To Behemoth, you gave one part, which was dried up on the third day, that
he should dwell in it, in which are a thousand hills;

\VS{52}but to Leviathan you gave the seventh part, namely, the watery part. You have
kept them to be devoured by whom you wish, when you wish.


\par }{\PP \VS{53}“But on the sixth day, you commanded the earth to produce before
you cattle, animals, and creeping things.

\VS{54}Over these, you ordained Adam as ruler over all the works that you have made.
Of him came all of us, the people whom you have chosen.


\par }{\PP \VS{55}“All this have I spoken before you, O Lord, because you have
said that for our sakes you made
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 6:55: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{the firstborn world.
}}}this world.

\VS{56}As for the other nations, which also come from Adam, you have said that they
are nothing, and are like spittle. You have likened the abundance of them to a drop that falls from a
bucket.

\VS{57}Now, O Lord, behold these nations, which are reputed as nothing, being rulers
over us and devouring us.

\VS{58}But we your people, whom you have called your firstborn, your only children,
and your fervent lover, are given into their hands.

\VS{59}Now if the world is made for our sakes, why don’t we possess our world for
an inheritance? How long will this endure?”



\par }\Chap{7}{\PP \VerseOne{1}When I had finished speaking these words, the angel which had been
sent to me the nights before was sent to me.

\VS{2}He said to me, “Rise, Esdras, and hear the words that I have come to tell you.”


\par }{\PP \VS{3}I said, “Speak on, my Lord.”

\par }{\PP Then he said to me, “There is a sea set in a wide place, that it might be
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 7:3: }{\FT{So the chief Oriental versions. The Latin MSS. have
}}{\FQA{deep.
}}}broad and vast,

\VS{4}but its entrance is set in a narrow place so as to be like a river.

\VS{5}Whoever desires to go into the sea to look at it, or to rule it, if he didn’t
go through the narrow entrance, how could he come into the broad part?

\VS{6}Another thing also: There is a city built and set in a plain country, and full
of all good things,

\VS{7}but its entrance is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, having
fire on the right hand, and deep water on the left.

\VS{8}There is one only path between them both, even between the fire and the water,
so that only one person can go there at once.

\VS{9}If this city is now given to a man for an inheritance, if the heir doesn’t pass
the danger before him, how will he receive his inheritance?”


\par }{\PP \VS{10}I said, “That is so, Lord.”

\par }{\PP Then said he to me, “Even so also is Israel’s portion.

\VS{11}I made the world for their sakes. What is now done was decreed when Adam transgressed
my statutes.

\VS{12}Then the entrances of this world were made narrow, sorrowful, and toilsome.
They are but few and evil, full of perils, and involved in great toils.

\VS{13}For the entrances of the greater world are wide and safe, and produce fruit
of immortality.

\VS{14}So if those who live don’t enter these difficult and vain things, they can
never receive those that are reserved for them.

\VS{15}Now therefore why are you disturbed, seeing you are but a corruptible man?
Why are you moved, since you are mortal?

\VS{16}Why haven’t you considered in your mind that which is to come, rather than
that which is present?”


\par }{\PP \VS{17}Then I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, behold, you have
ordained in your law that the righteous will inherit these things, but that the ungodly will perish.

\VS{18}The righteous therefore will suffer difficult things, and hope for easier
things, but those who have done wickedly have suffered the difficult things, and yet will not see the
easier things.”


\par }{\PP \VS{19}He said to me, “You are not a judge above God, neither do you
have more understanding than the Most High.

\VS{20}Yes, let many perish who now live, rather than that the law of God which is
set before them be despised.

\VS{21}For God strictly commanded those who came, even as they came, what they should
do to live, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.

\VS{22}Nevertheless, they weren’t obedient to him, but spoke against him and imagined
for themselves vain things.

\VS{23}They made cunning plans of wickedness, and said moreover of the Most High
that he doesn’t exist, and they didn’t know his ways.

\VS{24}They despised his law and denied his covenants. They haven’t been faithful
to his statutes, and haven’t performed his works.

\VS{25}Therefore, Esdras, for the empty are empty things, and for the full are the
full things.

\VS{26}For behold, the time will come, and it will be, when these signs of which
I told you before will come to pass, that the bride will appear, even the city coming forth, and she will
be seen who now is withdrawn from the earth.

\VS{27}Whoever is delivered from the foretold evils will see my wonders.

\VS{28}For my son Jesus will be revealed with those who are with him, and those who
remain will rejoice four hundred years.

\VS{29}After these years my son Christ\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 7:29: }{\FT{“Christ” means “Anointed One”.}}} will die, along with all of those who have the breath
of life\FTNT{§}{{\FR 7:29: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{man
}}}.

\VS{30}Then the world will be turned into the old silence seven days, like as in
the first beginning, so that no human will remain.

\VS{31}After seven days the world that is not yet awake will be raised up, and what
is corruptible will die.

\VS{32}The earth will restore those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who
dwell in it in silence, and the
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 7:32: }{\FT{Or,
}}{\FQA{chambers
}}{\FT{See
2 Esdras 4:35.
}}}secret places will deliver those souls that were committed to them.

\VS{33}The Most High will be revealed on the judgement seat,
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 7:33: }{\FT{The Syriac adds
}}{\FQA{and the end will come.
}}}and compassion will pass away, and patience will be withdrawn.

\VS{34}Only judgement will remain. Truth will stand. Faith will grow strong.

\VS{35}Recompense will follow. The reward will be shown. Good deeds will awake, and
wicked deeds won’t sleep.\FTNT{§}{{\FR 7:35: }{\FT{The passage from verse [36] to verse [105], formerly missing, has been restored to the text.
See Preface, page ix.
}}}

\VS{36}The
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 7:36: }{\FT{So the chief Oriental versions. The Latin MSS. have
}}{\FQA{place.
}}}pit of torment will appear, and near it will be the place of rest. The furnace of hell\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 7:36: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{Gehenna.
}}}will be shown, and near it the paradise of delight.

\VS{37}Then the Most High will say to the nations that are raised from the dead,
‘Look and understand whom you have denied, whom you haven’t served, whose commandments you have despised.

\VS{38}Look on this side and on that. Here is delight and rest, and there fire and
torments.’ Thus
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 7:38: }{\FT{So the chief Oriental versions. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{will you speak.
}}}he will speak to them in the day of judgement.

\VS{39}This is a day that has neither sun, nor moon, nor stars,

\VS{40}neither cloud, nor thunder, nor lightning, neither wind, nor water, nor air,
neither darkness, nor evening, nor morning,

\VS{41}neither summer, nor spring, nor heat, nor\FTNT{†}{{\FR 7:41: }{\FT{Or,
}}{\FQA{storm
}}} winter, neither frost, nor cold, nor hail, nor rain, nor dew,

\VS{42}neither noon, nor night, nor dawn, neither shining, nor brightness, nor light,
except only the splendour of the glory of the Most High, by which all will see the things that are set
before them.

\VS{43}It will endure as though it were a week of years.

\VS{44}This is my judgement and its prescribed order; but I have only shown these
things to you.”


\par }{\PP \VS{45}I answered, “I said then, O Lord, and I say now: Blessed are
those who are now alive and keep your commandments!

\VS{46}But what about those for whom I prayed? For who is there of those who are
alive who has not sinned, and who of the children of men hasn’t transgressed your covenant?

\VS{47}Now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few, but torments to
many.

\VS{48}For an evil heart has grown up in us, which has led us astray from these commandments
and has brought us into corruption and into the ways of death. It has shown us the paths of perdition
and removed us far from life—and that, not a few only, but nearly all who have been created.”


\par }{\PP \VS{49}He answered me, “Listen to me, and I will instruct you. I will
admonish you yet again.

\VS{50}For this reason, the Most High has not made one world, but two.

\VS{51}For because you have said that the just are not many, but few, and the ungodly
abound, hear the explanation.

\VS{52}If you have just a few precious stones, will you add them to lead and clay?”


\par }{\PP \VS{53}I said, “Lord, how could that be?”


\par }{\PP \VS{54}He said to me, “Not only that, but ask the earth, and she will
tell you. Defer to her, and she will declare it to you.

\VS{55}Say to her, ‘You produce gold, silver, and brass, and also iron, lead, and
clay;

\VS{56}but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than
brass, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.’

\VS{57}Judge therefore which things are precious and to be desired, what is abundant
or what is rare?”


\par }{\PP \VS{58}I said, “O sovereign Lord, that which is plentiful is of less
worth, for that which is more rare is more precious.”


\par }{\PP \VS{59}He answered me, “Weigh within yourself the things that you have
thought, for he who has what is hard to get rejoices over him who has what is plentiful.

\VS{60}So also is the judgement which I have promised; for I will rejoice over the
few that will be saved, because these are those who have made my glory to prevail now, and through them,
my name is now honoured.

\VS{61}I won’t grieve over the multitude of those who perish; for these are those
who are now like mist, and have become like flame and smoke; they are set on fire and burn hotly, and
are extinguished.”


\par }{\PP \VS{62}I answered, “O earth, why have you produced, if the mind is made
out of dust, like all other created things?

\VS{63}For it would have been better that the dust itself had been unborn, so that
the mind might not have been made from it.

\VS{64}But now the mind grows with us, and because of this we are tormented, because
we perish and we know it.

\VS{65}Let the race of men lament and the animals of the field be glad. Let all who
are born lament, but let the four-footed animals and the livestock rejoice.

\VS{66}For it is far better with them than with us; for they don’t look forward to
judgement, neither do they know of torments or of salvation promised to them after death.

\VS{67}For what does it profit us, that we will be preserved alive, but yet be afflicted
with torment?

\VS{68}For all who are born are defiled with iniquities, and are full of sins and
laden with transgressions.

\VS{69}If after death we were not to come into judgement, perhaps it would have been
better for us.”


\par }{\PP \VS{70}He answered me, “When the Most High made the world and Adam and
all those who came from him, he first prepared the judgement and the things that pertain to the judgement.

\VS{71}Now understand from your own words, for you have said that the mind grows
with us.

\VS{72}They therefore who dwell on the earth will be tormented for this reason, that
having understanding they have committed iniquity, and receiving commandments have not kept them, and
having obtained a law they dealt unfaithfully with that which they received.

\VS{73}What then will they have to say in the judgement, or how will they answer
in the last times?

\VS{74}For how long a time has the Most High been patient with those who inhabit
the world, and not for their sakes, but because of the times which he has foreordained!”


\par }{\PP \VS{75}I answered, “If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, show
this also to your servant, whether after death, even now when every one of us gives up his soul, we will
be kept in rest until those times come, in which you renew the creation, or whether we will be tormented
immediately.”


\par }{\PP \VS{76}He answered me, “I will show you this also; but don’t join yourself
with those who are scorners, nor count yourself with those who are tormented.

\VS{77}For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High, but it won’t
be shown you until the last times.

\VS{78}For concerning death the teaching is: When the decisive sentence has gone
out from the Most High that a man shall die, as the spirit leaves the body to return again to him who
gave it, it adores the glory of the Most High first of all.

\VS{79}And if it is one of those who have been scorners and have not kept the way
of the Most High, and that have despised his law, and who hate those who fear God,

\VS{80}these spirits won’t enter into habitations, but will wander and be in torments
immediately, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways.

\VS{81}The first way, because they have despised the law of the Most High.

\VS{82}The second way, because they can’t now make a good repentance that they may
live.

\VS{83}The third way, they will see the reward laid up for those who have believed
the covenants of the Most High.

\VS{84}The fourth way, they will consider the torment laid up for themselves in the
last days.

\VS{85}The fifth way, they will see the dwelling places of the others guarded by
angels, with great quietness.

\VS{86}The sixth way, they will see how immediately some of them will pass into torment.

\VS{87}The seventh way, which is more grievous than all the aforesaid ways, because
they will pine away in confusion and be consumed with shame, and will be withered up by fears, seeing
the glory of the Most High before whom they have sinned while living, and before whom they will be judged
in the last times.


\par }{\PP \VS{88}“Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the
Most High, when they will be separated from their mortal body.

\VS{89}In the time that they lived in it, they painfully served the Most High, and
were in jeopardy every hour, that they might keep the law of the lawgiver perfectly.

\VS{90}Therefore this is the teaching concerning them:

\VS{91}First of all they will see with great joy the glory of him who takes them
up, for they will have rest in seven orders.

\VS{92}The first order, because they have laboured with great effort to overcome
the evil thought which was fashioned together with them, that it might not lead them astray from life
into death.

\VS{93}The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the
ungodly wander, and the punishment that awaits them.

\VS{94}The third order, they see the testimony which he who fashioned them gives
concerning them, that while they lived they kept the law which was given them in trust.

\VS{95}The fourth order, they understand the rest which, being gathered in their
chambers, they now enjoy with great quietness, guarded by angels, and the glory that awaits them in the
last days.

\VS{96}The fifth order, they rejoice that they have now escaped from that which is
corruptible, and that they will inherit that which is to come, while they see in addition the difficulty
and the pain from which they have been delivered, and the spacious liberty which they will receive with
joy and immortality.

\VS{97}The sixth order, when it is shown to them how their face will shine like the
sun, and how they will be made like the light of the stars, being incorruptible from then on.

\VS{98}The seventh order, which is greater than all the previously mentioned orders,
because they will rejoice with confidence, and because they will be bold without confusion, and will be
glad without fear, for they hurry to see the face of him whom in their lifetime they served, and from
whom they will receive their reward in glory.

\VS{99}This is the order of the souls of the just, as from henceforth is announced
to them. Previously mentioned are the ways of torture which those who would not give heed will suffer
from after this.”


\par }{\PP \VS{100}I answered, “Will time therefore be given to the souls after
they are separated from the bodies, that they may see what you have described to me?”


\par }{\PP \VS{101}He said, “Their freedom will be for seven days, that for seven
days they may see the things you have been told, and afterwards they will be gathered together in their
habitations.”


\par }{\PP \VS{102}I answered, “If I have found favour in your sight, show further
to me your servant whether in the day of judgement the just will be able to intercede for the ungodly
or to entreat the Most High for them,

\VS{103}whether fathers for children, or children for parents, or kindred for kindred,
or kinsfolk for their next of kin, or friends for those who are most dear.”


\par }{\PP \VS{104}He answered me, “Since you have found favour in my sight, I
will show you this also. The day of judgement is\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 7:104: }{\FT{The Latin has
}}{\FQA{a bold day
}}} a day of decision, and displays to all the seal of truth. Even as now a father doesn’t send
his son, or a son his father, or a master his slave, or a friend him that is most dear, that in his place
he may understand, or sleep, or eat, or be healed,

\VS{105}so no one will ever pray for another in that day, neither will one lay a
burden on another, for then everyone will each bear his own righteousness or unrighteousness.”


\par }{\PP \VS{106}I answered, “How do we now find that first Abraham prayed for
the people of Sodom, and Moses for the ancestors who sinned in the wilderness,

\VS{107}and Joshua after him for Israel in the days of
\XREF{*}{{\XO 7:107: }{\XT{Joshua 7:1
}}}Achan,

\VS{108}and Samuel
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 7:108: }{\FT{So the Syriac and other versions. The Latin omits
}}{\FQA{in the days of Saul.
}}}in the days of Saul, and David for the plague, and Solomon for those who would worship in the
sanctuary,

\VS{109}and Elijah for those that received rain, and for the dead, that he might
live,

\VS{110}and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many others
prayed for many?

\VS{111}If therefore now, when corruption has grown and unrighteousness increased,
the righteous have prayed for the ungodly, why will it not be so then also?”


\par }{\PP \VS{112}He answered me, “This present world is not the end. The full
glory doesn’t remain in it. Therefore those who were able prayed for the weak.

\VS{113}But the day of judgement will be the end of this age, and the beginning
of the immortality to come, in which corruption has passed away,

\VS{114}intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off, but righteousness has
grown, and truth has sprung up.

\VS{115}Then no one will be able to have mercy on him who is condemned in judgement,
nor to harm someone who is victorious.”


\par }{\PP \VS{116}I answered then, “This is my first and last saying, that it
would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam, or else, when it had produced him, to have
restrained him from sinning.

\VS{117}For what profit is it for all who are in this present time to live in heaviness,
and after death to look for punishment?

\VS{118}O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the evil hasn’t
fallen on you alone, but on all of us who come from you.

\VS{119}For what profit is it to us, if an immortal time is promised to us, but
we have done deeds that bring death?

\VS{120}And that there is promised us an everlasting hope, but we have most miserably
failed?

\VS{121}And that there are reserved habitations of health and safety, but we have
lived wickedly?

\VS{122}And that the glory of the Most High will defend those who have led a pure
life, but we have walked in the most wicked ways of all?

\VS{123}And that a paradise will be revealed, whose fruit endures without decay,
in which is abundance and healing, but we won’t enter into it,

\VS{124}for we have lived in perverse ways?

\VS{125}And that the faces of those who have practised self-control will shine more
than the stars, but our faces will be blacker than darkness?

\VS{126}For while we lived and committed iniquity, we didn’t consider what we would
have to suffer after death.”


\par }{\PP \VS{127}Then he answered, “This is the significance of the battle which
humans born on the earth will fight:

\VS{128}if they are overcome, they will suffer as you have said, but if they get
the victory, they will receive the thing that I say.

\VS{129}For this is the way that Moses spoke to the people while he lived, saying,
‘Choose life, that you may live!’

\VS{130}Nevertheless they didn’t believe him or the prophets after him, not even
me, who have spoken to them.

\VS{131}Therefore there won’t be such heaviness in their destruction, as there will
be joy over those who are assured of salvation.”


\par }{\PP \VS{132}Then I answered, “I know, Lord, that the Most High is now called
merciful, in that he has mercy upon those who have not yet come into the world;

\VS{133}and compassionate, in that he has compassion upon those who turn to his
law;

\VS{134}and patient, in that he is patient with those who have sinned, since they
are his creatures;

\VS{135}and bountiful, in that he is ready to give rather than to take away;

\VS{136}and very merciful, in that he multiplies more and more mercies to those
who are present, and who are past, and also to those who are to come—

\VS{137}for if he wasn’t merciful, the world wouldn’t continue with those who dwell
in it—

\VS{138}and one who forgives, for if he didn’t forgive out of his goodness, that
those who have committed iniquities might be relieved of them, not even one ten thousandth part of mankind
would remain living;

\VS{139}and a judge, for if he didn’t pardon those who were created by his word,
and blot out the multitude of sins,

\VS{140}there would perhaps be very few left of an innumerable multitude.”



\par }\Chap{8}{\PP \VerseOne{1}He answered me, “The Most High has made this world for many, but
the world to come for few.

\VS{2}Now I will tell you a parable, Esdras. Just as when you ask the earth, it will
say to you that it gives very much clay from which earthen vessels are made, but little dust that gold
comes from. Even so is the course of the present world.

\VS{3}Many have been created, but few will be saved.”


\par }{\PP \VS{4}I answered, “Drink your fill of understanding then, O my soul,
and let my heart devour wisdom.

\VS{5}For you
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 8:5: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin is incorrect.
}}}have come here apart from your will, and depart against your will, for you have only been given
a short time to live.

\VS{6}O Lord over us, grant to your servant that we may pray before you, and give
us seed for our heart and cultivation for our understanding, that fruit may grow from it, by which everyone
who is corrupt, who bears the
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 8:6: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{place.
}}}likeness of a man, may live.

\VS{7}For you alone exist, and we all one workmanship of your hands, just as you have
said.

\VS{8}Because you give life to the body that is now fashioned in the womb, and give
it members, your creature is preserved in fire and water, and your workmanship endures nine months as
your creation which is created in it.

\VS{9}But that which keeps and that which is kept will both be kept
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 8:9: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin is imperfect.
}}}by your keeping. When the womb gives up again what has grown in it,

\VS{10}you have commanded that out of the parts of the body, that is to say, out
of the breasts, be given milk, which is the fruit of the breasts,

\VS{11}that the body that is fashioned may be nourished for a time, and afterwards
you guide it in your mercy.

\VS{12}Yes, you have brought it up in your righteousness, nurtured it in your law,
and corrected it with your judgement.

\VS{13}You put it to death as your creation, and make it live as your work.

\VS{14}If therefore you
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 8:14: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin is incorrect.
}}}lightly and suddenly destroy him which with so great labour was fashioned by your commandment,
to what purpose was he made?

\VS{15}Now therefore I will speak. About man in general, you know best, but about
your people for whose sake I am sorry,

\VS{16}and for your inheritance, for whose cause I mourn, for Israel, for whom I
am heavy, and for the seed of Jacob, for whose sake I am troubled,

\VS{17}therefore I will begin to pray before you for myself and for them; for I see
the failings of us who dwell in the land;

\VS{18}but I have heard the swiftness of the judgement which is to come.

\VS{19}Therefore hear my voice, and understand my saying, and I will speak before
you.”

\par }{\PP The beginning of the words of Esdras, before he was taken up. He said,

\VS{20}“O Lord, you who remain forever, whose eyes are exalted, and whose chambers
are in the air,

\VS{21}whose throne is beyond measure, whose glory is beyond comprehension, before
whom the army of angels stand with trembling,

\VS{22}\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 8:22: }{\FT{According to the chief Oriental versions. The Latin has, even they
}}{\FQA{whose service takes the form of wind etc.
}}}at whose bidding they are changed to wind and fire, whose word is sure, and sayings constant,
whose ordinance is strong, and commandment fearful,

\VS{23}whose look dries up the depths, and whose indignation makes the mountains
to melt away, and whose truth bears witness—

\VS{24}hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servant, and give ear to the petition of
your handiwork.

\VS{25}Attend to my words, for as long as I live, I will speak, and as long as I
have understanding, I will answer.

\VS{26}Don’t look at the sins of your people, but on those who have served you in
truth.

\VS{27}Don’t regard the doings of those who act wickedly, but of those who have kept
your covenants in affliction.

\VS{28}Don’t think about those who have lived wickedly before you, but remember those
who have willingly known your fear.

\VS{29}Let it not be your will to destroy those who have lived like cattle, but look
at those who have
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 8:29: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{received the brightness of your law.
}}}clearly taught your law.

\VS{30}Don’t be indignant at those who are deemed worse than animals, but love those
who have always put their trust in your glory.

\VS{31}For we and our fathers have
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 8:31: }{\FT{So the Syriac and Aethiopic versions.
}}}passed our lives in
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 8:31: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{manners.
}}}ways that bring death, but you are called merciful because of us sinners.

\VS{32}For if you have a desire to have mercy upon us who have no works of righteousness,
then you will be called merciful.

\VS{33}For the just, which have many good works laid up with you, will be rewarded
for their own deeds.

\VS{34}For what is man, that you should take displeasure at him? Or what is a corruptible
race, that you should be so bitter towards it?

\VS{35}For in truth, there is no man amongst those who are born who has not done
wickedly, and amongst those who have lived, there is none which have not done wrong.

\VS{36}For in this, O Lord, your righteousness and your goodness will be declared,
if you are merciful to those who have no store of good works.”


\par }{\PP \VS{37}Then he answered me, “Some things you have spoken rightly, and
it will happen according to your words.

\VS{38}For indeed I will not think about the fashioning of those who have sinned,
or about their death, their judgement, or their destruction;

\VS{39}but I will rejoice over the creation of the righteous and their pilgrimage,
their salvation, and the reward that they will have.

\VS{40}Therefore as I have spoken, so it will be.

\VS{41}For as the farmer sows many seeds in the ground, and plants many trees, and
yet not all that is sown will
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 8:41: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{be saved.
}}}come up in due season, neither will all that is planted take root, even so those who are sown
in the world will not all be saved.”


\par }{\PP \VS{42}Then I answered, “If I have found favour, let me speak before
you.

\VS{43}If the farmer’s seed doesn’t come up because it hasn’t received your rain
in due season, or if it is ruined by too much rain and perishes,

\VS{44}likewise man, who is formed with your hands and is called your own image,
because he is made like you, for whose sake you have formed all things, even him you have made like the
farmer’s seed.

\VS{45}Don’t be angry with us, but spare your people and have mercy upon your inheritance,
for you have mercy upon your own creation.”


\par }{\PP \VS{46}Then he answered me, “Things present are for those who live now,
and things to come for those who will live hereafter.

\VS{47}For you come far short of being able to love my creature more than I. But
you have compared yourself to the unrighteous. Don’t do that!

\VS{48}Yet in this will you be admirable to the Most High,

\VS{49}in that you have humbled yourself, as it becomes you, and have not judged
yourself amongst the righteous, so as to be much glorified.

\VS{50}For many grievous miseries will fall on those who dwell in the world in the
last times, because they have walked in great pride.

\VS{51}But understand for yourself, and for those who enquire concerning the glory
of those like you,

\VS{52}because paradise is opened to you. The tree of life is planted. The time to
come is prepared. Plenteousness is made ready. A city is built. Rest is
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 8:52: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{established.
}}}allowed. Goodness is perfected, and wisdom is perfected beforehand.

\VS{53}The root of evil is sealed up from you. Weakness is done away from you, and
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 8:53: }{\FT{After the chief Oriental versions.
}}}death is hidden. Hell and corruption have fled into forgetfulness.

\VS{54}Sorrows have passed away, and in the end, the treasure of immortality is shown.

\VS{55}Therefore ask no more questions concerning the multitude of those who perish.

\VS{56}For when they had received liberty, they despised the Most High, scorned his
law, and forsook his ways.

\VS{57}Moreover they have trodden down his righteous,

\VS{58}and said in their heart that there is no God—even knowing that they must die.

\VS{59}For as the things I have said will welcome you, so thirst and pain which are
prepared for them. For the Most High didn’t intend that men should be destroyed,

\VS{60}but those who are created have themselves defiled the name of him who made
them, and were unthankful to him who prepared life for them.

\VS{61}Therefore my judgement is now at hand,

\VS{62}which I have not shown to all men, but to you, and a few like you.”

\par }{\PP Then I answered,

\VS{63}“Behold, O Lord, now you have shown me the multitude of the wonders which
you will do in the last times, but you haven’t shown me when.”



\par }\Chap{9}{\PP \VerseOne{1}He answered me, “Measure diligently within yourself. When you see
that a certain part of the signs are past, which have been told you beforehand,

\VS{2}then will you understand that it is the very time in which the Most High will
visit the world which was made by him.

\VS{3}When earthquakes, tumult of peoples, plans of nations, wavering of leaders,
and confusion of princes are seen in the world,

\VS{4}then will you understand that the Most High spoke of these things from the days
that were of old, from the beginning.

\VS{5}For just as with everything that is made in the world, the beginning
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 9:5: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin is corrupt.
}}}is evident and the end manifest,

\VS{6}so also are the times of the Most High: the beginnings are manifest in wonders
and mighty works, and the end in effects and signs.

\VS{7}Everyone who will be saved, and will be able to escape by his works, or by faith
by which they have believed,

\VS{8}will be preserved from the said perils, and will see my salvation in my land
and within my borders, which I have sanctified for myself from the beginning.

\VS{9}Then those who now have abused my ways will be amazed. Those who have cast them
away despitefully will live in torments.

\VS{10}For as many as in their life have received benefits, and yet have not known
me,

\VS{11}and as many as have scorned my law, while they still had liberty and when
an opportunity to repent was open to them, didn’t understand, but despised
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 9:11: }{\FT{Or, me
}}}it,

\VS{12}must know
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 9:12: }{\FT{Or, me
}}}it in torment after death.

\VS{13}Therefore don’t be curious any longer how the ungodly will be punished, but
enquire how the righteous will be saved,
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 9:13: }{\FT{So the Syriac and other versions. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{and whose...
}}{\FT{created,
}}{\FQA{and when.
}}}those who the world belongs to, and for whom the world was created.”


\par }{\PP \VS{14}I answered,

\VS{15}“I have said before, and now speak, and will say it again hereafter, that
there are more of those who perish than of those who will be saved,

\VS{16}like a wave is greater than a drop.”


\par }{\PP \VS{17}He answered me, “Just as the field is, so also the seed. As the
flowers are, so are the colours. As the work is, so also is the
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 9:17: }{\FT{So the Aethiopic and Arabic. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{creation.
}}}judgement on it. As is the farmer, so also is his threshing floor. For there was a time in the
world

\VS{18}when I was preparing for those who now live, before the world was made for
them to dwell in. Then no one spoke against me,

\VS{19}for
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 9:19: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}no one existed. But now those who are created in this world that is prepared, both
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 9:19: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}with a table that doesn’t fail and a law which is unsearchable, are corrupted in their ways.

\VS{20}So I considered my world, and behold, it was destroyed, and my earth, and
behold, it was in peril, because of the plans that had come into it.

\VS{21}I saw and spared them, but not greatly, and saved myself a grape out of a
cluster, and a plant out of
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 9:21: }{\FT{So the Syriac and other versions. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{great tribes.
}}}a great forest.

\VS{22}Let the multitude perish then, which were born in vain. Let my grape be saved,
and my plant, for I have made them perfect with great labour.

\VS{23}Nevertheless, if you will wait seven more days—however don’t fast in them,

\VS{24}but go into a field of flowers, where no house is built, and eat only of the
flowers of the field, and you shall taste no flesh, and shall drink no wine, but shall eat flowers only—

\VS{25}and pray to the Most High continually, then I will come and talk with you.”


\par }{\PP \VS{26}So I went my way, just as he commanded me, into the field which
is called
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 9:26: }{\FT{The Syriac and Aethiopic have
}}{\FQA{Arphad.
}}}Ardat. There I sat amongst the flowers, and ate of the herbs of the field, and this food satisfied
me.

\VS{27}It came to pass after seven days that I lay on the grass, and my heart was
troubled again, like before.

\VS{28}My mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Lord Most High, and said,

\VS{29}“O Lord, you showed yourself amongst us, to our fathers in the wilderness,
when they went out of Egypt, and when they came into the wilderness, where no man treads and that bears
no fruit.

\VS{30}You said, ‘Hear me, O Israel. Heed my words, O seed of Jacob.

\VS{31}For behold, I sow my law in you, and it will bring forth fruit in you, and
you will be glorified in it forever.’

\VS{32}But our fathers, who received the law, didn’t keep it, and didn’t observe
the statutes. The fruit of the law didn’t perish, for it couldn’t, because it was yours.

\VS{33}Yet those who received it perished, because they didn’t keep the thing that
was sown in them.

\VS{34}Behold, it is a custom that when the ground has received seed, or the sea
a ship, or any vessel food or drink, and when it comes to pass that that which is sown, or that which
is launched,

\VS{35}or the things which have been received, should come to an end, these come
to an end, but the receptacles remain. Yet with us, it doesn’t happen that way.

\VS{36}For we who have received the law will perish by sin, along with our heart
which received it.

\VS{37}Notwithstanding the law doesn’t perish, but remains in its honour.”


\par }{\PP \VS{38}When I spoke these things in my heart, I looked around me with
my eyes, and on my right side I saw a woman, and behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was
much grieved in mind. Her clothes were torn, and she had ashes on her head.

\VS{39}Then let I my thoughts go in which I was occupied, and turned myself to her,

\VS{40}and said to her, “Why are you weeping? Why are you grieved in your mind?”


\par }{\PP \VS{41}She said to me, “Leave me alone, my Lord, that I may weep for
myself and add to my sorrow, for I am very troubled in my mind, and brought very low.”


\par }{\PP \VS{42}I said to her, “What ails you? Tell me.”


\par }{\PP \VS{43}She said to me, “I, your servant, was barren and had no child,
though I had a husband thirty years.

\VS{44}Every hour and every day these thirty years I made my prayer to the Most High
day and night.

\VS{45}It came to pass after thirty years that God heard me, your handmaid, and saw
my low estate, and considered my trouble, and gave me a son. I rejoiced in him greatly, I and my husband,
and all my
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 9:45: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{townsmen.
}}}neighbours. We gave great honour to the Mighty One.

\VS{46}I nourished him with great care.

\VS{47}So when he grew up, and I came to take him a wife, I made him a feast day.



\par }\Chap{10}{\PP \VerseOne{1}“So it came to pass that when my son was entered into his wedding
chamber, he fell down and died.

\VS{2}Then we all put out the lamps, and all my
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 10:2: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{townsmen.
}}}neighbours rose up to comfort me. I remained quiet until the second day at night.

\VS{3}It came to pass, when they had all stopped consoling me, encouraging me to
be quiet, then rose I up by night, and fled, and came here into this field, as you see.

\VS{4}Now I don’t intend to return into the city, but to stay here, and not eat or
drink, but to continually mourn and fast until I die.”


\par }{\PP \VS{5}Then I left the reflections I was engaged in, and answered her
in anger,

\VS{6}“You most foolish woman, don’t you see our mourning, and what has happened
to us?

\VS{7}For Zion the mother of us all is full of sorrow, and much humbled.

\VS{8}\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 10:8: }{\FT{See the Oriental versions. The Latin is corrupt.
}}}It is right now to mourn deeply, since we all mourn, and to be sorrowful, since we are all in
sorrow, but you are mourning for one son.

\VS{9}Ask the earth, and she will tell you that it is she which ought to mourn for
so many that grow upon her.

\VS{10}For out of her, all had their beginnings, and others will come; and, behold,
almost all of them walk into destruction, and the multitude of them is utterly doomed.

\VS{11}Who then should mourn more,
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 10:11: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}she who has lost so great a multitude, or you, who are grieved but for one?

\VS{12}But if you say to me, ‘My lamentation is not like the earth’s, for I have
lost the fruit of my womb, which I brought forth with pains, and bare with sorrows;’

\VS{13}but it is with the earth after the manner of the earth. The multitude present
in it has gone as it came.

\VS{14}Then say I to you, ‘Just as you have brought forth with sorrow, even so the
earth also has given her fruit, namely, people, ever since the beginning to him who made her.’

\VS{15}Now therefore keep your sorrow to yourself, and bear with a good courage
the adversities which have happened to you.

\VS{16}For if you will acknowledge the decree of God to be just, you will both receive
your son in time, and will be praised amongst women.

\VS{17}Go your way then into the city to your husband.”


\par }{\PP \VS{18}She said to me, “I won’t do that. I will not go into the city,
but I will die here.”


\par }{\PP \VS{19}So I proceeded to speak further to her, and said,

\VS{20}“Don’t do so, but allow yourself to be persuaded by reason of the adversities
of Zion; and be comforted by reason of the sorrow of Jerusalem.

\VS{21}For you see that our sanctuary has been laid waste, our altar broken down,
our temple destroyed,

\VS{22}our lute has been brought low, our song is put to silence, our rejoicing
is at an end, the light of our candlestick is put out, the ark of our covenant is plundered, our holy
things are defiled, and the name that we are called is profaned. Our free men are despitefully treated,
our priests are burnt, our Levites have gone into captivity, our virgins are defiled and our wives ravished,
our righteous men carried away, our little ones betrayed, our young men are brought into bondage, and
our strong men have become weak.

\VS{23}What is more than all, the seal of Zion has now lost the seal of her honour,
and is delivered into the hands of those who hate us.

\VS{24}Therefore shake off your great heaviness, and put away from yourself the
multitude of sorrows, that the Mighty One may be merciful to you again, and the Most High may give you
rest, even ease from your troubles.”


\par }{\PP \VS{25}It came to pass while I was talking with her, behold, her face
suddenly began to shine exceedingly, and her countenance glistered like lightning, so that I was very
afraid of her, and wondered what this meant.

\VS{26}Behold, suddenly she made a great and very fearful cry, so that the earth
shook at the noise.

\VS{27}I looked, and behold, the woman appeared to me no more, but there was a city
built, and a place shown itself from large foundations. Then I was afraid, and cried with a loud voice,

\VS{28}“Where is Uriel the angel, who came to me at the first? For he has caused
me to fall into this great trance, and my end has turned into corruption, and my prayer a reproach!”


\par }{\PP \VS{29}As I was speaking these words, behold, the angel who had come
to me at first came to me, and he looked at me.

\VS{30}Behold, I lay as one who had been dead, and my understanding was taken from
me. He took me by the right hand, and comforted me, and set me on my feet, and said to me,

\VS{31}“What ails you? Why are you so troubled? Why is your understanding and the
thoughts of your heart troubled?”


\par }{\PP \VS{32}I said, “Because you have forsaken me; yet I did according to
your words, and went into the field, and, behold, I have seen, and still see, that which I am not able
to explain.”


\par }{\PP \VS{33}He said to me, “Stand up like a man, and I will instruct you.”


\par }{\PP \VS{34}Then I said, “Speak on, my Lord; only don’t forsake me, lest
I die before my time.

\VS{35}For I have seen what I didn’t know, and hear what I don’t know.

\VS{36}Or is my sense deceived, or my soul in a dream?

\VS{37}Now therefore I beg you to explain to your servant what this vision means.”


\par }{\PP \VS{38}He answered me, “Listen to me, and I will inform you, and tell
you about the things you are afraid of, for the Most High has revealed many secret things to you.

\VS{39}He has seen that your way is righteous, because you are continually sorry
for your people, and make great lamentation for Zion.

\VS{40}This therefore is the meaning of the vision.

\VS{41}The woman who appeared to you a little while ago, whom you saw mourning,
and began to comfort her,

\VS{42}but now you no longer see the likeness of the woman, but a city under construction
appeared to you,

\VS{43}and she told you of the death of her son, this is the interpretation:

\VS{44}This woman, whom you saw, is Zion,\FTNT{†}{{\FR 10:44: }{\FT{So the Syriac and other versions. The Latin is incorrect.}}} whom you now see as a city
being built.

\VS{45}She told you that she had been barren for thirty years because there were
three thousand years in the world in which there was no offering as yet offered in her.

\VS{46}And it came to pass after three thousand years that Solomon built the city
and offered offerings. It was then that the barren bore a son.

\VS{47}She told you that she nourished him with great care. That was the dwelling
in Jerusalem.

\VS{48}When she said to you, ‘My son died when he entered into his marriage chamber,
and that misfortune befell her,’ this was the destruction that came to Jerusalem.

\VS{49}Behold, you saw her likeness, how she mourned for her son, and you began
to comfort her for what has happened to her. These were the things to be opened to you.

\VS{50}For now the Most High, seeing that you are sincerely grieved and suffer from
your whole heart for her, has shown you the brightness of her glory and the attractiveness of her beauty.

\VS{51}Therefore I asked you to remain in the field where no house was built,

\VS{52}for I knew that the Most High would show this to you.

\VS{53}Therefore I commanded you to come into the field, where no foundation of
any building was.

\VS{54}For no human construction could stand in the place in which the city of the
Most High was to be shown.

\VS{55}Therefore don’t be afraid nor let your heart be terrified, but go your way
in and see the beauty and greatness of the building, as much as your eyes are able to see.

\VS{56}Then will you hear as much as your ears may comprehend.

\VS{57}For you are more blessed than many, and are called by name to be with the
Most High, like only a few.

\VS{58}But tomorrow at night you shall remain here,

\VS{59}and so the Most High will show you those visions in dreams of what the Most
High will do to those who live on the earth in the last days.”

\par }{\PP So I slept that night and another, as he commanded me.



\par }\Chap{11}{\PP \VerseOne{1}It came to pass the second night that I saw a dream, and behold,
an eagle which had twelve feathered wings and three heads came up from the sea.

\VS{2}I saw, and behold, she spread her wings over all the earth, and all the winds
of heaven blew on her,
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 11:2: }{\FT{So the chief Oriental versions. The Latin has only
}}{\FQA{and were gathered together.
}}}and the clouds were gathered together against her.

\VS{3}I saw, and out of her wings there grew other wings near them; and they became
little, tiny wings.

\VS{4}But her heads were at rest. The head in the middle was larger than the other
heads, yet rested it with them.

\VS{5}Moreover I saw, and behold, the eagle flew with her wings to reign over the
earth and over those who dwell therein.

\VS{6}I saw how all things under heaven were subject to her, and no one spoke against
her—no, not one creature on earth.

\VS{7}I saw, and behold, the eagle rose on her talons, and uttered her voice to her
wings, saying,

\VS{8}“Don’t all watch at the same time. Let each one sleep in his own place and
watch in turn;

\VS{9}but let the heads be preserved for the last.”


\par }{\PP \VS{10}I saw, and behold, the voice didn’t come out of her heads, but
from the midst of her body.

\VS{11}I counted
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 11:11: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{her little wings, and, etc.
}}}her wings that were near the others, and behold, there were eight of them.

\VS{12}I saw, and behold, on the right side one wing arose and reigned over all
the earth.

\VS{13}When it reigned, the end of it came, and it disappeared, so that its place
appeared no more. The next wing rose up and reigned, and it ruled a long time.

\VS{14}It happened that when it reigned, its end came also, so that it disappeared,
like the first.

\VS{15}Behold, a voice came to it, and said,

\VS{16}“Listen, you who have ruled over the earth all this time! I proclaim this
to you, before you disappear,

\VS{17}none after you will rule as long as you, not even half as long.”


\par }{\PP \VS{18}Then the third arose, and ruled as the others before, and it
also disappeared.

\VS{19}So it went with all the wings one after another, as every one ruled, and
then disappeared.

\VS{20}I saw, and behold, in process of time the
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 11:20: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{little wings.
}}}wings that followed were set up on the
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 11:20: }{\FT{The Aethiopic has
}}{\FQA{left.
}}}right side, that they might rule also. Some of them ruled, but in a while they disappeared.

\VS{21}Some of them also were set up, but didn’t rule.


\par }{\PP \VS{22}After this I saw, and behold, the twelve wings disappeared,
along with two of the little wings.

\VS{23}There was no more left on the eagle’s body, except the three heads that rested,
and six little wings.

\VS{24}I saw, and behold, two little wings divided themselves from the six and remained
under the head that was on the right side; but four remained in their place.

\VS{25}I saw, and behold, these
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 11:25: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{little wings.
}}}under wings planned to set themselves up and to rule.

\VS{26}I saw, and behold, there was one set up, but in a while it disappeared.

\VS{27}A second also did so, and it disappeared faster than the first.

\VS{28}I saw, and behold, the two that remained also planned between themselves
to reign.

\VS{29}While they thought about it, behold, one of the heads that were at rest awakened,
the one that was in the middle, for that was greater than the two other heads.

\VS{30}I saw how it joined the two other heads with it.

\VS{31}Behold, the head turned with those who were with it, and ate the two
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 11:31: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{little wings.
}}}under wings that planned to reign.

\VS{32}But this head held the whole earth in possession, and ruled over those who
dwell in it with much oppression. It had stronger governance over the world than all the wings that had
gone before.


\par }{\PP \VS{33}After this I saw, and behold, the head also that was in the
middle suddenly disappeared, like the wings.

\VS{34}But the two heads remained, which also reigned the same way over the earth
and over those who dwell in it.

\VS{35}I saw, and behold, the head on the right side devoured the one that was on
the left side.


\par }{\PP \VS{36}Then I heard a voice, which said to me, “Look in front of you,
and consider the thing that you see.”


\par }{\PP \VS{37}I saw, and behold, something like a lion roused out of the woods
roaring. I heard how he sent out a man’s voice to the eagle, and spoke, saying,

\VS{38}“Listen and I will talk with you. The Most High will say to you,

\VS{39}‘Aren’t you the one that remains of the four animals whom I made to reign
in my world, that the end of my times might come through them?

\VS{40}The fourth came and overcame all the animals that were past, and ruled the
world with great trembling, and the whole extent of the earth with grievous oppression. He lived on the
earth such a long time with deceit.

\VS{41}You have judged the earth, but not with truth.

\VS{42}For you have afflicted the meek, you have hurt the peaceful, you have hated
those who speak truth, you have loved liars, destroyed the dwellings of those who produced fruit, and
threw down the walls of those who did you no harm.

\VS{43}Your insolence has come up to the Most High, and your pride to the Mighty.

\VS{44}The Most High also has looked at his times, and behold, they are ended, and
his ages are fulfilled.

\VS{45}Therefore appear no more, you eagle, nor your horrible wings, nor your evil
little wings, nor your cruel heads, nor your hurtful talons, nor all your worthless body,

\VS{46}that all the earth may be refreshed and relieved, being delivered from your
violence, and that she may hope for the judgement and mercy of him who made her.’ ”



\par }\Chap{12}{\PP \VerseOne{1}It came to pass, while the lion spoke these words to the eagle,
I saw,

\VS{2}and behold, the head that remained disappeared, and
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 12:2: }{\FT{So the chief Oriental versions.
}}}the two wings which went over to it arose and set themselves up to reign; and their kingdom was
brief and full of uproar.

\VS{3}I saw, and behold, they disappeared, and the whole body of the eagle was burnt,
so that the earth was in great fear.

\par }{\PP Then I woke up because of great perplexity of mind and great fear, and said to my spirit,

\VS{4}“Behold, you have done this to me, because you search out the ways of the Most
High.

\VS{5}Behold, I am still weary in my mind, and very weak in my spirit. There isn’t
even a little strength in me, because of the great fear with which I was frightened tonight.

\VS{6}Therefore I will now ask the Most High that he would strengthen me to the end.”


\par }{\PP \VS{7}Then I said, “O sovereign Lord, if I have found favour in your
sight, and if I am justified with you more than many others, and if my prayer has indeed come up before
your face,

\VS{8}strengthen me then, and show me, your servant, the interpretation and plain
meaning of this fearful vision, that you may fully comfort my soul.

\VS{9}For you have judged me worthy to show me the end of time and the last events
of the times.”


\par }{\PP \VS{10}He said to me, “This is the interpretation of this vision which
you saw:

\VS{11}The eagle, whom you saw come up from the sea, is the fourth kingdom which
appeared in a vision to your brother Daniel.

\VS{12}But it was not explained to him, as I now explain it to you or have explained
it.

\VS{13}Behold, the days come that a kingdom will rise up on earth, and it will be
feared more than all the kingdoms that were before it.

\VS{14}Twelve kings will reign in it, one after another.

\VS{15}Of those, the second will begin to reign, and will reign a longer time than
others of the twelve.

\VS{16}This is the interpretation of the twelve wings which you saw.

\VS{17}As for when you heard a voice which spoke, not going out from the heads,
but from the midst of its body, this is the interpretation:

\VS{18}That
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 12:18: }{\FT{The Oriental versions have}}{\FQA{in the midst of.
}}}after the time of that kingdom, there will arise no small contentions, and it will stand in
peril of falling. Nevertheless, it won’t fall then, but will be restored again to its former power.

\VS{19}You saw the eight under wings sticking to her wings. This is the interpretation:

\VS{20}That in it eight kings will arise, whose times will be short and their years
swift.

\VS{21}Two of them will perish when the middle time approaches. Four will be kept
for a while until the time of the ending of it will approach; but two will be kept to the end.

\VS{22}You saw three heads resting. This is the interpretation:

\VS{23}In its last days, the Most High will raise up three
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 12:23: }{\FT{The Oriental versions have
}}{\FQA{kings
}}}kingdoms and renew many things in them. They will rule over the earth,

\VS{24}and over those who dwell in it, with much oppression, more than all those
who were before them. Therefore they are called the heads of the eagle.

\VS{25}For these are those who will accomplish her wickedness, and who will finish
her last actions.

\VS{26}You saw that the great head disappeared. It signifies that one of them will
die on his bed, and yet with pain.

\VS{27}But for the two that remained, the sword will devour them.

\VS{28}For the sword of the one will devour him that was with him, but he will also
fall by the sword in the last days.

\VS{29}You saw two under wings passing
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 12:29: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{over the head.
}}}over to the head that is on the right side.

\VS{30}This is the interpretation: These are they whom the Most High has kept to
his end. This is the brief reign that was full of trouble, as you saw.


\par }{\PP \VS{31}“The lion, whom you saw rising up out of the forest, roaring,
speaking to the eagle, and rebuking her for her unrighteousness, and all her words which you have heard,

\VS{32}this is the anointed one, whom the Most High has kept to the end
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 12:32: }{\FT{The words in brackets are added from the Syriac.
}}}[of days, who will spring up out of the seed of David, and he will come and speak] to them and
reprove them for their wickedness and unrighteousness, and will\FTNT{§}{{\FR 12:32: }{\FT{The Syriac has
}}{\FQA{set in order.}}}heap up before them their contemptuous dealings.

\VS{33}For at first he will set them alive in his judgement, and when he has reproved
them, he will destroy them.

\VS{34}For he will deliver the rest of my people with mercy, those who have been
preserved throughout my borders, and he will make them joyful until the coming of the end, even the day
of judgement, about which I have spoken to you from the beginning.

\VS{35}This is the dream that you saw, and this is its interpretation.

\VS{36}Only you have been worthy to know the secret of the Most High.

\VS{37}Therefore write all these things that you have seen in a book, and put it
in a secret place.

\VS{38}You shall teach them to the wise of your people, whose hearts you know are
able to comprehend and keep these secrets.

\VS{39}But wait here yourself seven more days, that you may be shown whatever it
pleases the Most High to show you.” Then he departed from me.


\par }{\PP \VS{40}It came to pass, when all the people
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 12:40: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{heard.
}}}saw that the seven days were past, and I had not come again into the city, they all gathered
together, from the least to the greatest, and came to me, and spoke to me, saying,

\VS{41}“How have we offended you? What evil have we done against you, that you have
utterly forsaken us, and sit in this place?

\VS{42}For of all the prophets, only you are left to us, like a cluster of the vintage,
and like a lamp in a dark place, and like a harbour for a ship saved from the tempest.

\VS{43}Aren’t the evils which have come to us sufficient?

\VS{44}If you will forsake us, how much better had it been for us if we also had
been consumed in the burning of Zion!

\VS{45}For we are not better than those who died there.” Then they wept with a loud
voice. I answered them,

\VS{46}“Take courage, O Israel! Don’t be sorrowful, you house of Jacob;

\VS{47}for the Most High remembers you. The Mighty has not forgotten you
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 12:47: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}forever.

\VS{48}As for me, I have not forsaken you. I haven’t departed from you; but I have
come into this place to pray for the desolation of Zion, and that I might seek mercy for the humiliation
of your sanctuary.

\VS{49}Now go your way, every man to his own house, and after these days I will
come to you.”


\par }{\PP \VS{50}So the people went their way into the city, as I told them to
do.

\VS{51}But I sat in the field seven days, as the angel commanded me. In those days,
I ate only of the flowers of the field, and my food was from plants.



\par }\Chap{13}{\PP \VerseOne{1}It came to pass after seven days, I dreamt a dream by night.

\VS{2}Behold, a wind arose from the sea that moved all its waves.

\VS{3}I saw, and behold,
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 13:3: }{\FT{The words in brackets are added from the Syriac.}}}[this wind caused to come up from the
midst of the sea something like the appearance of a man. I saw, and behold,] that man
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 13:3: }{\FT{So the Syriac. The Latin has
}}{\FQA{grew strong
}}}flew with the clouds of heaven. When he turned his face to look, everything that he saw trembled.

\VS{4}Whenever the voice went out of his mouth, all who heard his voice melted, like
the
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 13:4: }{\FT{So the Syriac and other Oriental versions.}}}wax melts when it feels the fire.


\par }{\PP \VS{5}After this I saw, and behold, an innumerable multitude of people
was gathered together from the four winds of heaven to make war against the man who came out of the sea.

\VS{6}I saw, and behold, he carved himself a great mountain, and flew up onto it.

\VS{7}I tried to see the region or place from which the mountain was carved, and
I couldn’t.


\par }{\PP \VS{8}After this I saw, and behold, all those who were gathered together
to fight against him were very afraid, and yet they dared to fight.

\VS{9}Behold, as he saw the assault of the multitude that came, he didn’t lift up
his hand, or hold a spear or any weapon of war;

\VS{10}but I saw only how he sent out of his mouth something like a flood of fire,
and out of his lips a flaming breath, and out of his tongue he shot out a storm of sparks.\FTNT{†}{{\FR 13:10: }{\FT{So the Syriac and Arabic.
}}}

\VS{11}These were all mixed together: the flood of fire, the flaming breath, and
the great storm, and fell upon the assault of the multitude which was prepared to fight, and burnt up
every one of them, so that all of a sudden an innumerable multitude was seen to be nothing but dust of
ashes and smell of smoke. When I saw this, I was amazed.


\par }{\PP \VS{12}Afterward, I saw the same man come down from the mountain, and
call to himself another multitude which was peaceful.

\VS{13}Many people came to him. Some of them were glad. Some were sorry. Some of
them were bound, and some others brought some of those as offerings. Then through great fear I woke up
and prayed to the Most High, and said,

\VS{14}“You have shown your servant these wonders from the beginning, and have counted
me worthy that you should receive my prayer.

\VS{15}Now show me also the interpretation of this dream.

\VS{16}For as I conceive in my understanding, woe to those who will be left in those
days! Much more woe to those who are not left!

\VS{17}For those who were not left will be in heaviness,

\VS{18}understanding the things that are laid up in the latter days, but not attaining
to them.

\VS{19}But woe to them also who are left, because they will see great perils and
much distress, like these dreams declare.

\VS{20}Yet is it
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 13:20: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{easier.
}}}better for one to be in peril and to come into
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 13:20: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}these things, than to pass away as a cloud out of the world, and not to see the things that
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 13:20: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}will happen in the last days.”

\par }{\PP He answered me,

\VS{21}“I will tell you the interpretation of the vision, and I will also open to
you the things about which you mentioned.

\VS{22}You have spoken of those who are left behind. This is the interpretation:

\VS{23}He that will
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 13:23: }{\FT{So the Syriac.
}}}endure the peril in that time will protect those who fall into danger, even those who have works
and faith towards the Almighty.

\VS{24}Know therefore that those who are left behind are more blessed than those
who are dead.

\VS{25}These are the interpretations of the vision: Whereas you saw a man coming
up from the midst of the sea,

\VS{26}this is he whom the Most High has been keeping for many ages, who by his
own self will deliver his creation. He will direct those who are left behind.

\VS{27}Whereas you saw that out of his mouth came wind, fire, and storm,

\VS{28}and whereas he held neither spear, nor any weapon of war, but destroyed the
assault of that multitude which came to fight against him, this is the interpretation:

\VS{29}Behold, the days come when the Most High will begin to deliver those who
are on the earth.

\VS{30}Astonishment of mind will come upon those who dwell on the earth.

\VS{31}One will plan to make war against another, city against city, place against
place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom.

\VS{32}It will be, when these things come to pass, and the signs happen which I
showed you before, then my Son will be revealed, whom you saw as a man ascending.

\VS{33}It will be, when all the nations hear his voice, every man will leave his
own land and the battle they have against one another.

\VS{34}An innumerable multitude will be gathered together, as you saw, desiring
to come and to fight against him.

\VS{35}But he will stand on the top of Mount Zion.

\VS{36}Zion will come, and will be shown to all men, being prepared and built, like
you saw the mountain carved without hands.

\VS{37}My Son will rebuke the nations which have come for their wickedness, with
plagues that are like a storm,

\VS{38}and will rebuke them to their face with their evil thoughts, and the torments
with which they will be tormented, which are like a flame. He will destroy them without labour by the
law, which is like fire.

\VS{39}Whereas you saw that he gathered to himself another multitude that was peaceful,

\VS{40}these are the ten tribes which were led away out of their own land in the
time of Osea the king, whom Salmananser the king of the Assyrians led away captive, and he carried them
beyond the River, and they were taken into another land.

\VS{41}But they made this plan amongst themselves, that they would leave the multitude
of the heathen, and go out into a more distant region, where mankind had never lived,

\VS{42}that there they might keep their statutes which they had not kept in their
own land.

\VS{43}They entered by the narrow passages of the river Euphrates.

\VS{44}For the Most High then did signs for them, and stopped the springs of the
River until they had passed over.

\VS{45}For through that country there was a long way to go, namely, of a year and
a half. The same region is called
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 13:45: }{\FT{That is,
}}{\FQA{another land.
}}{\FT{See
Deuteronomy 29:28.
}}}Arzareth.

\VS{46}Then they lived there until the latter time. Now when they begin to come
again,

\VS{47}the Most High stops the springs of the River again, that they may go through.
Therefore you saw the multitude gathered together with peace.

\VS{48}But those who are left behind of your people are those who are found within
my holy border.

\VS{49}It will be therefore when he will destroy the multitude of the nations that
are gathered together, he will defend the people who remain.

\VS{50}Then he will show them very many wonders.”


\par }{\PP \VS{51}Then I said, “O sovereign Lord, explain this to me: Why have
I seen the man coming up from the midst of the sea?”


\par }{\PP \VS{52}He said to me, as no one can explore or know what is in the
depths of the sea, even so no man on earth can see my Son, or those who are with him, except in the time
of
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 13:52: }{\FT{So the Oriental versions. The Latin omits
}}{\FQA{his.
}}}his day.

\VS{53}This is the interpretation of the dream which you saw, and for this only
you are enlightened about this,

\VS{54}for you have forsaken your own ways, and applied your diligence to mine,
and have searched out my law.

\VS{55}You have ordered your life in wisdom, and have called understanding your
mother.

\VS{56}Therefore I have shown you this, for there is a reward laid up with the Most
High. It will be, after another three days I will speak other things to you, and declare to you mighty
and wondrous things.”


\par }{\PP \VS{57}Then I went out and passed into the field, giving praise and
thanks greatly to the Most High because of his wonders, which he did from time to time,

\VS{58}and because he governs the time, and such things as happen in their seasons.
So I sat there three days.



\par }\Chap{14}{\PP \VerseOne{1}It came to pass upon the third day, I sat under an oak, and, behold,
a voice came out of a bush near me, and said, “Esdras, Esdras!”


\par }{\PP \VS{2}I said, “Here I am, Lord,” and I stood up on my feet.


\par }{\PP \VS{3}Then he said to me, “I revealed myself in a bush and talked with
Moses when my people were in bondage in Egypt.

\VS{4}I sent him, and
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 14:4: }{\FT{Another reading is.
}}{\FQA{I.
}}}he led my people out of Egypt. I brought him up to Mount Sinai, where I kept him with me for
many days.

\VS{5}I told him many wondrous things, and showed him the secrets of the times and
the end of the seasons. I commanded him, saying,

\VS{6}‘You shall publish these openly, and these you shall hide.’

\VS{7}Now I say to you:

\VS{8}Lay up in your heart the signs that I have shown, the dreams that you have
seen, and the interpretations which you have heard;

\VS{9}for you will be taken away from men, and from now on you will live with my
Son and with those who are like you, until the times have ended.

\VS{10}For the world has lost its youth, and the times begin to grow old.

\VS{11}\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 14:11: }{\FT{Verses 11, 12 are omitted in the Syriac. The Aethiopic has
}}{\FQA{For the age is divided into ten parts, and is come to the tenth: and half of the tenth remains.
Now etc.
}}}For the age is divided into twelve parts, and ten parts of it are already gone,
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 14:11: }{\FT{Lat.
}}{\FQA{and.
}}}even the half of the tenth part.

\VS{12}There remain of it two parts after the middle of the tenth part.

\VS{13}Now therefore set your house in order, reprove your people, comfort the lowly
amongst them,
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 14:13: }{\FT{The Latin alone omits
}}{\FQA{and...wise.
}}}and instruct those of them who are wise, and now renounce the life that is corruptible,

\VS{14}and let go of the mortal thoughts, cast away from you the burdens of man,
put off now your weak nature,

\VS{15}lay aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and hurry to escape
from these times.

\VS{16}For worse evils than those which you have seen happen will be done after
this.

\VS{17}For look how much the world will be weaker through age, so much that more
evils will increase on those who dwell in it.

\VS{18}For the truth will withdraw itself further off, and falsehood will be near.
For now
\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 14:18: }{\FT{So the Oriental versions.
}}}the eagle which you saw in vision hurries to come.”


\par }{\PP \VS{19}Then I answered and said,
\FTNT{§}{{\FR 14:19: }{\FT{The Latin omits
}}{\FQA{I will speak.
}}}“Let me speak in your presence, O Lord.

\VS{20}Behold, I will go, as you have commanded me, and reprove the people who now
live, but who will warn those who will be born afterward? For the world is set in darkness, and those
who dwell in it are without light.

\VS{21}For your law has been burnt, therefore no one knows the things that are done
by you, or the works that will be done.

\VS{22}But if I have found favour before you, send the Holy Spirit to me, and I
will write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, even the things that were written
in your law, that men may be able to find the path, and that those who would live in the latter days may
live.”


\par }{\PP \VS{23}He answered me and said, “Go your way, gather the people together,
and tell them not to seek you for forty days.

\VS{24}But prepare for yourself many tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia,
Ethanus, and Asiel, these five, which are ready to write swiftly;

\VS{25}and come here, and I will light a lamp of understanding in your heart which
will not be put out until the things have ended about which you will write.

\VS{26}When you are done, some things you shall publish openly, and some things
you shall deliver in secret to the wise. Tomorrow at this hour you will begin to write.”


\par }{\PP \VS{27}Then went I out, as he commanded me, and gathered all the people
together, and said,

\VS{28}“Hear these words, O Israel!

\VS{29}Our fathers at the beginning were foreigners in Egypt, and they were delivered
from there,

\VS{30}and received the law of life, which they didn’t keep, which you also have
transgressed after them.

\VS{31}Then the land of Zion was given to you for a possession; but you yourselves
and your ancestors have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Most High commanded
you.

\VS{32}Because he is a righteous judge, in due time, he took from you what he had
given you.

\VS{33}Now you are here, and your kindred are amongst you.

\VS{34}Therefore if you will rule over your own understanding and instruct your
hearts, you will be kept alive, and after death you will obtain mercy.

\VS{35}For after death the judgement will come, when we will live again. Then the
names of the righteous will become manifest, and the works of the ungodly will be declared.

\VS{36}Let no one therefore come to me now, nor seek me for forty days.”


\par }{\PP \VS{37}So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went out
into the field, and remained there.

\VS{38}It came to pass on the next day that, behold, a voice called me, saying,
“Esdras, open your mouth, and drink what I give you to drink.”


\par }{\PP \VS{39}Then opened I my mouth, and behold, a full cup was handed to
me. It was full of something like water, but its colour was like fire.

\VS{40}I took it, and drank. When I had drunk it, my heart uttered understanding,
and wisdom grew in my chest, for my spirit retained its memory.

\VS{41}My mouth was opened, and shut no more.

\VS{42}The Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote by course
the things that were told them, in
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 14:42: }{\FT{So the Oriental versions.
}}}characters which they didn’t know, and they sat forty days. Now they wrote in the day-time, and
at night they ate bread.

\VS{43}As for me, I spoke in the day, and by night I didn’t hold my tongue.

\VS{44}So in forty days, ninety-four books were written.


\par }{\PP \VS{45}It came to pass, when the forty days were fulfilled, that the
Most High spoke to me, saying, “The first books that you have written, publish openly, and let the worthy
and unworthy read them;

\VS{46}but keep the last seventy, that you may deliver them to those who are wise
amongst your people;

\VS{47}for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the
stream of knowledge.”


\par }{\PP \VS{48}I did so.



\par }\Chap{15}{\PP \VerseOne{1}“Behold, speak in the ears of my people the words of prophecy
which I will put in your mouth,” says the Lord.

\VS{2}“Cause them to be written on paper, for they are faithful and true.

\VS{3}Don’t be afraid of their plots against you. Don’t let the unbelief of those
who speak against you trouble you.

\VS{4}For all the unbelievers will die in their unbelief.


\par }{\PP \VS{5}“Behold,” says the Lord, “I bring evils on the whole earth: sword,
famine, death, and destruction.

\VS{6}For wickedness has prevailed over every land, and their hurtful works have
reached their limit.

\VS{7}Therefore,” says the Lord,

\VS{8}“I will hold my peace no more concerning their wickedness which they profanely
commit, neither will I tolerate them in these things, which they wickedly practise. Behold, the innocent
and righteous blood cries to me, and the souls of the righteous cry out continually.

\VS{9}I will surely avenge them,” says the Lord, “and will receive to me all the
innocent blood from amongst them.

\VS{10}Behold, my people are led like a flock to the slaughter. I will not allow
them now to dwell in the land of Egypt,

\VS{11}but I will bring them out with a mighty hand and with a high arm, and will
strike Egypt with plagues, as before, and will destroy all its land.”


\par }{\PP \VS{12}Let Egypt and its foundations mourn, for the plague of the chastisement
and the punishment that God will bring upon it.

\VS{13}Let the farmers that till the ground mourn, for their seeds will fail and
their trees will be ruined through the blight and hail, and a terrible tempest.

\VS{14}Woe to the world and those who dwell in it!

\VS{15}For the sword and their destruction draws near, and nation will rise up against
nation to battle with weapons in their hands.

\VS{16}For there will be sedition amongst men, and growing strong against one another.
In their might, they won’t respect their king or the chief of their great ones.

\VS{17}For a man will desire to go into a city, and will not be able.

\VS{18}For because of their pride the cities will be troubled, the houses will be
destroyed, and men will be afraid.

\VS{19}A man will have no pity on his neighbours, but will assault their houses
with the sword and plunder their goods, because of the lack of bread, and for great suffering.


\par }{\PP \VS{20}“Behold,” says God, “I call together all the kings of the earth
to stir up those who are from the rising of the sun, from the south, from the east, and Libanus, to turn
themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them.

\VS{21}Just as they do yet this day to my chosen, so I will do also, and repay into
their bosom.” The Lord God says:

\VS{22}“My right hand won’t spare the sinners, and my sword won’t cease over those
who shed innocent blood on the earth.

\VS{23}A fire has gone out from his wrath and has consumed the foundations of the
earth and the sinners, like burnt straw.

\VS{24}Woe to those who sin and don’t keep my commandments!” says the Lord.

\VS{25}“I will not spare them. Go your way, you rebellious children! Don’t defile
my sanctuary!”

\VS{26}For the Lord knows all those who trespass against him, therefore he will
deliver them to death and destruction.

\VS{27}For now evils have come upon the whole earth, and you will remain in them;
for God will not deliver you, because you have sinned against him.


\par }{\PP \VS{28}Behold, a horrible sight appearing from the east!

\VS{29}The nations of the dragons of Arabia will come out with many chariots. From
the day that they set out, their hissing is carried over the earth, so that all those who will hear them
may also fear and tremble.

\VS{30}Also the Carmonians, raging in wrath, will go out like the wild boars of
the forest. They will come with great power and join battle with them, and will devastate a portion of
the land of the Assyrians with their teeth.

\VS{31}Then the dragons will have the upper hand, remembering their nature. If they
will turn themselves, conspiring together in great power to persecute them,

\VS{32}then these will be troubled, and keep silence through their power, and will
turn and flee.

\VS{33}From the land of the Assyrians, an enemy in ambush will attack them and destroy
one of them. Upon their army will be fear and trembling, and indecision upon their kings.


\par }{\PP \VS{34}Behold, clouds from the east, and from the north to the south!
They are very horrible to look at, full of wrath and storm.

\VS{35}They will clash against one another. They will pour out a heavy storm on
the earth, even their own storm. There will be blood from the sword to the horse’s belly,

\VS{36}and to the thigh of man, and to the camel’s hock.

\VS{37}There will be fearfulness and great trembling upon earth. They who see that
wrath will be afraid, and trembling will seize them.

\VS{38}After this, great storms will be stirred up from the south, from the north,
and another part from the west.

\VS{39}Strong winds will arise from the east, and will shut it up, even the cloud
which he raised up in wrath; and the storm that was to cause destruction by the east wind will be violently
driven towards the south and west.

\VS{40}Great and mighty clouds, full of wrath, will be lifted up with the storm,
that they may destroy all the earth and those who dwell in it. They will pour out over every high and
lofty one a terrible storm,

\VS{41}fire, hail, flying swords, and many waters, that all plains may be full,
and all rivers, with the abundance of those waters.

\VS{42}They will break down the cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of
the forest, and grass of the meadows, and their grain.

\VS{43}They will go on steadily to Babylon and destroy her.

\VS{44}They will come to it and surround it. They will pour out the storm and all
wrath on her. Then the dust and smoke will go up to the sky, and all those who are around it will mourn
for it.

\VS{45}Those who remain will serve those who have destroyed it.


\par }{\PP \VS{46}You, Asia, who are partaker in the beauty of Babylon, and in
the glory of her person—

\VS{47}woe to you, you wretch, because you have made yourself like her. You have
decked out your daughters for prostitution, that they might please and glory in your lovers, which have
always lusted after you!

\VS{48}You have followed her who is hateful in all her works and inventions. Therefore
God says,

\VS{49}“I will send evils on you: widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence,
to lay waste your houses and bring you to destruction and death.

\VS{50}The glory of your power will be dried up like a flower when the heat rises
that is sent over you.

\VS{51}You will be weakened like a poor woman who is beaten and wounded, so that
you won’t be able to receive your mighty ones and your lovers.

\VS{52}Would I have dealt with you with such jealousy,” says the Lord,

\VS{53}“if you had not always slain my chosen, exalting and clapping of your hands,
and talking about their dead when you were drunk?


\par }{\PP \VS{54}“Beautify your face!

\VS{55}The reward of a prostitute will be in your bosom, therefore you will be repaid.

\VS{56}Just as you will do to my chosen,” says the Lord, “even so God will do to
you, and will deliver you to your adversaries.

\VS{57}Your children will die of hunger. You will fall by the sword. Your cities
will be broken down, and all your people in the field will perish by the sword.

\VS{58}Those who are in the mountains will die of hunger, eat their own flesh, and
drink their own blood, because of hunger for bread and thirst for water.

\VS{59}You, unhappy above all others, will come and will again receive evils.

\VS{60}In the passage, they will rush on the hateful city and will destroy some
portion of your land, and mar part of your glory, and will return again to Babylon that was destroyed.

\VS{61}You will be cast down by them as stubble, and they will be to you as fire.

\VS{62}They will devour you, your cities, your land, and your mountains. They will
burn all your forests and your fruitful trees with fire.

\VS{63}They will carry your children away captive, and will plunder your wealth,
and mar the glory of your face.”



\par }\Chap{16}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Woe to you, Babylon, and Asia! Woe to you, Egypt and Syria!

\VS{2}Put on sackcloth and garments of goats’ hair, wail for your children and lament;
for your destruction is at hand.

\VS{3}A sword has been sent upon you, and who is there to turn it back?

\VS{4}A fire has been sent upon you, and who is there to quench it?

\VS{5}Calamities are sent upon you, and who is there to drive them away?

\VS{6}Can one drive away a hungry lion in the forest? Can one quench a fire in stubble,
once it has begun to burn?

\VS{7}Can one turn back an arrow that is shot by a strong archer?

\VS{8}The Lord God sends the calamities, and who will drive them away?

\VS{9}A fire will go out from his wrath, and who may quench it?

\VS{10}He will flash lightning, and who will not fear? He will thunder, and who
wouldn’t tremble?

\VS{11}The Lord will threaten, and who will not be utterly broken in pieces at his
presence?

\VS{12}The earth and its foundations quake. The sea rises up with waves from the
deep, and its waves will be troubled, along with the fish in them, at the presence of the Lord, and before
the glory of his power.

\VS{13}For his right hand that bends the bow is strong, his arrows that he shoots
are sharp, and will not miss when they begin to be shot into the ends of the world.

\VS{14}Behold, the calamities are sent out, and will not return again until they
come upon the earth.

\VS{15}The fire is kindled and will not be put out until it consumes the foundations
of the earth.

\VS{16}Just as an arrow which is shot by a mighty archer doesn’t return backward,
even so the calamities that are sent out upon earth won’t return again.

\VS{17}Woe is me! Woe is me! Who will deliver me in those days?


\par }{\PP \VS{18}The beginning of sorrows, when there will be great mourning;
the beginning of famine, and many will perish; the beginning of wars, and the powers will stand in fear;
the beginning of calamities, and all will tremble! What will they do when the calamities come?

\VS{19}Behold, famine and plague, suffering and anguish! They are sent as scourges
for correction.

\VS{20}But for all these things they will not turn them from their wickedness, nor
be always mindful of the scourges.

\VS{21}Behold, food will be so cheap on earth that they will think themselves to
be in good condition, and even then calamities will grow on earth: sword, famine, and great confusion.

\VS{22}For many of those who dwell on earth will perish of famine; and others who
escape the famine, the sword will destroy.

\VS{23}The dead will be cast out like dung, and there will be no one to comfort
them; for the earth will be left desolate, and its cities will be cast down.

\VS{24}There will be no farmer left to cultivate the earth or to sow it.

\VS{25}The trees will give fruit, but who will gather it?

\VS{26}The grapes will ripen, but who will tread them? For in all places there will
be a great solitude;

\VS{27}for one man will desire to see another, or to hear his voice.

\VS{28}For of a city there will be ten left, and two of the field, who have hidden
themselves in the thick groves, and in the clefts of the rocks.

\VS{29}As in an orchard of olives upon every tree there may be left three or four
olives,

\VS{30}or as when a vineyard is gathered, there are some clusters left by those
who diligently search through the vineyard,

\VS{31}even so in those days, there will be three or four left by those who search
their houses with the sword.

\VS{32}The earth will be left desolate, and its fields will be for briers, and its
roads and all her paths will grow thorns, because no sheep will pass along them.

\VS{33}The virgins will mourn, having no bridegrooms. The women will mourn, having
no husbands. Their daughters will mourn, having no helpers.

\VS{34}Their bridegrooms will be destroyed in the wars, and their husbands will
perish of famine.


\par }{\PP \VS{35}Hear now these things, and understand them, you servants of
the Lord.

\VS{36}Behold, the Lord’s word: receive it. Don’t doubt the things about which the
Lord speaks.

\VS{37}Behold, the calamities draw near, and are not delayed.

\VS{38}Just as a woman with child in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery
draws near, within two or three hours great pains surround her womb, and when the child comes out from
the womb, there will be no waiting for a moment,

\VS{39}even so the calamities won’t delay coming upon the earth. The world will
groan, and sorrows will seize it on every side.


\par }{\PP \VS{40}“O my people, hear my word: prepare for battle, and in those
calamities be like strangers on the earth.

\VS{41}He who sells, let him be as he who flees away, and he who buys, as one who
will lose.

\VS{42}Let he who does business be as he who has no profit by it, and he who builds,
as he who won’t dwell in it,

\VS{43}and he who sows, as if he wouldn’t reap, so also he who prunes the vines,
as he who won’t gather the grapes,

\VS{44}those who marry, as those who will have no children, and those who don’t
marry, as the widowed.

\VS{45}Because of this, those who labour, labour in vain;

\VS{46}for foreigners will reap their fruits, plunder their goods, overthrow their
houses, and take their children captive, for in captivity and famine they will conceive their children.

\VS{47}Those who conduct business, do so only to be plundered. The more they adorn
their cities, their houses, their possessions, and their own persons,

\VS{48}the more I will hate them for their sins,” says the Lord.

\VS{49}Just as a respectable and virtuous woman hates a prostitute,

\VS{50}so will righteousness hate iniquity when she adorns herself, and will accuse
her to her face when he comes who will defend him who diligently searches out every sin on earth.


\par }{\PP \VS{51}Therefore don’t be like her or her works.

\VS{52}For yet a little while, and iniquity will be taken away out of the earth,
and righteousness will reign over us.

\VS{53}Don’t let the sinner say that he has not sinned; for God will burn coals
of fire on the head of one who says “I haven’t sinned before God and his glory.”

\VS{54}Behold, the Lord knows all the works of men, their imaginations, their thoughts,
and their hearts.

\VS{55}He said, “Let the earth be made,” and it was made, “Let the sky be made,”
and it was made.

\VS{56}At his word, the stars were established, and he knows the number of the stars.

\VS{57}He searches the deep and its treasures. He has measured the sea and what
it contains.

\VS{58}He has shut the sea in the midst of the waters, and with his word, he hung
the earth over the waters.

\VS{59}He has spread out the sky like a vault. He has founded it over the waters.

\VS{60}He has made springs of water in the desert and pools on the tops of the mountains
to send out rivers from the heights to water the earth.

\VS{61}He formed man, and put a heart in the midst of the body, and gave him breath,
life, and understanding,

\VS{62}yes, the spirit of God Almighty. He who made all things and searches out
hidden things in hidden places,

\VS{63}surely he knows your imagination, and what you think in your hearts. Woe
to those who sin, and try to hide their sin!

\VS{64}Because the Lord will exactly investigate all your works, and he will put
you all to shame.

\VS{65}When your sins are brought out before men, you will be ashamed, and your
own iniquities will stand as your accusers in that day.

\VS{66}What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins before God and his angels?

\VS{67}Behold, God is the judge. Fear him! Stop sinning, and forget your iniquities,
to never again commit them. So will God lead you out, and deliver you from all suffering.


\par }{\PP \VS{68}For, behold, the burning wrath of a great multitude is kindled
over you, and they will take away some of you, and feed you with that which is sacrificed to idols.

\VS{69}Those who consent to them will be held in derision and in contempt, and be
trodden under foot.

\VS{70}For there will be in various places, and in the next cities, a great insurrection
against those who fear the Lord.

\VS{71}They will be like mad men, sparing none, but spoiling and destroying those
who still fear the Lord.

\VS{72}For they will destroy and plunder their goods, and throw them out of their
houses.

\VS{73}Then the trial of my elect will be made known, even as the gold that is tried
in the fire.

\VS{74}Hear, my elect ones, says the Lord: “Behold, the days of suffering are at
hand, and I will deliver you from them.

\VS{75}Don’t be afraid, and don’t doubt, for God is your guide.

\VS{76}You who keep my commandments and precepts,” says the Lord God, “don’t let
your sins weigh you down, and don’t let your iniquities lift themselves up.”

\VS{77}Woe to those who are choked with their sins and covered with their iniquities,
like a field is choked with bushes, and its path covered with thorns, that no one may travel through!

\VS{78}It is shut off and given up to be consumed by fire.


\par }