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,

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,

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.

YAHUAH’s word came to me, saying,

“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,

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

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.

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.

How long shall I endure them, to whom I have done so much good?

I have overthrown many kings for their sakes. I have struck down Pharoah with his servants and all his army.

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.

Speak therefore to them, saying:

“YAHUAH 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.

I gave you light in a pillar of fire. I have done great wonders among you, yet you have forgotten me, says YAHUAH.

“The YAHUAH Tsava'ot says: The quails were for a token to you. I gave you a camp for your protection, but you complained there.

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

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

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.’

I had pity on your mourning and gave you manna for food. You ate angels’ bread.

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.

I divided fruitful lands among you. I drove out the Canaanites, the Pherezites, and the Philistines before you. What more shall I do for you?” says YAHUAH.

The YAHUAH Tsava'ot says, “When you were in the wilderness, at the bitter stream, being thirsty and blaspheming my name,

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

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.

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.

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.

It is not as though you have forsaken me, but your own selves,” says YAHUAH.

The YAHUAH Tsava'ot says, “Haven’t I asked you as a father his sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her young babies,

that you would be my people, and I would be your ALUAH, that you would be my children, and I would be your father?

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.

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.

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 YAHUAH.

The YAHUAH Tsava'ot says, “Your house is desolate. I will cast you out as the wind blows stubble.

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

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.

They have seen no prophets, yet they will remember their former condition.

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.”

And now, father, behold with glory, and see the people that come from the east:

to whom I will give for leaders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Oseas, Amos, and Micheas, Joel, Abdias, and Jonas,

Nahum, and Abacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zachary, and Malachy, who is also called YAHUAH’s messenger.

YAHUAH 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.

2:29 Hell.

I brought you up with gladness, and I have lost you with sorrow and heaviness, for you have sinned before the YAHUAH ALUAH, and done that which is evil before me.

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 YAHUAH.’

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,

that you may bring them to confusion, and their mother to ruin, that they may have no offspring.

Let them be scattered abroad among the heathen. Let their names be blotted out of the earth, for they have despised my covenant.

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

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 YAHUAH Tsava'ot.

YAHUAH says to Esdras, “Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given to Israel.

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

They will have the tree of life for fragrant perfume. They will neither labor nor be weary.

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!

Call heaven and earth to witness. Call them to witness, for I have left out evil, and created the good, for I live, says YAHUAH.

“Mother, embrace your children. I will bring them out with gladness like a dove does. Establish their feet, for I have chosen you, says YAHUAH.

I will raise those who are dead up again from their places, and bring them out from their tombs, for I recognize my name in them.

Don’t be afraid, you mother of children, for I have chosen you, says YAHUAH.

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,

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.

Do right to the widow. Secure justice for the fatherless. Give to the poor. Defend the orphan. Clothe the naked.

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.

Protect the old and young within your walls.

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.

Stay still, my people, and take your rest, for your rest will come.

Nourish your children, good nurse, and establish their feet.

As for the servants whom I have given you, not one of them will perish, for I will require them from among your number.

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.

The nations will envy you, but they will be able to do nothing against you, says YAHUAH.

My hands will cover you, so that your children don’t see Gehenna.

Be joyful, mother, with your children, for I will deliver you, says YAHUAH.

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 YAHUAH Tsava'ot.

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

I, Esdras, received a command from YAHUAH on Mount Horeb to go to Israel, but when I came to them, they rejected me and rejected YAHUAH’s commandment.

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.

Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, for the everlasting light will shine on you forevermore.

Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joy of your glory. I call to witness my savior openly.

Receive that which is given to you by YAHUAH, and be joyful, giving thanks to him who has called you to heavenly kingdoms.

Arise and stand up, and see the number of those who have been sealed at YAHUAH’s feast.

Those who withdrew themselves from the shadow of the world have received glorious garments from YAHUAH.

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 YAHUAH.

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

I, Esdras, saw upon Mount Zion a great multitude, whom I could not number, and they all praised YAHUAH with songs.

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 marveled greatly at this.

So I asked the angel, and said, “What are these, my master?”

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 ALUAH. Now they are crowned, and receive palms.”

Then said I to the angel, “Who is the young man who sets crowns on them, and gives them palms in their hands?”

So he answered and said to me, “He is the Son of ALUAH, whom they have confessed in the world.” Then I began to praise those who stood so valiantly for the name of YAHUAH.

Then the angel said to me, “Go your way, and tell my people what kind of things, and how great wonders of the YAHUAH ALUAH you have seen.”

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,

for I saw the desolation of Zion and the wealth of those who lived at Babylon.

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

“O sovereign YAHUAH, didn’t you speak at the beginning when you formed the earth—and that yourself alone—and commanded the dust

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.

You led him into the garden which your right hand planted before the earth appeared.

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.

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

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

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

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

“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.

It came to pass, when they did wickedly before you, you chose one from among them, whose name was Abraham.

You loved, and to him only you showed the end of the times secretly by night,

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.

You set apart Jacob for yourself, but rejected Esau. Jacob became a great multitude.

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

You bowed the heavens also, shook the earth, moved the whole world, made the depths tremble, and troubled the age.

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.

“Yet you didn’t take away from them their wicked heart, that your law might produce fruit in them.

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

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.

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

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

When this was done many years, then those who inhabited the city did evil,

in all things doing as Adam and all his generations had done, for they also had a wicked heart.

So you gave your city over into the hands of your enemies.

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

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.

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;

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

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

Yet their reward doesn’t appear, and their labor 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.

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.

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?

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

The angel who was sent to me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an answer,

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?”

Then I said, “Yes, my master.” He answered me, “I have been sent to show you three ways, and to set before you three problems.

4:7 The Latin is corrupt. The Latin is corrupt. See Judges 9:8 . 4:28 so the Syriac and Aethiopic. The Latin is corrupt. 4:35

I said, “Say on, my master.” 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.”

Then answered I and said, “Who of the sons of men is able to do this, that you should ask me about such things?”

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 of hell? Or which are the entrances of paradise?’

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.’

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. ”

He said moreover to me, “You can’t understand your own things that you grew up with.

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?” The Latin is corrupt. When I heard these things, I fell on my face

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.”

He answered me, and said, The Latin is corrupt. See Judges 9:8. “A forest of the trees of the field went out, and took counsel together,

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.’

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.’

The counsel of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it.

Likewise also the counsel of the waves of the sea, for the sand stood up and stopped them.

If you were judge now between these two, which would you justify, or which would you condemn?”

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.”

Then answered he me, and said, “You have given a right judgment. Why don’t you judge your own case?

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.”

Then answered I and said, “I beg you, O YAHUAH, why has the power of understanding been given to me?

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.

We pass away out of the world like locusts. Our life is like a vapor, and we aren’t worthy to obtain mercy.

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

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.

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.

For the evil so the Syriac and Aethiopic. about which you asked me has been sown, but its harvest hasn’t yet come.

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.

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!

Ponder now by yourself, how much fruit of wickedness a grain of evil seed has produced.

When the grains which are without number are sown, how great a threshing floor they will fill!”

Then I answered and said, “How long? When will these things come to pass? Why are our years few and evil?”

He answered me, and said, “Don’t hurry faster than the Most High; for your haste is The Latin is corrupt. for your own self, but he who is above hurries on behalf of many.

Didn’t the souls of the righteous ask question of these things in their chambers, saying, ‘How long

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.

By measure, he has measured the times. By number, he has counted the seasons. He won’t rest. move or stir them until that measure is fulfilled.’ ”

Then I answered, “O sovereign YAHUAH, all of us are full of ungodliness.

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.”

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.”

Then I said, “No, YAHUAH, that can it not.” He said to me, “In Hades, the chambers of souls are like the womb.

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

Then you will be shown those things which you desire to see.”

Then I answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, and if it is possible, and if I am worthy,

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

For what is gone I know, but I don’t know what is to come.”

He said to me, “Stand up on my right side, and I will explain the parable to you.”

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.

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.”

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.”

Then I prayed, and said, “Do you think that I will live until that time? Or who will be alive in those days?”

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.

“Nevertheless, concerning the signs, behold, the days will come when those who dwell on earth will be taken So the syriac. with great amazement, and the way of truth will be hidden, and the land will be barren of faith.

Iniquity will be increased above what now you see, and beyond what you have heard long ago.

The land that you now see ruling will be a trackless waste, and men will see it desolate.

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.

5:1 So the syriac. 5:28 ..alive at once.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

It will come to pass at that time that men will hope, but won’t obtain. They will labor, but their ways won’t prosper.

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.”

Then I woke up, and an extreme trembling went through my body, and my mind was so troubled that it fainted.

So the angel who had come to talk with me held me, comforted me, and set me on my feet.

In the second night, it came to pass that Phaltiel the captain of the people came to me, saying, “Where have you been? Why is your face sad?

Or don’t you know that Israel is committed to you in the land of their captivity?

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.”

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.

So I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, like Uriel the angel had commanded me.

After seven days, the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again,

and my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began to speak words before the Most High again.

I said, “O sovereign YAHUAH of all the woods of the earth, and of all the trees thereof, you have chosen one vine for yourself.

Of all the lands of the world you have chosen one country for yourself. Of all the flowers of the world, you have chosen one lily for yourself.

Of all the depths of the sea, you have filled one river for yourself. Of all built cities, you have consecrated Zion for yourself.

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.

Among 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.

Now, O YAHUAH, why have you given this one people over to many, and have dishonored the one root above others, and have scattered your only one among many?

Those who opposed your promises have trampled down those who believed your covenants.

If you really do hate your people so much, they should be punished with your own hands.”

Now when I had spoken these words, the angel that came to me the night before was sent to me,

and said to me, “Hear me, and I will instruct you. Listen to me, and I will tell you more.”

I said, “Speak on, my master.” 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?”

I said, “No, YAHUAH; but I have spoken out of grief; for my heart is in agony every hour while I labor to comprehend the way of the Most High, and to seek out part of his judgment.”

He said to me, “You can’t.” And I said, “Why, YAHUAH? 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?”

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.

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.”

And I said, “O sovereign YAHUAH, who may know these things except he who doesn’t have his dwelling with men?

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

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 judgment, or the end of the love that I have promised to my people.”

I said, “But, behold, O YAHUAH, 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?”

He said to me, “I will compare my judgment 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.”

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 judgment sooner?”

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.”

And I said, “How have you said to your servant, that you will surely make alive at once the creature that you have created? ..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.”

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.”

I said, “She can’t, but must do it each in their own time.”

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.

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

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?”

He answered me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you.

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

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.’

Consider therefore you also, how you are shorter than those who were before you.

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.”

Then I said, “YAHUAH, I implore you, if I have found favor in your sight, show your servant by whom you visit your creation.”

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,

before the voices of the thunder sounded and before the flashes of the lightning shone, before the foundations of paradise were laid,

before the fair flowers were seen, before the powers of the earthquake were established, before the innumerable army of angels were gathered together,

before the heights of the air were lifted up, before the measures of the firmament were named, before the footstool of Zion was established,

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—

6:4 The Latin is defective. The Latin is corrupt. 6:30 The Latin is corrupt. 6:55

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?”

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.

For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the one that follows.

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!”

Then I answered, “O sovereign YAHUAH, if I have found favor in your sight,

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

So he answered, “Stand up upon your feet, and you will hear a mighty sounding voice.

If the place you stand on is greatly moved

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

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

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.

It said, “Behold, the days come when I draw near to visit those who dwell upon the earth,

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

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.

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.

Suddenly the sown places will appear unsown. The full storehouses will suddenly be found empty.

The trumpet will give a sound which when every man hears, they will suddenly be afraid.

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.

“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.

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.

For evil will be blotted out and deceit will be quenched.

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

When he talked with me, behold, little by little, the place I stood on The Latin is corrupt. rocked back and forth.

He said to me, “I came to show you these things The Latin is corrupt. tonight.

If therefore you will pray yet again, and fast seven more days, I will again tell you greater things than these.

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.

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

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

It came to pass after this, that I wept again, and fasted seven days in like manner, that I might fulfill the three weeks which he told me.

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

For my spirit was greatly aroused, and my soul was in distress.

I said, “O YAHUAH, 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.

Then the spirit was hovering, and darkness and silence were on every side. The sound of man’s voice was not yet there.

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

“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.

“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.

For as soon as your word went out, the work was done.

Immediately, great and innumerable fruit grew, with many pleasant tastes, and flowers of inimitable color, and fragrances of most exquisite smell. This was done the third day.

“On the fourth day, you commanded that the sun should shine, the moon give its light, and the stars should be in their order;

and gave them a command to serve mankind, who was to be made.

“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

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

“Then you preserved two living creatures. The one you called Behemoth, and the other you called Leviathan.

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

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;

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.

“But on the sixth day, you commanded the earth to produce before you cattle, animals, and creeping things.

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.

“All this have I spoken before you, O YAHUAH, because you have said that for our sakes you made this world.

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.

Now, O YAHUAH, behold these nations, which are reputed as nothing, being rulers over us and devouring us.

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

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

When I had finished speaking these words, the angel which had been sent to me the nights before was sent to me.

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

I said, “Speak on, my master.” Then he said to me, “There is a sea set in a wide place, that it might be have deep. broad and vast,

but its entrance is set in a narrow place so as to be like a river.

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?

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

7:3 have deep. man 7:32 chambers See . See Preface, page ix. 7:36 have place. Gehenna. 7:41 storm

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.

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?”

I said, “That is so, YAHUAH.” Then said he to me, “Even so also is Israel’s portion.

I made the world for their sakes. What is now done was decreed when Adam transgressed my statutes.

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.

For the entrances of the greater world are wide and safe, and produce fruit of immortality.

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

Now therefore why are you disturbed, seeing you are but a corruptible man? Why are you moved, since you are mortal?

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

Then I answered and said, “O sovereign YAHUAH, behold, you have ordained in your law that the righteous will inherit these things, but that the ungodly will perish.

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.”

He said to me, “You are not a judge above ALUAH, neither do you have more understanding than the Most High.

Yes, let many perish who now live, rather than that the law of ALUAH which is set before them be despised.

For ALUAH strictly commanded those who came, even as they came, what they should do to live, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.

Nevertheless, they weren’t obedient to him, but spoke against him and imagined for themselves vain things.

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.

They despised his law and denied his covenants. They haven’t been faithful to his statutes, and haven’t performed his works.

Therefore, Esdras, for the empty are empty things, and for the full are the full things.

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.

Whoever is delivered from the foretold evils will see my wonders.

For my son YAHUSHA will be revealed with those who are with him, and those who remain will rejoice four hundred years.

After these years my son HA-MASHIACH will die, along with all of those who have the breath of life man .

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

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

The earth will restore those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who dwell in it in silence, and the secret places will deliver those souls that were committed to them.

The Most High will be revealed on the judgment seat, and compassion will pass away, and patience will be withdrawn.

Only judgment will remain. Truth will stand. Faith will grow strong.

Recompense will follow. The reward will be shown. Good deeds will awake, and wicked deeds won’t sleep.

The pit of torment will appear, and opposite it will stand the place of rest. The furnace of fire will be shown, and above it the paradise of delight.

Then the Most High, YAHUAH, will say: "Behold the day of judgment of which I have spoken."

"Before all of you were born, I thought upon these things."

"My judgment is just. To each person I will give according to his deeds."

"To the righteous I will show wonders. To the wicked I will show torment."

"For those who kept My ways will receive eternal life, but those who despised My Torah will receive punishment."

"This is the order of the judgment."

The Most High will reveal the judgment seat, and all people will stand before Him.

Those who have not kept the commandments will be shown what they missed.

Their faces will be filled with shame, for they rejected the ways of YAHUAH.

Those who kept righteousness will stand in great confidence and brightness.

They will be crowned with glory and clothed with honor.

Then the spirits of the wicked will be placed in torment.

They will confess and say, "We strayed from the path of truth."

"We did not listen to the voice of YAHUAH."

"Now our path is darkness."

This is the order of those who kept the commandments of YAHUAH:

First: They have great joy because they believed His promises.

Second: They rejoice because they have escaped corruption.

Third: They delight because the world of suffering is behind them.

Fourth: They see the reward prepared for them.

Fifth: They are at rest with assurance, for their labor is complete.

Sixth: They behold the bright glory of YAHUAH.

Seventh: They enter into immortality and eternal joy.

This is the judgment of the wicked:

First: They see the Torah they rejected standing against them.

Second: They recognize their sins and have no excuse.

Third: They begin to see the reward they threw away.

Fourth: They see the righteous rejoicing and know they cannot enter.

Fifth: They mourn because they wasted their lives.

Sixth: They see the torment prepared for them.

Seventh: They enter the fire with no rest.

Then the Most High will say: "This is the end of those who denied Me and the beginning of those who kept My commandments."

"The righteous will shine forever. The wicked will cease."

"Let no one again plead for those who chose destruction."

"For I gave them life, but they would not live."

"I called to them, but they refused Me."

"My wrath and My mercy were before them. They chose wrath."

Esdras said, "O YAHUAH, Your judgment is righteous."

"For You judge each person according to what he has done."

"You have shown compassion to all."

"But to those who hated Your Name, You have given justice."

"Blessed are those who kept Your commandments."

"For the righteous will inherit immortality."

"Their dwelling will be with the angels."

"Their sorrow will end."

"They will behold the face of YAHUAH in glory."

"They will dwell in everlasting light."

"But the wicked will be cast into darkness."

"They will have no rest."

"They will see the righteous shining like stars."

"And they will mourn for the life they lost."

"Their torment will be bitter."

Esdras said, "O YAHUAH, give me understanding."

YAHUAH said, "These things I have declared."

"Tell the righteous to rejoice."

"Tell the wicked to repent while there is time."

"For the time is short."

"Soon the age will pass away."

"The great judgment draws near."

"The books will be opened."

"Every deed will be revealed."

"Nothing will be hidden."

"The righteous will inherit glory."

"The wicked will inherit darkness."

"This is the judgment set from the beginning."

"I have spoken it."

"My word will not return void."

"Let the wise understand."

"Let the wicked fear."

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,

and Joshua after him for Israel in the days of Achan,

and Samuel in the days of Saul, and David for the plague, and Solomon for those who would worship in the sanctuary,

and Elijah for those that received rain, and for the dead, that he might live,

and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many others prayed for many?

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?”

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.

But the day of judgment will be the end of this age, and the beginning of the immortality to come, in which corruption has passed away,

intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off, but righteousness has grown, and truth has sprung up.

Then no one will be able to have mercy on him who is condemned in judgment, nor to harm someone who is victorious.”

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.

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

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.

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

And that there is promised us an everlasting hope, but we have most miserably failed?

And that there are reserved habitations of health and safety, but we have lived wickedly?

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?

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,

for we have lived in perverse ways?

And that the faces of those who have practiced self-control will shine more than the stars, but our faces will be blacker than darkness?

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

Then he answered, “This is the significance of the battle which humans born on the earth will fight:

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.

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

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

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

Then I answered, “I know, YAHUAH, that the Most High is now called merciful, in that he has mercy upon those who have not yet come into the world;

and compassionate, in that he has compassion upon those who turn to his law;

and patient, in that he is patient with those who have sinned, since they are his creatures;

and bountiful, in that he is ready to give rather than to take away;

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—

for if he wasn’t merciful, the world wouldn’t continue with those who dwell in it—

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;

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

there would perhaps be very few left of an innumerable multitude.”

He answered me, “The Most High has made this world for many, but the world to come for few.

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.

Many have been created, but few will be saved.”

I answered, “Drink your fill of understanding then, O my soul, and let my heart devour wisdom.

For you 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.

O YAHUAH 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 likeness of a man, may live.

For you alone exist, and we all one workmanship of your hands, just as you have said.

8:5 The Latin is incorrect. The Latin is imperfect. 8:14 The Latin is incorrect. 8:31 manners. be saved. 8:52 The Syriac has established.

But that which keeps and that which is kept will both be kept The Latin is imperfect. by your keeping. When the womb gives up again what has grown in it,

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,

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

Yes, you have brought it up in your righteousness, nurtured it in your law, and corrected it with your judgment.

You put it to death as your creation, and make it live as your work.

If therefore you The Latin is incorrect. lightly and suddenly destroy him which with so great labor was fashioned by your commandment, to what purpose was he made?

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

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,

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;

but I have heard the swiftness of the judgment which is to come.

Therefore hear my voice, and understand my saying, and I will speak before you.” The beginning of the words of Esdras, before he was taken up. He said,

“O YAHUAH, you who remain forever, whose eyes are exalted, and whose chambers are in the air,

whose throne is beyond measure, whose glory is beyond comprehension, before whom the army of angels stand with trembling,

at whose bidding they are changed to wind and fire, whose word is sure, and sayings constant, whose ordinance is strong, and commandment fearful,

whose look dries up the depths, and whose indignation makes the mountains to melt away, and whose truth bears witness—

hear, O YAHUAH, the prayer of your servant, and give ear to the petition of your handiwork.

Attend to my words, for as long as I live, I will speak, and as long as I have understanding, I will answer.

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

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

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

Let it not be your will to destroy those who have lived like cattle, but look at those who have clearly taught your law.

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

For we and our fathers have passed our lives in manners. ways that bring death, but you are called merciful because of us sinners.

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

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

For what is man, that you should take displeasure at him? Or what is a corruptible race, that you should be so bitter toward it?

For in truth, there is no man among those who are born who has not done wickedly, and among those who have lived, there is none which have not done wrong.

For in this, O YAHUAH, your righteousness and your goodness will be declared, if you are merciful to those who have no store of good works.”

Then he answered me, “Some things you have spoken rightly, and it will happen according to your words.

For indeed I will not think about the fashioning of those who have sinned, or about their death, their judgment, or their destruction;

but I will rejoice over the creation of the righteous and their pilgrimage, their salvation, and the reward that they will have.

Therefore as I have spoken, so it will be.