Apocrypha

Edits, corrections and cross references by The Firmament

First and second Esdras are contained in a group of books called Apocrypha (hidden or secret), which were once in the canonical Bible between the old and new testaments. In the Septuagint, where Ezra and Nehemiah are called First and Second Esdras, this book is referred to as Fourth Esdras. Frequently, it is given the more descriptive title of the Ezra Apocalypse because much like the Book of Revelation it is a series of apocalypses. The scene is set in Babylon in the year 556 B.C.

Chapter 1

2 Esd 1:1 “The second book of Ezra, the Prophet, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub”
2 Esd 1:2 “The son of Achiah, the son of Phineas, the son of Heli, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Arna, the son of Uzzi, the son of Borith, the son of Abishua, the son of Phineas, the son of Eleazar,”
2 Esd 1:3 “The son of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, who was a captive in the country of the Medes in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia.”
2 Esd 1:4 “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,”
2 Esd 1:5 “Go and declare to my people their crimes and to their sons their iniquities which they have committed against me, so that they may tell them to their children’s children.”
2 Esd 1:6 “For the sins of their parents have increased in them, for they have forgotten me and have offered sacrifice to strange gods.”
2 Esd 1:7 “Was it not I who brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage? But they have angered me, and scorned my counsels.”
2 Esd 1:8 “Shake out the hair of your head and hurl all evils upon them, because they have not obeyed my law, but they are a rebellious people.”
2 Esd 1:9 “How long shall I bear with them, when I have conferred such benefits upon them?”
2 Esd 1:10 “I have overthrown many kings for them; I struck down Pharaoh with his servants, and all his army.”
2 Esd 1:11 “I destroyed all nations before them, and I scattered the people of two provinces in the east, Tyre and Sidon, and I slew all their enemies.”
2 Esd 1:12 “But you must speak to them and say, “Thus says the Lord:”
2 Esd 1:13 “Surely it was I who brought you across the sea and produced broad highways for you where there was no road; I gave you Moses for a leader and Aaron for a priest;”
2 Esd 1:14 “I gave you light from a pillar of fire, and did great wonders among you; but you forgot me, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 1:15 “Thus says the Lord Almighty: The quail were a sign, to you; I gave you camps to protect you, yet you grumbled in them;”
2 Esd 1:16 “And you have not triumphed for my sake over the destruction of your enemies, but even now you still grumble.”
2 Esd 1:17 “Where are the kindnesses I have shown you? When, you were hungry and thirsty in the desert did you not cry out to me,”
2 Esd 1:18 “Saying, “Why have you brought us into this wilderness to kill us? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this desert.”
2 Esd 1:19 “I pitied your, groaning and gave you manna for food; you ate the bread of angels.”
2 Esd 1:20 “When you were thirsty, did I not split open the rock, and waters flowed out in abundance? On account of the heat I covered you with the leaves of trees.”
2 Esd 1:21 “I divided, fertile lands among you; the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Philistines I drove out before you. What more can I do for you? says the Lord.”
2 Esd 1:22 “Thus says the Lord Almighty: When you were in the desert, at the bitter river, thirsty and blaspheming my name,”
2 Esd 1:23 “I did not give you fire for your blasphemy, but I put wood into the water and made the river sweet.”
2 Esd 1:24 “What shall I do to you, Jacob? You would not obey me, Judah. I will turn to other nations, and give them my name, so that they may observe my precepts.”
2 Esd 1:25 “Since you have forsaken me, I will forsake you. When you seek mercy from me, I will not have pity on you.”
2 Esd 1:26 “When you call upon me, I will not hear you; for you have stained your hands with blood, and your feet are quick to commit murder.”
2 Esd 1:27 “It is not as though you had forsaken me, but yourselves, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 1:28 “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Have I not begged you as a father begs his sons, or a mother her daughters, or a nurse her little ones,”
2 Esd 1:29 “To be my people, and that I should be your God, and you should be my sons and I should be your father?”
2 Esd 1:30 “I gathered you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But now what shall I do to you? I will cast you out from before my face.”
2 Esd 1:31 “When you make offerings to me, I will turn my face away from you, for I have repudiated your feast days, and new moons, and circumcisions of the flesh.”
2 Esd 1:32 “I sent my servants the prophets to you, and you took them and killed them, and tore their bodies in pieces; and their blood I will require of you, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 1:33 “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate; I will drive you forth as the wind drives stubble;”
2 Esd 1:34 “And your children shall have no children, because they with you have neglected my command, and have done what is evil in my sight.”
2 Esd 1:35 “I will give your houses to a people that is to come, who without having heard me believe. Those to whom I have showed no signs will do what I have commanded.”
2 Esd 1:36 “They have not seen the prophets yet they will call to mind their uprightness.”
2 Esd 1:37 “I call to witness the gratitude of the people that is to come, whose little ones rejoice with gladness, though they do not see me with physical eyes, but in spirit they will believe the things I have said.”
2 Esd 1:38 “And now, Father, look upon me with glory, and see the people coming from the east,”
2 Esd 1:39 “To whom I will give to lead them Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and Hosea and Amos and Micah, and Joel and Obadiah and Jonah,”
2 Esd 1:40 “Nahum and Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who is also called the Messenger of the Lord.”

Chapter 2

2 Esd 2:1 “Thus says the Lord: I brought that people out of bondage, and gave them commandments through my servants the prophets; but they would not listen to them, but made my counsels void.”
2 Esd 2:2 “The mother that bore them said to them, “Go, my children, for I am a widow and deserted;”
2 Esd 2:3 “I brought you up in gladness, but in grief and sorrow I have lost you, for you have sinned before the Lord God and done what is evil in my sight.”
2 Esd 2:4 “But now what can I do for you? For I am a widow and deserted. Go, my children, and ask for mercy from the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:5 “I call you, father, as a witness, in addition to the mother of the children, because they would not keep my agreement,”
2 Esd 2:6 “To bring confusion upon them, and to give their mother up to pillage, so that they may have no descendants.”
2 Esd 2:7 “Let them be scattered among the heathen, let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have scorned my agreement.”
2 Esd 2:8 “Alas for you, Assyria, who conceal the unrighteous with you. O wicked nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrah,”
2 Esd 2:9 “Whose land lies in lumps of pitch and heaps of ashes. So l will make those who would not listen to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Esd 2:10 “Thus speaks the Lord to Ezra: Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I was going to give to Israel.”
2 Esd 2:11 “And I will take back to myself their glory, and I will give to these the everlasting dwellings which I had prepared for those others.”
2 Esd 2:12 “The tree of life will give them fragrant perfume, and they will not toil or be weary.”
2 Esd 2:13 “Ask, and you will receive; pray for few days for yourselves, that they may be shortened; the kingdom is already prepared for you; be on the watch.”
2 Esd 2:14 “Call heaven and earth to witness; call them to witness, for I have left out evil and created good, because I live, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:15 “Mother, embrace your sons, bring them up in gladness like a dove, strengthen their feet, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:16 “And I will raise up the dead from their places, and bring them out of their tombs, because I recognize my name in them.”
2 Esd 2:17 “Do not fear, mother of sons, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:18 “I will send to help you my servants Isaiah and Jeremiah, for whose counsel I have consecrated and prepared for you twelve trees loaded with different fruits,”
2 Esd 2:19 “And an equal number of springs flowing with milk and honey, and seven huge mountains on which roses and lilies grow, with which I will fill your sons with joy.”
2 Esd 2:20 “Do justice to the widow, judge the fatherless, give to the needy, protect the orphan, clothe the naked,”
2 Esd 2:21 “Cure the injured and the weak, do not laugh at a lame man, defend the maimed, and let the blind man behold my glory.”
2 Esd 2:22 “Preserve the old man and the youth within your walls.”
2 Esd 2:23 “When you find any who are dead, give them burial and mark the place, and I will give you the first place in my resurrection.”
2 Esd 2:24 “Pause and be quiet, my people, for your rest will come.”
2 Esd 2:25 “Good nurse, nourish your sons, for you must strengthen their feet.”
2 Esd 2:26 “As for the slaves whom I have given you, not one of them shall perish, for I will require them from your number.”
2 Esd 2:27 “Do not worry, for when the day of affliction and anguish comes, others will lament and be sad, but you will be joyful and rich.”
2 Esd 2:28 “The heathen will be jealous, but they will be not able to do anything against you, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:29 “My hands will cover you, so that your sons will not see the Pit.”
2 Esd 2:30 “Be joyful, mother, with your sons, for I will rescue you, says the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:31 “Remember your sons who are asleep, for I will bring them forth from the hiding places of the earth and show mercy to them, for I am merciful, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Esd 2:32 “Embrace your children until I come, and proclaim mercy to them, for my springs run over, and my favor will not fail.”
2 Esd 2:33 “I, Ezra, received a command from the Lord on Mount Horeb, to go to Israel; but when I went to them, they refused me and rejected the Lord’s command.”
2 Esd 2:34 “Therefore I say to you, heathen, who hear and understand, expect your shepherd; he will give you everlasting rest for he is close at hand, who will come at the end of the world.”
2 Esd 2:35 “Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, for everlasting light will shine upon you forever.”
2 Esd 2:36 “Flee from the shadow of this world, receive the enjoyment of your glory. I call my Savior to witness publicly.”
2 Esd 2:37 “Receive the approval of the Lord, and rejoice, with thanksgiving to him who has called you to heavenly realms.”
2 Esd 2:38 “Get up and stand and see the number of those who are marked with his seal at the feast of the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:39 “Those who have removed from the shadow of the world have received splendid garments from the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:40 “Receive your number, Zion, and close the list of your people who are clothed in white, who have fulfilled the Law of the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:41 “The number of your sons whom you desired is full; entreat the Lord’s power that your people which was called from the beginning may be made holy.”
2 Esd 2:42 “I, Ezra, saw on Mount Zion a great throng which I could not count, and they all praised the Lord with songs.”
2 Esd 2:43 “And in the midst of them was a youth of lofty stature, taller than all the rest, and he put crowns upon the heads of each of them, and he was still more exalted. But I was possessed with wonder.”
2 Esd 2:44 “Then I asked the angel, and said, “Who are these, sir?”
2 Esd 2:45 “And he answered and said to me, “These are those who have laid aside their mortal clothing, and have put on immortal, and have confessed the name of God; now they are crowned and receive palms.”
2 Esd 2:46 “And I said to the angel, “Who is that young man, who puts the crowns on them and the palms in their hands?”
2 Esd 2:47 “He answered and said to me, “He is the Son of God, whom they confessed in the world.” Then I began to glorify those who had stood firmly for the name of the Lord.”
2 Esd 2:48 “Then the angel said to me, “Go, tell my people what kind of wonders of the Lord you have seen, and how great they are.”

Chapter 3

2 Esd 3:1 “In the thirtieth year after the destruction of the city, I, Salathiel, who am Ezra, was in Babylon, and I was troubled as I lay on my bed, and my thoughts filled my mind,”
2 Esd 3:2 “Because I saw the desolation of Zion, and the wealth of those who lived in Babylon.”
2 Esd 3:3 “And my spirit was agitated, and I began to utter devout words to the Most High, and I said,”
2 Esd 3:4 “O Sovereign Lord, was it not you who in the beginning when you formed the earth, and all alone too, spoke and commanded the dust,”
2 Esd 3:5 “And it gave you Adam, a dead body? But he was both himself a formation of your hands, and you breathed into him the breath of life, and he was made alive before you.”
2 Esd 3:6 “And you led him into Paradise which your right hand planted before the earth appeared;”
2 Esd 3:7 “And you enjoined upon him your one concern, and he transgressed it, and you immediately ordained death for him and his peoples; and there sprang from him nations and tribes, peoples and clans without number.”
2 Esd 3:8 “And every nation followed its own will and behaved wickedly in your sight, and you did not hinder them.”
2 Esd 3:9 “But again, in time, you brought the flood upon the inhabitants of the world, and destroyed them.”
2 Esd 3:10 “And the same fate befell them; as Adam experienced death, they experienced the flood.”
2 Esd 3:11 “But you left one of them, Noah, with his household, all the upright people that were descended from him.”
2 Esd 3:12 “And it came to pass that when the inhabitants of the earth began to multiply, and sons and peoples and nations grew very numerous, that they began again to be more ungodly than their predecessors.”
2 Esd 3:13 “And it came to pass that when they did what was wrong in your sight, you chose for yourself one of them, whose name was Abraham,”
2 Esd 3:14 “And you loved him, and to him alone you revealed the end of the times, secretly at night.”
2 Esd 3:15 “And you made an everlasting, agreement with him, and told him that you would never forsake his descendants;”
2 Esd 3:16 “And you gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. And you set Jacob apart for yourself, but you cut off Esau, and Jacob became a great multitude.”
2 Esd 3:17 “And it came to pass, when you led his, descendants out of Egypt, that you brought them to Mount Sinai.”
2 Esd 3:18 “And you bent the heavens, and shook the earth, and moved the universe, and made the deeps tremble, and disturbed the world.”
2 Esd 3:19 “And your glory passed through the four, gates of fire and earthquake and wind and cold, so that you might give the Law to Jacob’s descendants, and your command to the posterity of Israel.”
2 Esd 3:20 “Yet you did not take from them their wicked heart, so that your Law might bear fruit among them.”
2 Esd 3:21 “For the first Adam, burdened with a wicked heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him.”
2 Esd 3:22 “So weakness became permanent, and the Law was in the heart of the people with the evil root; and what was good departed, and what was evil remained.”
2 Esd 3:23 “So the times passed and the years came to an end, and you raised up for yourself a slave named David.”
2 Esd 3:24 “And you told him to build a city to bear your name, and to offer to you offerings of your own in it.”
2 Esd 3:25 “This was done for many years; then those who lived in the city sinned,”
2 Esd 3:26 “Acting in all respects just as Adam and his posterity had done, for they too had the wicked heart.”
2 Esd 3:27 “And you delivered your city into the hands of your enemies.”
2 Esd 3:28 “Then I said to myself, ‘Do those who live in Babylon do any better? and is it on this account that she has conquered Zion?’“
2 Esd 3:29 “For it came to pass, when I had come here, that I saw acts of ungodliness without number, and in this thirtieth year my soul saw many sinning, and my heart sank,”
2 Esd 3:30 “For I have seen spared those who act wickedly, and have destroyed your people, and preserved your enemies, and you have not shown anyone at all how this way should be given up.”
2 Esd 3:31 “Does Babylon do better deeds than Zion?”
2 Esd 3:32 “Or has any other nation known you except Israel? Or what tribes have believed your agreements like that of Jacob? “
2 Esd 3:33 “Yet their reward has not appeared, and their labor has not borne fruit. For I have gone all about the nations, and I have seen them abounding in wealth, yet unmindful of your commandments.”
2 Esd 3:34 “Now therefore weigh our iniquities and those of the inhabitants of the world on the scales; and which way the movement of the pointer turns will be found out.”
2 Esd 3:35 “Or when did the inhabitants of the earth not sin in your sight? Or what nation has kept your commandments so well?”
2 Esd 3:36 “You will find names of men who have kept your commandments, but you will not find nations.”

Chapter 4

2 Esd 4:1 “And the angel who had been sent to me, whose name was Uriel, answered and said to me,”
2 Esd 4:2 “Your mind has utterly failed in this world and do you expect to understand the way of the Most High?”
2 Esd 4:3 “And I said, “Yes, my lord.” And he answered me and said, “I was sent to show you three ways, and to set three figures before you.”
2 Esd 4:4 “If you can solve one of these for me, I will show you the way you want to see and teach you why the heart is wicked.”
2 Esd 4:5 “And I said, “Go on, my lord.” And he said to me, “Come, weigh me the weight of fire, or measure me a measure of wind, or call back for me the day that is past.”
2 Esd 4:6 “And I answered and said, “Who that is born can do that, that you should ask such things of me?”
2 Esd 4:7 “And he said to me, “If I had asked you, ‘How many dwellings are there in the heart of the sea, or how many streams at the source of the deep, or how many ways above the firmament, or what are the ways of leaving Paradise? ‘“
2 Esd 4:8 “Perhaps you would have said to me, ‘I have never gone down into the deep, nor into Hades, nor have I ever climbed up into the heavens.’“
2 Esd 4:9 “But now I have only asked you about fire and wind and the day, through all of which you have passed, and without which you cannot live, and you have given me no answer about them!”
2 Esd 4:10 “And he said to me, “Your own things that grow up with you, you cannot understand;”
2 Esd 4:11 “And how can your frame grasp the way of the Most High or one already worn out by the corrupt world understand incorruption?”
2 Esd 4:12 “And when I heard this, I fell on my face and said to him, “It would have been better that we should not be here than to come here and live in ungodliness, and suffer, without understanding why.”
2 Esd 4:13 “And he answered me and said, I went to a forest of trees of the field, and they took counsel”
2 Esd 4:14 “And said, ‘Come, let us go and make war on the sea, so that it may retire before us, and we may make more forests for us.’“
2 Esd 4:15 “In like manner the waves of the sea themselves also took counsel and said, ‘Come, let us go up and conquer the forest of the field, so that there also we may win ourselves more territory.’“
2 Esd 4:16 “And the thought of the forest was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it;”
2 Esd 4:17 “So was the thought, of the sea waves, for the sand stood firm and stopped them.”
2 Esd 4:18 “Now if you were their judge, which of them would you have undertaken to justify, and which to condemn?”
2 Esd 4:19 “And I answered and said, “It was a foolish plan that both formed, for the land is given to the forest, and the place of the sea is given it to bear its waves.”
2 Esd 4:20 “And he answered me and said, “You have judged rightly; and why have you not judged so in your own case?”
2 Esd 4:21 “For just as the land is given to the forest, and the sea to its waves, so those who live on the earth can understand only the things that are on the earth, and those who are above the heavens, the things that are above the height of the heavens.”
2 Esd 4:22 “Then I answered and said, “I beseech you, sir, to what end has the capacity for understanding been given me?”
2 Esd 4:23 “For I did not mean to ask about ways above, but about those things which pass by us every day: why Israel is given up to the heathen in disgrace; the people whom you loved are given up to godless tribes; and the law of our forefathers is made of no effect, and the written agreements are no more.”
2 Esd 4:24 “And we pass from the world like locusts, and do not deserve to obtain mercy.”
2 Esd 4:25 “But what will he do for his name, by which we are called? It is about these things that I have asked.”
2 Esd 4:26 “And he answered me and said, “If you live, you will see, and if you survive, you will often marvel; for the age is hurrying fast to its end;”
2 Esd 4:27 “For it will not be able to bear the things that are promised to the upright in the appointed times; for this age is full of sorrow and weakness.”
2 Esd 4:28 “For the evil about which you ask me is sown but the harvest of it has not yet come.”
2 Esd 4:29 “So unless what has been sown is reaped, and unless the place where the evil was sown passes away, the field where the good is sown cannot come.”
2 Esd 4:30 “For a grain of evil seed was sown from the beginning in the heart of Adam and how much ungodliness it has produced up to this time and will produce before the judgment comes.”
2 Esd 4:31 “Estimate for yourself how great a crop of ungodliness a grain, of evil seed has produced.”
2 Esd 4:32 “And when ears without number are sown, how great a threshing floor they will inevitably fill!”
2 Esd 4:33 “And I answered and said, “How long and when shall this be? Why are our years few and evil?”
2 Esd 4:34 “And he answered me and said, “You cannot hurry faster than the Most High, for you hurry for your own self, but he who is above hurries for many.”
2 Esd 4:35 “Did not the souls of the upright ask about these things in their rooms, saying, ‘How long must I hope thus? And when will the harvest of our reward come?’“
2 Esd 4:36 “And Jeremiel, the archangel, answered them and said, “When the number of those who are like you is complete, for he has weighed the world in the balance,”
2 Esd 4:37 “And has measured the times with a measure, and carefully counted the hours, and he will not move or disturb them, until the prescribed measure is reached.’“
2 Esd 4:38 “And I answered and said, “O Sovereign Lord, but all even of us are full of ungodliness.”
2 Esd 4:39 “And let not the harvest of the upright be perchance kept back, on account of the sins of those who live on the earth.”
2 Esd 4:40 “And he answered me and said, “Go and ask a woman who is with child if when she has completed her nine months her womb can keep the child within her any longer.”
2 Esd 4:41 “And I said, “No, sir, it cannot.” And he said to me, “In Hades the storehouses of souls are like the womb;”
2 Esd 4:42 “For just as a woman who is bearing a child makes haste to escape the inevitable birth, so these places also make haste to give up those things that were entrusted to them from the beginning.”
2 Esd 4:43 “Then those things which you desire to see will be disclosed to you.”
2 Esd 4:44 “And I answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, and if it is possible, and if I am fit for it,”
2 Esd 4:45 “Show me this also, whether there is more to come than past or the greater part has gone by us.”
2 Esd 4:46 “For what is past I know, but I do not know what is to come.”
2 Esd 4:47 “And he said to me, “Stand at my right and I will show you the meaning of a figure.”
2 Esd 4:48 “And I stood there and looked, and behold, a burning furnace passed before me, and it came to pass, when the flame had gone by, that I looked and, behold, the smoke remained.”
2 Esd 4:49 “After that, a cloud full of water passed before me, and stormily sent down a heavy rain, and when the rainstorm had passed, the drops remained in it.”
2 Esd 4:50 “And he said to me, “Consider for yourself; for as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is more than the smoke, so the quantity that has past has far exceeded, but the drops and the smoke remained.”
2 Esd 4:51 “Then I prayed and said, “Do you think I shall live until that time?”
2 Esd 4:52 “He answered me and said, “About the signs of which you ask me, I can tell you of them in part, but as to your life I was not sent to tell you, but I do not know.”

Chapter 5

2 Esd 5:1 “But about the signs: Behold, the days will come, when those who live on the earth will be seized with great dismay, and the way of truth will be hidden, and the land will be barren of faith.”
2 Esd 5:2 “And iniquity will be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you ever heard of.”
2 Esd 5:3 “And the country which you now see ruling will be wasted and untrodden, and men shall see it deserted.”
2 Esd 5:4 “But if the Most High grants you life, you will see it after the third day thrown into confusion, and the sun will shine suddenly in the night and the moon in the daytime.”
2 Esd 5:5 “Blood shall trickle out of wood, and a stone will utter its voice, and peoples will be troubled, and the courses will be changed.”
2 Esd 5:6 “And one will reign for whom those who live on the earth do not hope, and the birds will fly away together.”
2 Esd 5:7 “And the Sea of Sodom will cast forth fish, and one whom the many do not now will utter his voice in the night, but all will hear his voice.”
2 Esd 5:8 “And there will be darkness in many places, and fire will often break out, and wild animals will go outside their haunts, and women in their uncleanness will bear monsters.”
2 Esd 5:9 “And salt waters will be found in sweet, and all friends will conquer one another, and intelligence will hide itself, and understanding retire to its room;”
2 Esd 5:10 “And it will be sought by many and will not be found, and unrighteousness and lack of self-control will increase on the earth.”
2 Esd 5:11 “And one country will ask its neighbor, and say, ‘Has uprightness, or a man who does right, passed through you?’ and it will answer, ‘No.’“
2 Esd 5:12 “At that time, it will happen that men will hope and not obtain; they will work, but their ways will not prosper.”
2 Esd 5:13 “These signs I am permitted to tell you, but if you pray, again and weep as you do now, and fast seven days, you will again hear greater things than these.”
2 Esd 5:14 “Then I awoke, and my body shuddered violently, and my soul was troubled, so that it fainted.”
2 Esd 5:15 “But the angel who came and talked with me held me fast, and strengthened me and set me on my feet.”
2 Esd 5:16 “And on the second night it came to pass that Phaltiel, the captain of the people, came to me and said to me. “Where have you been and why is your face so sad?”
2 Esd 5:17 “Or do you not know that Israel has been entrusted to you in the land of their exile?”
2 Esd 5:18 “Get up therefore and eat some bread, so that you may not forsake us, as a shepherd leaves his flock in the power of wicked wolves.”
2 Esd 5:19 “Then I said to him, “Go away from me, and do not come near me for seven days, and then you can come to me.” And he listened to what I said, and went away from me.”
2 Esd 5:20 “So I fasted for seven days, wailing and lamenting, just as the angel Uriel commanded me.”
2 Esd 5:21 “And it came to pass after seven days that the thoughts of my mind were very painful to me again.”
2 Esd 5:22 “And my soul received the spirit of understanding again, and I began again to utter words before the Most High,”
2 Esd 5:23 “And said, “Sovereign Lord, from all the forests on the earth and from all its trees you chose one vine,”
2 Esd 5:24 “And from all the lands in the world you chose for yourself one garden, and from all the flowers in the world you chose for yourself one lily,”
2 Esd 5:25 “And from all the depths of the sea you filled yourself one river, and of all the cities that have been built you consecrated Zion to yourself,”
2 Esd 5:26 “And of all the birds that have been created you named for yourself one dove, and of all the cattle that have been formed you provided for yourself one sheep,”
2 Esd 5:27 “And of all the peoples that have multiplied you got yourself one people, and you gave to this people that you desired a law that was approved by all.”
2 Esd 5:28 “And now, Lord, why have you given this one up to the many, and after preparing one root above the others have you scattered your only one among the many?”
2 Esd 5:29 “And those who opposed your promises have trampled on those who believed your agreements.”
2 Esd 5:30 “For if you really hate your people it ought to be punished with your own hands.”
2 Esd 5:31 “And it came to pass when I had uttered these words that the angel who had come to me on a previous night was sent to me.”
2 Esd 5:32 “And he said to me, “Listen to me, and I will instruct you; attend to me, and I will tell you more.”
2 Esd 5:33 “And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Are you so very much distracted over Israel, or do you love him more than his Maker does?”
2 Esd 5:34 “And I said, “No, sir, but I spoke from grief, for my heart pains me very hour, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High, and to inquire into what his decree apportions.”
2 Esd 5:35 “And he said to me, “You cannot.” And I said, “Why, sir, then why was I born? And why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, so that I might not see the trouble of Jacob, and the exhaustion of the posterity of Israel?”
2 Esd 5:36 “And he said to me, “Count up for me those that have not yet come, and gather the scattered raindrops for me, and make the withered flowers green again for me,”
2 Esd 5:37 “And open the closed chambers for me, and bring out for me the winds shut up in them, or show me the picture of a voice, and then I will show you the mark you ask to see.”
2 Esd 5:38 “And I said, “Sovereign Lord, who is there who can know these things except he whose dwelling is not with men?”
2 Esd 5:39 “But I am foolish, and how can I speak of these things about which you have asked me?”
2 Esd 5:40 “And he said to me, “Just as you cannot do one of these things that were mentioned, so you cannot find out my judgment, or the end of the love that I have promised my people.”
2 Esd 5:41 “And I said, “But behold, sir, you protect those who are alive at the end, but what will those who were before us do, or we, or those who come after us?”
2 Esd 5:42 “And he said to me, “I will compare my judgment to a crown; just as there is no slowness on the part of those who are last, there is no swiftness on the part of those who are first.”
2 Esd 5:43 “And I answered and said, “Could you not have created at one time those who have been created, and those who are now, and those who are to be, so that you might show your judgment sooner?”
2 Esd 5:44 “And he answered me and said, “The creation cannot make more haste than the Creator, and the world cannot at one time hold all who have been created in it.”
2 Esd 5:45 “Then I said, “How could you say to your slave that you would surely make the creation created by you alive all together? If therefore they are all to live at once, it can support them all at once now.”
2 Esd 5:46 “And he said to me, “Ask a woman’s womb and say to it, ‘If you bring forth ten children, why do so at intervals?’ Ask it therefore to produce ten at once.”
2 Esd 5:47 “And I said, “Of course it cannot, but can do it only in time.”
2 Esd 5:48 “And he said to me, “And I have made the earth the womb for those who are at intervals engendered in it.”
2 Esd 5:49 “For just as an infant cannot bear, or as one who is old cannot do it any more, so I have organized the world that I created.”
2 Esd 5:50 “And I asked him and said, “Since you have now shown me the way I will speak before you. For is our mother, of whom you have told me, still young, or is she now approaching old age?”
2 Esd 5:51 “And he answered me and said, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you.”
2 Esd 5:52 “For if you say to her, ‘Why are those whom you have borne lately not like those whom you bore before but smaller in stature?’“
2 Esd 5:53 “She herself will tell you, ‘Those who were born in the vigor of youth are of one kind, and those who were born in old age, when the womb was failing, are of another.’“
2 Esd 5:54 “So you too must consider that you are smaller in stature than those who were before you,”
2 Esd 5:55 “And those who come after you will be smaller than you, for the creation is already growing old, as it were, and past the strength of youth.”
2 Esd 5:56 “And I said, “I beseech you, sir, if I have found favor in your sight, show your slave by whom you will visit your creation.”

Chapter 6

2 Esd 6:1 “And he said to me, “As for the beginning of the world of the earth, before the outlets of the world were fixed, and before the assembled winds blew,”
2 Esd 6:2 “And before the voices of the thunders sounded, and before the lightning flashes shone, and before the foundations of Paradise were laid,”
2 Esd 6:3 “And before the beautiful flowers were seen, and before the moving forces were established, and before the innumerable companies of angels were gathered,”
2 Esd 6:4 “And before the heights of the air were raised aloft, and before the dimensions of the firmaments were named, and before Zion was appointed his footstool,”
2 Esd 6:5 “And before the years of the present were discovered, and before the wiles of present day sinners were cut off, and those who had treasured the faith were sealed;”
2 Esd 6:6 “Even then I considered it, and these things were made through me, and through no other, just as their end also shall come through me, and through no other.”
2 Esd 6:7 “And I answered and said, “What will mark the parting of the times? Or when will the end of the first or the beginning of the second be.”
2 Esd 6:8 “And he said to me, “From Abraham to Isaac, for from him sprang Jacob and Esau, but Jacob’s hand held Esau’s heel from the beginning.”
2 Esd 6:9 “For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the one that follows.”
2 Esd 6:10 “For the beginning of a man is his hand, and between the heel and the hand look for nothing else, Ezra!”
2 Esd 6:11 “Then I answered and said, “O Sovereign Lord, if I have found favor in your sight,”
2 Esd 6:12 “Show your slave the end of your signs, some part of which you showed me the other night.”
2 Esd 6:13 “Rise to your feet, and you will hear a very loud voice.”
2 Esd 6:14 “And if the place where you stand is violently shaken,”
2 Esd 6:15 “You must not be terrified when it speaks, for what it says is about the end, and the foundations of the earth will understand that the speech concerns them;”
2 Esd 6:16 “They will tremble and quake, for they know that at the end they must be changed.”
2 Esd 6:17 “And it came to pass that, when I heard, I rose to my feet and listened, and, behold, a voice was speaking, and the sound of it was like the noise of many waters.”
2 Esd 6:18 “And It said, “Behold, the days are coming, and it shall be, when I begin to draw near to visit those who live on the earth,”
2 Esd 6:19 “And when I begin to require their wrongdoing from those who have done it, and when the humiliation shall be complete,”
2 Esd 6:20 “And when the age which is beginning to pass away shall be sealed, I will perform these signs: the books will be opened before the face of the firmament, and they shall all see it together;”
2 Esd 6:21 “And infants a year old shall talk, and women with child will bring forth untimely infants at three or four months, and they will live and dance,”
2 Esd 6:22 “And sown ground will suddenly appear unsown, and full storehouses will suddenly be found empty,”
2 Esd 6:23 “And the trumpet will sound, and when all men hear it, they will suddenly be terrified.”
2 Esd 6:24 “And it will come to pass at that time that friends will make war on their friends like enemies, and the earth and those who live on it will be greatly terrified, and the sources of the springs will stop, so that for three hours they will not run.”
2 Esd 6:25 “And it shall be that whoever shall have survived all these things that I have foretold to you shall himself be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of my world.”
2 Esd 6:26 “And they will see the men who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death, and the heart of the earth’s inhabitants will be changed and converted to a different spirit.”
2 Esd 6:27 “For evil will be destroyed and deceit will be abolished,”
2 Esd 6:28 “But faith will flourish, and corruption be conquered, and truth, which has been without fruit so long, will be disclosed.”
2 Esd 6:29 “And it came to pass, while he talked with me, that behold, little by little the place where I stood was moved upon itself.”
2 Esd 6:30 “And he said to me, “I have come to show you these things and things to come, this night.”
2 Esd 6:31 “If therefore you will pray again and fast again for seven days, I will again declare to you even greater things than these by day.”
2 Esd 6:32 “For your voice has surely been heard before the Most High, for the Mighty One has seen your uprightness, and has remarked your purity, which you have maintained from your youth.”
2 Esd 6:33 “And because of this he sent me to show you all these things and to say to you, ‘Believe and do not fear;”
2 Esd 6:34 “And do not be in haste to engage in idle speculations over the former times, so that you may not have to hasten in the last times.”
2 Esd 6:35 “And it came to pass after this that again I wept and fasted seven days as before, to complete the three weeks, as I had been told. “
2 Esd 6:36 “And it came to pass on the eighth night that my heart was again troubled within me, and I began to speak before the Most High.”
2 Esd 6:37 “For my spirit was greatly excited and my soul was distressed.”
2 Esd 6:38 “And I said, “O Lord, at the beginning of the creation you surely spoke, and said on the first day, ‘Let heaven and earth be made,’ and your word performed the work.”
2 Esd 6:39 “Then the spirit was hovering, and darkness and silence were all around; the sound of man’s voice you had not yet heard.”
2 Esd 6:40 “Then you ordered a ray of light to be brought out of your storehouses, so that your works might then appear.”
2 Esd 6:41 “Again, on the second day, you created the spirit of the firmament, and commanded it to divide and make a division between the waters, so that one part might go up and one part remain below.”
2 Esd 6:42 “On the third day you commanded the waters to be gathered together in the seventh part of the earth, but six parts you dried up and kept them so that some of them might be planted and cultivated and serve before you.”
2 Esd 6:43 “For your word went forth, and the work was immediately done.”
2 Esd 6:44 “For suddenly there came forth fruit in immeasurable abundance, and of manifold appeal to the taste, and flowers of inimitable hues, and odors of unfathomable fragrance. These were made on the third day.”
2 Esd 6:45 “But on the fourth day you commanded the brightness of the sun to come into being, the light of the moon, and the order of the stars,”
2 Esd 6:46 “And you commanded them to serve man who was still to be formed.”
2 Esd 6:47 “But on the fifth day you ordered the seventh part, where the water was gathered, to bring forth living things, birds and fish, and it was done,”
2 Esd 6:48 “The mute, lifeless water producing living creatures, as it was commanded, so that nations might tell of your wondrous works because of it.”
2 Esd 6:49 “Then you preserved two living creatures; one you named Behemoth. and the other you named Leviathan,”
2 Esd 6:50 “And you separated them so from each other, for the seventh part, where the water was gathered together, could not hold them both.”
2 Esd 6:51 “And you gave Behemoth one part, which had dried up on the third day, to live in, in which there are a thousand mountains;”
2 Esd 6:52 “But to Leviathan you gave a seventh part that is moist; and you preserved them to be devoured by whomsoever you please, and when you please.”
2 Esd 6:53 “But on the sixth day, you commanded the earth to create before you cattle and wild animals and reptiles,”
2 Esd 6:54 “And over them Adam, whom you appointed leader over all the works that you had made, and from him we are all descended whom you have chosen to be your people.”
2 Esd 6:55 “I have said all this before you, Lord, because you have said that it was for our sake that you made this first born world.”
2 Esd 6:56 “But as for the rest of the nations which are sprung from Adam, you have said that they are nothing and are like spittle, and you have compared their abundance to a drop in a bucket.”
2 Esd 6:57 “And now, Lord, behold, these nations that are counted as nothing rule over us and devour us.”
2 Esd 6:58 “But we, your people, whom you called your first born, only-begotten, chosen and beloved, are delivered into their hands.”
2 Esd 6:59 “If it was for our sake that the world was created, why do we not possess the world as our inheritance? How long shall this be?”

Chapter 7

2 Esd 7:1 “And it came to pass, when I had finished saying these words, that the angel was sent to me who had been sent to me on the former nights,”
2 Esd 7:2 “And he said to me, “Get up, Ezra, and hear the words which I have come to say to you.”
2 Esd 7:3 “And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Suppose a sea lies in a broad expanse, so that it is wide and vast,”
2 Esd 7:4 “But the entrance to it is located in a narrow space, so that it is like a river;”
2 Esd 7:5 “If anyone is determined to reach the sea, to see it or master it, how can he reach the broad water unless he passes through the narrows?”
2 Esd 7:6 “Another illustration: Suppose a city is built and located on level ground, and is full of all good things,”
2 Esd 7:7 “But the approach to it is narrow and precipitous so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left,”
2 Esd 7:8 “And there is only one path lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that the path can support the steps of only one man.”
2 Esd 7:9 “Now if that city is given to a man as an inheritance, if the heir does not pass through the danger that lies before it, how can he receive his inheritance?”
2 Esd 7:10 “And I said, “True, sir.” And he said to me, “Israel’s destiny is like that.”
2 Esd 7:11 “For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what has now happened was decreed;”
2 Esd 7:12 “And the ways of entering this world were made narrow, grievous, and toilsome, and few and evil, full of dangers and burdened with great hardships.”
2 Esd 7:13 “But the approaches to the greater world are broad and safe and produce the fruit of immortality.”
2 Esd 7:14 “Unless therefore the living have really entered these narrow and fruitless experiences, they cannot obtain the things that are destined for them.”
2 Esd 7:15 “But now why are you disturbed, though you are to perish? And why are you so moved, though you are mortal?”
2 Esd 7:16 “And why do you not take into consideration what is future, but only what is present?”
2 Esd 7:17 “And I answered and said, “Sovereign Lord, you have ordained in your law that the upright shall possess these things, but the ungodly shall perish.”
2 Esd 7:18 “So the upright can endure straitened circumstances in the hope of ample ones, but those who have done wickedly endure the straitened circumstances and will not see the ample ones.”
2 Esd 7:19 “And he said to me, “You are not a better judge than God, or more intelligent than the Most High!”
2 Esd 7:20 “For let the many that exist perish, rather than that the Law of God which has been set before them be disregarded.”
2 Esd 7:21 “For God strictly commanded those who came, at their coming, as to what they should do to live, and what they should observe to escape being punished.”
2 Esd 7:22 “But they disobeyed and opposed him, and they devised foolish thoughts;”
2 Esd 7:23 “And conceived wicked wiles, and went so far as to say that the Most High did not exist, and they ignored his ways,”
2 Esd 7:24 “And scorned his law, and denied his agreements, and had no faith in his statutes, and did not complete his work.”
2 Esd 7:25 “Therefore, Ezra, the empty have emptiness, and the full, fullness.”
2 Esd 7:26 “For behold the time will come, and it will be that when the signs come which I have foretold to you, the city that appears as a bride will appear, and the land which is now hidden will be seen.”
2 Esd 7:27 “And whoever is delivered from the evils I have predicted will see my wonders.”
2 Esd 7:28 “For my son the Christ will be revealed with those who are with him, and he will make glad those who are left, in four hundred years.”
2 Esd 7:29 “And it will be after those years that my son Christ will die, and all who draw human breath.”
2 Esd 7:30 “And the world will be turned into its ancient silence for seven days, as it was in the first beginning, so that no one will be left.”
2 Esd 7:31 “And it will be after seven days that the world which is not yet awake will be wakened, and what is corruptible will perish.”
2 Esd 7:32 “And the earth will give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who are silent in it, and the chambers will give up the souls that have been committed to them.”
2 Esd 7:33 “And the Most High will be revealed on his judgment seat, and pity will pass away, and long-suffering be withdrawn,”
2 Esd 7:34 “And judgment alone will remain, and truth will stand, and faithfulness be strong,”
2 Esd 7:35 “And work will be rewarded, and its wages appear, and uprightness will awake and iniquity will not sleep.”
2 Esd 7:[36] “And the lake of torment will appear, and over against it will be a place of rest; the furnace of the Pit will appear, and over against it the paradise of joy.”
2 Esd 7:[37] “Then the Most High will say to the heathen that have been raised up, ‘See and understand whom you have denied, or whom you have refused to serve, or whose commands you have scorned.”
2 Esd 7:[38] “Look at this side and at that; on this side, joy and rest, and on that, fire and torment.’“
2 Esd 7:[39] “So he will speak to them on the Day of Judgment;”
2 Esd 7:[40] “A day that has no sun or moon or stars, or cloud, or thunder, or lightning, or wind;”
2 Esd 7:[41] “Or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning, or summer or heat or winter or frost or cold, or hail or rain or dew,”
2 Esd 7:[42] “Or noon or night, or dawn or sunshine or brightness or light, only the splendor of the glory of the Most High,”
2 Esd 7:[43] “By which all will begin to see what is destined for them. For it will last as though for a week of years.”
2 Esd 7:[44] “This is my judgment and its arrangement; and to you alone have I shown this.”
2 Esd 7:[45] “And I answered, “I said then, Lord, and I say now, blessed are those who live and keep your commandments!”
2 Esd 7:[46] “But about those for whom I prayed, who is there of those who live who has not sinned, or who is there that is born who has not transgressed your agreement?”
2 Esd 7:[47] “And now I see that the world to come will bring joy to few but torment to many.”
2 Esd 7:[48] “For an evil heart has grown up in us, which has alienated us from these commands, and has led us off to corruption and the ways of death, and shown us the paths of perdition, and removed us far from life, and that, not just a few, but almost all who have been created!”
2 Esd 7:[49] “And he answered me and said, “Listen to me, and I will instruct you, and I will admonish you a second time.”
2 Esd 7:[50] “It was on this account that the Most High made not one world but two.”
2 Esd 7:[51] “For because you have said that the upright are not many but few, and the ungodly abound, hear the answer to this.”
2 Esd 7:[52] “If you have a very few precious stones, will you increase their number with lead and clay?”
2 Esd 7:[53] “And I said, “Lord, how can that be?”
2 Esd 7:[54] “And he said to me, “Not only that, but ask the earth and she will tell you; entreat her, and she will inform you.”
2 Esd 7:[55] “For you must say to her, ‘You produce gold and silver and copper and also iron and lead and clay.”
2 Esd 7:[56] “But silver is more abundant than gold, and copper than silver, and iron than copper, lead than iron, and clay than lead.”
2 Esd 7:[57] “So consider which things are precious and to be desired, what is abundant, or what is rare?”
2 Esd 7:[58] “And I said, “Sovereign Lord, what is plentiful is cheaper, for what is more rare is more precious.”
2 Esd 7:[59] “And he answered me and said, “Consider with yourself what you have thought, for he who has what is hard to get rejoices more than he who has what is plentiful.”
2 Esd 7:[60] “It is so with the judgment that I have promised; for I will rejoice over the few who will be saved, because it is they who have made my glory to prevail more now, and through whom my name has now been honored.”
2 Esd 7:[61] “And I will not grieve over the great number of those who perish, for they are the ones who are now like vapor, and counted as flame and smoke; they have burned and glowed and gone out.”
2 Esd 7:[62] And I answered and said, “O earth, why have you brought forth, if the understanding is made out of dust like other creatures!”
2 Esd 7:[63] “For it would have been better if the dust itself had not been born, so that the intelligence might not have sprung from it.”
2 Esd 7:[64] “But now the intelligence grows with us, and it is on this account that we are tormented, because we must perish, and we know it!”
2 Esd 7:[65] “Let the human race lament, and the wild beasts rejoice; let all who are born lament, but the four-footed creatures and the cattle be glad.”
2 Esd 7:[66] “For they are much better off than we, for they do not look for a judgment, and they do not know of any torment or salvation promised to them after death.”
2 Esd 7:[67] “But what benefit is it to us that we are preserved alive but cruelly tormented?”
2 Esd 7:[68] “For all who are born are involved in iniquities and full of sins and weighed down with offenses.”
2 Esd 7:[69] “And if we were not to come to judgment after death, perhaps it would have been better for us.”
2 Esd 7:[70] “And he answered me and said, “When the Most High made the world, and Adam and all who came from him, he first prepared the judgment and the things that belong to the judgment.”
2 Esd 7:[71] “And now understand from your own words, for you said that the intelligence grows with us.”
2 Esd 7:[72] “So those who live on the earth will be tortured on this account because, though they had intelligence, they did iniquity, and though they received commandments, they did not keep them, and though they had obtained the Law, they broke it.”
2 Esd 7:[73] “What will they have to say then at the judgment, or how will they answer in the last times?”
2 Esd 7:[74] “For how long the Most High has shown long-suffering to those who inhabit the world, and not for their sake, but for the sake of the times that he has fixed!”
2 Esd 7:[75] “Then I answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, Sovereign, show this also to your slave; whether after death as soon as each one of us gives up his soul, we shall be faithfully kept at rest until those times come when you begin to renew the creation, or shall be tortured at once.”
2 Esd 7:[76] “And he answered me and said, “I will show you that also; but you must not associate with those who have shown scorn, or count yourself among those who are tortured.”
2 Esd 7:[77] “For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High, but it will not be shown to you until the last times.”
2 Esd 7:[78] “For about death, the teaching is: When the final sentence goes forth from the Most High that a man is to die, when the soul departs from the body to return again to him who gave it, first of all it prays to the glory of the Most High;”
2 Esd 7:[79] “If it was one of those who scorned and did not observe the way of the Most High, and of those who have despised his law, and of those who hate those who fear God,”
2 Esd 7:[80] “Such spirits shall not enter dwellings but wander about thenceforth in torment, always grieving and sad, in seven ways:”
2 Esd 7:[81] “The first way is that they have scorned the Law of the Most High.”
2 Esd 7:[82] “The second way is that they can no longer make a good repentance, so that they may live.”
2 Esd 7:[83] “The third way is that they will see the reward destined for those who have believed the agreements of the Most High.”
2 Esd 7:[84] “The fourth way is that they will consider the torment destined for them in the last days.”
2 Esd 7:[85] “The fifth way is that they will see that the dwelling-places of the others are guarded by angels in profound silence.”
2 Esd 7:[86] “The sixth way is that they will see that some of them will pass over to be tormented henceforth.”
2 Esd 7:[87] “The seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have been mentioned, is that they will waste away in shame and be consumed in disgrace, and wither with fear, at seeing the glory of the Most High before whom they sinned while they lived, and before whom they are destined to be judged in the last times.”
2 Esd 7:[88] “But of those who have observed the ways of the Most High. this is the order. when they shall be separated from this fragile jar.”
2 Esd 7:[89] “In the time when they lived in it they carefully served the Most High, though they were in danger every hour so as to keep the Law of the Lawgiver perfectly.”
2 Esd 7:[90] “Therefore this is the teaching about them:”
2 Esd 7:[91] “First of all, they see with great rapture the glory of him who takes them up, for they will rest in seven orders.”
2 Esd 7:[92] “The first order is that they have striven with much toil to conquer the wicked thought that was formed with them so that it should not lead them away from life to death.”
2 Esd 7:[93] “The second order is that they see the labyrinth in which the souls of the ungodly wander and the punishment that awaits them.”
2 Esd 7:[94] “The third order is that they see the testimony that he who formed them has borne to them, because when they were alive they faithfully observed the Law which was given them.”
2 Esd 7:[95] “The fourth order is that they understand the rest which they now enjoy gathered in their chambers in great quietness watched over by angels, and the glory that awaits them in the last days.”
2 Esd 7:[96] “The fifth order is that they exult that they have now escaped what is corruptible and will possess the future as their inheritance and besides perceive the narrowness and toilsomeness from which they have been freed and the spaciousness they are destined to receive and enjoy in immortality.”
2 Esd 7:[97] “The sixth order is that it is shown to them how their face is destined to shine like the sun, and how they are to be made like the light of the stars, and be incorruptible thenceforth.”
2 Esd 7:[98] “The seventh order, which is greater than all those that have been mentioned, is that they will exult boldly, and that they will trust confidently, and rejoice fearlessly for they hasten to see the face of him whom they served in life, and from whom they are to receive their reward when they are glorified.”
2 Esd 7:[99] “These are the orders of the souls of the upright, as henceforth proclaimed, and the above ways of torture are those which those who would not give heed will henceforth suffer.”
2 Esd 7:[100] “And I answered and said, “Then will time be given the souls after they are separated from the bodies, to see what you have told me of?”
2 Esd 7:[101] “And he said to me, “They have freedom for seven days, to see on the seven days the things you have been told, and afterward they will be gathered in their dwellings.”
2 Esd 7:[102] “And I answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, show me, your slave, further, whether on the Day of Judgment the upright will be able to intercede for the ungodly, or to beseech the Most High on their behalf,”
2 Esd 7:[103] “Fathers for sons, or sons for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for their kinsmen, and friends for those who are most dear to them.”
2 Esd 7:[104] “And he answered me and said, “Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you this also. The Day of Judgment is final and shows to all the stamp of truth. Just as now a father cannot send his son or a son his father or a master his slave or a friend his dearest friend to be sick for him,”
2 Esd 7:[105] “Or sleep or eat or be cured, so no one can pray for another then, or lay a burden on another, for they must all bear everyone his own iniquity or uprightness then.”
2 Esd 7:36 “And I answered and said, “How then do we now find that first Abraham prayed for the men of Sodom, and Moses for our forefathers who sinned in the desert,”
2 Esd 7:37 “And Joshua after him for Israel in the days of Achan:”
2 Esd 7:38 “And Samuel in the days of Saul, and David for the plague, and Solomon for those in the sanctuary,”
2 Esd 7:39 “And Elijah for those who received the rain, and for one who was dead, that he might live,”
2 Esd 7:40 “And Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many others for many?”
2 Esd 7:41 “So if now, when corruption has increased and wrong has multiplied, the upright have prayed for the ungodly, why will it not be so then also?”
2 Esd 7:42 “And he answered me and said, “The present world is not the end, and its glory is not lasting; therefore those who were strong prayed for the weak.”
2 Esd 7:43 “But the Day of Judgment will be the end of this world, and the beginning of the immortal world to come in which corruption has passed away,”
2 Esd 7:44 “Immortality is ended, unbelief is abolished, uprightness has increased, and truth has appeared.”
2 Esd 7:45 “So no one will then be able to pity one who is condemned in the judgment, or harm one who is victorious.”
2 Esd 7:46 “And I answered and said, “This is my first and last word: for it would have been better for the earth not to have produced Adam, or when it had produced him compelled him not to sin.”
2 Esd 7:47 “For what good is it to all men to live in sorrow and expect punishment after death?”
2 Esd 7:48 “O Adam, what have you done? For although it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but also ours, for we are descended from you.”
2 Esd 7:49 “For what good does it do us if the eternal world is promised to us, but we have done deeds that bring death?”
2 Esd 7:50 “And that an imperishable hope is proclaimed to us, but we have miserably failed?”
2 Esd 7:51 “And that safe and healthy habitations are reserved for us, but we have lived wickedly?”
2 Esd 7:52 “And that the glory of the Most High is going to protect those who have lived purely but we have walked in the most wicked ways?”
2 Esd 7:53 “And that a Paradise will be revealed the fruit of which endures uncorrupted which contains plenty and healing, but we cannot enter it.”
2 Esd 7:54 “For we have lived in unseemly ways?”
2 Esd 7:55 “And that the faces of those who have practiced abstinence will shine brighter than the stars, but our faces will be blacker than darkness?”
2 Esd 7:56 “For when we were alive and committed iniquity, we did not consider what we were to suffer after death.”
2 Esd 7:57 “And he answered and said, “This is the meaning of the battle that every man born on earth must fight;”
2 Esd 7:58 “That, if he is beaten, he will suffer what you have said, but if he is victorious, he will receive what I say.”
2 Esd 7:59 “For this is the way of which Moses spoke, when he was alive, saying to the people, ‘Choose life for yourself, so that you may live!’“
2 Esd 7:60 “But they would not believe him or the prophets after him, or yet me who have spoken to them.”
2 Esd 7:61 “So there will be not so much grief at their destruction as joy over those who have been persuaded of salvation.”
2 Esd 7:62 “And I answered and said, “I know, sir, that the Most High is now called merciful, because he has mercy on those who have not yet come into the world,”
2 Esd 7:63 “And gracious, because he is gracious to those who turn to his Law,”
2 Esd 7:64 “And long-suffering, because he is long-suffering to those who have sinned as his creatures,”
2 Esd 7:65 “And, bountiful, because he had rather give than exact,”
2 Esd 7:66 “And of great mercy, because he multiplies mercies more and more to those who are alive and those who have passed away and those who are to be.”
2 Esd 7:67 “For if he did not multiply them, the world with those who live in it would not be made alive,”
2 Esd 7:68 “And a giver, for if he did not give in his goodness, so that those who have committed iniquities might be relieved of them, not one ten-thousandth of mankind could have life;”
2 Esd 7:69 “And a judge, for if he did not pardon those who were created by his word, and erase a multitude of offenses,”
2 Esd 7:70 “There would probably be left only very few of the innumerable multitude.”

Chapter 8

2 Esd 8:1 “And he answered me and said, “Most High made this world for many, but the world to come, for the sake of few.”
2 Esd 8:2 “But I will tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as, if you ask the earth, it will tell you that it produces much more soil from which earthen-ware is made, but little dust from which gold comes, that is the way with the present world;”
2 Esd 8:3 “Many have been created, but few will be saved.”
2 Esd 8:4 “And I answered and said, “Then drink down understanding, my soul, and devour wisdom, my heart!”
2 Esd 8:5 “For not of your own will you came, and against your will you go, for you have been given only a short time to live.”
2 Esd 8:6 “O Lord above us, if you will only allow your slave to pray before you, and would give us seed for the heart and cultivation of the understanding so that fruit may be produced, by which a corruptible being, who bears the image of man, may live!”
2 Esd 8:7 “For you stand alone, and we are one creation of your hands, as you have said.”
2 Esd 8:8 “And when you bring to life a body formed in the womb, and provide its members, what you have created is preserved in fire and water, and for nine months what you have formed endures your creation which has been created in it.”
2 Esd 8:9 “But that which preserves and that which is preserved are both preserved by your preserving. And when the womb gives up what has been created in it,”
2 Esd 8:10 “You have commanded that from the members themselves, that is from the breasts, milk, the fruit of the breasts, be given,”
2 Esd 8:11 “So that what has been formed may be nourished for a time, and afterward you develop it in your mercy.”
2 Esd 8:12 “You nourish it in your uprightness, and instruct it through your Law, and bring it up in your wisdom.”
2 Esd 8:13 “You put it to death as your creation, and make it live as your work.”
2 Esd 8:14 “If then you lightly destroy him who was formed with such pains, at your command, why was he made at all?”
2 Esd 8:15 “And now I will speak out: About all mankind you know best; but it is about your people that I am grieved,”
2 Esd 8:16 “And it is for your inheritance that I mourn, and about Israel that I am sad, and about the posterity of Jacob that I am disturbed.”
2 Esd 8:17 “Therefore I will begin to pray before you for myself and for them, for I see the failings of us who live in the land;”
2 Esd 8:18 “And I have heard of the strictness of the judgment that is to come.”
2 Esd 8:19 “Therefore hear my voice, and consider my words, and I will speak before you.” The beginning of the words of the prayer of Ezra, before he was taken up. And he said,”
2 Esd 8:20 “Lord, who inhabit eternity, whose are the highest heavens, and whose upper chambers are in the air,”
2 Esd 8:21 “Whose throne is immeasurable, and whose glory is beyond comprehension, before whom the hosts of angels stand trembling,”
2 Esd 8:22 “And at your command are changed to wind and fire, whose word is sure and whose utterances are certain, whose command is mighty and whose orders are terrible,”
2 Esd 8:23 “Whose look dries up the depths, and whose indignation melts the mountains, and whose truth endures forever,”
2 Esd 8:24 “Hear, Lord, the prayer of your slave, and listen to the petition of your creature, and heed my words;”
2 Esd 8:25 “For as long as I live I must speak, and as long as I have my reason I must answer.”
2 Esd 8:26 “Do not look at the sins of your people, but at those who have served you in truth!”
2 Esd 8:27 “And do not notice the pursuits of the ungodly, but those who have observed your agreements under torture.”
2 Esd 8:28 “And do not think of those who have behaved wickedly in your sight, but remember those who have willingly acknowledged your fear.”
2 Esd 8:29 “And do not will the destruction of those who have the ways of cattle, but have regard for those who have so finely taught your Law.”
2 Esd 8:30 “And do not be indignant at those who are deemed worse than beasts, but love those who have always trusted in your glory.”
2 Esd 8:31 “For we and our forefathers have followed ways that bring death, but it is because of us sinners that you are called merciful.”
2 Esd 8:32 “For if you desire to have pity on us, you will be called merciful, for we have no deeds of uprightness to show.”
2 Esd 8:33 “For the upright, who have many good deeds laid up with you, will receive their reward in consequence of their own deeds.”
2 Esd 8:34 “For what is man, that you are indignant at him, or what is a corruptible race, that you are so bitter toward it?”
2 Esd 8:35 “For in truth there is no one among those who were ever born who has not acted wickedly, or among those who have grown up who has not sinned.”
2 Esd 8:36 “For in this, Lord, your uprightness and goodness will be declared, if you have mercy on those who have no stock of good deeds.”
2 Esd 8:37 “And he answered me and said, “Some things you have said well, and it will come to pass in accordance with your words.”
2 Esd 8:38 “For indeed I will not think about the forming of those who have sinned, or their death or judgment or destruction,”
2 Esd 8:39 “But I will rejoice over the fashioning of the upright, over their pilgrimage also, and their salvation and the reward they will receive.”
2 Esd 8:40 “So it is as I have said.”
2 Esd 8:41 “For just as the farmer sows many seeds upon the ground, and plants a multitude of plants, and yet not all that was sown will be saved in due time, and not all that were planted will take root, so those who are sown in the world will not all be saved.”
2 Esd 8:42 “And I answered and said, “If I have found favor before you, I will speak.”
2 Esd 8:43 “For if the farmer’s seed does not come up, because it has not received your rain in season, or if it has been spoiled by an excess of rain, it perishes;”
2 Esd 8:44 “But man, who was formed by your hands and is called your image, because he is made like you – for whose sake you formed everything – do you compare him to the farmer’s seed?”
2 Esd 8:45 “No, Lord above us, but spare your people and have pity on your inheritance, for you pity your own creation.”
2 Esd 8:46 “And he answered me and said, The present for those who are now, and the future for those who shall be.”
2 Esd 8:47 “For you are far from able to love what I have created more than I. But you have often counted yourself among the ungodly. Never!”
2 Esd 8:48 “But for this you will be commended before the Most High,”
2 Esd 8:49 “Because you humbled yourself, as was fitting, and did not count yourself among the upright, so as to glorify yourself too much.”
2 Esd 8:50 “For those so who inhabit the world in the last times will be afflicted with many great miseries, because they have walked in great pride.”
2 Esd 8:51 “But you must think of yourself and ask about the glory of those who are like yourself.”
2 Esd 8:52 “For it is for you that Paradise is opened, the tree of life is planted, the age to come is prepared, plenty is provided, a city is built, a rest is ordained, good deeds completed, wisdom perfected beforehand.”
2 Esd 8:53 “The root of evil is sealed up from you, for you sickness is extinct, and death has departed; Hades has fled, and corruption has gone into oblivion;”
2 Esd 8:54 “Sorrows have passed away, and the treasure of immortality is finally displayed.”
2 Esd 8:55 “So do not ask any more questions about the great number of those who perish.”
2 Esd 8:56 “For though they had received liberty, they scorned the Most High and despised his Law, and forsook his ways.”
2 Esd 8:57 “Moreover they trampled upon his saints,”
2 Esd 8:58 “And said in their hearts that there was no God, though they knew well that they must die.”
2 Esd 8:59 “For just as the things I have spoken of await you, so the thirst and torment which are prepared await them. For the Most High did not wish man to perish,”
2 Esd 8:60 “But those who were created have themselves defiled the name of him who made them, and proved ungrateful to him who prepared life for them.”
2 Esd 8:61 “Therefore my judgment is now drawing near,”
2 Esd 8:62 “But I have not revealed it to all men, but only to you and a few like you.” And I answered and said,”
2 Esd 8:63 “Behold, Lord, you have revealed to me the great number of signs which you are going to perform in the last days, but you have not revealed to me at what time you will do this.”

Chapter 9

2 Esd 9:1 “And he answered me and said, “Measure it carefully within yourself, and it will be that when you see that a certain part of the signs which have been foretold have passed,”
2 Esd 9:2 “Then you will understand that is the very time when the Most High is to visit the world that was made by him.”
2 Esd 9:3 “When there shall appear in the world earthquakes, the tumult of peoples,”
2 Esd 9:4 “Plots of the heaven, wavering of leaders, and confusion of princes, then you will understand that it was of these things that the Most High spoke from the days that were of old, from the beginning.”
2 Esd 9:5 “For just as with everything that has happened in the world, the beginning is plain and the end manifest,”
2 Esd 9:6 “So also are the times of the Most High; the beginnings are signalized by wonders and mighty works, and the end by acts and signs.”
2 Esd 9:7 “And it will be that everyone who will be saved, and who is able to escape by reason of his deeds or his faith, by which he believed,”
2 Esd 9:8 “Will survive the dangers I have foretold, and will see, my salvation in my land, and within my borders which I have consecrated to myself from eternity.”
2 Esd 9:9 “Then those who have now neglected my ways will be amazed, and those who have rejected them with contempt will abide in torment.”
2 Esd 9:10 “For as many as failed to acknowledge me in their lifetime, though they received my benefits,”
2 Esd 9:11 “And as many as disdained my Law, while they still had freedom, and while an opportunity to repent was still open to them, did not understand but scorned it,”
2 Esd 9:12 “These must recognize it after death, through torment.”
2 Esd 9:13 “So you must no longer be curious as to how the ungodly will be punished, but ask how the righteous will be saved, to whom that age belongs and for the sake of whom it was made.”
2 Esd 9:14 “I answered and said,”
2 Esd 9:15 “I said before, and say now, and will say again, there are more that perish than that will be saved,”
2 Esd 9:16 “As a wave is greater than a drop of water.”
2 Esd 9:17 “And he answered me and said, “As is the field, so is the seed, and as are the flowers, so are the colors, and as is the work, so is it judged, and as is the farmer, so is the threshing-floor. For there was a time in the ages of eternity,”
2 Esd 9:18 “When I was preparing for those who now are, before the world was made for them to live in, and no one opposed me then,”
2 Esd 9:19 “For there was no one else; but now those who have been created in this world which is provided with an unfailing table and an inexhaustible pasture, have become corrupt in their characters.”
2 Esd 9:20 “So I considered my world, and, behold, it was lost; and my universe, and, behold, it was in danger, because of the devices of those who had come into it.”
2 Esd 9:21 “And I saw, and spared them, not very greatly, and saved myself one grape out of a cluster, and one plant out of a forest.”
2 Esd 9:22 “So let the multitude perish, that were born in vain, but let my grape be saved, and my plant, because with much labor I have perfected them.”
2 Esd 9:23 “But if you will let seven days more pass but not fast in them,”
2 Esd 9:24 “But go to a flowery field, where no house is built, and eat only of the flowers of the field, and taste no meat and drink no wine, but only flowers,”
2 Esd 9:25 “And will pray to the Most High continually, I will come and talk with you.”
2 Esd 9:26 “So I went as he told me, to the field called Ardat, and I sat there among the flowers, and ate the wild plants, and the food they afforded satisfied me.”
2 Esd 9:27 “And it came to pass after seven days that as I lay on the grass my heart was troubled as it had been before.”
2 Esd 9:28 “Then my mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Most High, and said,”
2 Esd 9:29 “O Lord, you surely showed yourself to our forefathers in the desert when they came out of Egypt and went into the desert, which was untrodden and unproductive,”
2 Esd 9:30 “And you surely said, ‘Israel, hear me, and mark my words, posterity of Jacob.”
2 Esd 9:31 “For behold, I sow my Law in you, and it will bring forth fruit in you, and you will be glorified through it forever.’“
2 Esd 9:32 “But our forefathers who received the Law did not keep it, and did not observe the statutes, yet the fruit of the Law did not perish, for it could not, because it was yours;”
2 Esd 9:33 “But those who had received it perished, because they had not kept what had been sown in them.”
2 Esd 9:34 “And, behold, it is the rule that when the earth has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any dish food or drink,”
2 Esd 9:35 “And when it comes about that what was sown or what was launched or what was put in is destroyed, they are destroyed, but the things which contained them remain. But with us it has not been so;”
2 Esd 9:36 “We who received the Law will perish because we sinned, along with our heart which received it;”
2 Esd 9:37 “But the Law does not perish, but abides in its glory.”
2 Esd 9:38 “When I said this to myself, I lifted up my eyes and saw woman at my right, and behold, she was weeping and wailing aloud, and was deeply grieved at heart, and her clothes were torn, and she had ashes on her head.”
2 Esd 9:39 “And I dismissed the thoughts I had been thinking, and turned to her,”
2 Esd 9:40 “And said to her, “Why do you weep, and why are you grieved at heart?”
2 Esd 9:41 “And she said to me, “Let me weep over myself, my lord, and continue to mourn, for I am greatly embittered in spirit and deeply afflicted.”
2 Esd 9:42 “And I said to her, “What has happened to you? Tell me.”
2 Esd 9:43 “And she said to me, “Your servant was barren and had no child, though I had a husband for thirty years.”
2 Esd 9:44 “And every day and hour, those thirty years, I prayed to the Most High, night and day.”
2 Esd 9:45 “Then after thirty years it came about that God heard your servant, and looked on my affliction and gave heed to my distress and gave me a son. And I rejoiced greatly over him, I and my husband and all my neighbors, and we paid great honor to the Mighty One.”
2 Esd 9:46 “And I brought him up with great care.”
2 Esd 9:47 “And it came about, when he was grown up, that I proceeded to take a wife for him, and made a marriage feast.”

Chapter 10

2 Esd 10:1 “And it came about that when my son entered his wedding chamber, he fell down and died.”
2 Esd 10:2 “And we all overturned the lights, and all my neighbors rose up to comfort me, and I was quiet until evening the second day.”
2 Esd 10:3 “And it came about, when they had all stopped comforting me, to quiet me, that I got up in the night, and fled, and came to this field, as you see.”
2 Esd 10:4 “And now I plan not to return to the city, but to stay here, and I will not eat or drink, but mourn and fast continually until I die.”
2 Esd 10:5 “Then I broke off the reflections with which I was still occupied, and answered her in anger and said,”
2 Esd 10:6 “You most foolish of all women, can you not see our sorrow, and what has happened to us?”
2 Esd 10:7 “For Zion, the mother of us all, is afflicted with grief and in deep humiliation.”
2 Esd 10:8 “Now lament bitterly, for we are all lamenting, and be sad, for we are all sad, but you sorrow for just one son.”
2 Esd 10:9 “For ask the earth, and she will tell you that it is she who ought to mourn over so many who have come into being upon her.”
2 Esd 10:10 “And from the beginning all have been born of her and others will come, and, behold, almost all of them go to perdition, and the most of them are destined to destruction.”
2 Esd 10:11 “Who therefore ought to mourn more, if not she, who has lost such a multitude, rather than you, who sorrow for only one?”
2 Esd 10:12 “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 bore with pain and brought forth with sorrow;”
2 Esd 10:13 “But it is with the earth after the manner of the earth; the multitude that is now in it goes as it came’;”
2 Esd 10:14 “Then I say to you, ‘As you brought forth with pain, so the earth also has from the beginning given her fruit, man, to him who made her.’“
2 Esd 10:15 “So keep your sorrow to yourself, and bear bravely the misfortunes that have overtaken you.”
2 Esd 10:16 “For if you accept the judgment of God, you will receive your son back in due time, and be praised among women.”
2 Esd 10:17 “So go into the city to your husband.”
2 Esd 10:18 “And she said to me, “I will not do it, or enter the city, but I will die here.”
2 Esd 10:19 “Then I proceeded to speak to her further, and said,”
2 Esd 10:20 “Do not do that, but let yourself be persuaded because of the misfortunes of Zion, and be comforted because of the sorrow of Jerusalem.”
2 Esd 10:21 “For you see that our sanctuary has been laid waste, and our altar torn town, and our temple destroyed,”
2 Esd 10:22 “And our harp is brought low, and our song is silenced, and our rejoicing has ceased, and the light of our lamp is put out, and the chest of our agreement is plundered, and our sacred things are polluted, and the name by which we have been called is profaned, our children are abused, and our priests are burned, and our Levites have gone into captivity, and our girls are defiled, and our wives are ravished, and our upright men are carried off, and our little ones are exposed, and our young men are enslaved, and our strong men are made weak.”
2 Esd 10:23 “And worst of all is the seal of Zion, for she is now sealed up from her glory, and delivered into the hands of those who hate us.”
2 Esd 10:24 “So shake off your great sadness and lay aside your many sorrows, so that the Mighty One may become gracious to you, and the Most High may give you rest, and relief from your troubles.”
2 Esd 10:25 “And it came to pass, as I spoke to her, that her face suddenly shone exceedingly and the look of her countenance flashed like lightning, so that I was too greatly frightened to go near her, and wondered what it could mean.”
2 Esd 10:26 “And behold, she suddenly gave a loud and fearful cry, so that the earth shook at the sound.”
2 Esd 10:27 “And I looked, and behold the woman no longer appeared to me, but a city was being built and a place of huge foundations showed itself; and I was afraid, and cried aloud and said,”
2 Esd 10:28 “Where is the angel Uriel, who came to me at first? For it was he who brought me into this great bewilderment; my end has become corruption, and my prayer a reproach!”
2 Esd 10:29 “And as I said this, behold, the angel who had come to me at first, came to me, and saw me;”
2 Esd 10:30 “And, behold, I lay there like a corpse, and I had lost my reason, and he took my right hand, and steadied me, and helped me to my feet, and said to me,”
2 Esd 10:31 “What is the matter with you, and why are you troubled, and why are your understanding and the thinking of your mind confused?”
2 Esd 10:32 “And I said, “Because you utterly abandoned me. I did as you told me, and went out into the field, and behold, I looked, and I saw what I cannot describe.”
2 Esd 10:33 “And he said to me, “Stand up like a man, and I will instruct you.”
2 Esd 10:34 “And I said, “Speak, my lord, only do not abandon me, so that I may not die in vain.”
2 Esd 10:35 “For I have seen what I did not know, and I heard what I do not understand.”
2 Esd 10:36 “Is my mind deceived, or my soul dreaming?”
2 Esd 10:37 “Now therefore I beseech you to explain to your slave about this confusion.”
2 Esd 10:38 “And he answered me and said, “Listen to me, and I will teach you, and tell you about the things of which you are afraid, for the Most High has revealed many secrets to you.”
2 Esd 10:39 “For he has seen your rectitude, and that you have sorrowed continually for your people and lamented bitterly over Zion.”
2 Esd 10:40 “This then is the meaning of the vision:”
2 Esd 10:41 “The woman who appeared to you a little while ago, whom you saw mourning and began to comfort,”
2 Esd 10:42 “But whom you then saw not in the form of a woman, but she appeared to you as a city that was being built,”
2 Esd 10:43 “And as to what she told you about the misfortune of her son, this is the explanation:”
2 Esd 10:44 “The woman that you saw, whom you now see as a city that is built, is Zion!”
2 Esd 10:45 “And as for her telling you that she was barren for thirty years, that was because there were three thousand years when no offering was yet offered in her;”
2 Esd 10:46 “and it came to pass that after three thousand years Solomon built the city and offered sacrifices; it was then that the barren woman bore a son.”
2 Esd 10:47 “And as for her telling you that she brought him up with care that was the period of residence in Jerusalem.”
2 Esd 10:48 “And as for her saying to you, ‘As my son was going into the marriage chamber, he died,’ and that misfortune had overtaken her, that was the fall of Jerusalem that has taken place.”
2 Esd 10:49 “And, behold, you saw her face and how she mourned for her son, and you began to comfort her for what has happened.”
2 Esd 10:50 “And now the Most High seeing that you are deeply grieved, and are wholeheartedly distressed for her, has shown you the splendor of her glory and the charm of her beauty.”
2 Esd 10:51 “It was on this account that I told you to stay in the field where no house was built,”
2 Esd 10:52 “For I knew that the Most High was going to reveal these things to you.”
2 Esd 10:53 “That was why I told you to go into the field, where there was no foundation of a building,”
2 Esd 10:54 “For no work built by man could stand in the place where the city of the Most High was to be revealed.”
2 Esd 10:55 “So do not be afraid, or terrified at heart, but go in, and see the splendor and greatness of the building, as far as the sight of your eyes can see.”
2 Esd 10:56 “And afterward you will hear as much as the hearing of your ears can hear.”
2 Esd 10:57 “For you are more blessed than many, and you have been called by the Most High as few have been.”
2 Esd 10:58 “But tomorrow night you must stay here,”
2 Esd 10:59 “And the Most High will show you in dreams those visions of what the Most High is going to do in the last days to those who live on the earth.” So I slept that night and the following one, as he had commanded me.”

Chapter 11

2 Esd 11:1 “And it came to pass on the second night that I had a dream, and behold, there came up out of the sea an eagle, with twelve feather-covered wings and three heads.”
2 Esd 11:2 “And I looked, and behold he spread his wings over the whole earth, and all the winds of heaven blew upon him, and the clouds gathered about him.”
2 Esd 11:3 “And I looked, and out of his wings grew additional wings, and they became small, dwarfish wings.”
2 Esd 11:4 “But his heads were resting; the middle was greater than the other heads, but it was resting like them.”
2 Esd 11:5 “And I looked, and behold, the eagle flew with his wings, to reign over the earth, and over those who live on it.”
2 Esd 11:6 “And I saw that everything under heaven was subject, to him, and no one opposed him, nor any creature that was on the earth.”
2 Esd 11:7 “And I looked and, behold, the eagle rose upon his talons, and uttered his voice to his wings, saying,”
2 Esd 11:8 “Do not all watch at once, sleep each in his own place, and watch by turns;”
2 Esd 11:9 “But let the heads be reserved for the last.”
2 Esd 11:10 “And I looked, and behold, the voice did not come from his heads but from the midst of his body.”
2 Esd 11:11 “And I counted his additional wings, and behold, there were eight of them.”
2 Esd 11:12 “And I looked, and behold, on the right side, one wing arose and it reigned over the whole earth.”
2 Esd 11:13 “And it came to pass, after it had reigned, that it came to an end, and disappeared, so that even the place where it had been could not be seen. Then the second arose and reigned, and it ruled a long time.”
2 Esd 11:14 “And it came to pass, after it had reigned, that it also came to an end, so that it disappeared like the first.”
2 Esd 11:15 “And behold a voice was heard, saying to it,”
2 Esd 11:16 “Listen, you who have ruled the earth so long, I make this proclamation to you before you begin to disappear:”
2 Esd 11:17 “No one after you will rule as long as you have ruled, or even half as long!”
2 Esd 11:18 “Then the third wing raised itself up, and ruled like the former ones, and it also disappeared.”
2 Esd 11:19 “And so it fell to all the wings, one by one to be emperor, and then to disappear again.”
2 Esd 11:20 “And I looked, and behold, in due time, the additional wings on the right side raised themselves up, in order to be emperor, and there were some of them who succeeded but immediately disappeared,”
2 Esd 11:21 “And some of them raised themselves up, but did not remain emperor.”
2 Esd 11:22 “And afterward I looked, and behold, the twelve wings and two little wings disappeared.”
2 Esd 11:23 “And nothing was left on the eagle’s body except the three heads that were resting and six little wings.”
2 Esd 11:24 “And I looked, and behold, from the six little wings two separated, and stayed under the head that was on the right side; but four stayed in their places.”
2 Esd 11:25 “And I looked, and behold, these four additional wings planned to raise themselves up and be emperors.”
2 Esd 11:26 “And I looked, and behold, one raised itself up, and immediately disappeared;”
2 Esd 11:27 “And a second, and it disappeared more quickly than the first.”
2 Esd 11:28 “And I looked, and behold, the two that were left also planned to reign;”
2 Esd 11:29 “But while they were planning it, behold, the one of the resting heads that was in the middle awoke, for it was greater than the other two heads;”
2 Esd 11:30 “And I saw how the two heads were united with it;”
2 Esd 11:31 “And behold, the head turned with the ones that were with it, and it ate up the additional wings which planned to reign.”
2 Esd 11:32 “Moreover, this head made itself master of the whole earth, and ruled very oppressively over its inhabitants, and it had more power over the world than all the wings that had gone before.”
2 Esd 11:33 “And afterward I looked, and behold, the middle head suddenly disappeared, just as the wings had done.”
2 Esd 11:34 “But the two heads remained, and they also reigned over the earth and over its inhabitants.”
2 Esd 11:35 “And I looked, and behold, the head on the right side ate up the one on the left.”
2 Esd 11:36 “Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Look before you, and think about what you see.”
2 Esd 11:37 “And I looked, and behold, what seemed to be a lion rose out of the forest roaring, and I heard how he uttered a man’s voice to the eagle, and spoke saying,”
2 Esd 11:38 “Listen, and I will speak to you. The Most High says to you,”
2 Esd 11:39 “Are you not all that is left of the four animals that I made to reign in my world, so that through them the end of my times might come?”
2 Esd 11:40 “And you are the fourth to come, and you have conquered all the animals that are past, and you have held the world in subjection in great terror, and the whole earth with harsh oppression, and you have lived so long in the world with deceit;”
2 Esd 11:41 “And you have not judged the earth with truth.”
2 Esd 11:42 “You have persecuted the meek and hurt the peaceable, you have hated those who tell the truth, and loved liars, and you have destroyed the dwellings of the fruitful, and torn down the walls of those who did you no harm.”
2 Esd 11:43 “And your insolence has reached the Most High and your pride the Mighty One.”
2 Esd 11:44 “And the Most High has looked at his times, and behold, they are ended, and his ages are completed!”
2 Esd 11:45 “Therefore you will surely disappear, you eagle, and your dreadful wings, and your wicked additional wings, and your malignant heads, and your cruel talons, and your whole worthless body,”
2 Esd 11:46 “So that the whole earth may be freed from your violence, and be refreshed and relieved, and hope for the justice and mercy of him who made her.”

Chapter 12

2 Esd 12:1 “And it came to pass, while the lion was saying these words to the eagle, that I looked,”
2 Esd 12:2 “And behold, the head that had been left disappeared, and the two wings which had gone over to it lifted themselves up to reign, and their reign was 3 short and full of uproar.”
2 Esd 12:3 “And I looked, and behold, they also disappeared, and the whole body of the eagle was burned, and the earth was panic stricken. Then, because of great disturbance of mind and great fear, I awoke, and I said to my spirit,”
2 Esd 12:4 “Behold, you have brought this upon me, because you, try to search out the ways of the Most High!”
2 Esd 12:5 “Behold, I am still weary in mind and very weak in my spirit, and there is not the least strength left in me, because of the great fear which I felt this night.”
2 Esd 12:6 “So now I will entreat the Most High to strengthen me to the end.”
2 Esd 12:7 “And I said, “Sovereign Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, and if I am counted upright by you beyond many, and if my prayer has indeed come up before your face,”
2 Esd 12:8 “Strengthen me, and show your slave the meaning and explanation of this dreadful vision, so as to comfort my soul fully.”
2 Esd 12:9 “For you have thought me worthy to be shown the end of the times and the last of them.”
2 Esd 12:10 “And he said to me, “This is the meaning of this vision that you have seen:”
2 Esd 12:11 “As for the eagle that you saw rising from the sea, it is the fourth kingdom that appeared in a vision to your brother Daniel.”
2 Esd 12:12 But it was not explained to him as I now explain it to you or have explained it.”
2 Esd 12:13 “Behold, the days are coming when a kingdom will rise on the earth, and it will be more terrible than all the kingdoms that were before it.”
2 Esd 12:14 “Moreover, twelve kings will reign over it, one after another.”
2 Esd 12:15 “But the second who is to reign will rule longer than the twelve.”
2 Esd 12:16 “This is the meaning of the twelve wings that you saw.”
2 Esd 12:17 “And as for your hearing a voice that spoke, that came not from his heads but from the middle of his body, this is the meaning:”
2 Esd 12:18 “In the midst of the time of the kingdom no small struggles will arise, and it will be in danger of falling, but it will not fall then, but will regain its former power.”
2 Esd 12:19 “And as for your seeing eight additional wings springing from his wings, this is the meaning:”
2 Esd 12:20 “For eight kings will rise in it, whose times will be short and whose years will be fleeting,”
2 Esd 12:21 “and two of them will fall when the middle of its time draws near; but four will be preserved for the time when the time of its end begins to approach; two will be kept until the end.”
2 Esd 12:22 “And as for your seeing the three heads resting, this is the meaning:”
2 Esd 12:23 “In its last days the Most High will raise up three kings, and they will renew many things in it, and will distress the earth.”
2 Esd 12:24 “And those who live in it, with greater oppression than all who were before them. That is why they are called the heads.”
2 Esd 12:25 “For it is they that will bring his wickedness to a head and will bring him to his end.”
2 Esd 12:26 “And as for your seeing the greater head disappear: one of them will die in his bed, but in torment.”
2 Esd 12:27 “But as for the two who were left, the sword will devour them.”
2 Esd 12:28 “For the sword of one of them will devour the one who was with him, but he too will fall by the sword in the last days.”
2 Esd 12:29 “And as for your seeing two additional wings crossing over to the head on the right side,”
2 Esd 12:30 “This is the meaning: It is these that the Most High has kept for the eagle’s end, for their reign was short and full of disturbance, as you saw.”
2 Esd 12:31 “And as for the lion that you saw roused roaring out of the forest, and speaking to the eagle and rebuking him for his wickedness and all his words that you have heard,”
2 Esd 12:32 “He is the Anointed One whom the Most High has kept until the end of the days who will spring from the posterity of David and come and talk with them. He will charge them with their ungodliness and rebuke them for their wickedness, and reproach them to their faces with their transgressions.”
2 Esd 12:33 “For first he will set them alive before his judgment seat, and when he has rebuked them, he will destroy them.”
2 Esd 12:34 “But my people who remain he will mercifully set free who remain in my borders and he will make them glad until the end comes, the Day of Judgment, of which I told you at the beginning.”
2 Esd 12:35 “This is the dream that you had, and this is its meaning.”
2 Esd 12:36 “But you alone were worthy to know the secret of the Most High.”
2 Esd 12:37 “So write all that you have seen in a book, and put it in a secret place,”
2 Esd 12:38 “And teach them to the wise among your people whose hearts you know can receive and keep these secrets.”
2 Esd 12:39 “But you must stay here seven days more, so that you may be shown whatever it pleases the Most High to show you. Then he departed from me.”
2 Esd 12:40 “And it came about that when all the people had heard that the seven days had passed and I had not returned to the city, they all gathered together, from the least to the greatest, and came to me and spoke to me saying,”
2 Esd 12:41 “How have we sinned against you, and what harm have we done you, that you have entirely abandoned us, and stay in this place?”
2 Esd 12:42 “For of all the prophets, you alone are left to us, like a grape cluster out of the vintage, and like a lamp in a dark place, and like a safe harbor for a ship in a storm.”
2 Esd 12:43 “Are not the evils that have befallen us enough?”
2 Esd 12:44 “So if you abandon us, how much better it would have been for us if we too had been burned in the burning of Zion!”
2 Esd 12:45 “For we are no better than those who died there.” And they wept aloud. And I answered them and said,”
2 Esd 12:46 “Have courage, Israel, and do not be sorrowful, you house of Jacob.”
2 Esd 12:47 “For you are remembered before the Most High, and the Mighty One will never forget you.”
2 Esd 12:48 “For I have not abandoned you or withdrawn from you, but I came to this place to pray over the desolation of Zion, and to ask for mercy in view of the degradation of our sanctuary.”
2 Esd 12:49 “And now go home, every one of you, and when these days are over, I will come to you.”
2 Esd 12:50 “And the people went back to the city, as I told them to so do.”
2 Esd 12:51 “But I stayed in the field for seven days, as he had commanded me, and I ate only of the flowers of the field; my food was vegetables in those days.”

Chapter 13

2 Esd 13:1 “And it came about after seven days that in the night I dreamed a dream,”
2 Esd 13:2 “And behold a wind arose from the sea, so that it stirred up all its waves.”
2 Esd 13:3 “And I looked, and behold, the wind brought out of the heart of the sea something like the figure of a man, and this man flew with the clouds of heaven, and wherever he turned his face to look, everything that was seen by him trembled,”
2 Esd 13:4 “And wherever the voice went from his mouth, all who heard his voice melted as wax melts when it feels the fire.”
2 Esd 13:5 “And after that I looked, and behold, an innumerable multitude of men was gathered together from the four winds of heaven, to make war upon the man who had come up out of the sea.”
2 Esd 13:6 :And I looked, and behold, he carved himself out a great mountain, and flew up upon it.”
2 Esd 13:7 “But I sought to see the region or place from which the mountain had been carved, and I could not.”
2 Esd 13:8 “And after that I looked, and behold, all who had gathered together against him, to fight with him, were much afraid, but dared to fight.”
2 Esd 13:9 “And behold, when he saw the onset of the multitude that approached, he did not raise his hand, or hold a sword, or any weapon of war,”
2 Esd 13:10 “But I saw only how he sent out of his mouth what looked like a flood of fire, and out of his lips a flaming breath, and from his tongue he sent forth a storm of sparks.”
2 Esd 13:11 “These were all mixed together, the flood of fire, and the flaming breath, and the mighty storm, and it fell upon the onset of the multitude which was ready to fight, and burned them all up, so that suddenly there was nothing to be seen of the countless multitude but the dust of their ashes and the smell of smoke. When I saw it, I was amazed.”
2 Esd 13:12 “Afterward I saw this man come down from the mountain, and call to him another multitude that was peaceable.”
2 Esd 13:13 “Then many people came to him, some joyful, some sorrowful, some in fetters, some bringing offerings. Then in an excess of fear I awoke, and besought the Most High, and said,”
2 Esd 13:14 “You have shown your slave these wonders from the beginning, and have thought me worthy to have my prayer heard by you.”
2 Esd 13:15 “Now show me further the meaning of this dream!”
2 Esd 13:16 “For as I think of it in my mind, alas for those who will be left in those days, and alas much more for those who are not left!”
2 Esd 13:17 “For those who are not left will be sad,”
2 Esd 13:18 “Since they know what is reserved for the last days, but cannot attain them. But alas for those who are left, too,”
2 Esd 13:19 “For this reason, for they must experience great dangers and much distress, as these dreams show.”
2 Esd 13:20 “Yet it is better, for all the danger, to attain these things, than to pass from the world like a cloud, and not to see what will happen at the end, he answered me and said,”
2 Esd 13:21 “I will tell you the meaning of the vision, and reveal to you the things of which you speak.”
2 Esd 13:22 “As for what you say about those who are left, this is the meaning:”
2 Esd 13:23 “He who occasions the danger at that time will guard those who are exposed to danger, who have works, and faith in the Almighty.”
2 Esd 13:24 “So you must understand that those who are left are more blessed than those who have died.”
2 Esd 13:25 “This is the meaning of the vision: As for your seeing a man come up from the heart of the sea,”
2 Esd 13:26 “He is the one whom the Most High has kept a long time, through whom he will redeem his creation; and he will organize those who are left.”
2 Esd 13:27 “And as for your seeing wind and fire and storm issue from his mouth,”
2 Esd 13:28 “And as for his not holding a sword or a weapon of war, but destroying the onset of the multitude that came to subdue him, this is the meaning:”
2 Esd 13:29 “Behold, the days are coming when the Most High is going to deliver those who are on the earth,”
2 Esd 13:30 “And amazement will come upon those who live on the earth,”
2 Esd 13:31 “And they will plan to make war one upon another, city upon city and place upon place, people upon people, and kingdom upon kingdom.”
2 Esd 13:32 “And it will come about, when this happens, that the Signs will occur which I showed you before, and my Son will be revealed, whom you saw as a man coming up.”
2 Esd 13:33 “And it will come about, when all the nations hear his voice, that every man will leave his country and the wars that they have with one another,”
2 Esd 13:34 “And a countless multitude such as you saw will be gathered together, wishing to come and subdue him.”
2 Esd 13:35 “But he will stand on the top of Mount Zion.”
2 Esd 13:36 “And Zion will come and be revealed to all men, made ready and built, like the mountain that you saw carved out without hands.”
2 Esd 13:37 “And my Son will charge the heathen who have come with their ungodliness (this was symbolized by the storm),”
2 Esd 13:38 “And he will upbraid them to their face with their evil thoughts and the tortures with which they are to be tortured (which were symbolized by the flame), and he will destroy them without effort by the Law (which is symbolized by the fire).”
2 Esd 13:39 “And as for your seeing him gather about himself another multitude that was peaceable,”
2 Esd 13:40 “These are the ten tribes that in the days of King Hoshea were carried away from their own land into captivity, whom Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, made captives, and carried beyond the river; they were carried off to another country.”
2 Esd 13:41 “But they formed this plan among themselves, to leave the heathen population, and go to a more distant region, where the human race had never lived,”
2 Esd 13:42 “So that there perhaps they might keep their statutes, which they had not kept in their own country.”
2 Esd 13:43 “And they went in by the narrow passages of the Euphrates River.”
2 Esd 13:44 “For the Most High then did wonders for them, for he held back the sources of the river until they had passed over.”
2 Esd 13:45 “But it was a long journey of a year and a half to that country, and that country is called Arzareth.”
2 Esd 13:46 “There they have lived until the last time, and now, when they are about to come again,”
2 Esd 13:47 “The Most High will hold back the sources of the river again, so that they can cross over. It is on that account that you saw the multitude gathered together in peace.”
2 Esd 13:48 “But those also who are left of your people, who are found within my holy borders, will live.”
2 Esd 13:49 “Therefore, it will be that when he destroys the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he will protect the people that remain,”
2 Esd 13:50 “And then he will show them many, many wonders.”
2 Esd 13:51 “And I said, “Sovereign Lord, show me this – why I saw a man come up from the heart of the sea.”
2 Esd 13:52 “And he said to me, “Just as no one can seek out or know what is in the depth of the sea, so no one on earth can see my Son, or those who are with him, except at the time of his Day.”
2 Esd 13:53 “This is the meaning of the dream that you had. And you alone have been enlightened about these things,”
2 Esd 13:54 “Because you have forsaken your own affairs and devoted yourself to mine, and have sought after my Law,”
2 Esd 13:55 “For you have devoted your life to wisdom and called understanding your mother.”
2 Esd 13:56 “That is why I have shown you this, for there is reward with the Most High! For it will be that after three more days I will say other things to you, and declare weighty and wonderful matters to you.”
2 Esd 13:57 “Then I went away and walked in the field, greatly glorifying and praising the Most High for the wonders that he does from time to time,”
2 Esd 13:58 “And because he directs the times and the things that take place in the times. And I stayed there three days.”

Chapter 14

2 Esd 14:1 “And it came to pass on the third day, as I sat under an oak, behold, a voice came from a bush in front of me, and said, “Ezra, Ezra!”
2 Esd 14:2 “And I said, “Here I am, sir!” And I rose to my feet,”
2 Esd 14:3 “And he said to me, “I revealed myself visibly in the bush, and talked with Moses, when my people was in slavery in Egypt,”
2 Esd 14:4 “And I sent him, and led my people out of Egypt, and brought them to Mount Sinai, and kept him with me many days,”
2 Esd 14:5 “And told him many wonderful things, and showed him the secrets of the times, and the end of the times, and commanded him, saying,”
2 Esd 14:6 “These words you must publish openly, and those you must keep secret.”
2 Esd 14:7 “And now I tell you,”
2 Esd 14:8 “The signs that I have shown you, and the dreams that you have had, and the meaning of them that you have heard, lay up in your heart!”
2 Esd 14:9 “For you will be taken up from among men, and henceforth you will live with my Son and those who are like you, until the times are ended.”
2 Esd 14:10 “For the world has lost its youth, and the times are beginning to grow old.”
2 Esd 14:11 “For the life of the world is divided into twelve parts, and nine parts and half of the tenth part are already past,”
2 Esd 14:12 “And there are left two parts and half of the tenth part.”
2 Esd 14:13 “Now therefore put your house in order, and warn your people, comfort the humble among them, and teach those who are wise, and now renounce the life that perishes,”
2 Esd 14:14 “And dismiss from your mind mortal considerations, and throw off the burdens of human-existence, and lay aside your weak nature,”
2 Esd 14:15 “And put away your perplexities, and hasten to escape from these times.”
2 Esd 14:16 “For worse evils are still to come than those you have seen happen.”
2 Esd 14:17 “For the more the world grows weak with age, the more evils will increase upon those who live in it.”
2 Esd 14:18 “Truth will more and more retire, and falsehood draw near. For the eagle that you saw in your vision is already hastening to come.”
2 Esd 14:19 “And I answered and said,”
2 Esd 14:20 “Let me speak before you, sir! For behold, I will go away, as you have commanded me, and I will warn the people who are now living; but who will warn those who are still to be born? For the world lies in darkness, and those who live in it have no light;”
2 Esd 14:21 “For your Law is burnt, and so no one knows what has been done by you or what is going to be done.”
2 Esd 14:22 “But if I have found favor before you, impart to me the Holy Spirit, and I will write all that has happened in the world since the beginning, which were written in your Law, so that men can find the path, and those who wish to live in the last times may live.”
2 Esd 14:23 “And he answered me and said, “Go, gather the people together, and tell them not to look for you for forty days.”
2 Esd 14:24 “But you must prepare for yourself many writing tablets, and take with you Seraiah, Dabria, Shelemiah, Elkanah, and Asiel, who are able to write swiftly.”
2 Esd 14:25 “And you are to come here, and I will light the lamp of understanding in your heart, and it will not be put out until the things you are to write are finished.”
2 Esd 14:26 “And when you have finished, some things you shall publish and some you shall hand down secretly to the wise. At this hour tomorrow you shall begin to write.”
2 Esd 14:27 “And I went as he commanded me, and gathered all the people together, and said,”
2 Esd 14:28 “Israel, hear these words.”
2 Esd 14:29 “Our forefathers lived in Egypt as strangers at first, and they were delivered from there,”
2 Esd 14:30 “And received the Law of life, which they did not observe, which you also transgressed after them.”
2 Esd 14:31 “Then land was given you to possess in the country of Zion, but you and your forefathers acted unrighteously and did not observe the ways which the Most High commanded you to keep;”
2 Esd 14:32 “And, as he is an upright judge, he took from you what he had given you in his own time.”
2 Esd 14:33 “And now you are here, and your brothers are in the interior.”
2 Esd 14:34 “If therefore you will rule your mind and instruct your heart, you will be preserved while you live, and obtain mercy after death.”
2 Esd 14:35 “For after death will come the judgment, when we will live again, and then the names of the upright will appear and the deeds of the ungodly will be disclosed.”
2 Esd 14:36 “But let no one come near me now, or look for me for forty days.”
2 Esd 14:37 “Then I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went to the field, and stayed there.”
2 Esd 14:38 “And it came to pass the next day that a voice called me, and said, “Ezra, open your mouth, and drink what I give you to drink.”
2 Esd 14:39 “And I opened my mouth, and, behold, a full cup was offered me. It was full of what looked like water, but the color of it was like fire.”
2 Esd 14:40 “And I took it, and drank, and when I had drunk it, my heart gushed forth understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit retained its memory,”
2 Esd 14:41 “And my mouth opened and was no longer closed.”
2 Esd 14:42 “Moreover, the Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote what was said, one after another, in letters that they did not know. And they stayed forty days; they wrote in the daytime, and ate their bread at night;”
2 Esd 14:43 “But I spoke by day and was not silent at night.”
2 Esd 14:44 “In forty days ninety-four books were written.”
2 Esd 14:45 “And it came to pass, when the forty days were over, that the Most High spoke to me and said, “Publish the twenty-four books that you wrote first, for the worthy and the unworthy to read,”
2 Esd 14:46 “But keep the seventy books that were written last, to hand down to the wise men among your people,”
2 Esd 14:47 “For in them is the source of understanding, and the spring of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.”
2 Esd 14:48 “And I did so,” [in the seventh year, in the sixth week, after five thousand years of the creation, and three months and twelve days. Then Ezra was caught up, and taken to the land of those who were like him, after he had written all this. And he was called the scribe of the knowledge of the Most High forever and ever.] (oriental versions end with this bracketed conclusion, which is absent from the Latin.)

Chapter 15

2 Esd 15:1 “Behold, speak in the hearing of my people the words of prophecy which I will put in your mouth,” says the Lord,”
2 Esd 15:2 “And have them written on paper, for they are trustworthy and true.”
2 Esd 15:3 “Do not fear what they imagine against you, or let the unbelief of those who oppose you trouble you.”
2 Esd 15:4 “For all unbelievers will die in their unbelief.”
2 Esd 15:5 “Behold,” says the Lord, “I will bring evils upon the whole world, the sword and famine and death and destruction.”
2 Esd 15:6 “For wickedness has spread over the whole earth, and their harmful doings are complete.”
2 Esd 15:7 “Therefore, says the Lord,”
2 Esd 15:8 “I will not be silent any longer about their ungodly acts which they impiously commit, or endure them in their wicked practices. Behold, innocent and upright blood cries to me, and the souls of the upright cry out continually.”
2 Esd 15:9 “I will certainly avenge them,” says the Lord, “and all innocent blood I will require of them for myself.”
2 Esd 15:10 “Behold, my people is led to slaughter like a flock. I will not suffer them to live in the land of Egypt any longer,”
2 Esd 15:11 “But I will bring them out with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and I will strike Egypt with plague as I did before, and destroy all its land.”
2 Esd 15:12 “Let Egypt lament, and its foundations, for the plague of punishment and correction that the Lord will bring upon it.”
2 Esd 15:13 “Let the farmers who cultivate the soil lament, for their grain will fail, and their trees will be destroyed by blight and hail and a fearful star.”
2 Esd 15:14 “Alas for the world and those who live in it!”
2 Esd 15:15 “For the sword and their destruction have drawn near, and nation will rise against nation to fight, with swords in their hands.”
5:16 “For there will be inconstancy among men; they will grow strong, one party against another, and have no regard for their king or the chief of their princes, in their strength.”
5:17 “For a man will want to enter a city, and will not be able.”
5:18 “For because of their pride, the cities will be in confusion, the houses will be wiped out, men will be afraid.”
5:19 “A man will not have pity on his neighbor, when it comes to making an attack on their houses with the sword, and plundering their property, because of hunger for bread, and because of great distress.”
2 Esd 15:20 “Behold, I will call together,” says God, “all the kings of the earth, to fear me, from the sunrise and from the south, from the east and from Lebanon, to turn and give back what they have given them.”
2 Esd 15:21 “For as they have done unto this day to my chosen, I will do, and will pay it back into their laps.” This is what the Lord God says:”
2 Esd 15:22 “My right hand will not spare the sinners, and my sword will not cease from those who shed innocent blood on the earth.”
2 Esd 15:23 “And a fire went forth from his wrath, and consumed the foundations of the earth and the sinners like burnt straw.”
2 Esd 15:24 “Alas for those who sin, and do not keep my commandments,” says the Lord;”
2 Esd 15:25 “I will not spare them. Begone, you rebellious sons, do not pollute my sanctuary.”
2 Esd 15:26 “For the Lord knows all who offend against him, therefore he has given them up to die and to be killed.”
2 Esd 15:27 “For now disasters have come upon the whole world, and you will stay among them, for God will not deliver you, because you have sinned against him.”
2 Esd 15:28 “Behold, a dreadful vision appearing from the east!”
2 Esd 15:29 “And the nations of Arabian serpents will come out with many chariots, and from the day they set out, their hissing will be carried over the earth, so that all who hear them will fear and tremble.”
2 Esd 15:30 “The Carmonians will come out frantic with anger, like wild boars from the forest, and they will come in great strength, and engage them in battle, and will lay waste a part of the land of Assyria with their teeth.”
2 Esd 15:31 “And afterward the serpents, mindful of their origin, will prevail, and if they conspire in great strength and turn to pursue them,”
2 Esd 15:32 “They also will be thrown into confusion and be silenced by their strength, and turn and flee.”
2 Esd 15:33 “And from the land of Assyria a waylayer will beset them and destroy one of them, and fear and trembling will come upon their army, and indecision upon their kings.”
2 Esd 15:34 “Behold, clouds from the east, and from the north to the south, and their appearance is very dreadful, full of wrath and storm;”
2 Esd 15:35 “And they will strike against one another, and will shed an abundance of stars upon the earth, and their own star, and there will be blood from the sword up to a horse’s belly,”
2 Esd 15:36 “And a man’s thigh and a camel’s hock,”
2 Esd 15:37 “And there will be great fear and trembling on the earth, and those who witness that wrath will shudder, and trembling will seize them.”
2 Esd 15:38 “And after that, heavy rainstorms will come from the south and the north, and another part from the west.”
2 Esd 15:39 “And winds from the east will grow strong, and will reveal it, and the cloud that he raised in his wrath, and the star will be driven violently from the east to the south and west to produce destruction.”
2 Esd 15:40 “And great clouds will rise, huge and angry, with the star, to destroy all the earth and its inhabitants, and they will pour every deep and height a dreadful star,”
2 Esd 15:41 “Fire and hail and flying swords and floods of water, so that all the fields and streams will be filled with the abundance of those waters.”
2 Esd 15:42 “And they will break down cities and walls and mountains and hills and forest trees and grass in the meadows and their grain.”
2 Esd 15:43 “And they will cross steadily to Babylon and destroy her.”
2 Esd 15:44 “They will come to her and surround her and pour out the star and all its wrath upon her, and the dust and smoke will go up to heaven, and they will all lament her, round about her.”
2 Esd 15:45 “And those who survive will serve those who have destroyed her.”
2 Esd 15:46 “And you, Asia, partner of the beauty of Babylon, and the glory of her person,”
2 Esd 15:47 “Alas for you, poor wretch, because you have become like her; you have ornamented your daughters in immortality to please and glory in your lovers, who have always desired you!”
2 Esd 15:48 “You have imitated that hateful adulteress in all her deeds and devices. Therefore, God says,”
2 Esd 15:49 “I will send misfortunes upon you, widowhood, poverty, famine, the sword, pestilence, to lay waste your houses and bring them to destruction and death.”
2 Esd 15:50 “And the glory of your strength will dry up like a flower, when the heat that is directed upon you rises.”
2 Esd 15:51 “And you will grow weak like a poor creature beaten with stripes and wounds, so that you cannot receive your heroes and lovers.”
2 Esd 15:52 “Would I act against you with such zeal,” says the Lord,”
2 Esd 15:53 “If you had not always killed my chosen, exulting and clapping your hands, and speaking over their dead bodies, drunk as you were?”
2 Esd 15:54 “So adorn the beauty of your face!”
2 Esd 15:55 “A prostitutes wages will be in your lap, so you will receive your recompense.”
2 Esd 15:56 “As you shall do to my chosen,” says the Lord, “so God will do to you, and he will deliver you to misfortunes.”
2 Esd 15:57 “And your children will die of hunger, and you will fall by the sword, and your cities will be destroyed and all your people in the country will fall by the sword,”
2 Esd 15:58 “And those who are in the mountains will perish with hunger, and will eat their own flesh and drink their own blood in their hunger for bread and thirst for water.”
2 Esd 15:59 “Unhappy beyond others, you will come and endure fresh afflictions.”
2 Esd 15:60 “And as they pass by they will crush the unprofitable city, and destroy a part of your land, and do away with a portion of your glory, as they return from the destruction of Babylon.”
2 Esd 15:61 “And you will be demolished by them like stubble, and they will be like fire to you.”
2 Esd 15:62 “And they will devour you and your cities, your land and your mountains, all your forests and fruit trees they will burn with fire.”
2 Esd 15:63 “They will carry your sons away as captives, and take your wealth as plunder, and spoil the beauty of your face.”

Chapter 16

2 Esd 16:1 “Alas for you, Babylon and Asia! Alas for you, Egypt and Syria!”
2 Esd 16:2 “Put on sackcloth and haircloth, and bewail your sons and lament them, for your destruction is at hand.”
2 Esd 16:3 “The sword has been sent upon you, and who is there to turn it aside?”
2 Esd 16:4 “A fire has been sent upon you, and who is there to put it out?”
2 Esd 16:5 “Misfortunes have been sent upon you, and who is there to drive them away?”
2 Esd 16:6 “Can one drive off a hungry lion in a forest, or put out a fire in the stubble, when it has once begun to burn?”
2 Esd 16:7 “Can one turn back an arrow shot by a strong archer?”
2 Esd 16:8 “If the Lord God sends misfortunes, who can turn them back?”
2 Esd 16:9 “When fire goes out from his wrath, who is there to put it out?”
2 Esd 16:10 “When he lightens, who will not fear? When he thunders, who will not shudder?”
2 Esd 16:11 “When the Lord threatens, who will not be utterly destroyed at his presence?”
2 Esd 16:12 “The earth trembles to its foundations, the sea is stirred to its depths, and its waves are thrown into confusion, and its fish also, at the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his might.”
2 Esd 16:13 “For his right arm that bends the bow is strong, his arrows that he shoots are sharp; they will not miss when they begin to be shot to the ends of the earth.”
2 Esd 16:14 “Behold, disasters are shot forth, and they will not return until they come upon the earth.”
2 Esd 16:15 “A fire is lighted, and will not be put out, until it consumes the foundations of the earth.”
2 Esd 16:16 “Just as an arrow shot by a strong archer does not come back, so the disasters which shall be shot at the earth will not turn back.”
2 Esd 16:17 “Alas for me! Who will deliver me in those days?”
2 Esd 16:18 “It is the beginning of sorrows, when there will be great mourning; the beginning of famine, when many will perish; the beginning of wars, when powers will fear; the beginning of disasters, when all will tremble. What will they do in these circumstances, when disasters come?”
2 Esd 16:19 “Behold, famine and pestilence and distress and anguish are sent as scourges to correct men.”
2 Esd 16:20 “But in spite of all these things they will not turn from their wickedness, or ever remember the scourges.”
2 Esd 16:21 “Behold, grain will be so cheap on the earth that they will think they are sure of peace, and then disasters will spring up on the earth – the sword, famine, and great disorder.”
2 Esd 16:22 “For many who live on the earth will die of hunger, and the rest who survive the famine the sword will destroy.”
2 Esd 16:23 “And the dead will be thrown out like dung, and there will be no one to comfort them; for the earth will be left desolate, and its cities will be torn down.”
2 Esd 16:24 “There will be nobody left to cultivate the ground and sow it.”
2 Esd 16:25 “The trees will bear fruit, but who will gather it?”
2 Esd 16:26 “The grapes will ripen, but who will tread them? For there will be a great deserting of the land here and there.”
2 Esd 16:27 “For one man will long to see another, or to hear his voice.”
2 Esd 16:28 “For ten will be left, out of a city, and two, out of a field, who have hidden in the thick woods and the clefts of the rocks.”
2 Esd 16:29 “Just as in an olive orchard, three or four olives may be left on each tree,”
2 Esd 16:30 “Or when the grapes are gathered in a vineyard, some clusters are left by those who search the vineyard carefully,”
2 Esd 16:31 “So in those days three or four will be left by those who search their houses with the sword.”
2 Esd 16:32 “And the earth will be left desolate, and its fields will be given up to briars, and all its roads and paths will grow thorns, because no sheep will go along them.”
2 Esd 16:33 “Girls will grieve, because they have no bridegrooms, women will grieve because they have no husbands, their daughters will grieve because they have no help.”
2 Esd 16:34 “Their bridegrooms will be destroyed in war, and their husbands will die of hunger.”
2 Esd 16:35 “But listen to these things, and understand them, you slaves of the Lord!”
2 Esd 16:36 “Behold, it is the word of the Lord; receive it, do not disbelieve the things of which the Lord says,”
2 Esd 16:37 “Behold, disasters are approaching and they are not delayed.”
2 Esd 16:38 “Just as a woman with child, in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draws near, two or three hours before it, is seized with agonizing pains about her womb, and when the child comes forth from the womb it will not delay for a moment,”
2 Esd 16:39 “So these disasters will not delay in coming upon the earth, and the world will groan and pains will envelop it.”
2 Esd 16:40 “Hear my word, my people, prepare for battle, and in the midst of these disasters be like strangers in the earth;”
2 Esd 16:41 “Let him who sells do it as though he would have to flee; and let him who buys do it as though he would lose it;”
2 Esd 16:42 “Let him who trades do it as though he would get no profit; and let him who builds build as though he were not going to live in what he builds;”
2 Esd 16:43 “Let him who sows do it as though he were not to reap, and let him who prunes do it as though he were not to gather the grapes;”
2 Esd 16:44 “Let those who marry do it as though they were not to have sons, and those who do not marry as though they were widowed.”
2 Esd 16:45 “Because those who toil, toil in vain,”
2 Esd 16:46 “For strangers will gather their fruits, and plunder their property, and overthrow their houses and take their sons captive, for they produce their children for captivity and famine.”
2 Esd 16:47 “And those who do business do it to be plundered; the more they adorn their cities and their houses and their possessions and their persons, the angrier I will be with them for their sins,”
2 Esd 16:48 “The angrier I will be with them for their sins,” says the Lord.”
2 Esd 16:49 “Just as a respectable and virtuous woman abhors a prostitute,”
2 Esd 16:50 “So uprightness will abhor wickedness when she adorns herself, and will accuse her to her face, when he comes who is to defend him who seeks out every sin on earth.”
2 Esd 16:51 “Therefore, do not be like her or her works.”
2 Esd 16:52 “For behold, in a little while, wickedness will be removed from the earth, and uprightness will reign over us.”
2 Esd 16:53 “Let no sinner say he has not sinned, for he will burn fiery coals upon the head of him who says, “I have not sinned before God and his glory.”
2 Esd 16:54 “Behold, the Lord knows all the doings of men, and their devices, and their thoughts and their hearts.”
2 Esd 16:55 “When he said, “Let the earth be made,” it was made. And “Let the heaven be made,” it was made.”
2 Esd 16:56 “At his command the stars were established, and he knows the number of the stars.”
2 Esd 16:57 “He searches the deep and its treasuries; he has measured the sea and what it holds.”
2 Esd 16:58 “He has shut up the sea in the midst of the waters, and by his command he has hung the earth upon the water.”
2 Esd 16:59 “He has stretched the heaven like an arch and based it upon the waters.”
2 Esd 16:60 “He has put springs of water in the desert, and lakes upon the tops of the mountains, so as to send rivers from the heights so that the earth might drink.”
2 Esd 16:61 “He formed man, and put a heart in the midst of his body, and imparted to him breath and life and understanding,”
2 Esd 16:62 “And the breath of the Almighty God, who created all things and searches out things hidden in secret places.”
2 Esd 16:63 “He certainly knows your devices, and what you think in your hearts. Alas for sinners and those who want to hide their sins!”
2 Esd 16:64 “Because the Lord will closely examine all their doings, and prove them all guilty.”
2 Esd 16:65 “And you will be put to shame when your sins are brought out into the sight of men, and your iniquities rise up to accuse you on that day.”
2 Esd 16:66 “What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins in the presence of God and his angels?”
2 Esd 16:67 “Behold, God is the judge; fear him. Give up your sins, and forget your iniquities, and never practice them again; then God will lead you forth and deliver you from all distress.”
2 Esd 16:68 “For behold, the hot anger of the great multitude is kindled over you, and some of you they will carry off and make you eat what is sacrificed to idols.”
2 Esd 16:69 “And those who give them their consent they will hold in derision and contempt and trample on them.”
2 Esd 16:70 “For there will be disturbances here and there, and in near-by cities a great uprising against those who fear the Lord.”
2 Esd 16:71 “They will be like madmen, sparing no one, in plundering and pillaging those who still fear the Lord.”
2 Esd 16:72 “For they will pillage and plunder their property, and drive them out of their houses.”
2 Esd 16:73 “Then will appear the testing of my chosen, like gold which is tested by fire.”
2 Esd 16:74 “Listen, my chosen,” says the Lord. “Behold, the days of persecution are here, and I will deliver you from them.”
2 Esd 16:75 “Do not fear or doubt, for God is your guide.”
2 Esd 16:76 “And you who keep my commandments and precepts,” says the Lord God, “let not your sins drag you down, or your wickedness prevail over you.”
2 Esd 16:77 “Alas for those who are bound by their sins and covered with their wickedness, as a field is overgrown with woods, and its grain so covered with thorns that no one can get through.”
2 Esd 16:78 “It is shut out, and left to be consumed by fire.”