40these are the nine* tribes that were taken away from their own land into exile in the days of King Hoshea, whom Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, made captives; he took them across the river, and they were taken into another land. 41But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where no human beings had ever lived, 42so that there at least they might keep their statutes that they had not kept in their own land. 43And they went in by the narrow passages of the Euphrates river. 44For at that time the Most High performed signs for them, and stopped the channels of the river until they had crossed over. 45Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth.*
46 ‘Then they lived there until the last times; and now, when they are about to come again, 47the Most High will stop* the channels of the river again, so that they may be able to cross over. Therefore you saw the multitude gathered together in peace. 48But those who are left of your people, who are found within my holy borders, shall be saved.* 49Therefore when he destroys the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he will defend the people who remain. 50And then he will show them very many wonders.’
51 I said, ‘O sovereign Lord, explain this to me: Why did I see the man coming up from the heart of the sea?’
52 He said to me, ‘Just as no one can explore or know what is in the depths of the sea, so no one on earth can see my Son or those who are with him, except in the time of his day.* 53This is the interpretation of the dream that you saw. And you alone have been enlightened about this, 54because you have forsaken your own ways and have applied yourself to mine, and have searched out my law; 55for you have devoted your life to wisdom, and called understanding your mother. 56Therefore I have shown you these things; for there is a reward laid up with the Most High. For it will be that after three more days I will tell you other things, and explain weighty and wondrous matters to you.’
57 Then I got up and walked in the field, giving great glory and praise to the Most High for the wonders that he does* from time to time, 58and because he governs the times and whatever things come to pass in their seasons. And I stayed there for three days.
14On the third day, while I was sitting under an oak, suddenly a voice came out of a bush opposite me and said, ‘Ezra, Ezra!’ 2And I answered, ‘Here I am, Lord’, and I rose to my feet. 3Then he said to me, ‘I revealed myself in a bush and spoke to Moses when my people were in bondage in Egypt; 4and I sent him and led* my people out of Egypt; and I led him up on Mount Sinai, where I kept him with me for many days. 5I told him many wondrous things, and showed him the secrets of the times and declared to him* the end of the times. Then I commanded him, saying, 6“These words you shall publish openly, and these you shall keep secret.” 7And now I say to you: 8Lay up in your heart the signs that I have shown you, the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations that you have heard; 9for you shall be taken up from among humankind, and henceforth you shall live with my Son and with those who are like you, until the times are ended. 10The age has lost its youth, and the times begin to grow old. 11For the age is divided into twelve parts, and nine* of its parts have already passed, 12as well as half of the tenth part; so two of its parts remain, besides half of the tenth part.* 13Now therefore, set your house in order, and reprove your people; comfort the lowly among them, and instruct those that are wise.* And now renounce the life that is corruptible, 14and put away from you mortal thoughts; cast away from you the burdens of humankind, and divest yourself now of your weak nature; 15lay to one side the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and hurry to escape from these times. 16For evils worse than those that you have now seen happen shall take place hereafter. 17For the weaker the world becomes through old age, the more shall evils be increased upon its inhabitants. 18Truth shall go farther away, and falsehood shall come near. For the eagle* that you saw in the vision is already hurrying to come.’
19 Then I answered and said, ‘Let me speak* in your presence, Lord. 20For I will go, as you have commanded me, and I will reprove the people who are now living; but who will warn those who will be born hereafter? For the world lies in darkness, and its inhabitants are without light. 21For your law has been burned, and so no one knows the things which have been done or will be done by you. 22If then I have found favour with you, send the holy spirit into me, and I will write everything that has happened in the world from the beginning, the things that were written in your law, so that people may be able to find the path, and that those who want to live in the last days may do so.’
23 He answered me and said, ‘Go and gather the people, and tell them not to seek you for forty days. 24But prepare for yourself many writing-tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ethanus, and Asiel—these five, who are trained to write rapidly; 25and you shall come here, and I will light in your heart the lamp of understanding, which shall not be put out until what you are about to write is finished. 26And when you have finished, some things you shall make public, and some you shall deliver in secret to the wise; tomorrow at this hour you shall begin to write.’
27 Then I went as he commanded me, and I gathered all the people together, and said, 28‘Hear these words, O Israel. 29At first our ancestors lived as aliens in Egypt, and they were liberated from there 30and received the law of life, which they did not keep, which you also have transgressed after them. 31Then land was given to you for a possession in the land of Zion; but you and your ancestors committed iniquity and did not keep the ways that the Most High commanded you. 32And since he is a righteous judge, in due time he took from you what he had given. 33And now you are here, and your people* are farther in the interior.* 34If you, then, will rule over your minds and discipline your hearts, you shall be kept alive, and after death you shall obtain mercy. 35For after death the judgement will come, when we shall live again; and then the names of the righteous shall become manifest, and the deeds of the ungodly shall be disclosed. 36But let no one come to me now, and let no one seek me for forty days.’
37 So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we proceeded to the field, and remained there. 38And on the next day a voice called me, saying, ‘Ezra, open your mouth and drink what I give you to drink.’ 39So I opened my mouth, and a full cup was offered to me; it was full of something like water, but its colour was like fire. 40I took it and drank; and when I had drunk it, my heart poured forth understanding, and wisdom increased in my breast, for my spirit retained its memory, 41and my mouth was opened and was no longer closed. 42Moreover, the Most High gave understanding to the five men, and by turns they wrote what was dictated, using characters that they did not know.* They sat for forty days; they wrote during the daytime, and ate their bread at night. 43But as for me, I spoke in the daytime and was not silent at night. 44So during the forty days, ninety-four* books were written. 45And when the forty days were ended, the Most High spoke to me, saying, ‘Make public the twenty-four* books that you wrote first, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them; 46but keep the seventy that were written last, in order to give them to the wise among your people. 47For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge.’ 48And I did so.*
15
5 Beware, says the Lord, I am bringing evils upon the world, the sword and famine, death and destruction, 6because iniquity has spread throughout every land, and their harmful doings have reached their limit. 7Therefore, says the Lord, 8I will be silent no longer concerning their ungodly acts that they impiously commit, neither will I tolerate their wicked practices. Innocent and righteous blood cries out to me, and the souls of the righteous cry out continually. 9I will surely avenge them, says the Lord, and will receive to myself all the innocent blood from among them. 10See, my people are being led like a flock to the slaughter; I will not allow them to live any longer in the land of Egypt, 11but I will bring them out with a mighty hand and with an uplifted arm, and will strike Egypt with plagues, as before, and will destroy all its land.
12 Let Egypt mourn, and its foundations, because of the plague of chastisement and castigation that the Lord will bring upon it. 13Let the farmers that till the ground mourn, because their seed shall fail to grow* and their trees shall be ruined by blight and hail and by a terrible tempest. 14Alas for the world and for those who live in it! 15For the sword and misery draw near them, and nation shall rise up to fight against nation, with swords in their hands. 16For there shall be unrest among people; growing strong against one another, they shall in their might have no respect for their king or the chief of their leaders. 17For a person will desire to go into a city, and shall not be able to do so. 18Because of their pride the cities shall be in confusion, the houses shall be destroyed, and people shall be afraid. 19People shall have no pity for their neighbours, but shall make an assault upon* their houses with the sword, and plunder their goods, because of hunger for bread and because of great tribulation.
20 See how I am calling together all the kings of the earth to turn to me, says God, from the rising sun and from the south, from the east and from Lebanon; to turn and repay what they have given them. 21Just as they have done to my elect until this day, so I will do, and will repay into their bosom. Thus says the Lord God: 22My right hand will not spare the sinners, and my sword will not cease from those who shed innocent blood on earth. 23And a fire went forth from his wrath, and consumed the foundations of the earth and the sinners, like burnt straw. 24Alas for those who sin and do not observe my commandments, says the Lord;* 25I will not spare them. Depart, you faithless children! Do not pollute my sanctuary. 26For God* knows all who sin against him; therefore he will hand them over to death and slaughter. 27Already calamities have come upon the whole earth, and you shall remain in them; God* will not deliver you, because you have sinned against him.
28 What a terrifying sight, appearing from the east! 29The nations of the dragons of Arabia shall come out with many chariots, and from the day that they set out, their hissing shall spread over the earth, so that all who hear them will fear and tremble. 30Also the Carmonians, raging in wrath, shall go forth like wild boars* from the forest, and with great power they shall come and engage them in battle, and with their tusks they shall devastate a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth. 31And then the dragons,* remembering their origin, shall become still stronger; and if they combine in great power and turn to pursue them, 32then these shall be disorganized and silenced by their power, and shall turn and flee.* 33And from the land of the Assyrians an enemy in ambush shall attack them and destroy one of them, and fear and trembling shall come upon their army, and indecision upon their kings.
34 See the clouds from the east, and from the north to the south! Their appearance is exceedingly threatening, full of wrath and storm. 35They shall clash against one another and shall pour out a heavy tempest on the earth, and their own tempest;* and there shall be blood from the sword as high as a horse’s belly 36and a man’s thigh and a camel’s hock. 37And there shall be fear and great trembling on the earth; those who see that wrath shall be horror-stricken, and they shall be seized with trembling. 38After that, heavy storm-clouds shall be stirred up from the south, and from the north, and another part from the west. 39But the winds from the east shall prevail over the cloud that was* raised in wrath, and shall dispel it; and the tempest* that was to cause destruction by the east wind shall be driven violently towards the south and west. 40Great and mighty clouds, full of wrath and tempest, shall rise and destroy all the earth and its inhabitants, and shall pour out upon every high and lofty place* a terrible tempest, 41fire and hail and flying swords and floods of water, so that all the fields and all the streams shall be filled with the abundance of those waters. 42They shall destroy cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of the forests, and grass of the meadows, and their grain. 43They shall go on steadily to Babylon and blot it out. 44They shall come to it and surround it; they shall pour out on it the tempest* and all its fury;* then the dust and smoke shall reach the sky, and all who are around it shall mourn for it. 45And those who survive shall serve those who have destroyed it.
46 And you, Asia, who share in the splendour of Babylon and the glory of her person— 47woe to you, miserable wretch! For you have made yourself like her; you have decked out your daughters for prostitution to please and glory in your lovers, who have always lusted after you. 48You have imitated that hateful one in all her deeds and devices.* Therefore God* says, 49I will send evils upon you: widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, bringing ruin to your houses, bringing destruction and death. 50And the glory of your strength shall wither like a flower when the heat shall rise that is sent upon you. 51You shall be weakened like a wretched woman who is beaten and wounded, so that you cannot receive your mighty lovers. 52Would I have dealt with you so violently, says the Lord, 53if you had not killed my chosen people continually, exulting and clapping your hands and talking about their death when you were drunk?
54 Beautify your face! 55The reward of a prostitute is in your lap; therefore you shall receive your recompense. 56As you will do to my chosen people, says the Lord, so God will do to you, and will hand you over to adversities. 57Your children shall die of hunger, and you shall fall by the sword; your cities shall be wiped out, and all your people who are in the open country shall fall by the sword. 58Those who are in the mountains and highlands* shall perish of hunger, and they shall eat their own flesh in hunger for bread, and drink their own blood in thirst for water. 59Unhappy above all others, you shall come and suffer fresh miseries. 60As they pass by they shall crush the hateful* city, and shall destroy a part of your land and abolish a portion of your glory, when they return from devastated Babylon. 61You shall be broken down by them like stubble,* and they shall be like fire to you. 62They shall devour you and your cities, your land and your mountains; they shall burn with fire all your forests and your fruitful trees. 63They shall carry your children away captive, plunder your wealth, and mar the glory of your countenance.
16Woe to you, Babylon and Asia! Woe to you, Egypt and Syria! 2Bind on sackcloth and cloth of goats’ hair,* and wail for your children, and lament for them; for your destruction is at hand. 3The sword has been sent upon you, and who is there to turn it back? 4A fire has been sent upon you, and who is there to quench it? 5Calamities have been sent upon you, and who is there to drive them away? 6Can one drive off a hungry lion in the forest, or quench a fire in the stubble once it has started to burn?* 7Can one turn back an arrow shot by a strong archer? 8The Lord God sends calamities, and who will drive them away? 9Fire will go forth from his wrath, and who is there to quench it? 10He will flash lightning, and who will not be afraid? He will thunder, and who will not be terrified? 11The Lord will threaten, and who will not be utterly shattered at his presence? 12The earth and its foundations quake, the sea is churned up from the depths, and its waves and the fish with them shall be troubled at the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. 13For his right hand that bends the bow is strong, and his arrows that he shoots are sharp and when they are shot to the ends of the world will not miss once. 14Calamities are sent forth and shall not return until they come over the earth. 15The fire is kindled, and shall not be put out until it consumes the foundations of the earth. 16Just as an arrow shot by a mighty archer does not return, so the calamities that are sent upon the earth shall not return. 17Alas for me! Alas for me! Who will deliver me in those days?
18 The beginning of sorrows, when there shall be much lamentation; the beginning of famine, when many shall perish; the beginning of wars, when the powers shall be terrified; the beginning of calamities, when all shall tremble. What shall they do, when the calamities come? 19Famine and plague, tribulation and anguish are sent as scourges for the correction of humankind. 20Yet for all this they will not turn from their iniquities, or ever be mindful of the scourges. 21Indeed, provisions will be so cheap upon earth that people will imagine that peace is assured for them, and then calamities shall spring up on the earth—the sword, famine, and great confusion. 22For many of those who live on the earth shall perish by famine; and those who survive the famine shall die by the sword. 23And the dead shall be thrown out like dung, and there shall be no one to console them; for the earth shall be left desolate, and its cities shall be demolished. 24No one shall be left to cultivate the earth or to sow it. 25The trees shall bear fruit, but who will gather it? 26The grapes shall ripen, but who will tread them? For in all places there shall be great solitude; 27a person will long to see another human being, or even to hear a human voice. 28For ten shall be left out of a city; and two, out of the field, those who have hidden themselves in thick groves and clefts in the rocks. 29Just as in an olive orchard three or four olives may be left on every tree, 30or just as, when a vineyard is gathered, some clusters may be left* by those who search carefully through the vineyard, 31so in those days three or four shall be left by those who search their houses with the sword. 32The earth shall be left desolate, and its fields shall be ploughed up,* and its roads and all its paths shall bring forth thorns, because no sheep will go along them. 33Virgins shall mourn because they have no bridegrooms; women shall mourn because they have no husbands; their daughters shall mourn, because they have no help. 34Their bridegrooms shall be killed in war, and their husbands shall perish of famine.
35 Listen now to these things, and understand them, you who are servants of the Lord. 36This is the word of the Lord; receive it and do not disbelieve what the Lord says.* 37The calamities draw near, and are not delayed. 38Just as a pregnant woman, in the ninth month when the time of her delivery draws near, has great pains around her womb for two or three hours beforehand, but when the child comes forth from the womb, there will not be a moment’s delay, 39so the calamities will not delay in coming upon the earth, and the world will groan, and pains will seize it on every side.
40 Hear my words, O my people; prepare for battle, and in the midst of the calamities be like strangers on the earth. 41Let one who sells be like one who will flee; let one who buys be like one who will lose; 42let one who does business be like one who will not make a profit; and let one who builds a house be like one who will not live in it; 43let one who sows be like one who will not reap; so also one who prunes the vines, like one who will not gather the grapes; 44those who marry, like those who will have no children; and those who do not marry, like those who are widowed. 45Because of this, those who labour, labour in vain; 46for strangers shall gather their fruits, and plunder their goods, overthrow their houses, and take their children captive; for in captivity and famine they will produce their children.* 47Those who conduct business, do so only to have it plundered; the more they adorn their cities, their houses and possessions, and their persons, 48the more angry I will be with them for their sins, says the Lord. 49Just as a respectable and virtuous woman abhors a prostitute, 50so righteousness shall abhor iniquity, when she decks herself out, and shall accuse her to her face when he comes who will defend the one who searches out every sin on earth.
51 Therefore do not be like her or her works. 52For in a very short time iniquity will be removed from the earth, and righteousness will reign over us. 53Sinners must not say that they have not sinned;* for God* will burn coals of fire on the head of everyone who says, ‘I have not sinned before God and his glory.’ 54The Lord* certainly knows everything that people do; he knows their imaginations and their thoughts and their hearts. 55He said, ‘Let the earth be made’, and it was made, and ‘Let the heaven be made’, and it was made. 56At his word the stars were fixed in their places, and he knows the number of the stars. 57He searches the abyss and its treasures; he has measured the sea and its contents; 58he has confined the sea in the midst of the waters;* and by his word he has suspended the earth over the water. 59He has spread out the heaven like a dome and made it secure upon the waters; 60he has put springs of water in the desert, and pools on the tops of the mountains, so as to send rivers from the heights to water the earth. 61He formed human beings and put a heart in the midst of each body, and gave each person breath and life and understanding 62and the spirit* of Almighty God,* who surely made all things and searches out hidden things in hidden places. 63He knows your imaginations and what you think in your hearts! Woe to those who sin and want to hide their sins! 64The Lord will strictly examine all their works, and will make a public spectacle of all of you. 65You shall be put to shame when your sins come out before others, and your own iniquities shall stand as your accusers on that day. 66What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins before the Lord and his glory? 67Indeed, God* is the judge; fear him! Cease from your sins, and forget your iniquities, never to commit them again; so God* will lead you forth and deliver you from all tribulation.
68 The burning wrath of a great multitude is kindled over you; they shall drag some of you away and force you to eat what was sacrificed to idols. 69And those who consent to eat shall be held in derision and contempt, and shall be trampled under foot. 70For in many places* and in neighbouring cities there shall be a great uprising against those who fear the Lord. 71They shall* be like maniacs, sparing no one, but plundering and destroying those who continue to fear the Lord.* 72For they shall destroy and plunder their goods, and drive them out of house and home. 73Then the tested quality of my elect shall be manifest, like gold that is tested by fire.
74 Listen, my elect ones, says the Lord; the days of tribulation are at hand, but I will deliver you from them. 75Do not fear or doubt, for God* is your guide. 76You who keep my commandments and precepts, says the Lord God, must not let your sins weigh you down, or your iniquities prevail over you. 77Woe to those who are choked by their sins and overwhelmed by their iniquities! They are like a field choked with underbrush and its path* overwhelmed with thorns, so that no one can pass through. 78It is shut off and given up to be consumed by fire.
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New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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v 2.9.2
30 June 2021