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More about the Signs of the End

9He answered me and said, ‘Measure carefully in your mind, and when you see that some of the predicted signs have occurred, ²then you will know that it is the very time when the Most High is about to visit the world that he has made. ³So when there shall appear in the world earthquakes, tumult of peoples, intrigues of nations, wavering of leaders, confusion of princes, ⁴then you will know that it was of these that the Most High spoke from the days that were of old, from the beginning. ⁵For just as with everything that has occurred in the world, the beginning is evident,^* and the end manifest; ⁶so also are the times of the Most High: the beginnings are manifest in wonders and mighty works, and the end in penalties^* and in signs.

7 ‘It shall be that all who will be saved and will be able to escape on account of their works, or on account of the faith by which they have believed, ⁸will survive the dangers that have been predicted, and will see my salvation in my land and within my borders, which I have sanctified for myself from the beginning. ⁹Then those who have now abused my ways shall be amazed, and those who have rejected them with contempt shall live in torments. ¹⁰For as many as did not acknowledge me in their lifetime, though they received my benefits, ¹¹and as many as scorned my law while they still had freedom, and did not understand but despised it^* while an opportunity of repentance was still open to them, ¹²these must in torment acknowledge it^* after death. ¹³Therefore, do not continue to be curious about how the ungodly will be punished; but inquire how the righteous will be saved, those to whom the age belongs and for whose sake the age was made.’^*

The Argument Recapitulated

14 I answered and said, ¹⁵‘I said before, and I say now, and will say it again: there are more who perish than those who will be saved, ¹⁶as a wave is greater than a drop of water.’

17 He answered me and said, ‘As is the field, so is the seed; and as are the flowers, so are the colours; and as is the work, so is the product; and as is the farmer, so is the threshing-floor. ¹⁸For there was a time in this age when I was preparing for those who now exist, before the world was made for them to live in, and no one opposed me then, for no one existed; ¹⁹but now those who have been created in this world, which is supplied both with an unfailing table and an inexhaustible pasture,^* have become corrupt in their ways. ²⁰So I considered my world, and saw that it was lost. I saw that my earth was in peril because of the devices of those who^* had come into it. ²¹And I saw and spared some^* with great difficulty, and saved for myself one grape out of a cluster, and one plant out of a great forest.^{* 22}So let the multitude perish that has been born in vain, but let my grape and my plant be saved, because with much labour I have perfected them.

23 ‘Now, if you will let seven days more pass—do not, however, fast during them, ²⁴but go into a field of flowers where no house has been built, and eat only of the flowers of the field, and taste no meat and drink no wine, but eat only flowers— ²⁵and pray to the Most High continually, then I will come and talk with you.’

The Abiding Glory of the Mosaic Law

26 So I went, as he directed me, into the field that is called Ardat;^* there I sat among the flowers and ate of the plants of the field, and the nourishment they afforded satisfied me. ²⁷After seven days, while I lay on the grass, my heart was troubled again as it was before. ²⁸Then my mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Most High, and said, ²⁹‘O Lord, you showed yourself among us, to our ancestors in the wilderness when they came out from Egypt and when they came into the untrodden and unfruitful wilderness; ³⁰and you said, “Hear me, O Israel, and give heed to my words, O descendants of Jacob. ³¹For I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you, and you shall be glorified through it for ever.” ³²But though our ancestors received the law, they 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. ³³Yet those who received it perished, because they did not keep what had been sown in them. ³⁴Now this is the general rule that, when the ground has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any dish food or drink, and when it comes about that what was sown or what was launched or what was put in is destroyed, ³⁵they are destroyed, but the things that held them remain; yet with us it has not been so. ³⁶For we who have received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our hearts that received it; ³⁷the law, however, does not perish but survives in its glory.’

The Vision of a Weeping Woman

38 When I said these things in my heart, I looked around,^* and on my right I saw a woman; she was mourning and weeping with a loud voice, and was deeply grieved at heart; her clothes were torn, and there were ashes on her head. ³⁹Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged, and turned to her ⁴⁰and said to her, ‘Why are you weeping, and why are you grieved at heart?’

41 She said to me, ‘Let me alone, my lord, so that I may weep for myself and continue to mourn, for I am greatly embittered in spirit and deeply distressed.’

42 I said to her, ‘What has happened to you? Tell me.’

43 And she said to me, ‘Your servant was barren and had no child, though I lived with my husband for thirty years. ⁴⁴Every hour and every day during those thirty years I prayed to the Most High, night and day. ⁴⁵And after thirty years God heard your servant, and looked upon my low estate, and considered my distress, and gave me a son. I rejoiced greatly over him, I and my husband and all my neighbours;^* and we gave great glory to the Mighty One. ⁴⁶And I brought him up with much care. ⁴⁷So when he grew up and I came to take a wife for him, I set a day for the marriage feast.