1The book* of the prophet Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 2son of Ahijah, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraimoth, son of Arna, son of Uzzi, son of Borith, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, 3son of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, who was a captive in the country of the Medes in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians.*
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5Go, declare to my people their evil deeds, and to their children the iniquities that they have committed against me, so that they may tell* their childrens children 6that the sins of their parents have increased in them, for they have forgotten me and have offered sacrifices to strange gods. 7Was it not I who brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage? But they have angered me and despised my counsels. 8Now you, pull out the hair of your head and hurl* all evils upon them, for they have not obeyed my lawthey are a rebellious people. 9How long shall I endure them, on whom I have bestowed such great benefits? 10For their sake I have overthrown many kings; I struck down Pharaoh with his servants and all his army. 11I destroyed all nations before them, and scattered in the east the peoples of two provinces,* Tyre and Sidon; I killed all their enemies.
12 But speak to them and say, Thus says the Lord: 13Surely it was I who brought you through the sea, and made safe highways for you where there was no road; I gave you Moses as leader and Aaron as priest; 14I provided light for you from a pillar of fire, and did great wonders among you. Yet you have forgotten me, says the Lord.
15 Thus says the Lord Almighty:* The quails were a sign to you; I gave you camps for your protection, and in them you complained. 16You have not exulted in my name at the destruction of your enemies, but to this day you still complain.* 17Where are the benefits that I bestowed on you? When you were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness, did you not cry out to me, 18saying, Why have you led us into this wilderness to kill us? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness. 19I pitied your groanings and gave you manna for food; you ate the bread of angels. 20When you were thirsty, did I not split the rock so that waters flowed in abundance? Because of the heat I clothed you with the leaves of trees.* 21I divided fertile lands among you; I drove out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Philistines* before you. What more can I do for you? says the Lord. 22Thus says the Lord Almighty:* When you were in the wilderness, at the bitter stream, thirsty and blaspheming my name, 23I did not send fire on you for your blasphemies, but threw a tree into the water and made the stream sweet.
24 What shall I do to you, O Jacob? You, Judah, would not obey me. I will turn to other nations and will give them my name, so that they may keep my statutes. 25Because you have forsaken me, I also will forsake you. When you beg mercy of me, I will show you no mercy. 26When you call to me, I will not listen to you; for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder. 27It is not as though you had forsaken me; you have forsaken yourselves, says the Lord.
28 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Have I not entreated you as a father entreats his sons or a mother her daughters or a nurse her children, 29so that you should be my people and I should be your God, and that you should be my children and I should be your father? 30I gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But now, what shall I do to you? I will cast you out from my presence. 31When you offer oblations to me, I will turn my face from you; for I have rejected your* festal days, and new moons, and circumcisions of the flesh.* 32I sent you my servants the prophets, but you have taken and killed them and torn their bodies* in pieces; I will require their blood of you, says the Lord.*
33 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate; I will drive you out as the wind drives straw; 34and your sons will have no children, because with you* they have neglected my commandment and have done what is evil in my sight. 35I will give your houses to a people that will come, who without having heard me will believe. Those to whom I have shown no signs will do what I have commanded. 36They have seen no prophets, yet will recall their former state.* 37I call to witness the gratitude of the people that is to come, whose children rejoice with gladness;* though they do not see me with bodily eyes, yet with the spirit they will believe the things I have said.
38 And now, father,* look with pride and see the people coming from the east; 39to them I will give as leaders Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Hosea and Amos and Micah and Joel and Obadiah and Jonah 40and Nahum and Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who is also called the messenger of the Lord.*
2Thus says the Lord: I brought this people out of bondage, and I gave them commandments through my servants the prophets; but they would not listen to them, and made my counsels void. 2The mother who bore them* says to them, Go, my children, because I am a widow and forsaken. 3I brought you up with gladness; but with mourning and sorrow I have lost you, because you have sinned before the Lord God and have done what is evil in my sight.* 4But now what can I do for you? For I am a widow and forsaken. Go, my children, and ask for mercy from the Lord. 5Now I call upon you, father, as a witness in addition to the mother of the children, because they would not keep my covenant, 6so that you may bring confusion on them and bring their mother to ruin, so that they may have no offspring. 7Let them be scattered among the nations; let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have despised my covenant.
8 Woe to you, Assyria, who conceal the unrighteous within you! O wicked nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrah, 9whose land lies in lumps of pitch and heaps of ashes.* That is what I will do to those who have not listened to me, says the Lord Almighty.
10 Thus says the Lord to Ezra: Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I was going to give to Israel. 11Moreover, I will take back to myself their glory, and will give to these others the everlasting habitations, which I had prepared for Israel.* 12The tree of life shall give them fragrant perfume, and they shall neither toil nor become weary. 13Go,* and you will receive; pray that your days may be few, that they may be shortened. The kingdom is already prepared for you; be on the watch! 14Call, O call heaven and earth to witness: I set aside evil and created good; for I am the Living One, says the Lord.
15 Mother, embrace your children; bring them up with gladness, as does a dove; strengthen their feet, because I have chosen you, says the Lord. 16And I will raise up the dead from their places, and bring them out from their tombs, because I recognize my name in them. 17Do not fear, mother of children, for I have chosen you, says the Lord. 18I will send you help, my servants Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to their counsel I have consecrated and prepared for you twelve trees loaded with various fruits, 19and the same number of springs flowing with milk and honey, and seven mighty mountains on which roses and lilies grow; by these I will fill your children with joy.
20 Guard the rights of the widow, secure justice for the ward, give to the needy, defend the orphan, clothe the naked, 21care for the injured and the weak, do not ridicule the lame, protect the maimed, and let the blind have a vision of my splendour. 22Protect the old and the young within your walls. 23When you find any who are dead, commit them to the grave and mark it,* and I will give you the first place in my resurrection. 24Pause and be quiet, my people, because your rest will come.
25 Good nurse, nourish your children; strengthen their feet. 26Not one of the servants* whom I have given you will perish, for I will require them from among your number. 27Do not be anxious, for when the day of tribulation and anguish comes, others shall weep and be sorrowful, but you shall rejoice and have abundance. 28The nations shall envy you, but they shall not be able to do anything against you, says the Lord. 29My power will protect* you, so that your children may not see hell.*
30 Rejoice, O mother, with your children, because I will deliver you, says the Lord.
31Remember your children that sleep, because I will bring them out of the hiding-places of the earth, and will show mercy to them; for I am merciful, says the Lord Almighty.
32Embrace your children until I come, and proclaim mercy to them; because my springs run over, and my grace will not fail.
33 I, Ezra, received a command from the Lord on Mount Horeb to go to Israel. When I came to them they rejected me and refused the Lords commandment. 34Therefore I say to you, O nations that hear and understand, Wait for your shepherd; he will give you everlasting rest, because he who will come at the end of the age is close at hand. 35Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, because perpetual light will shine on you for evermore. 36Flee from the shadow of this age, receive the joy of your glory; I publicly call on my saviour to witness.* 37Receive what the Lord has entrusted to you and be joyful, giving thanks to him who has called you to the celestial kingdoms. 38Rise, stand erect, and see the number of those who have been sealed at the feast of the Lord. 39Those who have departed from the shadow of this age have received glorious garments from the Lord. 40Take again your full number, O Zion, and close the list of your people who are clothed in white, who have fulfilled the law of the Lord. 41The number of your children, whom you desired, is now complete; implore the Lords authority that your people, who have been called from the beginning, may be made holy.
42 I, Ezra, saw on Mount Zion a great multitude that I could not number, and they all were praising the Lord with songs. 43In their midst was a young man of great stature, taller than any of the others, and on the head of each of them he placed a crown, but he was more exalted than they. And I was held spellbound. 44Then I asked an angel, Who are these, my lord? 45He answered and said to me, These are they who have put off mortal clothing and have put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God. Now they are being crowned, and receive palms. 46Then I said to the angel, Who is that young man who is placing crowns on them and putting palms in their hands? 47He answered and said to me, He is the Son of God, whom they confessed in the world. So I began to praise those who had stood valiantly for the name of the Lord.* 48Then the angel said to me, Go, tell my people how great and how many are the wonders of the Lord God that you have seen.
3In the thirtieth year after the destruction of the city, I was in BabylonI, Salathiel, who am also called Ezra. I was troubled as I lay on my bed, and my thoughts welled up in my heart, 2because I saw the desolation of Zion and the wealth of those who lived in Babylon. 3My spirit was greatly agitated, and I began to speak anxious words to the Most High, and said, 4O sovereign Lord, did you not speak at the beginning when you planted* the earthand that without helpand commanded the dust* 5and it gave you Adam, a lifeless body? Yet he was the creation of your hands, and you breathed into him the breath of life, and he was made alive in your presence. 6And you led him into the garden that your right hand had planted before the earth appeared. 7And you laid upon him one commandment of yours; but he transgressed it, and immediately you appointed death for him and for his descendants. From him there sprang nations and tribes, peoples and clans without number. 8And every nation walked after its own will; they did ungodly things in your sight and rejected your commands, and you did not hinder them. 9But again, in its time you brought the flood upon the inhabitants of the world and destroyed them. 10And the same fate befell all of them: just as death came upon Adam, so the flood upon them. 11But you left one of them, Noah with his household, and all the righteous who have descended from him.
12 When those who lived on earth began to multiply, they produced children and peoples and many nations, and again they began to be more ungodly than were their ancestors. 13And when they were committing iniquity in your sight, you chose for yourself one of them, whose name was Abraham; 14you loved him, and to him alone you revealed the end of the times, secretly by night. 15You made an everlasting covenant with him, and promised him that you would never forsake his descendants; and you gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. 16You set apart Jacob for yourself, but Esau you rejected; and Jacob became a great multitude. 17And when you led his descendants out of Egypt, you brought them to Mount Sinai. 18You bent down the heavens and shook* the earth, and moved the world, and caused the depths to tremble, and troubled the times. 19Your glory passed through the four gates of fire and earthquake and wind and ice, to give the law to the descendants of Jacob, and your commandment to the posterity of Israel.
20 Yet you did not take away their evil heart from them, so that your law might produce fruit in them. 21For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him. 22Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the hearts of the people along with the evil root; but what was good departed, and the evil remained. 23So the times passed and the years were completed, and you raised up for yourself a servant, named David. 24You commanded him to build a city for your name, and there to offer you oblations from what is yours. 25This was done for many years; but the inhabitants of the city transgressed, 26in everything doing just as Adam and all his descendants had done, for they also had the evil heart. 27So you handed over your city to your enemies.
28 Then I said in my heart, Are the deeds of those who inhabit Babylon any better? Is that why it has gained dominion over Zion? 29For when I came here I saw ungodly deeds without number, and my soul has seen many sinners during these thirty years.* And my heart failed me, 30because I have seen how you endure those who sin, and have spared those who act wickedly, and have destroyed your people, and protected your enemies, 31and have not shown to anyone how your way may be comprehended.* Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Zion? 32Or has another nation known you besides Israel? Or what tribes have so believed the covenants as these tribes of Jacob? 33Yet their reward has not appeared and their labour has borne no fruit. For I have travelled widely among the nations and have seen that they abound in wealth, though they are unmindful of your commandments. 34Now therefore, weigh in a balance our iniquities and those of the inhabitants of the world; and it will be found which way the turn of the scale will incline. 35When have the inhabitants of the earth not sinned in your sight? Or what nation has kept your commandments so well? 36You may indeed find individuals who have kept your commandments, but nations you will not find.
4Then the angel that had been sent to me, whose name was Uriel, answered 2and said to me, Your understanding has utterly failed regarding this world, and do you think you can comprehend the way of the Most High? 3Then I said, Yes, my lord. And he replied to me, I have been sent to show you three ways, and to put before you three problems. 4If you can solve one of them for me, then I will show you the way you desire to see, and will teach you why the heart is evil.
5 I said, Speak, my lord.
And he said to me, Go, weigh for me the weight of fire, or measure for me a blast* of wind, or call back for me the day that is past.
6 I answered and said, Who of those that have been born can do that, that you should ask me about such things?
7 And he said to me, If I had asked you, How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea, or how many streams are at the source of the deep, or how many streams are above the firmament, or which are the exits of Hades, or which are the entrances* of paradise? 8perhaps you would have said to me, I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into Hades, neither did I ever ascend into heaven. 9But now I have asked you only about fire and wind and the daythings that you have experienced and from which you cannot be separated, and you have given me no answer about them. 10He said to me, You cannot understand the things with which you have grown up; 11how then can your mind comprehend the way of the Most High? And how can one who is already worn out* by the corrupt world understand incorruption?* When I heard this, I fell on my face* 12and said to him, It would have been better for us not to be here than to come here and live in ungodliness, and to suffer and not understand why.
13 He answered me and said, I went into a forest of trees of the plain, and they made a plan 14and said, Come, let us go and make war against the sea, so that it may recede before us and so that we may make for ourselves more forests. 15In like manner the waves of the sea also made a plan and said, Come, let us go up and subdue the forest of the plain so that there also we may gain more territory for ourselves. 16But the plan of the forest was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it; 17likewise also the plan of the waves of the sea was in vain,* for the sand stood firm and blocked it. 18If now you were a judge between them, which would you undertake to justify, and which to condemn?
19 I answered and said, Each made a foolish plan, for the land has been assigned to the forest, and the locale of the sea a place to carry its waves.
20 He answered me and said, You have judged rightly, but why have you not judged so in your own case? 21For as the land has been assigned to the forest and the sea to its waves, so also those who inhabit the earth can understand only what is on the earth, and he who is* above the heavens can understand what is above the height of the heavens.
22 Then I answered and said, I implore you, my lord, why* have I been endowed with the power of understanding? 23For I did not wish to inquire about the ways above, but about those things that we daily experience: why Israel has been given over to the Gentiles in disgrace; why the people whom you loved has been given over to godless tribes, and the law of our ancestors has been brought to destruction and the written covenants no longer exist. 24We pass from the world like locusts, and our life is like a mist,* and we are not worthy to obtain mercy. 25But what will he do for his* name that is invoked over us? It is about these things that I have asked.
26 He answered me and said, If you are alive, you will see, and if you live long,* you will often marvel, because the age is hurrying swiftly to its end. 27It will not be able to bring the things that have been promised to the righteous in their appointed times, because this age is full of sadness and infirmities. 28For the evil about which* you ask me has been sown, but the harvest of it has not yet come. 29If therefore that which has been sown is not reaped, and if the place where the evil has been sown does not pass away, the field where the good has been sown will not come. 30For a grain of evil seed was sown in Adams heart from the beginning, and how much ungodliness it has produced until nowand will produce until the time of threshing comes! 31Consider now for yourself how much fruit of ungodliness a grain of evil seed has produced. 32When heads of grain without number are sown, how great a threshing-floor they will fill!
33 Then I answered and said, How long?* When will these things be? Why are our years few and evil? 34He answered me and said, Do not be in a greater hurry than the Most High. You, indeed, are in a hurry for yourself,* but the Highest is in a hurry on behalf of many. 35Did not the souls of the righteous in their chambers ask about these matters, saying, How long are we to remain here?* And when will the harvest of our reward come? 36And the archangel Jeremiel answered and said, When the number of those like yourselves is completed;* for he has weighed the age in the balance, 37and measured the times by measure, and numbered the times by number; and he will not move or arouse them until that measure is fulfilled.
38 Then I answered and said, But, O sovereign Lord, all of us also are full of ungodliness. 39It is perhaps on account of us that the time of threshing is delayed for the righteouson account of the sins of those who inhabit the earth.
40 He answered me and said, Go and ask a pregnant woman whether, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the foetus within her any longer.
41 And I said, No, lord, it cannot.
He said to me, In Hades the chambers of the souls are like the womb. 42For just as a woman who is in labour makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these places hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning. 43Then the things that you desire to see will be disclosed to you.
44 I answered and said, If I have found favour in your sight, and if it is possible, and if I am worthy, 45show me this also: whether more time is to come than has passed, or whether for us the greater part has gone by. 46For I know what has gone by, but I do not know what is to come.
47 And he said to me, Stand at my right side, and I will show you the interpretation of a parable.
48 So I stood and looked, and lo, a flaming furnace passed by before me, and when the flame had gone by I looked, and lo, the smoke remained. 49And after this a cloud full of water passed before me and poured down a heavy and violent rain, and when the violent rainstorm had passed, drops still remained in the cloud.*
50 He said to me, Consider it for yourself; for just as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the quantity that passed was far greater; but drops and smoke remained.
51 Then I prayed and said, Do you think that I shall live until those days? Or who will be alive in those days?
52 He answered me and said, Concerning the signs about which you ask me, I can tell you in part; but I was not sent to tell you concerning your life, for I do not know.
5Now concerning the signs: lo, the days are coming when those who inhabit the earth shall be seized with great terror,* and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith.
2Unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly.
3And the land that you now see ruling shall be a trackless waste, and people shall see it desolate.
4But if the Most High grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion after the third period;*
and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night,
and the moon during the day.
5 Blood shall drip from wood,
and the stone shall utter its voice;
the peoples shall be troubled,
and the stars shall fall.*
6And one shall reign whom those who inhabit the earth do not expect, and the birds shall fly away together;
7and the Dead Sea* shall cast up fish; and one whom the many do not know shall make his voice heard by night, and all shall hear his voice.*
8There shall be chaos also in many places, fire shall often break out, the wild animals shall roam beyond their haunts, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters.
9Salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall conquer one another; then shall reason hide itself, and wisdom shall withdraw into its chamber,
10and it shall be sought by many but shall not be found, and unrighteousness and unrestraint shall increase on earth.
11One country shall ask its neighbour, Has righteousness, or anyone who does right, passed through you? And it will answer, No.
12At that time people shall hope but not obtain; they shall labour, but their ways shall not prosper.
13These are the signs that I am permitted to tell you, and if you pray again, and weep as you do now, and fast for seven days, you shall hear yet greater things than these.
14 Then I woke up, and my body shuddered violently, and my soul was so troubled that it fainted. 15But the angel who had come and talked with me held me and strengthened me and set me on my feet.
16 Now on the second night Phaltiel, a chief of the people, came to me and said, Where have you been? And why is your face sad? 17Or do you not know that Israel has been entrusted to you in the land of their exile? 18Rise therefore and eat some bread, and do not forsake us, like a shepherd who leaves the flock in the power of savage wolves.
19 Then I said to him, Go away from me and do not come near me for seven days; then you may come to me.
He heard what I said and left me. 20So I fasted for seven days, mourning and weeping, as the angel Uriel had commanded me.
21 After seven days the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again. 22Then my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began once more to speak words in the presence of the Most High. 23I said, O sovereign Lord, from every forest of the earth and from all its trees you have chosen one vine, 24and from all the lands of the world you have chosen for yourself one region,* and from all the flowers of the world you have chosen for yourself one lily, 25and from all the depths of the sea you have filled for yourself one river, and from all the cities that have been built you have consecrated Zion for yourself, 26and from all the birds that have been created you have named for yourself one dove, and from all the flocks that have been made you have provided for yourself one sheep, 27and from all the multitude of peoples you have taken for yourself one people; and to this people, whom you have loved, you have given the law that is approved by all. 28And now, O Lord, why have you handed the one over to the many, and dishonoured* the one root beyond the others, and scattered your only one among the many? 29And those who opposed your promises have trampled on those who believed your covenants. 30If you really hate your people, they should be punished at your own hands.
31 When I had spoken these words, the angel who had come to me on a previous night was sent to me. 32He said to me, Listen to me, and I will instruct you; pay attention to me, and I will tell you more.
33 Then I said, Speak, my lord. And he said to me, Are you greatly disturbed in mind over Israel? Or do you love him more than his Maker does?
34 I said, No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out some part of his judgement.
35 He said to me, You cannot. And I said, Why not, my lord? Why then was I born? Or why did not my mothers womb become my grave, so that I would not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?
36 He said to me, Count up for me those who have not yet come, and gather for me the scattered raindrops, and make the withered flowers bloom again for me; 37open for me the closed chambers, and bring out for me the winds shut up in them, or show me the picture of a voice; and then I will explain to you the travail that you ask to understand.*
38 I said, O sovereign Lord, who is able to know these things except him whose dwelling is not with mortals? 39As for me, I am without wisdom, and how can I speak concerning the things that you have asked me?
40 He said to me, Just as you cannot do one of the things that were mentioned, so you cannot discover my judgement, or the goal of the love that I have promised to my people.
41 I said, Yet, O Lord, you have charge of those who are alive at the end, but what will those do who lived before me, or we, ourselves, or those who come after us?
42 He said to me, I shall liken my judgement to a circle;* just as for those who are last there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.
43 Then I answered and said, Could you not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, so that you might show your judgement the sooner?
44 He replied to me and said, The creation cannot move faster than the Creator, nor can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.
45 I said, How have you said to your servant that you* will certainly give life at one time to your creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time* and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.
46 He said to me, Ask a womans womb, and say to it, If you bear ten* children, why one after another? Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.
47 I said, Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time.
48 He said to me, Even so I have given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. 49For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so I have made the same rule for the world that I created.
50 Then I inquired and said, Since you have now given me the opportunity, let me speak before you. Is our mother, of whom you have told me, still young? Or is she now approaching old age?
51 He replied to me, Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you. 52Say to her, Why are those whom you have borne recently not like those whom you bore before, but smaller in stature? 53And she herself will answer you, Those born in the strength of youth are different from those born during the time of old age, when the womb is failing. 54Therefore you also should consider that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those who were before you, 55and those who come after you will be smaller than you, as born of a creation that already is ageing and passing the strength of youth.
56 I said, I implore you, O Lord, if I have found favour in your sight, show your servant through whom you will visit your creation.
6He said to me, At the beginning of the circle of the earth, before* the portals of the world were in place, and before the assembled winds blew, 2and before the rumblings of thunder sounded, and before the flashes of lightning shone, and before the foundations of paradise were laid, 3and before the beautiful flowers were seen, and before the powers of movements* were established, and before the innumerable hosts of angels were gathered together, 4and before the heights of the air were lifted up, and before the measures of the firmaments were named, and before the footstool of Zion was established, 5and before the present years were reckoned and before the imaginations of those who now sin were estranged, and before those who stored up treasures of faith were sealed 6then I planned these things, and they were made through me alone and not through another; just as the end shall come through me alone and not through another.
7 I answered and said, What will be the dividing of the times? Or when will be the end of the first age and the beginning of the age that follows?
8 He said to me, From Abraham to Isaac,* because from him were born Jacob and Esau, for Jacobs hand held Esaus heel from the beginning. 9Now Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the age that follows. 10The beginning of a person is the hand, and the end of a person is the heel;* seek for nothing else, Ezra, between the heel and the hand, Ezra!
11 I answered and said, O sovereign Lord, if I have found favour in your sight, 12show your servant the last of your signs of which you showed me a part on a previous night.
13 He answered and said to me, Rise to your feet and you will hear a full, resounding voice. 14And if the place where you are standing is greatly shaken 15while the voice is speaking, do not be terrified; because the word concerns the end, and the foundations of the earth will understand 16that the speech concerns them. They will tremble and be shaken, for they know that their end must be changed.
17 When I heard this, I got to my feet and listened; a voice was speaking, and its sound was like the sound of mighty* waters. 18It said, The days are coming when I draw near to visit the inhabitants of the earth, 19and when I require from the doers of iniquity the penalty of their iniquity, and when the humiliation of Zion is complete. 20When the seal is placed upon the age that is about to pass away, then I will show these signs: the books shall be opened before the face of the firmament, and all shall see my judgement* together. 21Children a year old shall speak with their voices, and pregnant women shall give birth to premature children at three and four months, and these shall live and leap about. 22Sown places shall suddenly appear unsown, and full storehouses shall suddenly be found to be empty; 23the trumpet shall sound aloud, and when all hear it, they shall suddenly be terrified. 24At that time friends shall make war on friends like enemies, the earth and those who inhabit it shall be terrified, and the springs of the fountains shall stand still, so that for three hours they shall not flow.
25 It shall be that whoever remains after all that I have foretold to you shall be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of my world. 26And they shall see those who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death; and the heart of the earths* inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit. 27For evil shall be blotted out, and deceit shall be quenched; 28faithfulness shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and the truth, which has been so long without fruit, shall be revealed.
29 While he spoke to me, little by little the place where I was standing began to rock to and fro.* 30And he said to me, I have come to show you these things this night.* 31If therefore you will pray again and fast again for seven days, I will again declare to you greater things than these,* 32because your voice has surely been heard by the Most High; for the Mighty One has seen your uprightness and has also observed the purity that you have maintained from your youth. 33Therefore he sent me to show you all these things, and to say to you: Believe and do not be afraid! 34Do not be quick to think vain thoughts concerning the former times; then you will not act hastily in the last times.
35 Now after this I wept again and fasted for seven days in the same way as before, in order to complete the three weeks that had been prescribed for me. 36Then on the eighth night my heart was troubled within me again, and I began to speak in the presence of the Most High. 37My spirit was greatly aroused, and my soul was in distress.
38 I said, O Lord, you spoke at the beginning of creation, and said on the first day, Let heaven and earth be made, and your word accomplished the work. 39Then the spirit was blowing, and darkness and silence embraced everything; the sound of human voices was not yet there.* 40Then you commanded a ray of light to be brought out from your store-chambers, so that your works could be seen.
41 Again, on the second day, you created the spirit of the firmament, and commanded it to divide and separate the waters, so that one part might move upwards and the other part remain beneath.
42 On the third day you commanded the waters to be gathered together in a seventh part of the earth; six parts you dried up and kept so that some of them might be planted and cultivated and be of service before you. 43For your word went forth, and at once the work was done. 44Immediately fruit came forth in endless abundance and of varied appeal to the taste, and flowers of inimitable colour, and odours of inexpressible fragrance. These were made on the third day.
45 On the fourth day you commanded the brightness of the sun, the light of the moon, and the arrangement of the stars to come into being; 46and you commanded them to serve humankind, about to be formed.
47 On the fifth day you commanded the seventh part, where the water had been gathered together, to bring forth living creatures, birds, and fishes; and so it was done. 48The dumb and lifeless water produced living creatures, as it was commanded, so that therefore the nations might declare your wondrous works.
49 Then you kept in existence two living creatures;* one you called Behemoth* and the name of the other was Leviathan. 50And you separated one from the other, for the seventh part where the water had been gathered together could not hold them both. 51And you gave Behemoth* one of the parts that had been dried up on the third day, to live in it, where there are a thousand mountains; 52but to Leviathan you gave the seventh part, the watery part; and you have kept them to be eaten by whom you wish, and when you wish.
53 On the sixth day you commanded the earth to bring forth before you cattle, wild animals, and creeping things; 54and over these you placed Adam, as ruler over all the works that you had made; and from him we have all come, the people whom you have chosen.
55 All this I have spoken before you, O Lord, because you have said that it was for us that you created this world.* 56As for the other nations that have descended from Adam, you have said that they are nothing, and that they are like spittle, and you have compared their abundance to a drop from a bucket. 57And now, O Lord, these nations, which are reputed to be as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. 58But we your people, whom you have called your firstborn, only-begotten, zealous for you,* and most dear, have been given into their hands. 59If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance? How long will this be so?
7When I had finished speaking these words, the angel who had been sent to me on the former nights was sent to me again. 2He said to me, Rise, Ezra, and listen to the words that I have come to speak to you.
3 I said, Speak, my lord. And he said to me, There is a sea set in a wide expanse so that it is deep and vast, 4but it has an entrance set in a narrow place, so that it is like a river. 5If there are those who wish to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can they come to the broad part unless they pass through the narrow part? 6Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things; 7but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left. 8There is only one path lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that only one person can walk on the path. 9If now the city is given to someone as an inheritance, how will the heir receive the inheritance unless by passing through the appointed danger?
10 I said, That is right, lord. He said to me, So also is Israels portion. 11For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged. 12And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships. 13But the entrances of the greater world are broad and safe, and yield the fruit of immortality. 14Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and futile experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them. 15Now therefore, why are you disturbed, seeing that you are to perish? Why are you moved, seeing that you are mortal? 16Why have you not considered in your mind what is to come, rather than what is now present?
17 Then I answered and said, O sovereign Lord, you have ordained in your law that the righteous shall inherit these things, but that the ungodly shall perish. 18The righteous, therefore, can endure difficult circumstances while hoping for easier ones; but those who have done wickedly have suffered the difficult circumstances and will never see the easier ones.
19 He said to me, You are not a better judge than the Lord,* or wiser than the Most High!
20Let many perish who are now living, rather than that the law of God that is set before them be disregarded!
21For the Lord* strictly commanded those who came into the world, when they came, what they should do to live, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.
22Nevertheless, they were not obedient, and spoke against him;
they devised for themselves vain thoughts,
23 and proposed to themselves wicked frauds;
they even declared that the Most High does not exist,
and they ignored his ways.
24 They scorned his law,
and denied his covenants;
they have been unfaithful to his statutes,
and have not performed his works.
25That is the reason, Ezra, that empty things are for the empty, and full things are for the full.
26 For indeed the time will come, when the signs that I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city that now is not seen shall appear,* and the land that now is hidden shall be disclosed. 27Everyone who has been delivered from the evils that I have foretold shall see my wonders. 28For my son the Messiah* shall be revealed with those who are with him, and those who remain shall rejoice for four hundred years. 29After those years my son the Messiah shall die, and all who draw human breath.* 30Then the world shall be turned back to primeval silence for seven days, as it was at the first beginnings, so that no one shall be left. 31After seven days the world that is not yet awake shall be roused, and that which is corruptible shall perish. 32The earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who rest there in silence; and the chambers shall give up the souls that have been committed to them. 33The Most High shall be revealed on the seat of judgement, and compassion shall pass away, and patience shall be withdrawn.* 34Only judgement shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong. 35Recompense shall follow, and the reward shall be manifested; righteous deeds shall awake, and unrighteous deeds shall not sleep.* 36 The pit* of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of hell* shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight. 37 Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead, Look now, and understand whom you have denied, whom you have not served, whose commandments you have despised. 38 Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments. Thus he will* speak to them on the day of judgement 39 a day that has no sun or moon or stars, 40 or cloud or thunder or lightning, or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning, 41 or summer or spring or heat or winter* or frost or cold, or hail or rain or dew, 42 or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendour of the glory of the Most High, by which all shall see what has been destined. 43 It will last as though for a week of years. 44 This is my judgement and its prescribed order; and to you alone I have shown these things.
49 He answered me and said, Listen to me, Ezra,* and I will instruct you, and will admonish you once more. 50 For this reason the Most High has made not one world but two. 51 Inasmuch as you have said that the righteous are not many but few, while the ungodly abound, hear the explanation for this.
8He answered me and said, The Most High made this world for the sake of many, but the world to come for the sake of only a few. 2But I tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides a large amount of clay from which earthenware is made, but only a little dust from which gold comes, so is the course of the present world. 3Many have been created, but only a few shall be saved.
4 I answered and said, Then drink your fill of understanding,* O my soul, and drink wisdom, O my heart. 5For not of your own will did you come into the world,* and against your will you depart, for you have been given only a short time to live. 6O Lord above us, grant to your servant that we may pray before you, and give us a seed for our heart and cultivation of our understanding so that fruit may be produced, by which every mortal who bears the likeness* of a human being may be able to live. 7For you alone exist, and we are a work of your hands, as you have declared. 8And because you give life to the body that is now fashioned in the womb, and furnish it with members, what you have created is preserved amid fire and water, and for nine months the womb* endures your creature that has been created in it. 9But that which keeps and that which is kept shall both be kept by your keeping.* And when the womb gives up again what has been created in it, 10you have commanded that from the members themselves (that is, from the breasts) milk, the fruit of the breasts, should be supplied, 11so that what has been fashioned may be nourished for a time; and afterwards you will still guide it in your mercy. 12You have nurtured it in your righteousness, and instructed it in your law, and reproved it in your wisdom. 13You put it to death as your creation, and make it live as your work. 14If then you will suddenly and quickly* destroy what with so great labour was fashioned by your command, to what purpose was it made? 15And now I will speak out: About all humankind you know best; but I will speak about your people, for whom I am grieved, 16and about your inheritance, for whom I lament, and about Israel, for whom I am sad, and about the seed of Jacob, for whom I am troubled. 17Therefore I will pray before you for myself and for them, for I see the failings of us who inhabit the earth; 18and now also* I have heard of the swiftness of the judgement that is to come. 19Therefore hear my voice and understand my words, and I will speak before you.
The beginning of the words of Ezras prayer,* before he was taken up. He said: 20O Lord, you who inhabit eternity,* whose eyes are exalted* and whose upper chambers are in the air, 21whose throne is beyond measure and whose glory is beyond comprehension, before whom the hosts of angels stand trembling 22and at whose command they are changed to wind and fire,* whose word is sure and whose utterances are certain, whose command is strong and whose ordinance is terrible, 23whose look dries up the depths and whose indignation makes the mountains melt away, and whose truth is established* for ever 24hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servant, and give ear to the petition of your creature; attend to my words. 25For as long as I live I will speak, and as long as I have understanding I will answer. 26O do not look on the sins of your people, but on those who serve you in truth. 27Do not take note of the endeavours of those who act wickedly, but of the endeavours of those who have kept your covenants amid afflictions. 28Do not think of those who have lived wickedly in your sight, but remember those who have willingly acknowledged that you are to be feared. 29Do not will the destruction of those who have the ways of cattle, but regard those who have gloriously taught your law.* 30Do not be angry with those who are deemed worse than wild animals, but love those who have always put their trust in your glory. 31For we and our ancestors have passed our lives in ways that bring death;* but it is because of us sinners that you are called merciful. 32For if you have desired to have pity on us, who have no works of righteousness, then you will be called merciful. 33For the righteous, who have many works laid up with you, shall receive their reward in consequence of their own deeds. 34But what are mortals, that you are angry with them; or what is a corruptible race, that you are so bitter against it? 35For in truth there is no one among those who have been born who has not acted wickedly; among those who have existed* there is no one who has not done wrong. 36For in this, O Lord, your righteousness and goodness will be declared, when you are merciful to those who have no store of good works.
37 He answered me and said, Some things you have spoken rightly, and it will turn out according to your words. 38For indeed I will not concern myself about the fashioning of those who have sinned, or about their death, their judgement, or their destruction; 39but I will rejoice over the creation of the righteous, over their pilgrimage also, and their salvation, and their receiving their reward. 40As I have spoken, therefore, so it shall be.
41 For just as the farmer sows many seeds in the ground and plants a multitude of seedlings, and yet not all that have been sown will come up* in due season, and not all that were planted will take root; so also those who have been sown in the world will not all be saved.
42 I answered and said, If I have found favour in your sight, let me speak. 43If the farmers seed does not come up, because it has not received your rain in due season, or if it has been ruined by too much rain, it perishes.* 44But people, who have been formed by your hands and are called your own image because they are made like you, and for whose sake you have formed all thingshave you also made them like the farmers seed? 45Surely not, O Lord* above! But spare your people and have mercy on your inheritance, for you have mercy on your own creation.
46 He answered me and said, Things that are present are for those who live now, and things that are future are for those who will live hereafter. 47For you come far short of being able to love my creation more than I love it. But you have often compared yourself* to the unrighteous. Never do so! 48But even in this respect you will be praiseworthy before the Most High, 49because you have humbled yourself, as is becoming for you, and have not considered yourself to be among the righteous. You will receive the greatest glory, 50for many miseries will affect those who inhabit the world in the last times, because they have walked in great pride. 51But think of your own case, and inquire concerning the glory of those who are like yourself, 52because 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, rest is appointed,* goodness is established, and wisdom perfected beforehand.
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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