2 Baruch 51

1And it shall be, after that appointed day has passed, that then the form of those who are condemned will be changed, and also the glory of those who are vindicated.

2For the form of those who now act wickedly will become worse than it is, so that they may endure torment.

3But as for the glory of those who have now been vindicated by my law—those who had understanding in their life, and those who planted in their heart the root of wisdom—their splendor will then be glorified in transformations, and the form of their face will be turned into the light of their beauty, so that they may receive the world that does not die, which is promised to them.

4And above all, those who come after will be grieved, because they despised my law and stopped their ears so that they would not hear wisdom or receive understanding.

5When therefore they see that those over whom they are now exalted are then exalted and glorified more than they, then these and those will be changed: the latter into the splendor of angels, but the former will waste away yet more in wonder at the visions and at the sight of the forms.

6For first they will see, and afterward they will depart to be tormented.

7But for those who have been saved by their works, and for whom the law was hope, and understanding an expectation, and wisdom a confidence, wonders will appear in their time.

8For they will see that world which is now hidden from them,

9and they will see the time that is now hidden from them; and time will no longer make them grow old.

10For they will dwell in the heights of that world, and they will be made like the angels, and be made equal to the stars; and they will be changed into every form they desire, from beauty into loveliness, and from light into the splendor of glory.

11For the expanses of Paradise will be spread out before them; and the beauty of the majesty of the living beings beneath the throne will be shown to them, and all the armies of the angels—those now held fast by my word so that they may not appear, and those kept by my command, to stand in their places until their arrival.

12Then the excellence of the righteous will be greater than that of the angels.

13For the first will receive the last, those for whom they were waiting; and the last, those of whom they had heard that they had passed away.

14For they have been delivered from this world of affliction and have laid down the burden of distresses.

15For what then did men lose their life, and for what did those on the earth exchange their soul?

16For they chose for themselves this time that cannot pass away without anguish, and they chose for themselves that time whose end is full of laments and evils, and they rejected the world that does not age those who come to it, and they rejected the time of glory, so that they should not come to the honor of which I told you before.