2 Esdras 14

1And it happened on the third day that I was sitting under an oak.

2And behold, a voice came to me from a bush and said, “Ezra, Ezra!” And I said, “Here I am, Lord.” And I stood on my feet, and it said to me:

3I revealed myself in the bush, and I spoke to Moses when my people were serving in Egypt.

4And I sent him, and he led my people out of Egypt, and I brought him up onto Mount Sinai, and I kept him with me many days.

5And I told him many wonders, and I showed him the secrets of the times and the end of the times, and I commanded him, saying,

6These words you shall make public, and these you shall hide.

7And now I say to you:

8The signs that I have shown, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations that you have heard—store them up in your heart.

9For you will be taken up from among men, and you will remain with my son and with those like you until the times are finished.

10For the age has lost its youth, and the times are drawing near to old age.

11For the age has been divided into twelve parts, and ten of its parts have already passed, and half of the tenth part.

12But two of its parts remain after the middle of the tenth part.

13Therefore now set your house in order, and reprove your people, and comfort their humble ones, and renounce the corruptible life now.

14And put away from yourself mortal thoughts, and cast off from yourself human burdens, and strip off now your weak nature, and set aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you,

15and hurry to depart from these times; for the things you have now seen

16—worse things than these will happen again. For the weaker the age becomes through old age, the more evils will multiply.

17upon those who dwell in it. For truth will withdraw farther away, and falsehood will draw near. For already the eagle that you saw in the vision is hastening to come.”

18Then I answered and said before you, Lord, "Behold, I will go,"

19“Behold, I will go, as you have commanded me, and I will reprove the people now living.

20But those who will be born afterward—who will warn them? For the age lies in darkness, and those who dwell in it are without light.

21For your law has been burned, and therefore no one knows the things done by you

22or the things that are about to happen. For if I have found favor before 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 men may be able to find the path, and that those who wish

23those who are to live in the last days may live.” And he answered me and said, “Go, gather the people, and say to them not to seek you

24for forty days. But you, prepare for yourself many writing tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ethan, and Asiel, five

25these five, because they are ready to write quickly. And you shall come here, and I will kindle in your heart a lamp of understanding that will not be extinguished until the things that you begin to write are finished.

26When you have completed them, some things you shall make public, and some things you shall hand over in secret to the wise. For tomorrow at this hour you shall begin to write.” And I went away, as he commanded me, and I gathered all the

27the people and said, “Hear these words, O Israel: Sojourners, sojourners—”

28From the beginning, our fathers sojourned in Egypt, and they were delivered.

29And they received the law of life, which they did not keep, which you also transgressed after them.

30And you transgressed after them. And the land was given to you in the land of Zion, but both you and your fathers committed iniquity and did not keep the ways that the Most High commanded you.

31the inheritance in the land of Zion, and you and your fathers committed iniquity and did not keep the ways that the Most High commanded you; the Righteous One

32since he is a judge, he took away from you in due time what he had given. And

33Now you are here, and your brothers are within you. If, therefore, you will command your mind and instruct your heart,

34you will be kept alive, and after death you will obtain mercy. For judgment will come after death, when again

35we will live again; and then the name of the righteous will appear, and the deeds of the ungodly will be disclosed. But let no one come near me now, nor

36But let no one come near me now, nor seek me for forty days.”

37we are in the field and remained there. And it happened on the next day

38and behold, a voice called me, saying, “Ezra, open your mouth and drink what I am giving you.” And I opened my mouth, and behold, a full cup

39Something like water was being offered to me, but its color was like fire.

40And I 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 memory.

41And my mouth was opened and was no longer closed.

42And the Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote in succession the things that were spoken, in characters that they did not know. And they sat there forty days.

43They wrote by day, but at night they ate bread. As for me, I spoke by day, and at night I was not silent.

44And in forty days ninety-four books were written.

45And it happened when the forty days were completed, the Most High spoke to me, saying, “The former things that you wrote, set them out publicly, and

46But keep the last seventy, so that you may hand them over to the wise among your people.

47you may hand them over to the wise among your people. For in them is the vein of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge.”