2 Esdras 4

1Then the angel who had been sent to me, whose name was Uriel, answered me,

2and said to me, “Your heart has gone far beyond in this age, and do you think to comprehend the way of the Most High?”

3And I said, “Yes, my lord.” And he answered me and said, “I have been sent to show you three ways, and to set three comparisons before you.

4If you report to me one of these, then I also will show you the way that you desire to see, and I will teach you why the heart is evil.”

5And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Go, weigh for me the weight of fire, or measure for me the measure of wind, or call back for me the day that has passed.”

6And I answered and said, “Who among those born can do this, that you ask me about these things?”

7And he said to me, “If I had asked you, saying, ‘How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea? Or how many springs are at the source of the deep? Or how many ways are above the firmament? Or what are the exits of paradise?’

8Perhaps you would have said to me, ‘I have not descended into the abyss, nor yet into Hades, nor have I ever ascended into heaven.’

9But now I have asked you only about fire and wind and day, through which you have passed and without which you cannot exist, and you have not answered me about them.

10If you cannot understand what has grown up with you, then how will you be able

11how can your vessel grasp the way of the Most High, and, already worn out by the corrupt age, understand incorruption?” And when I heard these things, I fell on my face, and I said to him, “It would have been better for us not to exist,”

12than, having come, to live in ungodliness, and to suffer, and not to understand why. And he answered me and said, “Setting out

13I went out to a forest of the trees of the plain, and they devised a plan, and said, 'Come, let us go and make

14and said, ‘Come, let us go and make war against the sea, so that it may withdraw before us, and we may make for ourselves other forests.’ In the same way the waves of the sea also devised a plan,

15and said, ‘Come, let us go up and subdue the forest of the plain, so that there too we may gain for ourselves another region.’ But the plan concerning the forest was in vain, for fire came and consumed it.

16Likewise also the plan of the waves of the sea: for the sand stood fast and held them back.

17If, then, you were judge over these,

18would you begin to justify, or whom condemn?” And I answered and

19I said, “Both have devised a vain plan, for the earth has been given to the forest, and the place of the sea to bear its waves.” And he answered

20to me and said, “You have judged rightly, so why have you not judged for yourself?”

21For just as the earth has been given to the forest, and the sea to its waves, so also those who dwell upon the earth can understand only what is on the earth, and he who is above the heavens, what is above the heavens.”

22what is above the height of the heavens.” And I answered and said, “I beg you, Lord, why has understanding been given to me?”

23For I did not want to ask about the ways above, but about the things that happen among us daily: why Israel has been given over as a reproach to the nations, why the people whom you loved has been given over to ungodly tribes, and why the law of our fathers has been brought to nothing.

24and the written ordinances are nowhere to be found. And we pass through the age like locusts, and our life is like vapor, and we are not worthy,

25to obtain mercy. But what will he do for his name, which

26And he answered me and said, “If you are, you will see; and if you live, you will often marvel,”

27because the age is hastening quickly to pass away. For it cannot bear the things that have been promised for the righteous in their proper times, because this age is full of sorrows and weaknesses.

28For the evil about which you ask me has been sown, and its destruction has not yet come. If therefore it is not reaped,

29For if what has been sown is not reaped, and 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 Adam’s heart from the beginning, and how much ungodliness it has produced until now, and will still produce until the threshing floor comes! But consider within yourself the grain of evil

31Consider now for yourself how much fruit of ungodliness a seed has produced. When

32When ears of grain without number are sown, how great a threshing floor they will begin to make! And he answered and said to me, “Until—

33And I answered and said, “How long, and when will these things be? Why are our years few and evil?”

34And he answered me and said, “You do not hasten more than the Most High, for you hasten for your own sake, but the Most High for many. Have not the souls of the righteous in their chambers asked about these things?”

35Did not the souls of the righteous ask about these things in their chambers, saying, ‘How long shall I hope thus? And when will the fruit of the threshing floor of our reward come?’ And Jeremiel answered them,

36And the archangel answered and said, ‘When the number of those like you is completed, for he has weighed the age in a balance,

37and measured the times, and numbered the times, and he will not move or stir them until what was foretold is fulfilled.’”

38And I answered and said, “O Lord who rules, but also

39We are all full of impiety. And perhaps because of us the threshing floor of the righteous is kept back, because of the sins of those who dwell there.

40And he answered me and said, “Go and ask a pregnant woman whether, when she has completed her nine months, she can still keep the child within her.”

41And I said, “It cannot, Lord.” And he said to me, “In Hades the storehouses

42They are likened to the womb of souls. For just as she who gives birth hastens to escape the necessity of childbirth, so also these

43They hasten to return the things that were entrusted from the beginning. Then what you desire to see will be shown to you.

44And I answered and said, “If I have found favor before your eyes, and if

45If it is possible, and if I am fit, show me this also: whether more is to come than has passed, or whether more has passed over.

46For what has passed I know, but what is to come I do not know.”

47And he said to me, “Stand on the right side, and”

48I will show you the interpretation of the likeness. And I stood and saw, and behold, a blazing furnace passed before me, and it happened when

49and behold, smoke remained behind. After this a cloud full of water passed before me and sent forth a great driving rain, and when the force of the rain had passed, drops remained behind in it.

50And he said to me, “Consider for yourself: just as the rain is greater than the drops, and the fire greater than the smoke, so what has passed has greatly exceeded the measure, but the drops and the smoke remain.”

51And I prayed and said, “Do you think I shall live until those days? Or who will be in those days?”

52You ask insistently; I can tell you in part, but concerning your life, I have not been sent to tell you, and I do not know.