2 Esdras 7

1And it happened, when I had finished speaking these words, that the angel who had been sent to me in the first nights was sent to me again,

2And he said to me, “Rise, Ezra, and hear the words that I have come to speak to you.”

3And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “The sea is set in a broad place, so that it might be deep and immense.

4But its entrance will be set in a narrow place, so that it would be like a river.

5For if anyone desires to enter the sea, to see it or to master it, how will he be able to come into the broad place unless he passes through the narrow place?

6Again, another example: a city is built and set in a plain, and it is full of every good thing.

7But its entrance is narrow and set on a precipice, so that on the right there is fire and on the left deep water.

8But there is only one path laid between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that the path can hold only a man's footprint.

9If a city is given to a man for an inheritance, if the heir does not pass through the danger set before him, how will he receive his inheritance?

10And I said, “So it is, Lord.” And he said to me, “So also is Israel’s portion.”

11For their sake I made the world, and when Adam transgressed my ordinances, what had been made was judged.

12And the entrances of this age became narrow and painful and laborious, few and evil, full of dangers and burdened with great hardships.

13For the entrances of the greater age are broad and secure, and they produce the fruit of immortality.

14Therefore, if those who live do not enter these narrow and vain things, they cannot receive what has been stored up.

15So now why are you disturbed, seeing that you are corruptible? And why are you shaken, seeing that you are mortal?

16And why have you not taken to heart what is to come, rather than what is present?”

17Then I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, behold, you have ordained in your law that the righteous will inherit these things, but the ungodly will perish.

18But the righteous will endure narrow things, hoping for broad things; for those who have acted ungodly have both suffered narrowness and not seen the broad things.

19And he said to me, “You are not a judge over the Lord, nor one who understands over the Most High.”

20For let many of those now present perish, rather than the law of God that has been set forth be neglected.

21For the Lord indeed commanded those who came, when they came, what they should do to live, and what they should observe so as not to be punished.

22But they were not persuaded and contradicted him, and they formed for themselves vain thoughts,

23and set before themselves schemes of sins, and even said that the Most High does not exist, and they did not know his ways.

24They despised his law and denied his promises, and they did not keep faith with his statutes and did not perform his works.

25Therefore, Ezra, empty things are for the empty, and full things for the full.

26For behold, the time will come, and it will be when the signs that I foretold to you will come, and the bride will appear, and the city that is appearing, and what is now withdrawn from the earth will be shown.

27And everyone who is delivered from the evils foretold will see my wonders.

28For my son Jesus will be revealed with those who are with him, and he will make glad those who remain for four hundred years.

29And after these years, my Son the Messiah will die, and all who have human breath.

30And the age will return to the ancient silence for seven days, as in the former beginnings, so that no one is left behind.

31And after seven days, the age that is not yet awake will be awakened, and what is corrupt will die.

32And the earth will give back those who sleep in it, and the dust those who dwell in it in silence, and the storehouses will give back the souls entrusted to them.

33And the Most High will be revealed upon the seat of judgment, and mercies will pass away, and long-suffering will be gathered up,

34But judgment alone will remain, and truth will stand, and faith will grow strong.

35And the deed will follow, and the reward will be shown, and acts of righteousness will keep watch, and acts of unrighteousness will not sleep.

36And the pit of torment will appear, and opposite it will be the place of rest; and the furnace of Gehenna will be shown, and opposite it the paradise of delight.

37And then the Most High will say to the awakened nations, “Look and understand whom you denied, or whom you did not serve, or whose ways you despised.

38Look on this side and on that: here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments. These are the words he will speak to them on the day of judgment.

39This is such a day, which has neither sun nor moon nor stars,

40neither cloud nor thunder nor lightning, neither wind nor water,

41neither air nor darkness nor evening nor morning, neither summer nor spring nor heat nor winter, neither frost nor cold nor hail,

42neither rain nor dew, neither noon nor night nor dawn, neither brightness nor splendor nor light, but only the radiance of the glory of the Most High, by which all will begin to see what has been set before them.

43of the glory of the Most High, by which all will begin to see what has been set before them. A period

44For it will last like a week of years. This is my judgment and its ordinance,

45But to you alone I showed these things. Then I answered and said, “Lord, then I said, and now I say:

46Blessed are those who are present and keep what has been established by you. But as for those about whom my prayer was made, who indeed is there among those now present who has not sinned, or what one born has not transgressed your covenant?

47And now I see that the age to come will bring joy to few, but torments to many.

48For an evil heart has grown in us, which has alienated us from these things and led us into corruption and into the ways of death, shown us the paths of perdition, and taken us far from life; and this not for a few, but for almost all who have been created.”

49Not a few, but nearly all who have been created. And he answered me and said, “Hear

50For this reason the Most High did not make one age, but two.

51One age, but two. For you have said that the righteous are not many, but few,

52But hear this about the multiplication of the ungodly: if you have very few choice stones,

53you will sort them for yourself by their number, but lead and clay are abundant. And

54I said, “Lord, how can it be?” And he said to me, “Not only this, but ask—

55Say to it, ‘You produce gold and silver and bronze, and iron also and lead and clay;

56silver and bronze, and also iron and lead and clay; but silver is more abundant than gold, and bronze than silver, and iron than

57So judge for yourself which things are precious and desirable: what is abundant, or what is born rare?

58And I said, “O Lord, ruler, what is more abundant is of less value, for what is rarer is more precious.”

59And he answered me and said, “The weights of what you have thought are in you, because the one who has

60So also with the creation promised by me: I will rejoice over the few who will be saved, because they are the ones who have now made my glory more dominant, and through whom my name is now named.

61And I will not grieve over the multitude of those who have perished, for they are the ones who have been made like vapor and likened to flame, compared to smoke, and have burned up.

62And I answered and said, “O earth, what have you brought forth, if understanding has been made from dust, like the rest of creation?

63For it would have been better if the dust itself had not come into being, so that understanding might not have come from it.

64But now understanding grows with us, and because of this we are tormented, because we perish knowing it.

65And because of this we are tormented, because though we know, we perish. Let the race of man mourn, and let the beasts of the field rejoice; let all who have been born lament, but let the four-footed animals and the cattle be glad.

66For it is much better for them than for us, for they do not expect judgment, nor do they know torments or the salvation promised after death.

67for they do not know torments, nor the salvation promised to them after death. But as for us,

68What does it profit that we will be saved, if we will be tormented? For all who have been born are mixed with iniquities, and are full of sins and burdened with transgressions.

69And if after death we were not coming into judgment, perhaps it would have been better for us.”

70And he answered me and said, “When the Most High was making the age, he first prepared judgment and the things of judgment for Adam and all who came with him.”

71And now understand from your own words, because you said that understanding grows with us.

72Therefore those who dwell on the earth will be tormented for this reason, because though they had understanding they committed iniquity, and though they received commandments they did not keep them, and though they obtained the law they dealt deceitfully with it.

73They have defrauded her whom they received. And what will they have to say in the judgment, or how will they answer in the last times?

74For how long has the Most High shown long-suffering to those who inhabit the age—not for their sake, but because of the times that he has foreseen! And I answered and said, “If I have found favor

75Before you, Lord, show your servant, Lord, whether after death, or now when each of us gives up his soul, whether, if we are kept, we will be kept in rest until

76let those times come, in which you will begin to renew the creation, or are we tormented from now on?” And he answered me and said, “I will show you this also; but as for you, do not mingle with them

77who have shown contempt, and do not count yourself among those who are tormented. For a treasury of works is laid up for you with the Most High, but it will not be shown to you until the last times.

78Concerning death, the matter is this: when the decree has gone forth from the Most High that a man should die, as the breath departs from the body so that it may be sent back again,

79to him who gave it, to worship the glory of the Most High first of all. And if indeed it is one of those who have spurned and have not kept the way of the Most High, and of those who have despised the law,

80these spirits will not enter habitations, but will wander from now on in torments, always grieving and sad, in seven ways.

81enter, but from now on they will wander in torments, always grieving and sad.

82The second way: because they cannot now make a good repentance so as to live.

83The third way: they see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of the Most High.

84The fourth way: they consider for themselves in the last times the torment laid up for them.

85The fifth way: they see the dwelling place of the others guarded by angels

86The sixth way: they see how some of them will pass over into torment.

87The seventh way is greater than all the ways mentioned above, because they will waste away in confusion and be consumed in horrors and wither in fears, seeing the glory of the Most High, before whom they sinned while they lived, and before whom they will begin to be judged in the last times.

88whom they will begin to judge in the last times. For those who have kept the ways of the

89This is the order of the Most High, when they began to be kept from the corruptible vessel. In that time they dwelt in it, they served the Most High with labor, and every hour they endured danger, so that they might perfectly keep the law of the Lawgiver.

90the danger, that they might perfectly keep the law of the Lawgiver. Therefore this is concerning them:

91First, they see with great joy the glory of him who receives them.

92The first order: because with much struggle they have fought to overcome the evil thought formed with them, so that it might not lead them astray from life into death.

93The second order: because they see the entanglement in which the souls of the ungodly wander, and the punishment that awaits them.

94The third order: seeing the testimony that he who formed them bore concerning them, that while they lived they kept the law that was entrusted to them.

95The fourth order: they understand the rest in which, now gathered in their storehouses, they will rest in great silence, guarded by angels, and the glory that remains for them in the last times.

96The fifth order: they rejoice that they have now escaped what is corruptible, and how they will inherit what is to come, while still seeing the narrow and toil-filled way, because they have been delivered.

97The sixth order: when it will be shown to them how their face will begin to shine like the sun, and how they will begin to be made like the light of the stars, being from then on incorruptible.

98The seventh order, which is greater than all the orders mentioned above: they will exult with confidence, and trust without being put to shame, and rejoice without fear, for they hasten to see the face of him whom they served while living, and from whom they, being glorified, are to receive their reward.

99[him], whom the living serve and from whom the glorious begin to receive their reward. This is the order of the souls of the righteous, as it is now announced; [and these are] the previously described ways of torment, which

100And I answered and said, “Then will time be given to the souls, after they have been separated from the bodies, to see that of which you told me?”

101And he said, “For seven days they will have freedom, so that they may see the things that were foretold.”

102And I answered and said, “If I have found favor before your eyes, show me also, your servant, whether on the day

103will they be able to excuse the ungodly at the righteous judgment, or to entreat the Most High for them, as fathers for children, or children for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for neighbors,

104And he answered me and said, “Because you have found favor before my eyes, I will show you this also: the day of judgment is a decisive day and will display to all the seal of truth. For just as a father does not send a son, or a son a father, or a master a servant, or a friend a beloved one, to speak on his behalf in the judgment

105or a friend who is most dear, that he may understand, or sleep, or eat, or be healed for him; so no one will ever pray for another, for all will then bear, each one, his own unrighteousnesses or righteousnesses.”

106And I answered and said, “How then do we now find that first Abraham prayed for the Sodomites, and Moses for the fathers who sinned in the wilderness,

107and Joshua after him for Israel in the days of Achar, and Samuel in the days of Saul,

108and David for the destruction, and Solomon for those in sanctification,

109and Elijah for those who received rain and for the dead man, that he might live,

110and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many for many?

111If then now, when corruption has increased and unrighteousness has multiplied, the righteous prayed for the ungodly, why will it not also be so then?”

112And he answered me and said, “The present age is not the end; glory does not remain in it continually. Therefore those who were able prayed for the weak.

113For the day of judgment will be the end of this time and the beginning of the immortal time to come, in which corruption has passed away,

114self-indulgence has been ended, unbelief has been cut off, but righteousness has grown and truth has arisen.

115Therefore no one will then be able to have mercy on one who has been defeated in the judgment, nor to cast down one who has prevailed.

116And I answered and said, “This is my first and last word: it would have been better not to give the earth to Adam, or else, when it had already been given, to restrain him so that he would not sin.”

117For what does it profit all to live in sorrow in the present and, when dead, to expect punishment?

118O Adam, what have you done? For if you sinned, your fall was not yours alone, but also ours, we who have come from you.

119For what does it profit us if an immortal age has been promised to us, but we have done mortal works?

120And if everlasting hope has been foretold to us, but we have become utterly vain?

121And if dwellings of health and safety have been laid up, but we have conducted ourselves wickedly?

122And since the glory of the Most High will begin to protect those who have conducted themselves chastely, but we have walked in the most evil ways?

123And because paradise will be shown, whose fruit remains incorruptible, in which there is fullness and healing,

124but we will not enter, for we have lived in ungrateful places?

125And because the faces of those who practiced self-control will shine above the stars, but our faces will be blacker than darkness?

126For while we lived and committed iniquity, we did not consider what we would begin to suffer after death.”

127And he answered and said, “This is the thought of the struggle that the man born on the earth has fought:

128if he is defeated, he will suffer what you have said; but if he conquers, he will receive what I say.

129For this is the way that Moses spoke of to the people while he lived, saying, ‘Choose life for yourself, that you may live.’

130But they did not believe him, nor the prophets after him, nor even me, who spoke to them.

131For there should be no grief over their destruction, just as there will be joy over those to whom salvation has been promised.”

132And I answered and said, “I know, Lord, that the Most High is now called merciful because he has mercy on those who have not yet come into the age,”

133and compassionate, because he shows compassion to those who turn back to his law,

134and long-suffering, because he shows long-suffering toward those who have sinned, as toward his own works,

135and generous, because indeed he is willing to give rather than demand,

136and of great mercy, because he multiplies mercies for those who are present and those who have passed away and those who are to come.

137For if he does not multiply them, the age will not be given life with those who dwell in it.

138And he is generous, because if he did not give from his goodness, so that those who have committed iniquities might be relieved of their iniquities, not even a ten-thousandth part of mankind could be made alive,

139And if the Judge did not forgive those who were created by his word and blot out the multitude of acts of contempt, perhaps only a very few would be left from an innumerable multitude.