Author: admin

1 And it came to pass upon the third day, I sat under an oak, and, behold, there came a voice out of a bush over against me, and said, Esdras, Esdras.

2 And I said, Here am I, Lord. And I stood up upon my feet.

3 Then said he to me, In the bush I did manifestly reveal myself, and talked with Moses, when my people were in bondage in Egypt:

4 and I sent him, andhe led my people out of Egypt; and I brought him up to the mount of Sinai, where I held him by me for many days;

5 and told him many wondrous things, and showed him the secrets of the times, and the end of the seasons; and commanded him, saying,

6 These words shall you publish openly, and these shall you hide.

7 And now I say to you,

8 Lay up in your heart the signs that I have showed, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard:

9 for you shall be taken away from men, and from henceforth you shall remain with my Son, and with such as be like you, until the times be ended.

10 For the world has lost its youth, and the times begin to wax old.

11 For the world is divided into twelve parts, and ten parts of it are gone already,even the half of the tenth part:

12 and there remain of it two parts after the middle of the tenth part.

13 Now therefore set your house in order, and reprove your people, comfort the lowly among them,and instruct such of them as be wise, and now renounce the life that is corruptible,

14 and let go from the mortal thoughts, cast away from you the burdens of man, put off now your weak nature,

15 and lay aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and haste you to remove from these times.

16 For yet worse evils than those which you have seen happen shall be done hereafter.

17 For look, how much the world shall be weaker through age, so much the more shall evils increase upon them that dwell therein.

18 For the truth shall withdraw itself further off, and leasing be hard at hand: for now hastensthe eagle to come, which you saw in vision.

19 Then answered I and said,I will speak before you, O Lord.

20 Behold, I will go, as you have commanded me, and reprove the people that now be: but they that shall be born afterward, who shall admonish them? for the world is set in darkness, and they that dwell therein are without light.

21 For your law is burned, therefore no man knows the things that are done of you, or the works that shall be done.

22 But if I have found favor before you, send the Holy Spirit to me, and I shall write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, even the things that were written in your law, that men may be able to find the path, and that they which would live in the latter days may live.

23 And he answered me and said, Go your way, gather the people together, and say to them, that they seek you not for forty days.

24 But look you prepare you many tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ethanus, and Asiel, these five, which are ready to write swiftly;

25 and come here, and I shall light a lamp of understanding in your heart, which shall not be put out, till the things be ended which you shall write.

26 And when you have done, some things shall you publish openly, and some things shall you deliver in secret to the wise: tomorrow this hour shall you begin to write.

27 Then went I forth, as he commanded me, and gathered all the people together, and said,

28 Hear these words, O Israel.

29 Our fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt, and they were delivered from thence,

30 and received the law of life, which they kept not, which you⌃ also have transgressed after them.

31 Then wasthe land, even the land of Sion, given you for a possession: but you⌃ yourselves, and your fathers, have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Most High commanded you.

32 And forasmuch as he is a righteous judge, he took from you for a while the thing that he had given you.

33 And now you⌃ are here, and your brethren are among you.

34 Therefore if so be that you⌃ will rule over your own understanding, and instruct your hearts, you⌃ shall be kept alive, and after death you⌃ shall obtain mercy.

35 For after death shall the judgement come, when we shall live again: and then shall the names of the righteous be manifest, and the works of the ungodly shall be declared.

36 Let no man therefore come to me now, nor seek after me these forty days.

37 So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went forth into the field, and remained there.

38 And it came to pass on the morrow that, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, open your mouth, and drink that I give you to drink.

39 Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, there was reached to me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the color of it was like fire.

40 And I took it, and drank: and when I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit retained its memory:

41 and my mouth was opened, and shut no more.

42 The Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote by course the things that were told them, incharacters which they knew not, and they sat forty days: now they wrote in the day-time, and at night they ate bread.

43 As for me, I spoke in the day, and by night I held not my tongue.

44 So in forty days were writtenfourscore and fourteen books.

45 And it came to pass, when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Most High spoke to me, saying, The first that you have written publish openly, and let the worthy and unworthy read it:

46 but keep the seventy last, that you may deliver them to such as be wise among your people:

47 for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.

48 And I did so.

1 Behold, speak you in the ears of my people the words of prophecy, which I will put in your mouth, says the Lord:

2 and cause you them to be written in paper: for they are faithful and true.

3 Fear not their imaginations against you, let not the unbelief of them that speak against you trouble you.

4 For all the unbelievers shall die in their unbelief.

5 Behold, says the Lord, I bring evils upon the whole earth; sword and famine, and death and destruction.

6 For wickedness has prevailed over every land, and their hurtful works are come to the full.

7 Therefore says the Lord,

8 I will hold my peace no more as touching their wickedness, which they profanely commit, neither will I suffer them in these things, which they wickedly practise: behold, the innocent and righteous blood cries to me, and the souls of the righteous cry out continually.

9 I will surely avenge them, says the Lord, and will receive to me all the innocent blood from among them.

10 Behold, my people is led as a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them now to dwell in the land of Egypt:

11 but I will bring them out with a mighty hand and with a high arm, and will strike Egypt with plagues, as aforetime, and will destroy all the land thereof.

12 Let Egypt mourn, and the foundations thereof, for the plague of the chastisement and the punishment that God shall bring upon it.

13 Let the husbandmen that till the ground mourn: for their seeds shall fail and their trees shall be laid waste through the blasting and hail, and a terrible star.

14 Woe to the world and them that dwell therein!

15 for the sword and their destruction draweth near, and nation shall rise up against nation to battle with weapons in their hands.

16 For there shall be sedition among men; and waxing strong one against another, they shall not regard their king nor the chief of their great ones, in their might.

17 For a man shall desire to go into a city, and shall not be able.

18 For because of their pride the cities shall be troubled, the houses shall be destroyed,andmen shall be afraid.

19 A man shall have no pity upon his neighbor, but shall make an assault on their houses with the sword, and spoil their goods, because of the lack of bread, and for great tribulation.

20 Behold, says God, I call together all the kings of the earth, to stir up them that are from the rising of the sun, from the south, from the east, and Libanus; to turn themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them.

21 Like as they do yet this day to my chosen, so will I do also, and recompense in their bosom. Thus says the Lord God:

22 My right hand shall not spare the sinners, and my sword shall not cease over them that shed innocent blood upon the earth.

23 And a fire is gone forth from his wrath, and has consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like the straw that is kindled.

24 Woe to them that sin, and keep not my commandments! says the Lord.

25 I will not spare them: go your way, you⌃ rebellious children, defile not my sanctuary.

26 For the Lord knows all them that trespass against him, therefore has he delivered them to death and destruction.

27 For now are the evils come upon the whole earth, and you⌃ shall remain in them: for God shall not deliver you, because you⌃ have sinned against him.

28 Behold, a vision horrible, and the appearance thereof from the east!

29 And the nations of the dragons of Arabia shall come out with many chariots, and from the day that they set forth the hissing of them is carried over the earth, so that all they which shall hear them may fear also and tremble.

30 Also the Carmonians raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood, and with great power shall they come, and join battle with them, and shall waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth.

31 And then shall the dragons have the upper hand, remembering theirnature; and if they shall turn themselves, conspiring together in great power to persecute them,

32 then these shall be troubled, and keep silence through their power, and shall turn and flee.

33 And from the land of the Assyrians shall the lier in wait besiege them, and consume one of them, and upon their host shall be fear and trembling, and sedition against their kings.

34 Behold, clouds from the east and from the north to the south, and they are very horrible to look upon, full of wrath and storm.

35 They shall dash one against another, and they shall pour out a plentifulstorm upon the earth, even their own star; and there shall be blood from the sword to the horse’s belly,

36 and to the thigh of man, and to the camel’s hough.

37 And there shall be fearfulness and great trembling upon earth: and they that see that wrath shall be afraid, and trembling shall take hold upon them.

38 And after this shall there be stirred up great storms from the south, and from the north, and another part from the west.

39 And strong winds shall arise from the east, and shall shut it up, even the cloud which he raised up in wrath; and the star that was to cause destruction by the east wind shall be violently driven toward the south and west.

40 And great clouds and mighty and full of wrath shall be lifted up, and the star, that they may destroy all the earth, and them that dwell therein; and they shall pour out over every high and eminent one a terrible star,

41 fire, and hail, and flying swords, and many waters, that all plains may be full, and all rivers, with the abundance of those waters.

42 And they shall break down the cities and walls, mountains and hills, trees of the wood, and grass of the meadows, and their corn.

43 And they shall go on stedfastly to Babylon, and destroy her.

44 They shall come to her, and compass her about; the star and all wrath shall they pour out upon her: then shall the dust and smoke go up to the heaven, and all they that be about her shall bewail her.

45 And they that remain shall do service to them that have put her in fear.

46 And you, Asia, that are partaker in the beauty of Babylon, and in the glory of her person:

47 woe to you, you wretch, because you have made yourself like to her; you have decked your daughters in whoredom, that they might please and glory in your lovers, which have always desired you to commit whoredom withal!

48 You have followed her that is hateful in all her works and inventions: therefore says God,

49 I will send evils upon you; widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, to waste your houses to destruction and death.

50 And the glory of your power shall be dried up as a flower, when the heat shall arise that is sent over you.

51 You shall be weakened as a poor woman with stripes, and as one chastened with wounds, so that your mighty ones andyourlovers you shall not be able to receive.

52 Would I with jealousy have so proceeded against you, says the Lord,

53 if you had not always slain my chosen, exalting the stroke of your hands, and saying over theirdead, when you were drunken,

54 Set forth the beauty of your countenance?

55 The reward of a harlot shall be in your bosom, therefore shall you receive recompense.

56 Like as you shall do to my chosen, says the Lord, even so shall God do to you, and shall deliver you into mischief.

57 And your children shall die of hunger, and you shall fall by the sword: and your cities shall be broken down, and all your shall perish by the sword in the field.

58 And they that be in the mountains shall die of hunger, and eat their own flesh, and drinktheir ownblood, for very hunger of bread, and thirst of water.

59 You unhappy above all shall come and shall again receive evils.

60 And in the passage they shall rush on theidle city, and shall destroy some portion of your land, and mar part of your glory, and shall return again to Babylon that was destroyed.

61 And you shall be cast down by them as stubble, and they shall be to you as fire;

62 and shall devour you, and your cities, your land, and your mountains; all your woods and your fruitful trees shall they burn up with fire.

63 They shall carry your children away captive, and shall spoil your wealth, and mar the glory of your face.

1 Woe to you, Babylon, and Asia! woe to you, Egypt, and Syria!

2 Gird up yourselves with sackcloth and garments of hair, and bewail your children, and lament; for your destruction is at hand.

3 A sword is sent upon you, and who is he that may turn it back?

4 A fire is sent upon you, and who is he that may quench it?

5 Evils are sent upon you, and who is he that may drive them away?

6 May one drive away a hungry lion in the wood? or may one quench the fire in stubble, when it has once begun to burn?

7 May one turn again the arrow that is shot of a strong archer?

8 The Lord God sends the evils, and who shall drive them away?

9 A fire shall go forth from his wrath, and who is he that may quench it?

10 He shall cast lightning, and who shall not fear? he shall thunder, and who shall not tremble?

11 The Lord shall threaten, and who shall not be utterly broken in pieces at his presence?

12 The earth quaketh, and the foundations thereof; the sea arises up with waves from the deep, and the waves of it shall be troubled, and the fishes thereof also, at the presence of the Lord, and before the glory of his power:

13 for strong is his right hand that bendeth the bow, his arrows that he shooteth are sharp, and shall not miss, when they begin to be shot into the ends of the world.

14 Behold, the evils are sent forth, and shall not return again, until they come upon the earth.

15 The fire is kindled, and shall not be put out, till it consume the foundations of the earth.

16 Like as an arrow which is shot of a mighty archer returns not backward, even so the evils that are sent forth upon earth shall not return again.

17 Woe is me! woe is me! who will deliver me in those days?

18 The beginning of sorrows, andthere shall begreat mournings; the beginning of famine, and many shall perish; the beginning of wars, and the powers shall stand in fear; the beginning of evils, and all shall tremble! what shall they do inallthis when the evils shall come?

19 Behold, famine and plague, tribulation and anguish! they are sent as scourges for amendment.

20 But for all these things they shall not turn them from their wickedness, nor be always mindful of the scourges.

21 Behold, food shall be so good cheap upon earth, that they shall think themselves to be in good case, and even then shall evils grow upon earth, sword, famine, and great confusion.

22 For many of them that dwell upon earth shall perish of famine; and the other, that escape the famine, shall the sword destroy.

23 And the dead shall be cast out as dung, and there shall be no man to comfort them: for the earth shall be left desolate, and the cities thereof shall be cast down.

24 There shall be no husbandman left to till the earth, and to sow it.

25 The trees shall give fruit, and who shall gather them?

26 The grapes shall ripen, and who shall tread them? for inallplaces there shall be a great forsaking:

27 for one man shall desire to see another, or to hear his voice.

28 For of a city there shall be ten left, and two of the field, which have hidden themselves in the thick groves, and in the clefts of the rocks.

29 As in an orchard of olives upon every tree there be left three or four olives,

30 or as when a vineyard is gathered there be some clusters left by them that diligently seek through the vineyard;

31 even so in those days there shall be three or four left by them that search their houses with the sword.

32 And the earth shall be left desolate, and the fields thereof shall be for briers, and her ways and all her paths shall bring forth thorns, because no sheep shall pass therethrough.

33 The virgins shall mourn, having no bridegrooms; the women shall mourn, having no husbands; their daughters shall mourn, having no helpers.

34 In the wars shall their bridegrooms be destroyed, and their husbands shall perish of famine.

35 Hear now these things, and understand them, you⌃ servants of the Lord.

36 Behold, the word of the Lord, receive it: disbelieve not the things whereof the Lord speaks.

37 Behold, the evils draw near, and are not slack.

38 Like as a woman with child in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draweth near, within two or three hours doleful pains compass her womb, and when the child comes forth from the womb, there shall be no tarrying for a moment:

39 even so shall not the evils be slack to come upon the earth, and the world shall groan, and sorrows shall take hold of it on every side.

40 O my people, hear my word: make you ready to the battle, and in those evils be even as pilgrims upon the earth.

41 He that selleth, let him be as he that fleeth away: and he that buys, as one that will lose:

42 he that occupieth merchandise, as he that has no profit by it: and he that builds, as he that shall not dwell therein:

43 he that sows, as if he should not reap: so also he that pruneththe vines,as he that shall not gather the grapes:

44 they that marry, as they that shall get no children; and they that marry not, as the widowed.

45 Inasmuch as they that labor labor in vain;

46 for strangers shall reap their fruits, and spoil their goods, overthrow their houses, and take their children captive, for in captivity and famine shall they beget their children:

47 and they that traffick traffick to become a spoil: the more they deck their cities, their houses, their possessions, and their own persons,

48 the more will I hate them for their sins, says the Lord.

49 Like as a right honest and virtuous woman hates a harlot,

50 so shall righteousness hate iniquity, when she decketh herself, and shall accuse her to her face, when he comes that shall defend him that diligently searcheth out every sin upon earth.

51 Therefore be you⌃ not like thereto, nor to the works thereof.

52 For yet a little while, and iniquity shall be taken away out of the earth, and righteousness shall reign over us.

53 Let not the sinner say that he has not sinned: for he shall burn coals of fire upon his head, which says, I have not sinned before God and his glory.

54 Behold, the Lord knows all the works of men, their imaginations, their thoughts, and their hearts.

55 Who said, Let the earth be made; and it was made: Let the heaven be made; and it was made.

56 And at his word were the stars established, and he knows the number of the stars.

57 Who searcheth the deep, and the treasures thereof; he has measured the sea, and what it contains.

58 Who has shut the sea in the midst of the waters, and with his word has he hanged the earth upon the waters.

59 Who spreadeth out the heaven like a vault; upon the waters has he founded it.

60 Who has made in the desert springs of water, and pools upon the tops of the mountains, to send forth rivers from the height to water the earth.

61 Who framed man, and put a heart in the midst of the body, and gave him breath, life, and understanding,

62 yes, the spirit of God Almighty. He who made all things, and searcheth out hidden things in hidden places,

63 surely he knows your imagination, and what you⌃ think in your hearts. Woe to them that sin, and would fain hide their sin!

64 Forasmuch as the Lord will exactly search out all your works, and he will put you all to shame.

65 And when your sins are brought forth before men, you⌃ shall be ashamed, and your own iniquities shall stand as your accusers in that day.

66 What will you⌃ do? or how will you⌃ hide your sins before God and his angels?

67 Behold, God is the judge, fear him: leave off from your sins, and forget your iniquities, to meddle no more with them for ever: so shall God lead you forth, and deliver you from all tribulation.

68 For, behold, the burning wrath of a great multitude is kindled over you, and they shall take away certain of you, and feed you with that which is slain to idols.

69 And they that consent to them shall be had in derision and in reproach, and be trodden under foot of them.

70 For there shall bein various places, and in the next cities, a great insurrection upon those that fear the Lord.

71 They shall be like mad men, sparing none, but spoiling and destroying them that still fear the Lord.

72 For they shall waste and take away their goods, and cast them out of their houses.

73 Then shall be manifest the trial of mine elect; even as the gold that is tried in the fire.

74 Hear, O you⌃ mine elect, says the Lord: behold, the days of tribulation are at hand, and I will deliver you from them.

75 Be you⌃ not afraid, neither doubt; for God is your guide:

76 and you⌃ who keep my commandments and precepts, says the Lord God, let not your sins weigh you down, and let not your iniquities lift up themselves.

77 Woe to them that are fast bound with their sins, and covered with their iniquities, like as a field is fast bound with bushes, and the path thereof covered with thorns, that no man may travel through!

78 It is even shut off, and given up to be consumed of fire.