2 Esdras

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

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

3Then said HE to me, In the bush I did manifestly reveal MYSELF to Mosheh, and talked with him, when MY people were in bondage in Egypt:

4And I sent him and led MY people out of Egypt, and led him up upon Mount Sinai of where I kept him by ME many days,

5And told him many wondrous things, and shown him the secrets of the times, and declared to him the end of the times. Then I commanded him, saying,

6These words shall you declare, and these shall you hide.

7And now I say to you,

8That you lay up in your heart the signs that I have shown, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard:

9For you shall be taken away from all, and from henceforth you shall remain with MY Son, and with those such as be like you, until the times are ended.

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

11For the age of the world is divided into twelve parts, and nine parts of it have already passed, and half of the tenth part:

12So that two of its parts remain, that which is after the half part of the tenth.

13Now therefore set your house in order, and reprove your people, comfort the lowly among them, and instruct those that are wise.

14And now renounce corruption, and put away from you mortal thoughts, cast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature,

15And lay aside the thoughts that are most heavy and grievous to you, and hasten to flee from these times.

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

17For the weaker the world becomes through old age, the more shall evils be multiplied among its inhabitants.

18For truth shall go farther away, and falsehood shall come near. For the eagle which you saw in the vision is hastening to come.

19Then I answered and said, Let me speak in your presence, YAHWEH,

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

21For YOUR Torah is burnt, therefore no man knows the things that are done of YOU, or the work that shall begin.

22But if I have found free unmerited favor before YOU, send the Ruach HaKodesh into me, and I shall write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, which were written in YOUR Torah, that men may find YOUR path, and that they which will live in the latter days may live.

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

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

25And come hither, and I shall light a menorah of understanding in your heart, which shall not be put out until the writings and purpose be performed.

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

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

28Hear these words, Oh Yisrael.

29Our fathers in the beginning were strangers in Egypt, from there they were delivered:

30And received the Torah of Life, which they did not keep, which you also have transgressed after them.

31Then was the land, even the land of Zion, parted among you by lot for a possession: but you and your fathers committed iniquity and unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Most High YAHWEH commanded you.

32And because HE is a righteous judge, in due time HE took from you what HE had given you.

33And now are you here, and your brethren are farther in the interior.

34If you, then will rule over your minds and subdue your own understanding, and discipline your hearts, you shall be kept alive and after death you shall obtain mercy.

35For after death shall the judgment come, when we shall live again: and then the names of the righteous shall become manifest, and the deeds of the wicked shall be declared.

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

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

38And the next day, behold, a voice called me, saying, Ezra, open your mouth, and drink that I give you to drink.

39Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, HE reached me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the color of it 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 ruach strengthened and retained my memory:

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

42And the Most High YAHWEH gave understanding to the five men, and by turns they wrote the wonderful visions of the night that were dictated, which they knew not: and they sat forty days, and they wrote in the day, and at night they ate bread.

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

44In forty days they wrote ninety-four books.

45And it came to pass, when the forty days were completed, that the Most High YAHWEH spoke to me, saying, The first twenty-four books that you have written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read them:

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

47For in them is the wellspring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge.

48And I did so.