2 Esdras 5:31–6:36

31 When I had spoken these words, the angel who had come to me on a previous night was sent to me, 32 and he said to me, “Listen to me, and I will instruct you; pay attention to me, and I will tell you more.”

33 And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Are you greatly disturbed in mind over Israel? Or do you love him more than his Maker does?”

34 And I said, “No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out part of his judgment.”

35 And he said to me, “You cannot.” And I said, “Why not, my lord? Why then was I born? Or why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, that I might not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?”

36 He said to me, “Count up for me those who have not yet come, and gather for me the scattered raindrops, and make the withered flowers bloom again for me; 37 open for me the closed chambers, and bring forth for me the winds shut up in them, or show me the picture of a voice; and then I will explain to you the travail that you ask to understand.”

38 And I said, “O sovereign Lord, who is able to know these things except he whose dwelling is not with men? 39 As for me, I am without wisdom, and how can I speak concerning the things which thou hast asked me?”

40 He said to me, “Just as you cannot do one of the things that were mentioned, so you cannot discover my judgment, or the goal of the love that I have promised my people.”

41 And I said, “Yet behold, O Lord, thou dost have charge of those who are alive at the end, but what will those do who were before us, or we, or those who come after us?”

42 He said to me, “I shall liken my judgment to a circle; just as for those who are last there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.”

43 Then I answered and said, “Couldst thou not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, that thou mightest show thy judgment the sooner?”

44 He replied to me and said, “The creation cannot make more haste than the Creator, neither can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.”

45 And I said, “How hast thou said to thy servant that thou wilt certainly give life at one time to thy creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.”

46 He said to me, “Ask a woman’s womb, and say to it, ‘If you bear ten children, why one after another?’ Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.”

47 I said, “Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time.”

48 He said to me, “Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. 49 For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so have I organized the world which I created.”

50 Then I inquired and said, “Since thou hast now given me the opportunity, let me speak before thee. Is our mother, of whom thou hast told me, still young? Or is she now approaching old age?”

51 He replied to me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you. 52 Say to her, “Why are those whom you have borne recently not like those whom you bore before, but smaller in stature?‘ 53 And she herself will answer you, ‘Those born in the strength of youth are different from those born during the time of old age, when the womb is failing.’ 54 Therefore you also should consider that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those who were before you, 55 and those who come after you will be smaller than you, as born of a creation which already is aging and passing the strength of youth.”

56 And I said, “O Lord, I beseech thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show thy servant through whom thou dost visit thy creation.”

Chapter 6

1 And he said to me, “At the beginning of the circle of the earth, before the portals of the world were in place, and before the assembled winds blew, 2 and before the rumblings of thunder sounded, and before the flashes of lightning shone, and before the foundations of paradise were laid, 3 and before the beautiful flowers were seen, and before the powers of movement were established, and before the innumerable hosts of angels were gathered together, 4 and before the heights of the air were lifted up, and before the measures of the firmaments were named, and before the footstool of Zion was established, 5 and before the present years were reckoned; and before the imaginations of those who now sin were estranged, and before those who stored up treasures of faith were sealed— 6 then I planned these things, and they were made through me and not through another, just as the end shall come through me and not through another.”

7 And I answered and said, “What will be the dividing of the times? Or when will be the end of the first age and the beginning of the age that follows?”

8 He said to me, “From Abraham to Isaac, because from him were born Jacob and Esau, for Jacob’s hand held Esau’s heel from the beginning. 9 For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the age that follows. 10 For the beginning of a man is his hand, and the end of a man is his heel; between the heel and the hand seek for nothing else, Ezra!”

11 I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, if I have found favor in thy sight, 12 show thy servant the end of thy signs which thou didst show me in part on a previous night.”

13 He answered and said to me, “Rise to your feet and you will hear a full, resounding voice. 14 And if the place where you are standing is greatly shaken 15 while the voice is speaking, do not be terrified; because the word concerns the end, and the foundations of the earth will understand 16 that the speech concerns them. They will tremble and be shaken, for they know that their end must be changed.”

17 When I heard this, I rose to my feet and listened, and behold, a voice was speaking, and its sound was like the sound of many waters. 18 And it said, “Behold, the days are coming, and it shall be that when I draw near to visit the inhabitants of the earth, 19 and when I require from the doers of iniquity the penalty of their iniquity, and when the humiliation of Zion is complete, 20 and when the seal is placed upon the age which is about to pass away, then I will show these signs: the books shall be opened before the firmament, and all shall see it together. 21 Infants a year old shall speak with their voices, and women with child shall give birth to premature children at three and four months, and these shall live and dance. 22 Sown places shall suddenly appear unsown, and full storehouses shall suddenly be found to be empty; 23 and the trumpet shall sound aloud, and when all hear it, they shall suddenly be terrified. 24 At that time friends shall make war on friends like enemies, and the earth and those who inhabit it shall be terrified, and the springs of the fountains shall stand still, so that for three hours they shall not flow.

25 “And it shall be that whoever remains after all that I have foretold to you shall himself be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of my world. 26 And they shall see the men who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death; and the heart of the earth’s inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit. 27 For evil shall be blotted out, and deceit shall be quenched; 28 faithfulness shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and the truth, which has been so long without fruit, shall be revealed.”

29 While he spoke to me, behold, little by little the place where I was standing began to rock to and fro. 30 And he said to me, “I have come to show you these things this night. 31 If therefore you will pray again and fast again for seven days, I will again declare to you greater things than these, 32 because your voice has surely been heard before the Most High; for the Mighty One has seen your uprightness and has also observed the purity which you have maintained from your youth. 33 Therefore he sent me to show you all these things, and to say to you: ‘Believe and do not be afraid! 34 Do not be quick to think vain thoughts concerning the former times, lest you be hasty concerning the last times.’ ”

35 Now after this I wept again and fasted seven days as before, in order to complete the three weeks as I had been told. 36 And on the eighth night my heart was troubled within me again, and I began to speak in the presence of the Most High.