2 Esdras 9–10

Chapter 9

¹He answered me then, and said, Measure thou the time diligently in itself: and when thou seest part of the signs past, which I have told thee before, ²Then shalt thou understand, that it is the very same time, wherein the Highest will begin to visit the world which he made. ³Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people in the world: ⁴Then shalt thou well understand, that the most High spake of those things from the days that were before thee, even from the beginning. ⁵For like as all that is made in the world hath a beginning and an end, and the end is manifest: ⁶Even so the times also of the Highest have plain beginnings in wonder and powerful works, and endings in effects and signs. ⁷And every one that shall be saved, and shall be able to escape by his works, and by faith, whereby ye have believed, ⁸Shall be preserved from the said perils, and shall see my salvation in my land, and within my borders: for I have sanctified them for me from the beginning. ⁹Then shall they be in pitiful case, which now have abused my ways: and they that have cast them away despitefully shall dwell in torments. ¹⁰For such as in their life have received benefits, and have not known me; ¹¹And they that have loathed my law, while they had yet liberty, and, when as yet place of repentance was open unto them, understood not, but despised it; ¹²The same must know it after death by pain. ¹³And therefore be thou not curious how the ungodly shall be punished, and when: but enquire how the righteous shall be saved, whose the world is, and for whom the world is created.

¹⁴Then answered I and said, ¹⁵I have said before, and now do speak, and will speak it also hereafter, that there be many more of them which perish, than of them which shall be saved: ¹⁶Like as a wave is greater than a drop.

¹⁷And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so is also the seed; as the flowers be, such are the colours also; such as the workman is, such also is the work; and as the husbandman is himself, so is his husbandry also: for it was the time of the world. ¹⁸And now when I prepared the world, which was not yet made, even for them to dwell in that now live, no man spake against me. ¹⁹For then every one obeyed: but now the manners of them which are created in this world that is made are corrupted by a perpetual seed, and by a law which is unsearchable rid themselves. ²⁰So I considered the world, and, behold, there was peril because of the devices that were come into it. ²¹And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept me a grape of the cluster, and a plant of a great people. ²²Let the multitude perish then, which was born in vain; and let my grape be kept, and my plant; for with great labour have I made it perfect. ²³Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more, (but thou shalt not fast in them, ²⁴But go into a field of flowers, where no house is builded, and eat only the flowers of the field; taste no flesh, drink no wine, but eat flowers only;) ²⁵And pray unto the Highest continually, then will I come and talk with thee.

²⁶So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath, like as he commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and did eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same satisfied me. ²⁷After seven days I sat upon the grass, and my heart was vexed within me, like as before: ²⁸And I opened my mouth, and began to talk before the most High, and said, ²⁹O Lord, thou that shewest thyself unto us, thou wast shewed unto our fathers in the wilderness, in a place where no man treadeth, in a barren place, when they came out of Egypt. ³⁰And thou spakest, saying, Hear me, O Israel; and mark my words, thou seed of Jacob. ³¹For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you, and ye shall be honoured in it for ever. ³²But our fathers, which received the law, kept it not, and observed not thy ordinances: and though the fruit of thy law did not perish, neither could it, for it was thine; ³³Yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them. ³⁴And, lo, it is a custom, when the ground hath received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, that, that being perished wherein it was sown or cast into, ³⁵That thing also which was sown, or cast therein, or received, doth perish, and remaineth not with us: but with us it hath not happened so. ³⁶For we that have received the law perish by sin, and our heart also which received it. ³⁷Notwithstanding the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his force.

³⁸And when I spake these things in my heart, I looked back with mine eyes, and upon the right side I saw a woman, and, behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved in heart, and her clothes were rent, and she had ashes upon her head. ³⁹Then let I my thoughts go that I was in, and turned me unto her, ⁴⁰And said unto her, Wherefore weepest thou? why art thou so grieved in thy mind?

⁴¹And she said unto me, Sir, let me alone, that I may bewail myself, and add unto my sorrow, for I am sore vexed in my mind, and brought very low.

⁴²And I said unto her, What aileth thee? tell me.

⁴³She said unto me, I thy servant have been barren, and had no child, though I had an husband thirty years, ⁴⁴And those thirty years I did nothing else day and night, and every hour, but make my, prayer to the Highest. ⁴⁵After thirty years God heard me thine handmaid, looked upon my misery, considered my trouble, and gave me a son: and I was very glad of him, so was my husband also, and all my neighbours: and we gave great honour unto the Almighty. ⁴⁶And I nourished him with great travail. ⁴⁷So when he grew up, and came to the time that he should have a wife, I made a feast.

Chapter 10

¹And it so came to pass, that when my son was entered into his wedding chamber, he fell down, and died. ²Then we all overthrew the lights, and all my neighbours rose up to comfort me: so I took my rest unto the second day at night. ³And it came to pass, when they had all left off to comfort me, to the end I might be quiet; then rose I up by night, and fled, and came hither into this field, as thou seest. ⁴And I do now purpose not to return into the city, but here to stay, and neither to eat nor drink, but continually to mourn and to fast until I die.

⁵Then left I the meditations wherein I was, and spake to her in anger, saying, ⁶Thou foolish woman above all other, seest thou not our mourning, and what happeneth unto us? ⁷How that Sion our mother is full of all heaviness, and much humbled, mourning very sore? ⁸And now, seeing we all mourn and are sad, for we are all in heaviness, art thou grieved for one son? ⁹For ask the earth, and she shall tell thee, that it is she which ought to mourn for the fall of so many that grow upon her. ¹⁰For out of her came all at the first, and out of her shall all others come, and, behold, they walk almost all into destruction, and a multitude of them is utterly rooted out. ¹¹Who then should make more mourning than she, that hath lost so great a multitude; and not thou, which art sorry but for one? ¹²But if thou sayest unto me, My lamentation is not like the earth’s, because I have lost the fruit of my womb, which I brought forth with pains, and bare with sorrows; ¹³But the earth not so: for the multitude present in it according to the course of the earth is gone, as it came: ¹⁴Then say I unto thee, Like as thou hast brought forth with labour; even so the earth also hath given her fruit, namely, man, ever since the beginning unto him that made her. ¹⁵Now therefore keep thy sorrow to thyself, and bear with a good courage that which hath befallen thee. ¹⁶For if thou shalt acknowledge the determination of God to be just, thou shalt both receive thy son in time, and shalt be commended among women. ¹⁷Go thy way then into the city to thine husband.

¹⁸And she said unto me, That will I not do: I will not go into the city, but here will I die.

¹⁹So I proceeded to speak further unto her, and said, ²⁰Do not so, but be counselled by me: for how many are the adversities of Sion? be comforted in regard of the sorrow of Jerusalem. ²¹For thou seest that our sanctuary is laid waste, our altar broken down, our temple destroyed; ²²Our psaltery is laid on the ground, our song is put to silence, our rejoicing is at an end, the light of our candlestick is put out, the ark of our covenant is spoiled, our holy things are defiled, and the name that is called upon us is almost profaned: our children are put to shame, our priests are burnt, our Levites are gone into captivity, our virgins are defiled, and our wives ravished; our righteous men carried away, our little ones destroyed, our young men are brought in bondage, and our strong men are become weak; ²³And, which is the greatest of all, the seal of Sion hath now lost her honour; for she is delivered into the hands of them that hate us. ²⁴And therefore shake off thy great heaviness, and put away the multitude of sorrows, that the Mighty may be merciful unto thee again, and the Highest shall give thee rest and ease from thy labour.

²⁵And it came to pass while I was talking with her, behold, her face upon a sudden shined exceedingly, and her countenance glistered, so that I was afraid of her, and mused what it might be. ²⁶And, behold, suddenly she made a great cry very fearful: so that the earth shook at the noise of the woman. ²⁷And I looked, and, behold, the woman appeared unto me no more, but there was a city builded, and a large place shewed itself from the foundations: then was I afraid, and cried with a loud voice, and said, ²⁸Where is Uriel the angel, who came unto me at the first? for he hath caused me to fall into many trances, and mine end is turned into corruption, and my prayer to rebuke.

²⁹And as I was speaking these words behold, he came unto me, and looked upon me. ³⁰And, lo, I lay as one that had been dead, and mine…