2 Esdras 14:36–48

³⁶Let no man therefore come unto me now, nor seek after me these 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, Esdras, open thy mouth, and drink that I give thee 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 colour of it was like fire. ⁴⁰And 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 strengthened my memory: ⁴¹And my mouth was opened, and shut no more. ⁴²The Highest gave understanding unto the five men, and they wrote the wonderful visions of the night that were told, 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 spake in the day, and I held not my tongue by night. ⁴⁴In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books. ⁴⁵And it came to pass, when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Highest spake, saying, The first that thou hast written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it: ⁴⁶But keep the seventy last, that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people: ⁴⁷For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge. ⁴⁸And I did so.