2 Esdras 9:26–10:59

The Abiding Glory of the Mosaic Law

²⁶So I went, as he directed me, into the field that is called Ardat;^b there I sat among the flowers and ate of the plants of the field, and the nourishment they afforded satisfied me. ²⁷After seven days, while I lay on the grass, my heart was troubled again as it was before.^{* 28}Then my mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Most High and said,^{* 29}“O Lord, you showed yourself among us to our ancestors in the wilderness when they came out from Egypt and when they came into the untrodden and unfruitful wilderness,^{* 30}and you said, ‘Hear me, O Israel, and give heed to my words, O descendants of Jacob. ³¹For I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you, and you shall be glorified through it forever.’^{* 32}But though our ancestors received the law, they did not keep it and did not observe the^c statutes, yet the fruit of the law did not perish, for it could not, because it was yours.^{* 33}Yet those who received it perished because they did not keep what had been sown in them. ³⁴Now this is the general rule, that when the ground has received seed or the sea a ship or any dish food or drink, and when it comes about that what was sown or what was launched or what was put in is destroyed, ³⁵they are destroyed, but the things that held them remain, yet with us it has not been so. ³⁶For we who have received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our hearts that received it;^{* 37}the law, however, does not perish but survives in its glory.”^*

The Vision of a Weeping Woman

³⁸When I said these things in my heart, I looked around,^d and on my right I saw a woman; she was mourning and weeping with a loud voice and was deeply grieved at heart; her clothes were torn, and there were ashes on her head.^{* 39}Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged and turned to her^{* 40}and said to her, “Why are you weeping, and why are you grieved at heart?”

⁴¹She said to me, “Let me alone, my lord, so that I may weep for myself and continue to mourn, for I am greatly embittered in spirit and deeply distressed.”

⁴²I said to her, “What has happened to you? Tell me.”

⁴³And she said to me, “Your servant was barren and had no child, though I lived with my husband for thirty years.^{* 44}Every hour and every day during those thirty years I prayed to the Most High, night and day.^{* 45}And after thirty years God heard your servant and looked upon my low estate and considered my distress and gave me a son. I rejoiced greatly over him, I and my husband and all my neighbors,^e and we gave great glory to the Mighty One.^{* 46}And I brought him up with much care. ⁴⁷So when he grew up and I came to take a wife for him, I set a day for the marriage feast.^*

¹⁰“But it happened that, when my son entered his wedding chamber, he fell down and died. ²So all of us put out our lamps, and all my neighbors^f attempted to console me; I remained quiet until the evening of the second day.^{* 3}But when all of them had stopped consoling me, encouraging me to be quiet, I got up in the night and fled, and I came to this field, as you see. ⁴And now I intend not to return to the town but to stay here; I will neither eat nor drink but will mourn and fast continually until I die.”^*

⁵Then I broke off the reflections with which I was still engaged and answered her in anger and said,^{* 6}“You most foolish of women, do you not see our mourning and what has happened to us? ⁷For Zion, the mother of us all, is in deep grief and great distress.^{* 8}It is most appropriate to mourn now, because we are all mourning, and to be sorrowful, because we are all sorrowing; you are sorrowing for one son.^{g 9}Now ask the earth, and she will tell you that it is she who ought to mourn over so many who have come into being upon her.^{* 10}From the beginning all have been born of her, and others will come, and, behold, almost all walk to perdition, and a multitude of them will come to doom.^{* 11}Who, then, ought to mourn the more: she who lost so great a multitude or you who are grieving for one alone? ¹²But if you say to me, ‘My lamentation is not like the earth’s, for I have lost the fruit of my womb, which I brought forth in pain and bore in sorrow,^{* 13}but it is with the earth according to the way of the earth: the multitude that is now in it goes as it came,’ ¹⁴then I say to you, ‘Just as you brought forth in sorrow, so the earth also has from the beginning given her fruit, that is, humankind, to him who made her.’^{* 15}Now, therefore, keep your sorrow to yourself, and bear bravely the troubles that have come upon you. ¹⁶For if you acknowledge the decree of God to be just, you will receive your son back in due time and will be praised among women.^{* 17}Therefore go into the town to your husband.”

¹⁸She said to me, “I will not do so; I will not go into the city, but I will die here.”^*

¹⁹So I spoke again to her and said, ²⁰“Do not do that, but let yourself be persuaded—for how many are the adversities of Zion?—and be consoled because of the sorrow of Jerusalem. ²¹For you see how our sanctuary has been laid waste, our altar thrown down, our temple destroyed;^{* 22}our harp has been laid low, our song has been silenced, and our rejoicing has been ended; the light of our lampstand has been put out, the ark of our covenant has been plundered, our holy things have been polluted, and the name by which we are called has been almost profaned; our children^h have suffered abuse, our priests have been burned to death, our Levites have gone into exile, our virgins have been defiled, and our wives have been ravished; our righteous menⁱ have been carried off, our little ones have been cast out, our young men have been enslaved and our strong men made powerless.^{* 23}And, worst of all, the seal of Zion has been deprived of its glory and given over into the hands of those who hate us.^{* 24}Therefore shake off your great sadness and lay aside your many sorrows, so that the Mighty One may be merciful to you again and the Most High may give you rest, a respite from your troubles.”

²⁵While I was talking to her, her face suddenly began to shine exceedingly; her countenance flashed like lightning, so that I was too frightened to approach her, and my heart was terrified. While^j I was wondering what this meant, ²⁶she suddenly uttered a loud and fearful cry so that the earth shook at the sound. ²⁷When I looked up, the woman was no longer visible to me, but a city was being built,^k and a place of huge foundations showed itself. I was afraid and cried with a loud voice and said,^{* 28}“Where is the angel Uriel, who came to me at first? For it was he who brought me into this overpowering bewilderment; my end has become corruption and my prayer a reproach.”^*

Uriel’s Interpretation of the Vision

²⁹While I was speaking these words, the angel who had come to me at first came to me, and when he saw me^{* 30}lying there like a corpse, deprived of my understanding, he grasped my right hand and strengthened me and set me on my feet and said to me,^{* 31}“What is the matter with you? And why are you troubled? And why are your understanding and the thoughts of your mind troubled?”

³²I said, “It was because you abandoned me. I did as you directed and went out into the field, and behold, what I have seen and can still see, I am unable to explain.”^*

³³He said to me, “Stand up like a man, and I will instruct you.”^*

³⁴I said, “Speak, my lord; only do not forsake me, so that I may not die before my time.^{l 35}For I have seen what I did not know, and I hear^m what I do not understand ³⁶—or is my mind deceived and my soul dreaming?^{* 37}Now therefore I beg you to give your servant an explanation of this bewildering vision.”

³⁸He answered me and said, “Listen to me, and I will teach you and tell you about the things that you fear, for the Most High has revealed many secrets to you.^{* 39}He has seen your righteous conduct and that you have sorrowed continually for your people and mourned greatly over Zion.^{* 40}This therefore is the meaning of the vision. ⁴¹The woman who appeared to you a little while ago, whom you saw mourning and whom you began to console^{* 42}(you do not now see the form of a woman, but there appeared to you a city being built)^{n* 43}and who told you about the misfortune of her son—this is the interpretation: ⁴⁴The woman whom you saw is Zion, which you now behold as a city being built.^{o* 45}And as for her telling you that she was barren for thirty years, the reason is that there were three thousand^p years in the world before any offering was offered in it.^{q* 46}And after three thousand^r years Solomon built the city and offered offerings; then it was that the barren woman bore a son.^{* 47}And as for her telling you that she brought him up with much care, that was the period of residence in Jerusalem. ⁴⁸And as for her saying to you, ‘My son died as he entered his wedding chamber,’ and that misfortune had overtaken her,^s this was the destruction that befell Jerusalem.^{* 49}So you saw her likeness, how she mourned for her son, and you began to console her for what had happened.^{t* 50}For now the Most High, seeing that you are sincerely grieved and profoundly distressed for her, has shown you the brilliance of her glory and the loveliness of her beauty. ⁵¹Therefore I told you to remain in the field where no house had been built,^{* 52}for I knew that the Most High would reveal these things to you. ⁵³Therefore I told you to go into the field where there was no foundation of any building,^{* 54}because no work of human construction could endure in a place where the city of the Most High was to be revealed.

⁵⁵“Therefore do not be afraid, and do not let your heart be terrified, but go in and see the splendor or^u the vastness of the building, as far as it is possible for your eyes to see it,^{* 56}and afterward you will hear as much as your ears can hear. ⁵⁷For you are more blessed than many, and you have been called to be with^v the Most High as few have been.^{* 58}…