2 Esdras 14:36–48

³⁶But let no one come to me now, and let no one seek me for forty days.”^*

The Restoration of the Scriptures

³⁷So I took the five men, as he had commanded me, and we proceeded to the field and remained there.^{* 38}And on the next day a voice called me, saying, “Ezra, open your mouth and drink what I give you to drink.”^{* 39}So I opened my mouth, and a full cup was offered to me; it was full of something like water, but its color was like fire. ⁴⁰I took it and drank, and when I had drunk it, my heart poured forth understanding, and wisdom increased in my breast, for my spirit retained its memory, ⁴¹and my mouth was opened and was no longer closed.^{* 42}Moreover, the Most High gave understanding to the five men, and by turns they wrote what was dictated, using characters that they did not know.ⁿ They sat forty days; they wrote during the daytime and ate their bread at night.^{* 43}But as for me, I spoke in the daytime and was not silent at night. ⁴⁴So during the forty days, ninety-four^o books were written.^{* 45}And when the forty days were ended, the Most High spoke to me, saying, “Make public the twenty-four^p books that you wrote first, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them,^{* 46}but keep the seventy that were written last, in order to give them to the wise among your people. ⁴⁷For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge.”^{* 48}And I did so.^q