2 Esdras 7

Response to Ezra’s Questions

⁷When I had finished speaking these words, the angel who had been sent to me on the former nights was sent to me again.^{* 2}He said to me, “Rise, Ezra, and listen to the words that I have come to speak to you.”

³I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “There is a sea set in a wide expanse so that it is deep and vast, ⁴but it has an entrance set in a narrow place, so that it is like a river. ⁵If there are those who wish to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can they come to the broad part unless they pass through the narrow part?^{* 6}Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things, ⁷but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left.^{* 8}There is only one path lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that only one person can walk on the path. ⁹If now the city is given to someone as an inheritance, how will the heir receive the inheritance unless by passing through the appointed danger?”

¹⁰I said, “That is right, lord.” He said to me, “So also is Israel’s portion. ¹¹For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged.^{* 12}And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships.^{* 13}But the entrances of the greater world are broad and safe and yield the fruit of immortality.^{* 14}Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and futile experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them.^{* 15}Now, therefore, why are you disturbed, seeing that you are to perish? Why are you moved, seeing that you are mortal? ¹⁶Why have you not considered in your mind what is to come rather than what is now present?”

The Fate of the Ungodly

¹⁷Then I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, you have ordained in your law that the righteous shall inherit these things but that the ungodly shall perish.^{* 18}The righteous, therefore, can endure difficult circumstances while hoping for easier ones, but those who have done wickedly have suffered the difficult circumstances and will never see the easier ones.”^*

¹⁹He said to me, “You are not a better judge than the Lord^t or wiser than the Most High!^{* 20}Let many perish who are now living rather than that the law of God that is set before them be disregarded! ²¹For the Lord^u strictly commanded those who came into the world, when they came, what they should do to live and what they should observe to avoid punishment.^{* 22}Nevertheless, they were not obedient and spoke against him;

they devised for themselves vain thoughts^*

²³and proposed to themselves wicked frauds;

they even declared that the Most High does not exist,

and they ignored his ways.^*

²⁴They scorned his law

and denied his covenants;

they have been unfaithful to his statutes

and have not performed his works.^*

²⁵“That is the reason, Ezra, that empty things are for the empty and full things are for the full.^*

The Temporary Messianic Kingdom

²⁶“For indeed the time will come when the signs that I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city that now is not seen shall appear^v and the land that now is hidden shall be disclosed.^{* 27}Everyone who has been delivered from the evils that I have foretold shall see my wonders.^{* 28}For my son the Messiah^w shall be revealed with those who are with him, and those who remain shall rejoice four hundred years.^{* 29}After those years my son the Messiah shall die, and all who draw human breath.^{x* 30}Then the world shall be turned back to primeval silence for seven days, as it was at the first beginnings, so that no one shall be left.^{* 31}After seven days the world that is not yet awake shall be roused, and that which is corruptible shall perish. ³²The earth shall give up those who are asleep in it and the dust those who rest there in silence, and the chambers shall give up the souls that have been committed to them.^{* 33}The Most High shall be revealed on the seat of judgment, and compassion shall pass away, and patience shall be withdrawn.^{y* 34}Only judgment shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong.^{* 35}Recompense shall follow, and the reward shall be manifested; righteous deeds shall awake, and unrighteous deeds shall not sleep.^{* 36}The pit^z of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest, and the furnace of Gehenna shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight.^{* 37}Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead, ‘Look now, and understand whom you have denied, whom you have not served, whose commandments you have despised. ³⁸Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments.’ Thus he will speak to them on the day of judgment,^{* 39}a day that has no sun or moon or stars,^{* 40}or cloud or thunder or lightning, or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning, ⁴¹or summer or spring or heat or winter^a or frost or cold, or hail or rain or dew, ⁴²or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendor of the glory of the Most High, by which all shall see what has been destined.^{* 43}It will last as though for a week of years. ⁴⁴This is my judgment and its prescribed order, and to you alone I have shown these things.”^*

Only a Few Will Be Saved

⁴⁵I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, I said then and^b I say now: Blessed are those who are alive and keep your commandments!^{* 46}But what of those for whom I prayed? For who among the living is there who has not sinned, or who is there among mortals who has not transgressed your covenant?^{* 47}And now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few but torments to many.^{* 48}For an evil heart has grown up in us that has alienated us from these and has brought us into corruption and the ways of death and has shown us the paths of perdition and removed us far from life—and that not merely for a few but for almost all who have been created.”^*

⁴⁹He answered me and said, “Listen to me, Ezra,^c and I will instruct you and will admonish you once more. ⁵⁰For this reason the Most High has made not one world but two.^{* 51}Inasmuch as you have said that the righteous are not many but few, while the ungodly abound, hear the explanation for this.

⁵²“If you have just a few precious stones, will you add to them lead and clay?”^{d 53}I said, “Lord, how could that be?” ⁵⁴And he said to me, “Not only that, but ask the earth, and she will tell you; defer to her, and she will declare it to you.^{* 55}Say to her, ‘You produce gold and silver and bronze and also iron and lead and clay,^{* 56}but silver is more abundant than gold, and bronze than silver, and iron than bronze, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.’ ⁵⁷Judge therefore which things are precious and desirable, those that are abundant or those that are rare?”

⁵⁸I said, “O sovereign Lord, what is plentiful is of less worth, for what is more rare is more precious.”

⁵⁹He answered me and said, “Consider within yourself what you have thought, for the person who has what is hard to get rejoices more than the person who has what is plentiful. ⁶⁰So also will be the judgment^e that I have promised, for I will rejoice over the few who shall be saved because it is they who have made my glory to prevail now, and through them my name has now been honored.^{* 61}I will not grieve over the great number of those who perish, for it is they who are now like a mist and are similar to a flame and smoke—they are set on fire and burn hotly and are extinguished.”^*

Lamentation of Ezra, with Response

⁶²I replied and said, “O earth, what have you brought forth, if the mind is made out of the dust like the other created things? ⁶³For it would have been better if the dust itself had not been born, so that the mind might not have been made from it.^{* 64}But now the mind grows with us, and therefore we are tormented, because we perish and we know it. ⁶⁵Let the human race lament, but let the wild animals of the field be glad; let all who have been born lament, but let the cattle and the flocks rejoice. ⁶⁶It is much better with them than with us, for they do not look for a judgment, and they do not know of any torment or salvation promised to them after death. ⁶⁷What does it profit us that we shall be preserved alive but cruelly tormented? ⁶⁸For all who have been born are entangled in^f iniquities and are full of sins and burdened with transgressions. ⁶⁹And if after death we were not to come into judgment, perhaps it would have been better for us.”^*

⁷⁰He answered me and said, “When the Most High made the world and Adam and all who have come from him, he first prepared the judgment and the things that pertain to the judgment.^{* 71}But now, understand from your own words, for you have said that the mind grows with us.^{* 72}For this reason, therefore, those who live on earth shall be tormented, because though they had understanding they committed iniquity, and though they received the commandments they did not keep them, and though they obtained the law they dealt unfaithfully with what they received.^{* 73}What, then, will they have to say in the judgment, or how will they answer in the last times? ⁷⁴How long the Most High has been patient with those who inhabit the world!—and not for their sake but because of the times that he has foreordained.”^*

State of the Dead before Judgment

⁷⁵I answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, show this also to your servant: whether after death, as soon as everyone of us yields up the soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when you will renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?”^*

⁷⁶He answered me and said, “I will show you that also, but do not include yourself with those who have shown scorn, or…