2 Esdras 5–6

Chapter 5

¹“Now concerning the signs: behold, the days are coming when those who dwell on earth shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith. ²And unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly. ³And the land which you now see ruling shall be waste and untrodden, and men shall see it desolate. ⁴But if the Most High grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion after the third period;

and the sun shall suddenly shine forth at night,

and the moon during the day.

⁵Blood shall drip from wood,

and the stone shall utter its voice;

the peoples shall be troubled,

and the stars shall fall.

⁶And one shall reign whom those who dwell on earth do not expect, and the birds shall fly away together;

⁷and the sea of Sodom shall cast up fish; and one whom the many do not know shall make his voice heard by night, and all shall hear his voice.

⁸There shall be chaos also in many places, and fire shall often break out, and the wild beasts shall roam beyond their haunts, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters.

⁹And salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall conquer one another; then shall reason hide itself, and wisdom shall withdraw into its chamber,

¹⁰and it shall be sought by many but shall not be found, and unrighteousness and unrestraint shall increase on earth.

¹¹And one country shall ask its neighbor, ‘Has righteousness, or any one who does right, passed through you?’ And it will answer, ‘No.’

¹²And at that time men shall hope but not obtain; they shall labor but their ways shall not prosper.

¹³These are the signs which I am permitted to tell you, and if you pray again, and weep as you do now, and fast for seven days, you shall hear yet greater things than these.”

¹⁴Then I awoke, and my body shuddered violently, and my soul was so troubled that it fainted. ¹⁵But the angel who had come and talked with me held me and strengthened me and set me on my feet.

¹⁶Now on the second night Phaltiel, a chief of the people, came to me and said, “Where have you been? And why is your face sad? ¹⁷Or do you not know that Israel has been entrusted to you in the land of their exile? ¹⁸Rise therefore and eat some bread, so that you may not forsake us, like a shepherd who leaves his flock in the power of cruel wolves.”

¹⁹Then I said to him, “Depart from me and do not come near me for seven days, and then you may come to me.”

He heard what I said and left me. ²⁰So I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, as Uriel the angel had commanded me.

²¹And after seven days the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again. ²²Then my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began once more to speak words in the presence of the Most High. ²³And I said, “O sovereign Lord, from every forest of the earth and from all its trees thou hast chosen one vine, ²⁴and from all the lands of the world thou hast chosen for thyself one region, and from all the flowers of the world thou hast chosen for thyself one lily, ²⁵and from all the depths of the sea thou hast filled for thyself one river, and from all the cities that have been built thou hast consecrated Zion for thyself, ²⁶and from all the birds that have been created thou hast named for thyself one dove, and from all the flocks that have been made thou hast provided for thyself one sheep, ²⁷and from all the multitude of peoples thou hast gotten for thyself one people; and to this people, whom thou hast loved, thou hast given the law which is approved by all. ²⁸And now, O Lord, why hast thou given over the one to the many, and dishonored the one root beyond the others, and scattered thine only one among the many? ²⁹And those who opposed thy promises have trodden down those who believed thy covenants. ³⁰If thou dost really hate thy people, they should be punished at thy own hands.”

³¹When I had spoken these words, the angel who had come to me on a previous night was sent to me, ³²and he said to me, “Listen to me, and I will instruct you; pay attention to me, and I will tell you more.”

³³And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Are you greatly disturbed in mind over Israel? Or do you love him more than his Maker does?”

³⁴And I said, “No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out part of his judgment.”

³⁵And he said to me, “You cannot.” And I said, “Why not, my lord? Why then was I born? Or why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, that I might not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?”

³⁶He said to me, “Count up for me those who have not yet come, and gather for me the scattered raindrops, and make the withered flowers bloom again for me; ³⁷open for me the closed chambers, and bring forth for me the winds shut up in them, or show me the picture of a voice; and then I will explain to you the travail that you ask to understand.”

³⁸And I said, “O sovereign Lord, who is able to know these things except he whose dwelling is not with men? ³⁹As for me, I am without wisdom, and how can I speak concerning the things which thou hast asked me?”

⁴⁰He said to me, “Just as you cannot do one of the things that were mentioned, so you cannot discover my judgment, or the goal of the love that I have promised my people.”

⁴¹And I said, “Yet behold, O Lord, thou dost have charge of those who are alive at the end, but what will those do who were before us, or we, or those who come after us?”

⁴²He said to me, “I shall liken my judgment to a circle; just as for those who are last there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.”

⁴³Then I answered and said, “Couldst thou not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, that thou mightest show thy judgment the sooner?”

⁴⁴He replied to me and said, “The creation cannot make more haste than the Creator, neither can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.”

⁴⁵And I said, “How hast thou said to thy servant that thou wilt certainly give life at one time to thy creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.”

⁴⁶He said to me, “Ask a woman’s womb, and say to it, ‘If you bear ten children, why one after another?’ Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.”

⁴⁷I said, “Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time.”

⁴⁸He said to me, “Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. ⁴⁹For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so have I organized the world which I created.”

⁵⁰Then I inquired and said, “Since thou hast now given me the opportunity, let me speak before thee. Is our mother, of whom thou hast told me, still young? Or is she now approaching old age?”

⁵¹He replied to me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you. ⁵²Say to her, “Why are those whom you have borne recently not like those whom you bore before, but smaller in stature?‘ ⁵³And she herself will answer you, ‘Those born in the strength of youth are different from those born during the time of old age, when the womb is failing.’ ⁵⁴Therefore you also should consider that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those who were before you, ⁵⁵and those who come after you will be smaller than you, as born of a creation which already is aging and passing the strength of youth.”

⁵⁶And I said, “O Lord, I beseech thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show thy servant through whom thou dost visit thy creation.”

Chapter 6

¹And he said to me, “At the beginning of the circle of the earth, before the portals of the world were in place, and before the assembled winds blew, ²and before the rumblings of thunder sounded, and before the flashes of lightning shone, and before the foundations of paradise were laid, ³and before the beautiful flowers were seen, and before the powers of movement were established, and before the innumerable hosts of angels were gathered together, ⁴and before the heights of the air were lifted up, and before the measures of the firmaments were named, and before the footstool of Zion was established, ⁵and before the present years were reckoned; and before the imaginations of those who now sin were estranged, and before those who stored up treasures of faith were sealed— ⁶then I planned these things, and they were made through me and not through another, just as the end shall come through me and not through another.”

⁷And I answered and said, “What will be the dividing of the times? Or when will be the end of the first age and the beginning of the age that follows?”

⁸He said to me, “From Abraham to Isaac, because from him were born Jacob and Esau, for Jacob’s hand held Esau’s heel from the beginning. ⁹For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the age that follows. ¹⁰For the beginning of a man is his hand, and the end of a man is his heel; between the heel and the hand seek for nothing else, Ezra!”

¹¹I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, if I have found favor in thy sight, ¹²show thy servant the end of thy signs which thou didst show me in part on a previous night.”

¹³He answered and said to me, “Rise to your feet and you will hear a full, resounding voice. ¹⁴And if the place where you are standing is greatly shaken ¹⁵while the voice is speaking, do not be terrified; because the word concerns the end, and the foundations of the earth will understand ¹⁶that the speech concerns them. They will tremble and be shaken, for they know that their end must be changed.”

¹⁷When I heard this, I rose to my feet and listened, and behold, a voice was speaking, and its sound was…