XIV. And it came to pass aupon the third day, I sat under an oak, and behold, there came a voice out of a bush over against me, and said, Esdras, Esdras. 2 And I said, Here am I, Lord. And I stood up upon my feet. 3 Then said he unto me, bIn the bush I did manifestly reveal myself unto Moses, and talked with him, when my people served in Egypt: 4 and I sent him, and led my people out of Egypt, and brought him up to the mount of Sinai, cwhere I held him by me a long season, 5 and told him many wondrous things, and shewed him the secrets of the times, and the end; and commanded him, saying, 6 These words shalt thou declare, and these shalt thou hide. 7 And now I say unto thee, 8 That thou lay up in thy heart the signs that I have shewed, and the dreams that thou hast seen, and the interpretations which thou hast heard: 9 for thou shalt be taken away from all, and from henceforth thou shalt remain with my * Son, and with such as be dlike thee, until the times be ended. 10 For ethe world hath lost his youth, and ethe times begin to wax old. 11 For the world is divided into twelve parts, and the ten parts of it are gone already, and half of a tenth part: 12 and there remaineth that which is after the half of the tenth part. 13 Now therefore fset thine house in order, and reprove thy people, comfort such of them as be in trouble, and now renounce corruption, 14 let go from thee mortal thoughts, gcast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature, 15 and set aside the thoughts that are most heavy unto thee, and haste thee to flee from these times. 16 For hyet greater evils than those which thou hast seen happen shall be done hereafter. 17 For look how much the world shall be weaker through age, so much the more shall evils increase upon them that dwell therein. 18 For ithe truth is fled far away, and kleasing is hard at hand: for now hasteth the vision to come, which thou hast seen.

19 Then answered I before thee, and said, 20 Behold, Lord, I will go, las thou hast commanded me, and reprove the people which are present: but they that shall be born afterward, who shall admonish them? thus the world is set in darkness, and they that dwell therein are without light. 21 For mthy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the works that shall begin. 22 But nif I have found grace before thee, osend the Holy Ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath been done in the world since the beginning, which were written in thy law, that men may find thy path, and that they which will live pin the latter days may live. 23 And he answered me, saying, Go thy way, gather the people together, and say unto them, qthat they seek thee not rfor forty days. 24 But look thou prepare thee many * box trees, and take with thee Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, * Ecanus, and Asiel, these five which are sready to write swiftly; 25 and come hither, and I tshall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out, till the things be performed which thou shalt begin to write. 26 And when thou hast done, some things shalt thou publish, and usome things shalt thou shew secretly to the wise: to morrow this hour shalt thou begin to write. 27 Then went I forth, as he commanded, and gathered all the people together, and said,

28 wHear these words, O Israel. 29 xOur fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt, from whence they were delivered: 30 and yreceived the law of life, which they kept not, which ye also have transgressed after them. 31 Then was the land, even the land of Sion, parted among you by lot: but your fathers, and ye yourselves, have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Highest commanded you. 32 And forasmuch as he is za righteous judge, he took from you in time the thing that he had given you. 33 And now are you ahere, and your brethren among you. 34 Therefore if so be that you will subdue your own understanding, and reform your hearts, ye shall be kept alive, and after death ye shall obtain mercy. 35 For bafter death shall the judgment come, when we shall live again: and then shall the names of the righteous be manifest, and the works of the ungodly shall be declared. 36 cLet no man therefore come unto me now, nor seek after me these forty days. 37 So I took dthe five men, eas he commanded me, and we went into the field, and remained there. 38 And the next day, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, fopen thy mouth, and drink that I give thee to drink. 39 Then 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. 40 And 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: 41 and gmy mouth was opened, and shut no more. 42 The Highest gave understanding unto ethe 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. 43 As for me, I spake in the day, and held not my tongue by night. 44 cIn forty days they wrote * two hundred and four books. 45 And it came to pass, when cthe forty days were fulfilled, that the Highest spake, saying, hThe first that thou hast written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it: 46 but hkeep the seventy last, that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people: 47 for in them is the spring of understanding, ithe fountains of wisdom, and * the stream of knowledge. 48 And I did so.