Chapter I
Esdras is sent to expostulate with the ungrateful Jews for neglecting God’s many great benefits.
THE second book of Esdras the prophet, the son of Sarei, the son of Azarei, the son of Helcias, the son of Sadanias, the son of Sadoch, the son of Achitob, the son of Achias, the son of Phinees, the son of Heli, the son of Amerias, the son of Asiel, the son of Marimoth, the son of Arna, the son of Ozias, the son of Borith, the son of Abisei, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron of the tribe of Levi; who was captive in the country of the Medes, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of the Persians. And the word of our Lord came to me, saying: Go, and tell My people their wicked deeds, and their children the iniquities, that they have done against Me, that they may tell their children’s children: because the sins of their parents are increased in them, for they being forgetful of Me have sacrificed to strange gods. Did not I bring them out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage? But they have provoked Me, and have despised My counsels. But do thou shake of the hair of thy head, and throw all evils upon them: because they have not obeyed My Law. And it is a people without discipline. How long shall I bear with them, on whom I have bestowed so great benefits? I have overthrown many kings from them. I have struck Pharao with his servants, and all his host. All nations did I destroy before their face, and in the East I dissipated the peoples of two provinces Tyre and Sidon, and I slew all their adversaries. But speak thou to them, saying: Thus saith our Lord: I made you pass through the sea, and gave you fenced straits from the beginning. I gave you Moses for your governor, and Aaron for the Priest: I gave you light by the pillar of fire, and did many marvellous things among you: but you have forgotten Me, saith our Lord. Thus saith our Lord omnipotent: The quail was a sign to you, I gave you a camp for defence, and there you murmured: And you triumphed not in My Name for the destruction of your enemies, but yet until now you have murmured. Where are the benefits, that I have given you? Did you not cry out to Me when you were hungry in the desert, saying: Why hast thou brought us into this desert to kill us? it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than to die in this desert. I was sorry for your mourning, and gave you manna to eat. You did eat bread of Angels. When you thirsted did not I cleave the rock, and waters flowed in abundance? for the heat I covered you with the leaves of trees. I delivered unto you fat lands: the Chananeites, and Pherezeites, and Philistheans I threw out from your face: what shall I yet do to you, saith our Lord? Thus saith our Lord omnipotent: In the desert when you were thirsty in the river of the Amorrhites, and blaspheming My Name, I gave you not fire for blasphemies, but casting wood into the water, I made the river sweet. What shall I do to thee, Iacob? Thou wouldst not obey, o Iuda. I will transfer myself to other nations, and will give them My Name, that they may keep My ordinances. Because you have forsaken Me, I also forsake you: when you ask mercy of Me, I will not have mercy. When you shall invoke Me, I will not hear you. For you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are quick to commit murders. Not as though you have forsaken Me, but yourselves, saith our Lord. Thus saith our Lord omnipotent, have not I desired you, as a father his sons, and a mother her daughters, and as a nurse her little ones, that you would be My people, and I your God, and to Me for children, and I to you for a father? So have I gathered you, as the hen her chickens under her wings. But now what shall I do to you? I will throw you from My face. When you shall bring Me oblation, I will turn away My face from you. For I have refused your festival days, and new-moons, and circumcisions. I sent My servants the prophets to you, whom being taken you slew, and mangled their bodies, whose blood I will require, saith our Lord. Thus saith our Lord omnipotent, your house is made desolate, I will throw you away, as the wind doth stubble, and your children shall not have issue: because they have neglected My commandment, and have done that which is evil before Me. I will deliver your houses to a people coming, who not hearing Me do believe: to whom I have not shewed signs, they will do the things that I have commanded. The prophets they have not seen, and they will be mindful of their iniquities. I call to witness the grace of the people coming, whose little ones rejoice with joy, not seeing me with their carnal eyes, but in spirit believing the things that I have said. And now brother behold what glory: and see people coming from the East, to whom I will give the conduction of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and of Osee, and Amos, and of Ioel, and Abdias, and Ionas, and Michaeas, and Naum and Habacuc, of Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, and Malachias, who also is called the Angel of our Lord.
Chapter II
The Synagogue expostulateth with her children for their ingratitude; shewing that they shall be forsaken, and the gentiles called.
THUS saith our Lord: I brought this people out of bondage, to whom I gave commandment by My servants the Prophets, whom they would not hear, but made My counsel frustrated. Their mother that bore them, saith to them: Go children, because I am a widow and forsaken. I brought you up with joy, and have lost you with mourning and sorrow, because you have sinned before our Lord your God, and have done that which is evil before Him. But now what shall I do to you? I am a widow and desolate, go My children, and ask mercy of our Lord. And I call thee o father a witness upon the mother of the children, that would not keep My testament, that thou give them confusion, and their mother into spoil, that there be no generation of them. Let their names be dispersed into the Gentiles, let them be destroyed out of the land: because they have despised My sacrament. Woe be to thee Assur, which hidest the wicked with thee. Thou naughty nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrha: whose land lieth in clods of pitch, and heaps of ashes: so will I make them, that have not heard Me, saith our Lord omnipotent. Thus saith our Lord to Esdras: Tell My people, that I will give them the kingdom of Ierusalem, which I meant to give to Israel. And I will take to Me the glory of them, and will give them eternal tabernacles, which I had prepared for them. The wood of life shall be to them for an odour of ointment, and they shall not labour, nor be wearied. Go and you shall receive. Ask for yourselves a few days, that they may abide. Now the kingdom is prepared for you, watch ye. Call thou heaven and earth to witness: for I have destroyed evil, and have created good, because I live saith our Lord. Mother embrace thy children, bring them up with joy. As a dove confirm their feet: because I have chosen thee, saith our Lord. And I will raise again the dead out of their places, and out of the monuments I will bring them forth, because I have known My Name in Israel. Feare not o mother of the children, because I have chosen thee, saith our Lord. I will send thee aid, My servants I say, and Ieremias, at whose counsel I have sanctified, and prepared for thee twelve trees laden with diverse fruits, and as many fountains flowing milk and honey: and seven huge mountains, having the rose and the lily, in the which I will fill thy children with ioy. Justify thou the widow, judge for the pupil, give to the needy, defend the orphan, clothe the naked, cure the broken and feeble, mock not the lame, defend the maimed, and admit the blind to the vision of My glory. The old man and the young keep within thy walls: where thou shalt find the dead, commit them to the grave signing it, and I will give thee the first seat in My Resurrection. Pause and rest My people, because thy rest shall come. As a good nurse nourish thy children, confirm their feet. The servants that I have given thee, none of them shall perish. For I will require them of thy number. Be not wearied. For when the day of affliction and distress shall come, others shall weep, and be sad, but thou shalt be merry and plenteous. The gentiles shall enuie, and shall be able to do nothing against thee, saith our Lord. My hands shall cover thee, that thy children see not hell. Be pleasant thou mother with thy children, because I will deliver thee, saith our Lord. Remember thy children that sleep, for I will bring them out of the sides of the earth, and will do mercy with them: because I am merciful, saith our Lord omnipotent. Embrace thy children till I come, and shew them mercy: because My fountains run over, and My grace shall not fail. I Esdras received commandment of our Lord, in mount Horeb; that I should go to Israel: to whom when I came, they refused me, and rejected the commandment of our Lord. And therefore, I say unto you gentiles, which hear, and understand, Look for your pastor, He will give you the rest of eternity: because He is at hand, That shall come in the end of the world. Be ye ready for the rewards of the kingdom, because perpetual light shall shine to you for time everlasting. Flee from the shadow of this world: receive ye the pleasantness of your glory. I openly call to witness My saviour. Receive the commended gift and be pleasant, giving thanks to Him That called you to the heavenly kingdoms. Arise, and stand and see the number of them that are signed in the feast of our Lord. They that have transferred themselves from the shadow of the world, have received glorious garments of our Lord. Receive o Sion thy number, and shut up thine made white, which have accomplished the law of our Lord. The number of thy children, which thou didst wish is full. Desire the power of our Lord that thy people may be sanctified, which was called from the beginning. I Esdras saw in mount Sion a great multitude, which I could not number, and they did all praise our Lord with songs. And in the midst of them was a young man high of stature, appearing above over them all, and he put crowns upon every one of their heads, and He was more exalted. And I was astonished at the miracle. Then asked I an Angel, and said: Who are these Lord? Who answering said to me: These are they that have laid of the mortal garment, and taken an immortal, and have confessed the Name of God. Now they are crowned, and receive palms. And I said to the Angel: That young man What is He, Which putteth the crowns upon them, and giveth palms into their hands? And answering he said to me: The same is the Son of God, Whom they did confess in the world: and I began to magnify them, that stood strongly for the Name of our Lord. Then said the Angel to me: Go, tell My people, what manner of marvellous things and how great, thou hast seen of the Lord God.
Chapter III
The works of God are wonderful from the beginning, and men ungrateful. In Abraham God chose to Himself a peculiar people: who nevertheless were forward, and obstinate. He also chose David, but still the people were sinful: the Babylonians also, by whom they are afflicted, are no less but rather greater sinners.
IN the thirtieth year of the ruin of the City I was in Babylon, and was troubled lying in my chamber, and my cogitations came up over my heart: because I saw the desolation of Sion, and the abundance of them that dwelt in Babylon. And my spirit was tossed exceedingly, and I began to speak to the Highest timorous words, and said: O Lord Dominator, Thou spokest from the beginning, when Thou didst plant the earth, and that alone, and didst rule over the people, and gavest Adam a dead body: but that also was the work of Thy hands, and didst breath into him the spirit of life, and he was made to live before Thee: and Thou broughtest him into paradise, which Thy right hand had planted, before the earth came. And him Thou didst command to love Thy way, and he transgressed it, and forthwith Thou didst institute death in him, and in his posterity, and there were born nations, and tribes, and peoples, and kindreds, whereof there is no number. And every nation walked in their own will, and they did marvellous things before Thee, and despised Thy precepts. And again in time Thou broughtest in the flood upon inhabitants of the world, and didst destroy them. And there was made in every one of them, as unto Adam to die, so to them the flood, but Thou didst leave one of them, Noe with his house and of him were all the just. And it came to pass, when they began to be multiplied, that dwelt upon the earth, and multiplied children and peoples and many nations: and they began again to do impiety more than the former. And it came to pass when they did iniquity before Thee, Thou didst choose Thee a man of them whose name was Abraham. And Thou didst love him and to him only Thou didst shew Thy will. And Thou didst dispose unto him an everlasting testament, and toldst him that Thou wouldst never forsake his seed. And Thou gavest him Isaac, and to Isaac Thou gavest Iacob and Esau. And Iacob Thou didst sever to Thyself, but Esau Thou didst separate. And Iacob grew to a great multitude. And it came to pass when Thou didst bring forth his seed out of Egypt, Thou broughtest it upon mount Sinai. And Thou didst bow the heavens, and fasten the earth, and didst shake the world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the world, and Thy glory passed four gates of fire, and of earthquake, and wind, and frost, that Thou mightest give a Law to the seed of Iacob, and to the generation of Israel diligence. And Thou didst not take away from them a malignant heart, that Thy Law might bring forth fruit in them. For Adam the first bearing a vicious heart transgressed and was overcome, yea and all that were borne of him. And it was made a permanent infirmity, and the Law with the heart of the people, with the wickedness of the root, and that which is good departed, and the wicked remained. And the times passed, and the years were ended: and Thou didst raise up unto Thee a servant named David, and spokest unto him to build a City of Thy Name, and to offer unto Thee in it frankincense, and oblations. And this was done many years, and they that inhabited the City forsook Thee, in all things as Adam and all his generations. For they also used a wicked heart. And Thou didst deliver Thy City into the hands of thine enemies. Why, do they better things, that inhabit Babylon? And for this shall she rule over Sion? It came to pass when I was come hither, and had seen the impieties that can not be numbered: and my soul saw many offending this thirtieth year, and my heart was astonished: because I saw how Thou bearest with their sin, and didst spare them that did impiously, and didst destroy Thine own people, and preserve Thine enemies, and didst not signify it. I nothing remember how this way should be forsaken: doth Babylon better things then Sion? Or hath any nation known Thee beside Israel: or what tribes have believed Thy testaments as Iacob? Whose reward hath not appeared, nor their labour fructified. For passing through I passed among the nations, and I saw them abound, and not mindful of Thy commandments. Now therefore weigh our iniquities in a balance, and theirs that dwell in the world: and Thy Name shall not be found, but in Israel. Or when have not they sinned in Thy sight, that inhabit the earth? or what nation hath so observed Thy commandments? These certainly by their names Thou shalt find to have kept Thy commandments, but the nations Thou shalt not find.
Chapter IV
Man’s wit and reason is not able to understand the counsel and judgment of God, why His people are afflicted by wicked nations, nor of times, and things to come.
AND the Angel answered me, that was sent to me, whose name was Uriel, and said to me: Thy heart exceeding hath exceeded in this world, and thou thinkest to comprehend the way of the Highest. And I said: It is so my Lord. And he answered me, and said: I am sent to shew thee three ways, and to propose to thee three similitudes. Of the which if thou shalt declare to me one of them, I also will shew thee the way which thou desirest to see, and will teach thee whence a wicked heart is. And I said, Speak my Lord. And he said to me: Go, weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me back the day that is past. And I answered, and said: what man born can do it, that thou askest me of these things? And he said to me: If I should ask thee, saying: How great habitations are there in the heart of the sea, or how great vanes be there in the beginning of the depth, or how great vanes be there above the firmament, and what are the issues of paradise: thou wouldst perhaps say to me: I have not descended into the depth, nor into hell as yet, neither have I ascended at any time into heaven. But now I have not asked thee, saving of the fire, and the wind, and the day by the which thou hast passed, and from the which thou canst not be separated: and thou hast not answered me of them. And he said to me: Thou canst not know the things that are thine which grow together with thee: and how can thy vessel comprehend the way of the Highest, and now the world being outwardly corrupted, understand the corruption evident in my sight: I said to him: Better were it for us not to be, then yet living to live in impieties, and to suffer, and not to understand for what thing. And he answered me, and said: Going forth I went forward to a wood of trees in the field, and they devised a device, and said: Come and let us go, and make war against the sea, that it may retire back before us, and we may make us other woods. And in like manner the waves of the sea they also devised a device, and said: Come let us go up, let us overthrow the woods of the field, that there also we may consummate another country for ourselves. And the woods device was made vain, for fire came, and consumed it. Likewise also the device of the waves of the sea. For the sand stood, and stayed them. For if thou wert judge of these, whom wouldst thou begin to justify, or whom to condemn? And I answered, and said: Verily they devised a vain device. For the earth is given to the wood, and a place to the sea to carry her waves. And he answered me, and said: Thou hast judged well, and why hast thou not judged for thyself? For as the earth is given to the wood, and the sea for the waves thereof: so they that inhabit upon the earth, can understand only the things that are upon the earth: and they upon the heavens, the things that are above the height of the heavens. And I answered, and said: I beseech thee Lord, that sense may be given me to understand. For I meant not to ask of thy superior things, but of those that pass by us daily. For what cause Israel is given into reproach to the gentiles, the people whom Thou hast loved, is given to impious tribes, and the Law of our fathers is brought to destruction, and the written ordinances are nowhere: and we have passed out of the world, as locusts, and our life is astonishment and dread, and we are not worthy to obtain mercy. But what will He do to His Name that is invoked upon us? and of these things I did ask. And he answered me, and said: If thou search very much, thou shalt often marvel: because the world hastening hasteneth to pass, and can not comprehend the things which in times to come are promised to the just: because this world is full of injustice and infirmities. But concerning the things that thou demandest I will tell thee: for the evil is sowed, and the destruction thereof is not yet come. If then that which is sown be not turned up, and the place depart where the evil is sown, that shall not come where the good is sown. Because the grain of ill seed hath been sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning: and how much impiety hath it engendered until now, and doth engender until the floor come? And esteem with thyself the grain of the ill seed, how much fruit of impiety it hath engendred: When the ears shall be cut, which are innumerable, what a great floor will they begin to make? And I answered, and said: How, and when shall these things be? why are our years few and evil? And he answered me, and said to me, Hasten not above the Highest. For thou dost hasten in vain to be above Him, for thy excess is much. Did not the souls of the just in the cellars, ask of these things, saying: How hope I so, and when shall the fruit come of the floor of our reward? And Ieremiel the Archangel answered to those things, and said: When the number of the seeds in you shall be filled, because He hath weighed the world in a balance, and with a measure hath He measured the times, and in number He hath numbered the times, and hath not moved, nor stirred them, until the foresaid measure be filled. And I answered, and said: O Lord Dominator, we also are all full of impiety. And left perhaps for us the floors of the just be not filled, for the sins of the inhabitants upon the earth. And he answered me, and said: Go, and ask a woman with child, if when she hath accomplished her nine months, her womb can yet hold the infant within it? And I said, It cannot Lord. And he said to me, in hell the cellars of the souls are like to the womb. For as she that is: In travail maketh hast, to escape the necessity of travailing: so this also hasteneth to render those things which are commended to it. From the beginning it shall be shewed thee touching those things, which thou dost covet to see. And I answered, and said: If I have found grace before thine eyes, and if it be possible, and if I by fit, shew me if there be more to come than is passed, or more things have passed, then are to come. What passed, I know: but what is to come, I know not. And he said to me: Stand upon the right side, and I will shew thee the interpretation of the similitude. And I stood, and saw: and behold a burning furnace passed before me, and it came to pass when the flame passed, I saw: and behold the smoke overcame. And these things there passed before me a cloudful of water, and with violence casting in much rain: and when the violence of rain was cast, the drops therein overcame. And he said to me: Think with thyself, as the rain increaseth more than the drops, and the fire than the smoke: so did the measure that passed, more a bound. But the drops, and the smoke overcame: and I prayed, and said, Shall I live thinkest thou until these days? or what shall be in those days? He answered me, and said: Of the signs whereof thou askest me, in part I can tell thee, howbeit of thy life I was not sent to tell thee, neither do I know.
Chapter V
Diverse signs of things to come are shewed to Esdras by an Angel: for the comfort of the people in captivity.
BUT concerning signs: behold the days shall come, wherein they that inhabit the earth shall be taken in a great number: and the way of truth shall be hid: and the country shall be barren from faith. And injustice shall be multiplied above that which thyself seest, and above that which thou hast heard in time past. And they shall put their foot into the country which now thou seest to reign, and they shall see it desolate. And if the Highest give thee life, thou shalt see after the third trumpet, and the sun shall suddenly shine again in the night, and the moon thrice in a day, and out of wood blood shall distil, and the stone shall give His voice, and the peoples shall be moved: and He reign, Whom they hope not that inhabit upon the earth, and souls shall make their flight away. And the sea of Sodom shall cast the fishes, and shall make a noise in the night, which many knew not, and all shall hear the voice thereof, and there shall be made a confusion in many places, and the fire shall often be sent back, and the savage beasts shall go to other places, and women in their monthly flowers shall bring forth monsters, and in sweet waters shall salt waters be found, and all friends shall overthrow one another: and then shall wit be hid, and understanding shall be separated into his cellar: and it shall be sought of many, and shall not be found: and injustice shall be multiplied, and incontinence upon the earth. And one country shall ask her neighbour, and shall say: Hath justice doing just passed through thee? and she shall deny it. And it shall be in that time, men shall hope, and shall not obtain: they shall labour, and their ways shall not have success. These signs I am permitted to tell thee: and if thou pray again and weep, as also now, and fast seven days, thou shalt hear again greater things then these. And I awaked, and my body did shiver exceedingly: and my soul laboured, that it fainted: and the Angel that came, that spake in me, held me, and strengthened me, and set me upon my feet. And it came to pass in the second night, and Salathiel the prince of the people came to me, and said to me: Where wast thou? and why is thy countenance heavy? Knowest thou not that Israel is committed to thee in the country of their transmigration? Rise up therefore, and taste bread, and forsake us not, as the pastor his flock in the hand of wicked wolves. And I said to him: Go from me, and approach not unto me. And he heard, as I said: and he departed from me. And I fasted seven days howling and weeping, as Uriel the Angel commanded me. And it came to pass after seven days, and again cogitations of my heart molested me very much, and my soul resumed the spirit of understanding: and again I began to speak words before the Highest: and I said: Lord Dominator of every wood of the earth, and all the trees thereof, Thou hast chosen one vineyard: and of every land of the world Thou hast chosen Thee one ditch: and of all the flowers of the world Thou hast chosen Thee one lily: and of all depths of the sea, Thou hast filled thee one river: and of all the builded cities, Thou hast sanctified unto Thyself Sion: and of all created souls, Thou hast named Thee one dove: and of all beasts that were made, Thou hast provided Thee one sheep: and of all multiplied peoples, Thou hast purchased Thee one people: and a Law approved of all Thou hast given to this people, whom Thou didst desire. And now Lord, why hast Thou delivered one unto many? And Thou hast prepared upon one root others, and hast dispersed Thy only one in many: and they have trodden upon it, which gainsaid Thy covenants, and which believed not Thy testaments. And if hating Thou hatest Thy people, it ought to be chastised with Thy hands. And it came to pass, when I had spoken the words, and the Angel was sent to me, that came to me before the night past, and he said to me: Hear me, and I will instruct thee: and harken to me, and I will add before thee. And I said: Speak my Lord. And he said to me: Thou art become exceedingly in excess of mind for Israel: hast thou loved it more then Him That made it? And I said to him: No Lord, but for sorrow I have spoken, for my veins torment me every hour, to apprehend the path of the Highest, and to search part of His judgement. And he said to me: Thou canst not. And I said: Why Lord? To what was I borne, or why was not my mothers womb my grave, that I might not see the labour of Iacob, and the weariness of the stock of Israel? And he said to me: Number me the things that are not yet come, and gather me the dispersed drops, and make me the withered flowers green again, and open me the shut cellars, and bring me forth the blasts enclosed in them, shew me the image of a voice: and then will I shew thee the labour that thou desirest to see. And I said: Lord Dominator, for Who is there that can know these things, but He that hath not His habitation with men? And I am unwise, and how can I speak of these things, which Thou hast asked me? And he said to me: As thou canst not do one of these things, which have bene said: so canst thou not find My judgement, or in the end the charity, which I have promised to the people. And I said: But behold Lord Thou art nigh to them that are near the end: and what shall they do that have been before me, or we, or they after us? And he said to me: I will resemble My judgement to a crown. As there shall not be slackness of the last, so neither swiftness of the former. And I answered, and said: Couldst thou not make them that have been, and that are, and that shall be, at once, that thou mayst shew thy judgement the quicker? And he answered me, and said: The creature cannot hasten above the Creator, nor the world sustain them that are to be created in it, at once. And I said: As thou didst say to Thy servant, that quickening Thou didst quicken the creature created by Thee at once, and the creature sustained it: it may now also bear them present at once. And he said to me: Ask the womb of a woman, and thou shalt say to it: And if thou bring forth children, why by times? Aske it therefore, that it give ten at once. And I said, it cannot verily: but according to time. And he said to me: And I have given a womb to the earth for them, that are sown upon it by time. For as the infant bringeth not forth the things that pertain to the aged, so have I disposed the world created of Me. And I asked, and said: Whereas Thou hast now given me a way, I will speak before Thee: for our mother, of whom Thou toldest me, yet she is young: now draweth nigh to old age. And he answered me, and said: Ask her that beareth children, and she will tell thee. For thou shalt say to her: Why are not they whom thou hast brought forth, now like to them that were before thee, but less of stature? And she also will say unto thee: They that are borne in the youth of strength are of one sort, and they of another, that are borne about the time of old age, when the womb faileth. Consider therefore thou also, that you are of less stature, than they that were before you: and they that are after you, of lesser then you, as it were creatures now waxing old, and past the strength of youth. And I said: I beseech Thee Lord, if I have found grace before Thine eyes, shew unto Thy servant, by whom Thou dost visit Thy creature.
Chapter VI
God knowing all things before they were made, created them for man: and considereth the ends of all.
AND He said to me: In the beginning of the earthly world, and before the ends of the world stood, and before the congregation of the winds did blow, and before the voices of thunders sounded, and before the flashings of lightnings shined, and before the foundations of paradise were confirmed, and before beautiful flowers were seen, and before the moved powers were established, and before the innumerable hosts of Angels were gathered, and before the heights of the air were advanced, and before the measures of the firmaments were named, and before the chimneys were hot in Sion, and before the present years were searched out, and before their inventions that now sin were put away, and they signed that made faith their treasure: then I thought, and they were made by Me only, and not by any other: and the end by Me, and not by any other. And I answered, and said: What separation of times shall there be? and when shall the end of the former be, and the beginning of that which followeth? And He said to me, from Abraham unto Isaac, when Iacob and Esau were borne of him, the hand of Iacob held from the beginning the heel of Esau, for the end of this world is Esau, and the beginning of the next Iacob. The hand of a man betwen the heel and the hand. Ask no other thing, Esdras. And I answered, and said: O Lord Dominator, if I have found grace before Thine eyes, I pray Thee shew Thy servant the end of Thy signs, whereof Thou didst shew me part the night before. And He answered, and said to me: Arise upon thy feet, and hear a voice most full of sound. And it shall be as it were a commotion, neither shall the place be moved wherein thou standest. Therefore when it speaketh, be not thou afraid, because of the end is the word, and the foundation of the earth understood, for concerning them the word trembleth and is moved, for it knoweth that their end must be changed. And it came to pass, when I had heard, I rose upon my feet, and I heard: and behold a voice speaking, and the sound thereof as the sound of many waters: and it said: Behold the days come, and the time shall be when I will begin to approach, that I may visit the inhabitants upon the earth. And when I will begin to enquire of them that uniustly have hurt with their injustice, and when the humility of Sion shall be accomplished. And when the world shall be oversigned that shall begin to pass, I will do these signs: Books shall be opened before the face of the firmament, and all shall see together, and infants of one year shall speak with their voices, and women with child shall bring forth untimely infants not ripe of three or four months, and shall live, and shall be raised up. And suddenly shall appear sown places not sown, and full cellars shall suddenly be found empty: and a trumpet shall sound; which when all shall hear, they will suddenly be afraid. And it shal be in that time, friends as enemies shall overthrow friends, and the earth shall be afraid with them: and the veins of fountains shall stand, and shall not run in three hours: and it shall be, everyone that shall be left of all these, of whom I have foretold thee, he shall be saved, and shall see My salvation, and the end of your world. And the men that are received, shall see, they that tasted not death from their nativity, and the heart of the inhabitants shall be turned into another sense. For evil shall be put out, and deceit shall be extinguished, but faith shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and truth shall be shewed, which was without fruit so many days. And it came to pass, when He spake to me, and I lo by little and little looked on Him before Whom I stood, and He said to me these words: I am come to shew thee the time of the night to come. If therefore thou pray again, and fast again seven days, again I will tell thee greater things by the day which I have heard. For thy voice is heard before the Highest. For the strong hath seen thy direction, and hath foreseen the chastity which thou hast had from thy youth: and for this cause he hath sent me to shew thee all these things, and to say to thee, have confidence, and fear not, and hasten not with the former times to think vain things, that thou hasten not from the last times. And it came to pass after these things, and I wept again, and in like manner I fasted seven dayes, to accomplish the three weeks, that were told me. And it came to pass in the eight night, and my heart was troubled again in me, and I began to speak before the Highest. For my spirit was inflamed exceedingly, and my soul was distressed. And I said: O Lord, speaking Thou didst speake from the beginning of creature from the first day, saying: Let heaven be made and earth: and Thy word was a perfect work. And then there was spirit, and darkness was carried about, and silence, the sound of the voice of man was not yet from Thee. Then Thou didst command the lightsome light to be brought forth of Thy treasures, whereby Thy work might appear. And in the second day Thou didst create the spirit of the firmament, and commandest it to divide, and to make a division between the waters, that a certain part should depart upward, and part should remain beneath. And in the third day Thou didst command the waters to be gathered together in the seventh part of the earth: but six parts Thou didst dry and preserve, that of them might be serving before Thee things sown of God, and tilled. For Thy word proceeded, and the work forthwith was made. For suddenly came forth fruit of multitude infinite, and diverse tastes of concupiscence, and flowers of unchangeable colour, and odours of unsearcheable smell, and in the third day these things were made. And in the fourth day Thou didst command to be made the brightness of the sun, the light of the moon, the disposition of the stars: and didst command them that they should serve man, that should be made. And in the fifth day: Thou saidst to the seventh part, where the water was gathered together, that it should bring forth beasts, and fowls, and fishes: and so was it done, the dumb water and without life, the things that by God’s appointment were commanded, made beasts, that thereby the nations may declare thy marvellous works. And then Thou didst preserve two souls: the name of one Thou didst call Henoch, and the name of the second Thou didst call Leviathan, and Thou didst separate them from each other. For the seventh part, where the water was gathered together, could not hold them. And Thou gavest to Henoch one part, which was dried the third day, to dwelt therein, where are a thousand mountaines. But to Leviathan Thou gavest the seventh part being moist, and kepst it, that it might be to devour whom Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. And in the sixth day Thou didst command the earth, to create before Thee cattle, and beasts, and creeping creatures: and over these Adam, whom Thou madest ruler over all the works, which Thou didst make, and out of him are all we brought forth, and the people whom Thou hast chosen. And all these things I have said before Thee o Lord, because Thou didst create the world for us. But the residue of the nations born of Adam Thou saidst that they were nothing, and that they were like to spittle, and as it were the dropping out of a vessel Thou didst liken the abundance of them. And now Lord, behold these nations which are reputed for nothing, have begun to rule over us, and to devour us: but we Thy people whom Thou didst call Thy first only-begotten emulator, are delivered into their hands: and if the world was created for us, why do not we possess inheritance with the world? how long these things?
Chapter VII
Without tribulations no man can attain immortal life: which the just shall inherit: and the wicked shall perish. Christ will come, and die for mankind. Prayers of the just shall profit till the end of this world, but not after the general judgement. All sinned in Adam. and have added more sins, but it is in man’s power, by God’s grace, to live eternally.
AND it came to pass when I had ended to speak these words, the Angel was sent to me, which had been sent to me the first nights, and he said to me: Arise Esdras, and hear the words which I am come to speak to thee. And I said: Speak, my God. And He said to me: The sea is set in a large place, that it might be deep and wide: but the entrance to it shall be set in a strait place, that it might be like to rivers. For who witting will enter into the sea, and see it, or rule over it: if he pass not the strait, how shall he come into the breadth? Also another thing: A city is built, and set in a plain place, and it is full of all goods. The entrance thereof narrow, and set in a steep place, so that on the right hand there was fire, and on the left deep water: and there is one only path set between them, that is, betwen the fire and the water, so that the path cannot contain but only a man’s step. And if the city shall be given a man for inheritance, if he never pass through the peril set before it, how shall he receive his inheritance? And I said: So Lord. And He said to me, So it is: Israel also a part. For I made the world for them: and when Adam transgressed My constitution, that was judged which was done. And the entrance of this world were made strait, and sorrowful, and painful, and few and evil, and full of dangers, and stuffed very much with labour. For the entrances of the greater world are large and secure, and making fruit of immortality. If then they that live entering in enter into these strait and vain things: they cannot receive the things that are laid up. Now therefore why art thou troubled, whereas thou art corruptible? and why art thou moved, whereas thou art mortal? And why hast thou not taken in thy heart that which is to come, but that which is present? I answered, and said: Lord Dominator: behold Thou hast disposed by Thy Law that the just shall inherit these things, and the impious shall perish. But the just shall suffer the straits, hoping for the wide places, for they that have done impiously, have both suffered the straits, and shall not see the wide places. And He said to me: There is no judge above God, nor that understandeth above the Highest. For many present do perish, because the Law of God which was set before, is neglected. For God commanding commanded them that came, when they came, what doing they should live, and what observing they should not be punished. But they were not persuaded, and gainsaid Him, and made to themselves a cogitation of vanity, and proposed to themselves deceits of sins, and they said to the Highest that He was not, and they knew not His ways, and despised His Law, and denied His covenants, and had not fidelity in His ordinances, and did not accomplish His works. For this cause, Esdras, the empty to the empty, and the full to the full. Behold the time shall come, and it shall be when the signs shall come, which I have foretold thee, and the Bride shall appear, and appearing she shall be shewed that now is hid with the earth: and everyone that is delivered from the foresaid evils, he shall see My marvellous things. For My son IESVS shall be revealed with them that are with Him, and they shall be merry that are left in the four hundred years. And it shall be after these years, and my son CHRIST shall die: and all men that have breath, and the world shall be turned into the old silence seven days, as in the former judgements, so that none shall be left. And it shall be after seven days, and the world shall be raised up that yet waketh not, and shall die corrupted: and the earth shall render the things that sleep in it, and the dust them that dwell in it with silence, and the cellars shall render the souls that are commended to them. And the Highest shall be revesled upon the seat of judgement, and miseries shall pass, and long sufferance shall be gathered together. And judgement only shall remain, truth shall stand, and faith shall wax strong, and the work shall follow, and the reward shall be shewed, and justice shall awake, and injustice shall not have dominion. And I said: First Abraham prayed for the Sodomites, and Moses for the fathers that sinned in the desert. And they that were after him for Israel in the days of Achaz, and of Samuel, and David for the destruction, and Solomon for them that came unto the sanctification. And Elias for them that received rain, and for the dead that he might live, and Ezechias for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many for many. If therefore now when corruptible did increase, and injustice was multiplied, and the just prayed for the impious: why now also shall it not be so? And He answered me and said: This present world is not the end, much glory remaineth in it: for this cause they prayed for the impotent. For the day of judgement shall be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortality to come, wherein corruption is past: intemperance is dissolved, incredulity is cut of: and justice hath increased, truth is strong. For then no man can save him that hath perished, nor drown him that hath overcome. And I answered, and said: This is my word the first and the last, that it had been better not to give the earth to Adam, or when he had now given it, to restrain him that he should not sin. For what doth it profit men presently to live in sorrow, and being dead to hope for punishment? O what hast thou done, Adam? For if thou didst sin, it was not made thy fall only, but ours also which came of thee. For what doth it profit us if immortal time be promised to us: but we have done mortal works? And that everlasting hope is foretold us: but we most wicked are become vain? And that habitations of health and security are reserved for us, but we have conversed naughtily? And that the glory of the Highest is reserved to protect them that have slowly conversed: but we have walked in most wicked ways. And that paradise shall be shewed, whose fruit continueth incorrupted, wherein is security and remedy: but we shall not enter in: for we have conversed in unlawful places. And their faces which have had abstinence, shall shine above the stars: but our faces black above darkness. For we did not think living when we did iniquity, that we shall begin after death to suffer. And He answered, and said: This is the cogitation of the battle which man shall fight, who is born upon the earth, that if he shall be overcome, he suffer that which thou hast said: but if he overcome he shall receive that which I say: for this is the life which Moses spake of when he lived, to the people, saying: Choose unto thee life, that thou mayst live. But they believed him not, no nor the Prophetes after him, no nor Me Which have spoken to them. Because there should not be sorrow unto their perdition, as there shall be joy upon them, to whom salvation is persuaded. And I answered, and said: I know, Lord, that the Highest is called merciful in that, that He hath mercy on them which are not yet come into the world, and that He hath mercy on them which converse in His Law: and He is long-suffering, because He sheweth long-sufferance to them that have sinned, as it were with their own works: and He is bountiful, because He will give according to exigence: and of great mercy, because He multiplieth more mercies to them that are present, and that are past, and that are to come. For if He shall not multiply His mercies, the world shall not be made alive with them that did inherit it. And He giveth: for if He shall not give of His bounty, that they may be relieved which have done iniquity, the tenth thousand part of men can not be quickened from their iniquities. And the Judge if He shall not forgive them that are cured with His word, and wipe away a multitude of contentions: there should not perhaps be left in an innumerable multitude, but very few.
Chapter VIII
God is merciful in this world, yet few are saved. Gods works, and disposition of His creatures are marvellous. Esdras prayeth for the people of Israel: and salvation is promised to the just, and punishment threatened to the wicked.
AND He answered me, and said: This world the Highest made for many, but that to come for few. And I will speak a similitude, Esdras, before thee. For as thou shalt ask the earth, and it will tell thee, that it will give much more earth whereof earthen work may be made, but a little dust whereof gold is made: so also is the act of this present world. Many indeed are created, but few shall be saved. And I answered, and said: Then o soul swallow up the sense, and devour that which is wise. For thou art agreed to obey, and willing to prophesy. For there is no space given thee but only to live. O Lord, if Thou wilt not permit Thy servant, that we pray before Thee, and Thou give us seed to the heart, and tillage to the understanding, whereof may the fruit be made, whereby every corrupt person may live, that shall bear the place of a man? For Thou art alone, and we are one workmanship of Thy hands, as Thou hast spoken: and as now the body made in the womb, and Thou dost give the members, Thy creature is preserved in fire and water: and nine months thy workmanship doth suffer thy creature that is created in it: and itself that keepeth, and that which is kept, both shall be preserved: and the womb being preserved rendereth again at some time the things that are grown in it. For thou hast commanded of the members, that is the breasts to give milk unto the fruit of the breasts, that the thing which is made, may be nourished till a certain time, and afterward Thou mayst dispose him to Thy mercy. For Thou hast, brought him up in Thy justice, and hast instructed him in Thy Law, and hast corrected him in Thy understanding: and Thou shalt mortify him, as Thy creature: and shalt give him life, as Thy work. If then thou wilt destroy him that is made with so great labours: it is easy by Thy commandment to be ordained, that also which was made, might be preserved. And now Lord I will speak, of every man Thou rather knowest: but concerning Thy people, for which I am sorrowful: and concerning Thine inheritance, for which I mourn, and for Israel for whom I am pensive, and concerning Iacob, for whom I am sorrowful. Therefore will I begin to pray before Thee for me, and for them: because I see our defaults that inhabit the earth. But I have heard of the celerity of the Judge that shall be. Therefore hear my voice, and understand my word, and I will speak before Thee. The beginning of the words of Esdras before he was assumed: and I said: Lord Which inhabitest the world, Whose eyes are elevated unto things on high and in the air: and Whose throne is inestimable, and glory incomprehensible: by Whom standeth an host of Angels with trembling, Whose keeping is turned in wind and fire, Thou Whose word is true, and sayings permanent: Whose commandment is strong, and disposition terrible: Whose look dryeth up the depths, and indignation maketh the mountains to melt, and truth doth testify. Hear the prayer of Thy servant, and with Thine ears receive the petition of Thy creature. For while I live, I will speak: and while I understand, I will answer: Neither do Thou respect the sins of Thy people, but them that serve Thee in truth. Neither do Thou attend the impious endeavours of the nations, but them that with sorrows have kept Thy testimonies. Neither think Thou of them that in Thy sight have conversed falsely, but remember them that according to Thy will have known Thy fear. Neither be Thou willing to destroy them that have had the manners of beasts: but respect them that have taught Thy law gloriously. Neither have indignation towards them, which are judged worse then beasts: but love them that always have confidence in Thy justice, and glory. Because we and our fathers languish with such diseases: but Thou for sinners shalt be called merciful. For if Thou shalt be desirous to have mercy on us, then Thou shalt be called merciful, to us having no works of justice. For the just which have many works laid up, of their own works shall receive reward. For what is man, that Thou art angry with him: or the corruptible kind, that Thou art so bitter touching it? For in truth there is no man of them that be born, which hath not done impiously, and of them that confess, which have not sinned. For in this shall Thy justice be declared, and Thy goodness, o Lord, when Thou shalt have mercy on them, that have no substance of good works. And He answered me, and said: Thou hast spoken some things rightly: and according to thy words, so also shall it be done, because I will not indeed think upon the work of them that have sinned before death, before the judgement, before perdition: but I will rejoice upon the creature of the just, and I will remember their pilgrimage also, and salvation, and receiving of reward. Therefore as I have spoken, so also it is. For as the husbandman soweth upon the ground many seeds, and planteth many plants, but not all which were sown in time, are preserved, nor yet all that were planted, shall take root: so they also that are sown in the world, shall not all be saved. And I answered, and said: If I have found grace, let me speak. As the seed of the husbandman, if it come not up, or receive not the rain in time, if it be corrupted with much rain, perisheth: so likewise also man who made with Thy hands, and Thou named his image: because Thou art likened to him, for whom Thou hast made all things, and hast likened him to the seed of the husbandman. Be not angry upon us, but spare Thy people, and have mercy on Thy inheritance. And Thou hast mercy on Thy creature. And He answered me, and said: The things that are present to them that are present, and that shall be, to them that shall be. For thou lackest much to be able to love My creature above Me: and to thee often times, even to thyself I have approached, but to the unjust never. But in this also thou art marvellous before the Highest, because thou hast humbled thyself as becometh thee: and hast not judged thyself, that among the just thou mayest be very much glorified. For which cause many miseries, and miserable things shall be done to them that inhabit the world in the later days: because they have walked in much pride. But thou for thyself understand, and for them that are like unto thee seek glory. For to you paradise is open, the tree of life is planted, time to come is prepared, abundance is prepared, a city is builded, rest is approved, goodness is perfected, and perfect wisdom. The root of evil is signed from you: infirmity, and moth is hid from you: and corruption is fled into hell in oblivion. Sorrows are past, and the treasure of immortality is shewed in the end. Add not therefore inquiring of the multitude of them that perish. For they also receiving liberty, have despised the Highest, and contemned His Law, and forsaken His ways. Yea and moreover they have trodden down His just ones, and have said in their heart, that there is no God: and that, knowing that, they die. For as the things aforesaid shall receive you: so thirst and torment, which are prepared shall take them: for he would not man to be destroyed. But they themselves also which are created, have defiled His Name Which made them: and have been unkind to Him that prepared life. Wherefore My judgement now approacheth. Which things I have not shewed to all, but to thee, and to few like unto thee. And I answered, and said: Behold now, Lord, Thou hast shewed me a multitude of signs, which Thou wilt begin to do in the latter times: but Thou hast not shewed me at what time.
Chapter IX
Certain signs shall go before the day of judgement. More shall perish then be saved. Prayer with other good works, are means to salvation.
AND He answered me, and said: Measuring measure thou the time in itself: and it shall be when thou seest, after a certain part of the signs which are spoken of before shall pass, then shalt thou understand, that the same is the time wherein the Highest will begin to visit the world that was made by Him. And when there shall be seen in the world moving of places, and trouble of peoples, then shalt thou understand, that of these spake the Highest, from the days that were before thee, from the beginning. For as all that is made in the world hath a beginning, and also a consummation, and the consummation is manifest: so also the times of the Highest have the beginning manifest in wonders and powers, and the consummations in work and in signs. And it shall be, everyone that shall be saved, and that can escape by his works, and by faith, in which you have believed, shall be left out of the foresaid dangers, and shall see My salvation in My land, and in My coasts, because I have sanctified Myself from the world. And then shall they be in misery, that now have abused My ways: and they that have rejected them in contempt, shall abide in torments. For they that knew not Me, having obtained benefits when they lived: and they that loathed My Law, when they yet had liberty, and when as yet place of penance was open to them understood not, but despised: they must after death in torment know it. Thou therefore be not yet curious, how the impious shall be tormented: but inquire how the just shall be saved, and Whose the world is, and for Whom the world is, and when. And I answered, and said: I have spoken heretofore, and now I say, and hereafter will say: that they are more which perish than that shall be saved: as a flood is multiplied above, more then a drop. And He answered me, and said: Like as the field so also the seeds: and as the flowers, such also the colours: and as the workman, such also the work: and such as the husbandman, such is the husbandry: because it was the time of the world. And now when I was preparing for them, for these that now are before the world was made, wherein they should dwell: and no man gainsaid me. For then every man, and now the Creator in this world prepared, and harvest not failing, and Law unsearchable their manners are corrupted. And I considered the world, and behold there was danger because of the cogitations that came in it. And I saw, and spared it very much: and I kept unto Myself a grape kernel of a cluster, and a plant of a great tribe. Let the multitude therefore perish, which was born without cause, and let My kernel be kept, and My plant: because I finished it with much labour. And thou if thou add yet seven other days, but thou shalt not fast in them, thou shalt go into a field of flowers, where no house is built: and thou shalt eat only of the flowers of the field, and flesh thou shalt not taste, and wine thou shalt not drink, but only flowers. Pray to the Highest without intermission, and I will come, and will speak with thee. And I went forth, as He said to me, into a field which is called Ardath, and I sat there among the flowers. And I did eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of them made me full. And it came to pass after seven days, and I sat down upon the grass, and my heart was troubled again as before. And my mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Highest, and sad: O Lord, Thou shewing Thyself to us, wast shewed to our fathers in the desert, which is not trodden, and unfruitful, when they came out of Egypt: and saying Thou saidst: Thou Israel hear Me, and seed of Iacob attend to My words. For behold, I sow my Law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you, and you shall be glorified in it forever. For our fathers receiving the Law observed it not, and kept not My ordinances, and the fruit of the Law did not appear: for it could not, because it was thine. For they that received it, perished, not keeping that which had been sown in them. And behold it is the custom, that when the earth hath received seed, or the sea a ship, or some vessel meat or drink: when that shall be destroyed wherein it was sown, or into the which it was cast: that which was sown, or cast in, or the things that were received, are destroyed withal, and the things received now tarry not with us: but it is not so done to us. We indeed that received the Law, sinning have perished, and our heart that received it: For the Law hath not perished, but hath remained in his labour. And when I spake these things in my heart, I looked back with mine eyes, and saw a woman on the right side, and behold she mourned, and wept with a loud voice, and was sorrowful in mind exceedingly, and her garments rent, and ashes upon her head. And I left the cogitations, wherein I was thinking, and I turned to her and said to her: Why weepest thou? and why art thou sorry in mind. And she said to me: Suffer me, my Lord, that I may lament myself, and add sorrow: because I am of a very pensive mind, and am humbled exceedingly. And I said to her, What aileth thee: tell me. And she said to me: I thy servant have been barren, and have not borne child, having a husband thirty years. For I every hour, and every day, and these thirty years do beseech the Highest night and day. And it came to pass, after thirty years God heard me thy handmaid, and saw my humility, and attended to my tribulation, and gave me a son: and I was very joyful upon him, and my husband, and all my citizens, and we did glorify the Strong exceedingly. And I nourished him with much labour. And it came to pass when he was grown, and came to take a wife, I made a feast day.
Chapter X
The state of Ierusalem is prefigured by a woman mourning, and afterwards rejoicing.
AND it came to pass, when my son was entered into his inner chamber, he fell down, and died: and we all overthrew the lights, and all my citizens rose up to comfort me, and I was quiet until the other day at night. And it came to pass, when all were quiet to comfort me, that I might be quiet: and I arose in the night, and fled: and came as thou seest into this field. And I mean now not to return into the city, but to stay here: and neither eat, nor drink, but without intermission to mourn, and to fast until I die. And I left the talk wherein I was, and with anger answered her, and sayd: Thou fool above all women, seest thou not our mourning, and what things chance to vs? Because Sion our mother is sorrowful with all sorrow, and humbled, and mourneth most bitterly. And now whereas we all mourn, and are sad: whereas we are sorrowful, and art thou sorrowful for one son? For ask the earth, and it will tell thee: that it is she, that ought to lament the fall of so many things that spring upon it. And of her were all born from the beginning, and others shall come: and behold, almost all walk into perdition, and the multitude of them commeth to destruction. And who then ought to mourn more, but she that hath lost so great a multitude, rather than thou which art sorry for one? And if thou say unto me, that my mourning is not like the earth’s: because I have lost the fruit of my womb, which I bore with sorrows, and brought forth with pains: but the earth according to the manner of the earth, and the present multitude in it hath departed as it came: and I say to thee, as thou hast brought forth with pain, so the earth also giveth her fruit for man from the beginning to Him that made her. Now therefore keep in with thy sorrow, and bear stoutly the chances that have befallen thee. For if thou justify the end of God, thou shalt in time both receive His counsel, and also in such things thou shalt be praised. Go in therefore into the city to thy husband. And she said to me: I will not do it, neither will I enter into the city, but here will I die. And I added yet to speak to her, and said: Do not this word, but consent to him that counseleth thee. For how many are the chances of Sion? Take comfort for the sorrow of Ierusalem. For thou seest that our sanctification is made desert, and our altar is thrown down, and our temple is destroyed, and our psalter is humbled, and hymn is silent, and our exultation is dissolved, and the light of our candlestick is extinguished, and the ark of our Testament is taken for spoil, and our holy things are contaminated, and the Name that is invocated upon us, is almost profaned: and our children have suffered contumely, and our Priests are burnt, and our Levites are gone into captivity, and our virgins are defloured, and our wives have suffered rape, and our just men are violently taken, and our little ones are lost, and our young men are in bondage, and our valiant men are made impotent: and that which is greatest of all, the seal of Sion, because she is unsealed of her glory: For she is also delivered into the hands of them that hate us. Thou therefore shake of thy great heaviness, and lay away from thee the multitude of sorrows, that the Strong may be propitious to thee again, and the Highest will give thee rest, rest from thy labours. And it came to pass, when I spoke to her, her face did shine suddenly, and her shape, and her visage was made glistering, so that I was afraid exceedingly at her, and thought what this thing should be. And behold, suddenly she put forth a great sound of a voice full of fear, that the earth was moved at the woman’s sound. And I saw: and behold, the woman did no more appear unto me, but a city was built, and a place was shewed of great foundations: and I was afraid, and crying with a loud voice I said: Where is Uriel the Angel, that from the beginning came to me? for he made me come in multitude in excess of this mind, and my end is made into corruption, and my prayer into reproach. And when I was speaking these things, behold he came to me, and saw me. And behold I was laid as dead, and my understanding was alienated, and he held my right hand, and strengthened me, and set me upon my feet, and said to me: What aileth thee? and why is thy understanding, and the sense of thy heart troubled, and why art thou troubled? And I said: Because thou hast forsaken me, and I indeed have done according to thy words, and went out into the field: and behold, I have seen, and do see that which I cannot utter. And he said to me: Stand like a man, and I will move thee. And I said: Speak thou my Lord in me, forsake me not, that I die not in vain: because I have seen things that I knew not, and I do hear things that I know not. Or is my sense deceived, and doth my soul dream? Now therefore I beseech thee, that thou shew unto thy servant concerning this trance. And he answered me, and said: Hear me, and I will teach thee, and will tell thee of what things thou art afraid: because the Highest hath revealed unto thee many mysteries. He hath seen thy right way, that without intermission thou was sorrowful for thy people, and didst mourn exceedingly for Sion. This therefore is the understanding of the vision which appeared to thee a little before. The woman whom thou sawest mourning, thou beganst to comfort her. And now thou seest not the form of the woman, but there appeared to thee a city to be built. And because she told thee of the fall of her son, this is the interpretation. This woman which thou sawest, she is Sion, and whereas she told thee of her, whom now also thou shalt see, as a city built. And whereas she told thee, that she was barren thirty years: for the which there were thirty years, when there was not yet oblation offered in it. And it came to pass after thirty years, Solomon built the city, and offered oblations: then it was, when the barren bore a child. And that which she said unto thee, that she nourished him with labour, this was the habitation in Ierusalem. And wheras she said to thee, that my son coming into the bridal chamber died, and that a fall chanced unto him, this was the ruin of Ierusalem that is made. And behold, thou hast seen the similitude of her: and because she lamented her son, thou beganst to comfort her: and of these things that have chanced, these were to be opened to thee. And now the Highest seeth that thou wast sorry from the heart: and because with thy whole heart thou sufferest for her, He hath shewed thee the clearness of her glory, and the faireness of her beauty. For therefore did He say to thee, that thou shouldest tarry in a field where house is not built. For I knew that the Highest began to shew thee these things: therefore I said unto thee, that thou shouldest go into a field, where is no foundation of building. For the work of man’s building could not be borne in the place, where the city of the Highest began to be shewed. Thou therefore fear not, neither let thy heart dread: but go in, and see the beauty, and greatness of the building, as much as the sight of thine eyes is capable to see: and afterward thou shalt hear as much as the hearing of thine ears is capable to hear. For thou art blessed above many, and art called with the Highest as few. And tomorrow night thou shalt tarry here: and the Highest will shew thee those visions of the things on high, which the Highest will do to them that inhabit upon the earth in the later days. And I slept that night, and the other next, as he had said to me.
Chapter XI
An eagle appeareth to Esdras coming forth of the sea, with three heads, and twelve wings: sometimes one reigning in the world, sometimes another, but everyone vanisheth away. A lion also appeareth coming forth of the wood, to suppress the eagle.
AND I saw a dream, and behold an eagle came up out of the sea: which had twelve wings of feathers, and three heads. And I saw, and behold she spread her wings into al the earth, and all the winds of heaven blew upon her, and were gathered together. And I saw, and of her feathers sprang contrary feathers, and they became little wings, and small. For her heads were at rest, and the middle head was greater then the other heads, but she rested with them. And I saw, and behold the eagle flew with her wings, and reigned over the earth, and over them that dwell in it. And I saw, that all things under heaven were subject to her, and no man gainsaid her, no not one of the creature that is upon the earth. And I saw, and behold the eagle rose up upon her talons, and made a voice with her wings, saying: Watch not all together, sleep every one in his place, and watch according to time. But let the heads be preserved to the last. And I saw, and behold the voice came not out of her heads, but from the midst of her body. And I numbered her contrary wings, and behold they were eight. And I saw, and behold on the right side rose one wing, and reigned over all the earth. And it came to pass, when it reigned, an end came to it, and the place thereof appeared not: and the next rose up, and reigned, that held much time. And it came to pass, when it reigned, the end of it also came, that it appeared not as the former. And behold, a voice was sent forth to it, saying: Hear thou that hast held the earth of long time. Thus I tell thee before thou begin not to appear. None after thee shall hold thy time, no nor the half thereof. And the third lifted up itself, and held the principality as also the former: and that also appeared not. And so it chanced to all the other by one and by one to have the principality, and again to appear nowhere. And I saw, and behold in time the rest of the wings were sent up on the right side, that they also might hold the principality: and of them there were that held it, but yet forthwith they appeared not. For some also of them stood up, but they held not the principality. And I saw after these things, and behold the twelve wings, and two little wings appeared not: and nothing remained in the body of the eagle but two heads resting, and six little wings. And I saw, and behold from the six little wings two were divided, and they remained under the head, that is on the right side. For four tarried in their place. And I saw, and behold the underwings thought to set up themselves, and to hold the principalities. And I saw, and behold one was set up, but forthwith it appeared not. And they that were second did sooner vanish away then the former. And I saw, and behold the two that remained, thought with themselves that they also would reign: and when they were thinking thereon, behold one of the resting heads, which was the middle one awaked, for this was greater then the other two heads. And I saw that the two heads were complete with themselves. And behold the head with them that were with him turned, and did eat the two underwings that thought to reign. And this head terrified all the earth, and ruled in it over them that inhabit the earth with much labour, and he that held the dominion of the whole world above all the wings that were. And I saw after these things, and behold the middle head suddenly appeared not, as did the wings. And there remained two heads, which reigned also themselves over the earth, and over them that dwelt therein. And I saw, and behold the head on the right side devoured that which was on the left. And I heard a voice saying to me, Look against thee, and consider what thou seest. And I saw, and behold as a lion raised out of the wood roaring: and I saw that he sent out a man’s voice to the eagle. And he spoke saying. Hear thou, and I will speak to thee, and the Highest will say to thee: Is it not thou that hast overcome of the four beasts, which I made to reign in My world, and that by them the end of their times might come? And the fourth coming overcame all the beasts that were past, and by might held the world with much fear, and all the world with most wicked labour, and he inhabited the whole earth so long time with deceit. And thou hast judged the earth not with truth. For thou hast afflicted the meek, and hast troubled them that were quiet, and hast loved liars, and hast destroyed their habitations that did fructify, and hast overthrown their walls that did not hurt thee. And thy contumely is ascended even to the Highest, and thy pride to the Strong. And the Highest hath looked upon the proud times: and behold they are ended, and the abominations thereof are accomplished. Therefore thou eagle appear no more, and thy horrible wings, thy little wings most wicked, and thy heads malignant, and thy talons most wicked, and all thy body vain, that all the earth may be refreshed, and may return delivered from thy violence, and may hope for His judgement, and mercy That made it.
Chapter XII
The eagle vanisheth away, Esdras prayeth, and the former visions are declared to him.
AND it came to pass, while the lion spoke these words to the eagle: I saw, and behold the head that had overcome, and those four wings appeared not which passed to him, and were set up to reign: and their reign was small, and full of tumult. And I saw, and behold they appeared not, and all the body of the eagle was burnt, and the earth was afraid exceedingly, and I by the tumult and truance of mind, and for great fear awaked, and said to my spirit: Behold thou hast given me this, in that, that thou searchest the ways of the Highest. Behold yet I am weary in mind, and in my spirit I am very feeble, and there is not so much as a little strength in me for the great fear, that I was afraid of this night. Now therefore I will pray the Highest, that He strengthen me even to the end. And I said: Lord Dominator, if I have found grace before Thine eyes, and if I am justified before Thee above many, and if indeed my prayer be ascended before Thy face, strengthen me, and shew unto me Thy servant the interpretation, and distinction of this horrible vision, that thou mayst comfort my soul most fully. For thou hast counted me worthy to shew unto me the later times. And He said to me: This is the interpretation of this vision. The eagle which thou sawest coming up from the sea, this is the kingdom which was seen in a vision to Daniel thy brother. But it was not interpreted to him, therefore I do now interpret it to thee. Behold the days come, and there shall arise a kingdom upon the earth, and the fear shall be more terrible then of all the kingdoms that were before it. And there shall twelve kings reign in it, one after another. For the second shall begin to reign, and he shall continue more time then the rest of the Twelve. This is the interpretation of the twelve winges which thou sawest. And the voice that spoke which thou heardst, not coming forth of her heads, but from the midst of her body, this is the interpretation, that after the time of that kingdom shall rise no small contentions, and it shall be in danger to fall: and it shall not fall then, but shall be constituted again according to the beginning thereof. And whereas thou sawest eight underwings cleaving to the wings thereof, this is the interpretation, eight kings shall arise in it, whose times shall be light, and years swift, and two of them shall perish. But when the middle time approacheth, four shall be kept till a time, when the time thereof shall begin to approach to be ended, yet two shall be kept to the end. And whereas thou sawest three heads resting, this is the interpretation: in her last days the Highest will raise up three kingdoms, and will call back many things into them, and they shall rule over the earth, and them that dwell in it, with much labour above all them that were before them. For this cause they are called the heads of the eagle. For these shall be they that shall recapitulate her impieties, and that shall accomplish her last things. And whereas thou sawest a greater head not appearing, this is the interpretation thereof: that one of them shall die upon his bed, and yet with torments. For the two that shall remain, the sword shall eat them. For the sword of one shall devour him that is with him: but yet this also at the last shall fall by the sword. And whereas thou sawest two underwings passing over the head that is on the right side, this is the interpretation: these are they whom the Highest hath kept to their end, this is a small kingdom, and full of trouble. As thou sawest the lion also, Whom thou sawest awaking out of the wood, and roaring, and speaking to the eagle, and rebuking her, and her injustices by all His words as thou hast heard: this is the wind which the Highest hath kept unto the end for them, and their impieties: and He shall rebuke them, and shall cast in their spoils before them. For He shall set them in judgment alive: and it shall be, when He hath reproved them, then shall He chastise them. For the rest of my people He shall deliver with misery, them that are saved upon My borders, and he shall make them joyful till the end shall come, the day of judgment, whereof I have spoken to thee from the beginning. This is the dream which thou sawest, and these be the interpretations. Thou therefore only hast been worthy to know this secret of the Highest. Write therefore in a book all these things which thou hast seen, and put them in a hidden place: and thou shalt teach them the wise men of thy people, whose hearts thou knowest able to take, and to keep these secretes. But do thou stay here yet other seven days, that there may be shewed thee whatsoever shall seem good to the Highest to shew thee. And he departed from me. And it came to pass, when all the people had heard that the seven days were past, and I had not returned into the city, and all gathered themselves together from the least unto the greatest: and came to me, and spoke to me saying: What have we sinned to thee, or what have we done unjustly against thee, that leaving us thou hast sat in this place? For thou alone art remaining to us of all peoples, as a cluster of grapes of the vineyard, and as a candle in a dark place, and as an haven and ship saved from the tempest. Or are not the evils that chance sufficient for us? If then thou shalt forsake us, how much better had it been to us, if we also had been burnt with the burning of Sion? For we are not better then they that died there. And they wept with a loud voice. And I answered them, and said: Be of good cheer, Israel, and be not sorrowful thou house of Iacob. For there is remembrance of you before the Highest, and the Strong hath not forgotten you in temptation. For I have not forsaken you, neither did I depart form you: but I came into this place, to pray for the desolation of Sion, and to seek mercy for the low estate of your sanctification. And now go every one of you into his house, and I will come to you after these days. And the people departed, as I said to them, into the city: but I sat in the field seven days, as He commanded me: and I did eat of the flowers of the field only, of the herbs was my meat made in those days.
Chapter XIII
A vision of a wind (as it first seemed, but) indeed, of a Man: strong against the enemies: with the interpretation.
AND it came to pass after seven days, and I dreamed a dream in the night. And behold there rose a wind from the sea, that troubled all the waves thereof. And I saw, and behold that Man grew strong with thousands of heaven: and when he turned his countenance to consider, all things trembled that were seen under Him: and wheresoever voice proceeded out of His mouth, all that heard His voices began to burn, as the earth is quiet when it feeleth the fire. And I saw after these, and behold a multitude of men was gathered together, of whom there was no number, from the four winds of heauen, to fight against the Man that was come up out of the sea. And I saw, and behold He had graven to Himself a great mountain, and He flew upon it. And I sought to see the country, or the place whence the mountain was graven, and I could not. And after these things I saw, and behold all that were gathered to Him, to overthrow Him, feared exceedingly, yet they were bold to fight. And behold as He saw the violence of the multitude that came, He lifted not up His hand, nor held sword, nor any warlike instrument but only as I saw, that He sent forth out of His mouth as it were a blast of fire, and from His lips a spirit of flame, and from His tongue He sent forth sparkles and tempests, and all things were mingled together with this blast of fire, and spirit of flame, and multitude of tempests. And it fell with violence upon the multitude, that was prepared to fight, and burned them all, that suddenly there was nothing seen of an innumerable multitude, but only dust, and the savour of smoke: and I saw, and was afraid. And after these things I saw the Man Himself descending from the mountain, and calling to Him another peaceable multitude, and there came to Him the countenance of many men some rejoicing, and some sorrowing: and some bond, some bringing of them them that were offered. And I was sick for much fear, and awaked, and said. Thou from the beginning hast shewed Thy servant these marvellous things, and hast counted me worthy that Thou wouldst receive my petition. And now shew me yet the interpretation of this dream. For as I think in my judgement, woe to them that were left in those days: and much more woe to them that were not left. For they that were not left, were sorrowful. I understand now what things are laid up in the later days, and they shall happen to them, yea and to them that are left. For therefore they came into great dangers, and many necessities, as these dreams do shew. But yet it is easier, adventuring to come into it, then to pass, as a cloud from the world, and vow to see the things that happen in the later time. And He answered me, and said: Both the interpretation of the vision I will tell thee: and also concerning the things that thou hast spoken I will open to thee. Whereas thou speakest of them that were left, this is the interpretation. He that taketh away danger at that time, he hath guarded himself. They that have fallen into danger, these are they that have works, and faith in the Strongest. Know therefore that they are more blessed which are left, then they that are dead. These are the interpretations of the vision, whereas thou sawest a Man coming from the heart of the sea, the same is He Whom the Highest preserveth much time, Which by Himself shall deliver His creature: and He shall dispose them that are left. And whereas thou sawest proceed out of His mouth, as it were wind, and fire, and tempest: and whereas He held no sword, nor warlike instrument: for His violence destroyed the multitude that came to overthrow Him: this is the interpretation. Behold the days come, when the Highest shall begin to deliver them, that are upon the earth: and He shall come in excess of mind upon them that inhabit the earth. And one shall think to overthrow another: one city another city, one place another place, and nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And it shall be, when these things shall come to pass, and the signs shall happen, which I shewed thee before: and then shall My Son be revealed, Whom thou sawest, as a Man coming up. And it shall be when all nations shall hear His voice: and everyone in his country shall leave their war, that they have toward each other: and an innumerable multitude shall be gathered in one, as willing to come to overthrow Him. But He shall stand upon the top of mount Sion. And Sion shall come, and it shall be shewed to all prepared and builded, as thou sawest the mountain to be graven without hands. And the same My Son shall reprove the things that the gentiles have invented, these their impieties which came near to the tempest, because of their evil cogitations, and torments wherewith they shall begin to be tormented. Which were likened to the flame, and He shall destroy them without labour by the Law that was likened to the fire. And whereas thou sawest Him gathering unto Him another peaceable multitude. These are the ten tribes, which were made captive out of their land in the days of Osee the King, whom Salmanasar the King of the Assyrians led captive: and he transported them beyond the river, and they were transported into an other land. But they gave themselves this counsel, to forsake the multitude of nations, and to go forth into a farther country, where mankind never inhabited. Or there to observe their ordinances, which they had not kept in their country. And they entered in by the narrow entrances of the river Euphrates. For the Highest then wrought them signs, and stayed the veins of the river till they passed. For by that county was a great way to go, of one year and a half: for the country is called Arsareth. Then did they inhabit there till in the later time: and now again when they begin to come, again the Highest shall stay the veins of the river, that they may pass: for these thou sawest a multitiude with peace. But they also that were left of the people, these are they that be within my border. It shall come to pass therefore, when He shall begin to destroy the multitude of these nations, that are gathered, He shall protect them that have overcome the people: and then shall He shew them very many wonders. And I said: Lord Dominator, shew me this, why I saw a Man coming up from the heart of the sea, and He said to me: As thou canst not either search these things, or know what things are in the depth of the sea: so can not any man upon the earth see My Son, or them that are with him, but in the time of a day. This is the interpretation of the dream which thou sawest, and for the which thou only art here illuminated. For thou hast left thine own law, and hast been occupied about My Law, and hast sought it. For thou hast disposed thy life in wisdom, and thine understanding thou hast called mother: and for this I have shewed thee riches with the Highest. For it shall be after other three days, I will speak other things to thee, and I will expound to thee weighty and marvellous things. And I went forth, and passed into the field, much glorifying and praising the Highest for the marvellous things that He did by time. And because He governeth it, and the things that are brought in times, and I sat there three days.
Chapter XIV
God appeareth in a bush, revealing some things to be published, and some things to be hid. As the world waxeth old, all things become worse. The people of Israel are ungrateful. All shall be judged in the Resurrection according to their deeds.
AND it came to pass the third day, and I sat under an oak. And behold a voice came forth against me out of a bush, and said: Esdras, Esdras: and I said: Lo, here I am Lord. And I arose upon my feet. And he said to me: Revealing I was revealed upon the bush, and spoke to Moses, when the people served in Egypt, and I sent him, and brought My people out of Egypt, and brought him upon mount Sina, held him with me many days. And I told him many marvellous things, and shewed him the secrets of times, and the end: and I commanded him, saying: These words thou shalt publish abroad, and these thou shalt hide. And now to thee I say: The signs which I have shewed, and the dreams which thou hast seen, and the interpretations which thou hast seen, lay them up in thy heart. For thou shalt be received of all, thou shalt be converted the residue with thy counsel, and with the like to thee, till the times be finished: Because the world hath lost his youth, and the times draw near to wax old. For the world is divided by twelve parts, and the tenth part, and half of the tenth part are passed: and there remaineth hereafter the half of the tenth part. Now therefore dispose thy house, and correct thy people, and comfort the humble of them, and forsake now corruption, and put from thee mortal cogitations, and cast from thee humane burdens, and do from thee now infirm nature, and lay at one side cogitations most troublesome to thee, and make speedy transmigration from these times, for the evils which thou hast seen to have chanced now, worse then these will they do again: for look how much the world shall become weak by age, so much shall evils be multiplied upon the inhabitants. For truth hath removed itself farther off, and lying hath approached, for now the vision which thou sawest, hasteneth to come. And I answered, and said before Thee o Lord: For behold I will go, as Thou hast commanded me, and will rebuke the people that now is. But them that shall yet be born, who shall admonish? The world therefore is set in darkness, and they that dwell in it without light. Because Thy Law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the works that have been done by Thee, or that shall begin. For if I have found grace with Thee, send the Holy Ghost to me, and I will write all that hath been done in the world from the beginning, the things that were written in Thy Law, that men may find the path: and they that will live in the later times, may live. And He answered me, and said: Go gather together the people, and thou shalt say to them, that they seek thee not for forty days. And do thou prepare thee many tables of box, and take with thee Sarea, Dabria, Salemia, Echanus, and Asiel, these five which are ready to write swiftly. And come hither, and I will light in thy heart a candle of understanding, which shall not be put out till the things be finished, which thou shalt begin to write. And then some things thou shalt open to the perfect, some thou shalt deliver secretly to the wise. For tomorrow this hour thou shalt begin to write. And I went as He commanded me, and gathered together all the people, and said: Hear Israel these words: Our fathers were pilgrims from the beginning in Egypt, and were delivered from thence. And they received the law of life, which they kept not, which you also after them have transgressed: and the land was given you by lot, and the land of Sion, and your fathers, and you have done iniquity, and have not kept the ways which the Highest commanded you. And whereas He is a just Judge, He hath taken from you in time that which He had given. And now you are here, and your brethren are among you. If then you will rule over your sense, and instruct your heart, you shall be preserved alive, and after death shall obtain mercy. For the judgement shall come after death, when we shall return to life again: and then the names of the just shall appear, and the deeds of the impious shall be shewed. Let no man therefore come to me now, nor ask for me until forty days. And I took the five men, as He commanded me, and we went forth into the field, and tarried there. And I was come to the morrow, and behold a voice called me, saying: Esdras open thy mouth, and drink that which I will give thee to drink. And I opened my mouth, behold a full cup was brought me, this was full as it were with water: but the colour thereof like as fire. And I took it, and drank; and when I had drunken of it, my heart was tormented with understanding, and wisdom grew into my breast. For my spirit was kept by memory. And my mouth was opened, and was shut no more. The Highest gave understanding unto the five men, and they wrote excesses of the night which were spoken, which they knew not. And at night they did eat bread, but I spoke by day, and by night held not my peace. And there were written in the forty days two hundred four books. And it came to pass when they had ended the forty days, the Highest spoke, saying: The former things which thou hast written, set abroad, and let the worthy and unworthy read: but the last seventy books thou shalt keep, that thou mayest deliver them to the wise of thy people. For in these is the vein of understanding, and the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge. And I did so.
Chapter XV
Esdras is bid to denounce, that assuredly many evils will come to the world. God will protect His people, the wicked shall be punished, and lament their final miseries, God revenging for the good.
BEHOLD, speak into the ears of My people the words of prophecy, which I shall put into thy mouth, saith our Lord: and see that they be written in paper, because they be faithful and true. Be not afraid of the cogitations against thee, neither let the incredulities trouble thee of them that speak. Because every incredulous person shall die in his incredulity. Behold I bring in, saith our Lord, upon the whole earth evils, sword, and famine, and death, and destruction. Because iniquity hath fully polluted over all the earth, and their hurtful works are accomplished. Therefore saith our Lord: I will not now keep silence of their impieties which they do irreligiously, neither will I bear with those things, which they practise unjustly. Behold the innocent’s and just’s blood crieth to me, and the souls of the just cry continually. Revenging I will revenge them, saith our Lord, and I will take all innocent blood out of them unto Me. Behold My people is led to slaughter as a flock, I will no more suffer it to dwell in the land of Egypt. But I will bring them forth in a mighty hand and valiant arm, and will strike with plague as before, and will corrupt all the land thereof. Egypt shall mourn, and foundations thereof beaten with plague, and with the chastisement which God will bring upon it. The husbandmen that till the ground shall mourn, because their seeds shall perish by blasting, and hail, and by a terrible star. Woe to the world and them that dwell therein. Because the sword is at hand and the destruction of them, and nation shall rise up against nation to fight, and sword in their hands. For there shall be instability to men, and growing one against another they shall not care for their king, and the princes of the way of their doings, in their might. For a man shall desire to go into the city and cannot. Because of their prides the cities shall be troubled, the houses raised, the men shall fear. Man shall not pity his neighbour, to make their houses nothing worth in the sword, to spoil their goods for famine of bread, and much tribulation. Behold, I call together, saith God, all the kings of the earth to fear me, that are from the Orient, and from the South, from the East, and from Libanus, to be turned upon themselves, and to render the things that they have given them. As they do until this day to Mine elect, so will I do and render in their bosom. Thus saith our Lord God: My right hand shall not spare sinners, neither shall the sword cease upon them that shed innocent blood upon the earth. Fire came forth from His wrath, and hath devoured the foundations of the earth, and sinners as it were straw set on fire. Woe to them that sin, and observe not My comandments, saith our Lord. I will not spare them: depart o children from the power. Defile not My sanctification: because the Lord knoweth all that sin against Him; therefore hath He delivered them into death and into slaughter. For now are evils come upon the world, and you shall tarry in them. For God will not deliver you, because you have sinned against Him. Behold an horrible vision, and the face of it from the east. And the nations of dragons of Arabians shall come forth in many chariots, and as a wind the number of them is carried upon the earth, so that now al do fear and tremble, that shall hear them. The Carmonians mad for anger, and they shall go forth as wild boars out of the wood, and they shall come with great power, and shall stand in fight with them, and they shall waste the portion of the land of the Assyrians. And after these things the dragons shall prevail mindful of their nativity, and conspiring shall turn themselves in great force to pursue them. These shall be troubled and hold their peace at their force, and shall turn their feet into flight. And from the territory of the Assyrians the besiegers shall besiege them, and shall consume one of them, and there shall be fear and trembling in their army, and contention against their kings. Behold clouds from the east, and from the north unto the south, and their face very horrible, full of wrath and storm. And they shall beat one against another, and they shall beat down many stars, and their star upon the earth, and blood shall be from the sword unto the belly. And man’s dung unto the camel’s litter, and there shall be much fear, and trembling upon the earth. And they shall shake that shall see that wrath, and tremble shall take them: and after these things there shall many showers be moved: from the south, and the north: and another portion from the west. And the winds from the east shall prevail upon it, and shall shut it up, and the clouds which He raised in wrath, and the star to make terror to the east wind, and the west shall be destroyed. And there shall be exalted great and mighty clouds full of wrath, and a star to terrify all the earth, and the inhabitants thereof, and they shall power in upon every high, and eminent place a terrible star, fire, and hail, and flying swords, and many waters, so that all fields also shall be filled, and all rivers with the fulness of many waters. And they shall throw down cities, and walls, and mountains, and hills, and the trees of the woods, and the grass of the meadows, and their corn. And they shall pass constant unto Babylon, and shall raise her. They shall come together against her, and shall compass her, and shall power out the star, and al wrath upon her, and the dust and smoke shall go up even into heaven, and round about shall lament her. And they that shall remain under her, shall serve them that terrified her. And thou Asia agreeing into the hope of Babylon, and the glory of her person, woe be to thee thou wretch, because thou art like to her, and hast adorned thy daughters in fornication, to please and glory in thy lovers, which have desired always to fornicate with thee. Thou hast imitated the odious in al her works, and in her inventions: therefore saith God: I will send in evils upon thee, widowhood, poverty, and famine, and sword, and pestilence, to destroy thy houses by violation, and death, and glory of thy virtue. As a flower shall be withered, when the heat shall rise that is sent forth upon thee, thou shalt be weakened as a little poor soul plagued and chastised of women, that the mighty and the lovers may not receive thee. Will I be zealous against thee saith our Lord, unless thou hadst slain Mine elect at all times, exalting the slaughter of the hands, and saying upon their death, when thou wast drunken. Adorn the beauty of thy countenance. The reward of thy fornication is in thy bosom, therefore thou shalt receive recompense. As thou shalt doe to My elect, saith our Lord, so shall God do to thee, and shall deliver thee unto evil. And thy children shall die for famine: and thou shalt fall by the sword, and thy cities shall be destroyed, and all thine shall fall in the field by the sword. And they that are in the mountains, shall perish with famine, and shall eat their own flesh, and drink blood, for the famine of bread and thirst of waters. Unhappy by the seas shalt thou come, and again thou shalt receive evils. And in the passage they shall beat against the idle city, and shall destroy some portion of thy land, and shall deface part of thy glory, again returning to Babylon overthrown. And being thrown down thou shalt be to them for stubble, and they shall be to thee fire: and devour thee, and thy cities, thy land, and thy mountains, all thy woods and fruitful trees they will burn with fire. Thy children they shall lead captive, and shall have thy goods for a prayer, and the glory of thy face they shall destroy.
Chapter XVI
All are admonished, that extreme calamities shall fall upon this world, the penitent returning to justice shall escape, and as all things were made by God’s omnipotent power at His will, so all things shall serve to the reward of the blessed, and punishment of the wicked.
WOE to thee Babylon and Asia, woe to thee Egypt, and Syria. Gird yourselves with sackcloth and shirts of hair, and mourn for your children, and be sorry: because your destruction is at hand. The sword is sent in upon you, and who is he that can turn it away? Fire is sent in upon you, and who is he that can quench it? Evils are sent in upon you, and who is he that can repel them? Shall any man repel the lion being hungry in the wood, or quench the fire in stubble, forthwith when it beginneth to burn? Shall any man repel the arrow shot of a strong archer? Our strong Lord sendeth in evils, and who is he that can repel them? Fire came forth from His wrath, and who is he that can quench it? He will lighten, who shall not fear, He will thunder, and who shall not be afraid? Our Lord will threaten, and who shall not utterly be destroyed before His face? The earth hath trembled, and the foundations thereof, the sea tosseth up waves from the depth, and the floods of it shall be destroyed, and the fishes thereof at the face of our Lord, and at the glory of His power: because His right hand is strong which bendeth the bow, His arrows be sharp that are shot of Him, they shall not miss, when they shall begin to be shot into the ends of the earth. Behold evils are sent, and they shall not return till they come upon the earth. The fire is kindled and it shall not be quenched, till it consume the foundations of the earth. For as the arrow shot of a strong archer returneth not, so shall not the evils return back, that shall be sent upon the earth. Woe is me, woe is me: who shall deliver me in those days? The beginning of sorrows and much mourning, the beginning of famine and much destruction. The beginning of wars and the potestates shall fear, the beginning of evils and all shall tremble. In these what shall I do, when the evils shall come? Behold famine, and plague, and tribulation, and distress are sent all as scourges for amendment, and in all these they will not convert themselves from their iniquities, neither will they be always mindful of the scourges. Behold, there shall be good cheap victuals upon the earth, so that they may think that peace is directly coming toward them, and then shall evils spring upon the earth, sword, famine, and great confusion. For by famine many that inhabit the earth shall die, and the sword shall destroy the rest that remained alive of the famine, and the dead shall be cast forth as dung, and there shall be none to comfort them. For the earth shall be left deserted, and the cities thereof shall be thrown down. There shall not be left a man to till the ground and to sow it. The trees shall yield fruits, and who shall gather them? The grape shall become ripe, and who shall tread it? For there shall be great desolation to places. For a man shall desire to see a man, or to hear his voice. For there shall be left ten of a city, and two of the field that have hid themselves in thick woods, and cliffs of rocks. As there are left in the olivet, and on every tree, three of four olives. Or as in a vineyard when it is gathered there are grapes left by them, that diligently search the vineyard: so shall there be left in those days three or four, by them that search their houses in the sword. And the earth shall be left desolate, and the fields thereof shall wax old, and the ways thereof, and all the paths thereof shall bring forth thorns, because no man shall pass by it. Virgins shall mourn having no bridegrooms, women shall mourn having no husbands, their daughters shall mourn having no help: their bridegrooms shall be consumed in battle, and their husbands be destroyed in famine. But hear these things, and know them ye servants of our Lord. Behold the word of our Lord, receive it: believe not the gods of whom our Lord speaketh. Behold the evils approach, and slack not. As a woman with child when she bringeth forth her child in the ninth month, the hour of her deliverance approaching, two or three hours before, pains come about her womb, and the infants coming out of her womb, they will not tarry one moment. So the evils shall not slack to come forth upon the earth, and the world shall lament, and sorrows shall hold it round about. Hear the word, My people: prepare yourselves unto the fight, and in the eviles so be ye as strangers of the earth. He that selleth as if he should flee, and he that buyeth as he that should lose it. He that playeth the merchant, as he that should take no fruit: and he that buildeth as he that should not inhabit. He that soweth, as he that shall not reap: so he also that pruneth a vineyard, as if he should not have the vintage. They that marry so as if they should not get children, and they that marry not, so as if were widows. Wherefore they that labour, labour without cause: for foreigners shall reap their fruits, and shall violently take their goods, and overthrow their houses, and lead their children captive, because in captivity, and famine they beget their children. And they that play the merchants by robbery, the longer they adorn their cities and houses, and their possessions and persons: so much the more will I be zealous toward them, upon their sins, saith our Lord. As a whore envieth an honest and very good woman: so shall justice hate impiety when she adorneth herself, and accuseth her to her face, when he shall come that may defend him that searcheth out all upon the earth. Therefore be not made like to her, nor to her works. For yet a little while and iniquity shall be taken away from the earth, and justice shall reign over you. Let not the sinner say he hath not sinned: because he shall burn coals of fire upon his head, that saith I have not sinned before our Lord God and His glory. Behold our Lord shall know al the works of men, and their inventions, and their cogitations, and their hearts. For He said: Let the earth be made, and it was made: let the heaven be made, and it was made. And by His word the stars were made, and He knoweth the number of the stars. Who searcheth the depth and the treasures thereof: who hath measured the sea, and capacity thereof. Who hath shut up the sea in the midst of waters, and hath hanged the earth upon the waters with His word. Who hath spread heaven as it were a vault, over the waters He hath founded it. Who hath put fountains of waters in the desert, and lakes upon the tops of mountains, to send forth rivers from the high rock to water the earth. Who made man and put his heart in the midst of the body, and gave him spirit, life and understanding. And the inspiration of God omnipotent that made all things, and searcheth all hidden things, in the secrets of the earth. He knoweth your invention, and what you think in your hearts sinning, and willing to hide your sins. Wherefore our Lord in searching hath searched all your works, and He will put you all to open shame, and you shall be confounded when your sins shall come forth before men, and the iniquities shall be they that shall stand accusers in that day. What will you doe? or how shall you hide your sins before God and His Angels? Behold God is the Judge, fear him. Cease from your sins, and now forget your iniquities to do them anymore, and God will bring you out, and deliver you from all tribulation. For behold the heat of a great multitude is kindled over you, and they shall take certain of you by violence, and shall make the slain to be meat for idols. And they that shall consent unto them, shall be to them in derision, and in reproach, and in conculcation. For there shall be place against places, and against the next cities great insurrection upon them that fear our Lord. They shall be as it were mad sparing no body, to spoil and waste yet them that fear our Lord. Because they shall waste and spoil the goods, and shall cast them out of their houses. Then shall appear the probation of Mine elect, as gold that is proved by the fire. Hear Me beloved, saith our Lord: Behold the days of tribulation are come: and out of them I will deliver you. Do not fear, nor stagger, because God is your guide. And he that keepeth My commandments, and precepts, saith our Lord God: Let not your sins overweigh you, nor your iniquities be advanced over you. Woe to them that are entangled with their sins, and are covered with their iniquities, as a field is entangled with the wood, and the path thereof covered with thorns, by which no man passeth, and it is closed out, and cast to be devoured of the fire.
FINIS
Note: This translation comes from the Latin text, usually printed in an appendix to editions of the Vulgate, but these editions miss seventy verses between 7:35 and 7:36. The missing fragment was discovered in a Latin manuscript by Robert Lubbock Bensly in 1874.
And the pit of torment shall appear, and over against it shall be the place of rest: and the furnace of hell shall be shewed, and over against it the paradise of delight. And then shall the Most High say to the nations that are raised from the dead, See ye and understand Whom ye have denied, or Whom ye have not served, or Whose commandments ye have despised. Look on this side and on that: here is delight and rest, and there fire and torments. Thus shall He speak unto them in the day of judgement: This is a day that hath neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, neither cloud, nor thunder, nor lightning, neither wind, nor water, nor air, neither darkness, nor evening, nor morning, neither summer, nor spring, nor heat, nor winter, neither frost, nor cold, nor hail, nor rain, nor dew, neither noon, nor night, nor dawn, neither shining, nor brightness, nor light, save only the splendour of the glory of the Most High, whereby all shall see the things that are set before them: for it shall endure as it were a week of years. This is My judgement and the ordinance thereof; but to thee only have I shewed these things. And I answered, I said even then, O Lord, and I say now: Blessed are they that be now alive and keep the statutes ordained of Thee. But as touching them for whom my prayer was made, what shall I say? for who is there of them that be alive that hath not sinned, and who of the sons of men that hath not transgressed Thy covenant? And now I see, that the world to come shall bring delight to few, but torments unto many. For an evil heart hath grown up in us, which hath led us astray from these statutes, and hath brought us into corruption and into the ways of death, hath shewed us the paths of perdition and removed us far from life; and that, not a few only, but well nigh all that have been created. And He answered me, and said, Hearken unto Me, and I will instruct thee; and I will admonish thee yet again: for this cause the Most High hath not made one world, but two. For whereas thou hast said that the just are not many, but few, and the ungodly abound, hear the answer thereunto. If thou have choice stones exceeding few, wilt thou set for thee over against them according to their number things of lead and clay? And I say, Lord, how shall this be? And He said unto me, Not only this, but ask the earth, and she shall tell thee; intreat her, and she shall declare unto thee. For thou shalt say unto her, Thou bringest forth gold and silver and brass, and iron also and lead and clay: but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than brass, lead than iron, and clay than lead. Judge thou therefore which things are precious and to be desired, whatso is abundant or what is rare. And I said, O Lord that bearest rule, that which is plentiful is of less worth, for that which is more rare is more precious. And He answered me, and said, Weigh within thyself the things that thou hast thought, for he that hath what is hard to get rejoiceth over him that hath what is plentiful. So also is the judgement which I have promised: for I will rejoice over the few that shall be saved, inasmuch as these are they that have made My glory now to prevail, and of whom My Name is now named. And I will not grieve over the multitude of them that perish; for these are they that are now like unto vapour, and are become as flame and smoke; they are set on fire and burn hotly, and are quenched. And I answered and said, O thou earth, wherefore hast thou brought forth, if the mind is made out of dust, like as all other created things? For it were better that the dust itself had been unborn, so that the mind might not have been made therefrom. But now the mind groweth with us, and by reason of this we are tormented, because we perish and know it. Let the race of men lament and the beasts of the field be glad; let all that are born lament, but let the fourfooted beasts and the cattle rejoice. For it is far better with them than with us; for they look not for judgement, neither do they know of torments or of salvation promised unto them after death. For what doth it profit us, that we shall be preserved alive, but yet be afflicted with torment? For all that are born are defiled with iniquities, and are full of sins and laden with offences: and if after death we were not to come into judgement, peradventure it had been better for us. And He answered me, and said, When the Most High made the world, and Adam and all them that came of him, He first prepared the judgement and the things that pertain unto the judgement. And now understand from thine own words, for thou hast said that the mind groweth with us. They therefore that dwell upon the earth shall be tormented for this reason, that having understanding they have wrought iniquity, and receiving commandments have not kept them, and having obtained a Law they dealt unfaithfully with that which they received. What then will they have to say in the judgement, or how will they answer in the last times? For how great a time hath the Most High been longsuffering with them that inhabit the world, and not for their sakes, but because of the times which He hath foreordained! And I answered and said, If I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, shew this also unto Thy servant, whether after death, even now when every one of us giveth up his soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come, in which Thou shalt renew the creation, of whether we shall be tormented forthwith. And He answered me, and said, I will shew thee this also; but join not thyself with them that are scorners, nor number thyself with them that are tormented. For thou hast a treasure of good works laid up with the Most High, but it shall not be shewed thee until the last times. For concerning death the teaching is: When the determinate sentence hath gone forth from the Most High that a man should die, as the spirit leaveth the body to return again to Him Who gave it, it adoreth the glory of the Most High first of all. And if it be one of those that have been scorners and have not kept the way of the Most High, and that have despised His Law, and that hate them that fear God, these spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall wander and be in torments forthwith, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways. The first way, because they have despised the Law of the Most High. The second way, because they cannot now make a good returning that they may live. The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for them that have believed the covenants of the Most High. The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for themselves in the last days. The fifth way, they shall see the dwelling places of the others guarded by angels, with great quietness. The sixth way, they shall see how forthwith some of them shall pass into torment. The seventh way, which is more grievous than all the aforesaid ways, because they shall pine away in confusion and be consumed with shame, and shall be withered up by fears, seeing the glory of the Most High before whom they have sinned whilst living, and before whom they shall be judged in the last times. Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from the corruptible vessel. In the time that they dwelt therin they painfully served the Most High, and were in jeopardy every hour, that they might keep the Law of the Lawgiver perfectly. Wherefore this is the teaching concerning them: First of all they shall see with great joy the glory of Him Who taketh them up, for they shall have rest in seven orders. The first order, because they have striven with great labour to overcome the evil thought which was fashioned together with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death. The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the ungodly wander, and the punishment that awaiteth them. The third order, they see the witness which He that fashioned them beareth concerning them, that while they lived they kept the Law which was given them in trust. The fourth order, they understand the rest which, being gathered in their chambers, they now enjoy with great quietness, guarded by angels, and the glory that awaiteth them in the last days. The fifth order, they rejoice, seeing how they have now escaped from that which is corruptible, and how they shall inherit that which is to come, while they see moreover the straitness and the painfulness from which they have been delivered, and the large room which they shall receive with joy and immortality. The sixth order, when it is shewed unto them how their face shall shine as the sun, and how they shall be made like unto the light of the stars, being henceforth incorruptible. The seventh order, which is greater than all the aforesaid orders, because they shall rejoice with confidence, and because they shall be bold without confusion, and shall be glad without fear, for they hasten to behold the face of Him Whom in their lifetime they served, and from Whom they shall receive their reward in glory. This is the order of the souls of the just, as from henceforth is announced unto them, and aforesaid are the ways of torture which they that would not give heed shall suffer from henceforth. And I answered and said, Shall time therefore be given unto the souls after they are separated from the bodies, that they may see that whereof thou hast spoken unto me? And He said, Their freedom shall be for seven days, that for seven days they may see the things whereof thou hast been told, and afterwards they shall be gathered together in their habitations. And I answered and said, If I have found favour in Thy sight, shew further unto me Thy servant whether in the day of judgement the just will be able to intercede for the ungodly or to entreat the Most High for them, whether fathers for children, or children for parents, or brethren for brethren, or kinsfolk for their next of kin, or friends for them that are most dear. And He answered me, and said, Since thou hast found favour in My sight, I will shew thee this also: The day of judgement is a day of decision, and displayeth unto all the seal of truth; even as now a father sendeth not his son, or a son his father, or a master his slave, or a friend him that is most dear, that in his stead he may be sick, or sleep, or eat, or be healed: so never shall any one pray for another in that day, neither shall one lay a burden on another, for then shall all bear every one his own righteousness or unrighteousness.
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 