The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Esdras 05
1 “Nevertheless, concerning the signs,
behold, the days will come when those
who dwell on earth will be taken †with
great amazement, andthe way oftruth will
be hidden, and the land will be barren of
faith.
2 Iniquity will be increased above what
now you see, and beyond what you have
heard long ago.
3 The land that you now see ruling will
be a trackless waste, and men will see it
desolate.
4 But if the Most High grants you to live,
you will see what is after the third period
will be troubled. The sun will suddenly
shine in the night, and the moon in the day.
5 Blood will drop out of wood, and the
stone will utter its voice. The peoples will
be troubled, and the stars will fall.
6 He will rule whom those who dwell on
the earth don’t expect, and the birds will
fly away together.
7 The Sodomite sea will cast out fish, and
make a noise in the night, which many
have not known; but all will hear its voice.
8 There will also be chaos inmany places.
Fires will break out often, and the wild
animals will change their places, and women
will bring forth monsters.
9 Salt waters will be found in the sweet,
and all friends will destroy one another.
Then reason will hide itself, and understanding
withdraw itself into its chamber.
10 It will be sought by many, and won’t
be found. Unrighteousness and lack of
restraint will be multiplied on earth.
11 One country will ask another, ‘Has
righteousness, or a man that does
righteousness, gone through you?’
And it will say, ‘No.’
12 It will come to pass at that time that
men will hope, but won’t obtain. They will
labor, but their ways won’t prosper.
13 I am permitted to show you such signs.
If you will pray again, and weep as now,
and fast seven days, you will hear yet
greater things than these.
14 Then I woke up, and an extreme
trembling went through my body, and my mind
was so troubled that it fainted.
15 So the angel who had come to talk with
me held me, comforted me, and set me on
my feet.
16 Inthe secondnight, it came topass that
‡Phaltiel the captain of the people came to
me, saying, “Where have you been? Why
is your face sad?
17 Or don’t you know that Israel
is committed to you in the land
of their captivity?
18 Get up then, and eat some bread,
and don’t forsake us, like a shepherd who
leaves the flock in the power of cruel
wolves.”
19 Then said I to him, “Go away from me
and don’t come near me for seven days,
and then you shall come to me.” He heard
what I said and left me.
20 So I fasted seven days, mourning and
weeping, like Uriel the angel had commanded me.
21 After seven days, the thoughts of my
heart were very grievous to me again,
22 and my soul recovered the spirit
of understanding, and I began to speak words
before the Most High again.
23 I said, “O sovereign Lord of all the
woods of the earth, and of all the trees
thereof, you have chosen one vine for
yourself.
24 Of all the lands of the world you have
chosen one §country for yourself. Of all
the flowers of the world, you have chosen
one lily for yourself.
25 Of all the depths of the sea, you have
filled one river for yourself. Of all built
cities, you have consecrated Zion for yourself.
26 Of all the birds that are created you
have named for yourself one dove. Of all
the livestock that have been made, you
have provided for yourself one sheep.
27 Among all the multitudes of peoples
you have gotten yourself one people. To
this people, whom you loved, you gave a
law that is approved by all.
28 Now, O Lord, why have you given
this one people over to many, and †have
dishonored the one root above others,
and have scattered your only one among
many?
29 Those who opposed your promises
have trampled down those who believed
your covenants.
30 If you really do hate your people so
much, they should be punished with your
own hands.”
31 Now when I had spoken these words,
the angel that came to me the night before
was sent to me,
32 and said to me, “Hear me, and I will
instruct you. Listen to me, and I will tell
you more.”
33 I said, “Speak on, my Lord.”
Then said he to me, “You are very
troubled in mind for Israel’s sake. Do you
love that people more than he who made
them?”
34 I said, “No, Lord; but I have spoken
out of grief; for my heart is in agony every
hour while I labor to comprehend the way
ofthe Most High, and to seek out part of his
judgment.
35 He said to me, “You can’t.”
And I said, “Why, Lord? Why was I born?
Why wasn’t my mother’s womb my grave,
that I might not have seen the travail of
Jacob, and the wearisome toil ofthe people
of Israel?
36 He saidtome, “Countforme those who
haven’t yet come. Gather together for me
the drops that are scattered abroad, and
make the withered flowers green again for me.
37 Open for me the chambers that are
closed, and bring out the winds for me that
are shut up in them. Or show me the image
of a voice. Then I will declare to you the
travail that you asked to see.
38 And I said, “O sovereign Lord, who
may know these things except he who
doesn’t have his dwelling with men?
39 As for me, I lack wisdom. How can I
then speak of these things you asked me
about?
40 Then said he to me, “Just as you can do
none of these things that I have spoken of,
even so you can’t find out my judgment, or
the end of the love that I have promised to
my people.
41 I said, “But, behold, O Lord, you have
made the promise to those who are alive
at the end. What should they do who have
been before us, or we ourselves, or those
who will come after us?
42 He said to me, “I will compare my
judgment to a ring. Just as there is no
slowness of those who are last, even so
there is no swiftness of those who be first.
43 So I answered, “Couldn’t you make
them all at once that have been made, and
that are now, and that are yet to come, that
you might show your judgment sooner?
44 Then he answered me, “The creature
may not move faster than the creator, nor
can the world hold them at once who will
be created in it.
45 And I said, “How have you said to your
servant, that ‡you will surely make alive at
once the creature that you have created?
§If therefore they will be alive at once, and
the creation will sustain them, even so it
might now also supportthem to be present
at once.
46 And he said to me, “Ask the womb
of a woman, and say to her, ‘If you bear
ten children, why do you it at different
times? Ask her therefore to give birth to
ten children at once.
47 I said, “She can’t, but must do it each in
their own time.
48 Then said he to me, “Even so, I have
given the womb of the earth to those who
are sown in it in their own times.
49 For just as a young child may not give
birth, neither she who has grown old any
more, even so have I organized the world
which I created.
50 I asked, “Seeing that you have now
shown me the way, I will speak before you.
Is our mother, of whom you have told me,
still young? Or does she now draw near to
old age?”
51 He answered me, “Ask a woman who
bears children, and she will tell you.
52 Say to her, ‘Why aren’t they whom
you havenow broughtforth like those who
were before, but smaller in stature?’
53 She also will answer you, ‘Those who
are borninthe strength of youth are
different from those who are born in the time of
old age, when the womb fails.’
54 Consider therefore you also, how you
are shorter than those who were before
you.
55 So are those who come after you
smaller than you, as born of the creature
which now begins to be old, and is past the
strength of youth.
56 Then I said, “Lord, I implore you, if I
have found favor in your sight, show your
servant by whom you visit your creation.”