The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Esdras 07
1 When I had finished speaking these
words, the angel which had been sent to
me the nights before was sent to me.
2 He said to me, “Rise, Esdras, and hear
the words that I have come to tell you.”
3 I said, “Speak on, my Lord.”
Then he said to me, “There is a sea set in
a wide place, that it might be †broad and vast,
4 but its entrance is set in a narrow place
so as to be like a river.
5 Whoever desires to go into the sea to
look at it, or to rule it, if he didn’t go
through the narrow entrance, how could
he come into the broad part?
6 Another thing also: There is a city built
and set in a plain country, and full of all
good things,
7 but its entrance is narrow, and is set in
a dangerous place to fall, having fire on the
right hand, and deep water on the left.
8 There is one only path between them
both, even between the fire and the water,
so that only one person can go there at
once.
9 If this city is now given to a man for
an inheritance, if the heir doesn’t pass the
danger before him, how will he receive his
inheritance?”
10 I said, “That is so, Lord.”
Then said he to me, “Even so also is
Israel’s portion.
11 I made the world for their sakes. What
is now done was decreed when Adam
transgressed my statutes.
12 Then the entrances of this world were
made narrow, sorrowful, and toilsome.
They are butfew and evil,full of perils, and
involved in great toils.
13 For the entrances of the greater world
are wide and safe, and produce fruit of
immortality.
14 So if those who live don’t enter these
difficult and vain things, they can never
receive those that are reserved for them.
15 Now therefore why are you disturbed,
seeing you are but a corruptible man?
Why are you moved, since you are mortal?
16 Why haven’t you considered in your
mind that which is to come, rather than
that which is present?”
17 Then I answered and said, “O
sovereign Lord, behold, you have ordained
in your law that the righteous will
inherit these things, but that the ungodly
will perish.
18 The righteous therefore will suffer difficult
things, and hope for easier things,
but those who have done wickedly have
suffered the difficult things, and yet will
not see the easier things.”
19 He said to me, “You are not a judge
above God, neither do you have more
understanding than the Most High.
20 Yes, let many perish who now live,
rather than that the law of God which is set
before them be despised.
21 For God strictly commanded those
who came, even as they came, what they
should do to live, and what they should
observe to avoid punishment.
22 Never theless,they weren’t obedientto
him, but spoke against him and imagined
for themselves vain things.
23 They made cunning plans of wickedness,
and said moreover of the Most High
that he doesn’t exist, and they didn’t know
his ways.
24 They despised his law and denied his
covenants. They haven’t been faithful to
his statutes, and haven’t performed his
works.
25 Therefore, Esdras, for the empty are
empty things, and for the full are the full
things.
26 For behold, the time will come, and
it will be, when these signs of which I
told you before will come to pass, that the
bride will appear, even the city coming
forth, and she will be seen who now is
withdrawn from the earth.
27 Whoever is delivered from the
foretold evils will see my wonders.
28 For my son Jesus will be revealed with
those who are with him, and those who
remain will rejoice four hundred years.
29 After these years my son Christ‡ will
die, along with all of those who have the
breath of life§.
30 Then the world will be turned into the
old silence seven days, like as in the first
beginning, so that no human will remain.
31 After seven days the world that is not
yet awake will be raised up, and what is
corruptible will die.
32 The earth will restore those who are
asleep in it, and the dust those who dwell
in it in silence, and the †secret places will
deliver those souls that were committed to
them.
33 The Most High will be revealed on the
judgment seat, ‡ and compassion will pass
away, and patience will be withdrawn.
34 Only judgment will remain. Truth will
stand. Faith will grow strong.
35 Recompense will follow. The reward
will be shown. Good deeds will awake, and
wicked deeds won’t sleep.§
36 The †pit of torment will appear, and
near it willbe theplace of rest. The furnace
of hell‡ will be shown, and near it the
paradise of delight.
37 Then the Most High will say to the
nations that are raised from the dead, ‘Look
and understand whom you have denied,
whom you haven’t served, whose
commandments you have despised.
38 Look on this side and on that. Here
is delight and rest, and there fire
torments.’ Thus §he will speak
to them in the day of judgment.
39 This is a day that has neither sun, nor
moon, nor stars,
40 neither cloud, nor thunder, nor
lightning, neither wind, nor water,
nor air, neither darkness, nor
evening, nor morning,
41 neither summer, nor spring, nor heat,
nor† winter, neither frost, nor cold, nor
hail, nor rain, nor dew,
42 neither noon, nor night, nor dawn,
neither shining, nor brightness, nor light,
except only the splendor of the glory of the
Most High, by which all will see the things
that are set before them.
43 It will endure as though it were a week
of years.
44 This is my judgment and its prescribed
order; but I have only shown these things
to you.
45 I answered, “I said then, O Lord, and
I say now: Blessed are those who are now
alive and keep your commandments!
46 But what about those for whom I
prayed? For who is there of those who are
alive who has not sinned, and who of the
children of men hasn’t transgressed your
covenant?
47 Now I see that the world to come will
bring delight to few, but torments to many.
48 For an evil heart has grown up in
us, which has led us astray from these
commandments and has brought us into
corruption and into the ways of death. It
has shown us the paths of perdition and
removed us far from life—and that, not a
few only, but nearly all who have been
created.”
49 He answered me, “Listen to me, and I
will instruct you. I will admonish you yet
again.
50 For this reason, the Most High has not
made one world, but two.
51 For because you have said that the just
are not many, but few, and the ungodly
abound, hear the explanation.
52 If you have just a few precious stones,
will you add them to lead and clay?”
53 I said, “Lord, how could that be?”
54 He said to me, “Not only that, but ask
the earth, and she will tell you. Defer to
her, and she will declare it to you.
55 Say to her, ‘You produce gold, silver,
and brass, and also iron, lead, and clay;
56 but silver is more abundant than gold,
and brass than silver, and iron than brass,
and lead than iron, and clay than lead.’
57 Judge therefore which things are precious
and to be desired, what is abundant
or what is rare?”
58 I said, “O sovereign Lord, that which is
plentiful is of less worth, for that which is
more rare is more precious.”
59 He answered me, “Weigh within yourself
the things that you have thought, for
he who has what is hard to get rejoices
over him who has what is plentiful.
60 So also is the judgment which I have
promised; for I will rejoice over the few
that will be saved, because these are those
who have made my glory to prevail now,
and through them, my name is now honored.
61 I won’t grieve over the multitude of
those who perish; for these are those who
are now like mist, and have become like
flame and smoke; they are set on fire and
burn hotly, and are extinguished.”
62 I answered, “O earth, why have you
produced, if the mind is made out of dust,
like all other created things?
63 For it would have been better that the
dust itself had been unborn, so that the
mind might not have been made from it.
64 But now the mind grows with us, and
because of this we are tormented, because
we perish and we know it.
65 Let the race of men lament and the
animals of the field be glad. Let all who
are born lament, but let the four-footed
animals and the livestock rejoice.
66 For it is far better with them than with
us; for they don’t look forward to judgment,
neither do they know of torments or
of salvation promised to them after death.
67 For what does it profit us, that we will
be preserved alive, but yet be afflicted with
torment?
68 For all who are born are defiled with
iniquities, and are full of sins and laden
with transgressions.
69 If after death we were not to come
into judgment, perhaps it would have been
better for us.”
70 He answered me, “When the Most
High made the world and Adam and all
those who came from him, he first
prepared the judgment and the things that
pertain to the judgment.
71 Now understand from your own
words, for you have said that the mind
grows with us.
72 They therefore who dwell on the earth
will be tormented for this reason, that
having understanding they have committed
iniquity, and receiving commandments
have not kept them, and having obtained a
law they dealtunfaithfully withthat which
they received.
73 What then will they have to say in the
judgment, or how will they answer in the
last times?
74 For how long a time has the Most High
been patient with those who inhabit the
world, and not for their sakes, but because
of the times which he has foreordained!”
75 I answered, “If I have found grace in
your sight, O Lord, show this also to your
servant, whether after death, even now
when every one of us gives up his soul,
we will be kept in rest until those times
come, in which you renew the creation,
or whether we will be tormented immediately.”
76 He answered me, “I will show you this
also; but don’tjoinyourself withthose who
are scorners, nor count yourself withthose
who are tormented.
77 For you have a treasure of works laid
up with the Most High, but it won’t be
shown you until the last times.
78 For concerning death the teaching is:
When the decisive sentence has gone out
from the Most High that a man shall die, as
the spiritleaves the body to return again to
him who gave it, it adores the glory of the
Most High first of all.
79 And if it is one of those who have been
scorners and have not kept the way of the
Most High, and that have despised his law,
and who hate those who fear God,
80 these spirits won’t enter into habitations,
but will wander and be in torments
immediately, ever grieving and sad, in
seven ways.
81 The first way, because they have
despised the law of the Most High.
82 The second way, because they can’t
now make a good repentance that they
may live.
83 The third way,they will see the reward
laid up for those who have believed the
covenants of the Most High.
84 The fourth way, they will consider the
torment laid up for themselves in the last
days.
85 The fifth way, they will see the
dwelling places of the others guarded by
angels, with great quietness.
86 The sixth way, they will see how
immediately some of them will pass into torment.
87 The seventh way, which is more
grievous than all the aforesaid ways,
because they will pine away in confusion
and be consumed with shame, and will
be withered up by fears, seeing the glory
of the Most High before whom they have
sinned while living, and before whom
they will be judged in the last times.
88 “Now this is the order of those who
have kept the ways of the Most High, when
they will be separated from their mortal
body.
89 In the time that they lived in it, they
painfully served the Most High, and were
in jeopardy every hour, that they might
keep the law of the lawgiver perfectly.
90 Therefore this is the teaching concerning them:
91 First of all they will see with great joy
the glory of him who takes them up, for
they will have rest in seven orders.
92 The first order, because they have lab
ored with great effort to overcome the
evilthought which was fashioned together
with them, that it might not lead them
astray from life into death.
93 The second order, because they see
the perplexity in which the souls of the
ungodly wander, and the punishment that
awaits them.
94 The third order, they see the testimony
which he who fashioned them gives concerning
them, that while they lived they
kept the law which was given them in
trust.
95 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
awaits them in the last days.
96 The fifth order, they rejoice that they
have now escaped from that which is
corruptible, and that they will inherit that
which is to come, while they see in
addition the difficulty and the pain from which
theyhavebeendelivered, andthe spacious
liberty which they will receive with joy
and immortality.
97 The sixth order, when it is shown to
them how their face will shine like the sun,
and how they will be made like the light
of the stars, being incorruptible from then on.
98 The seventh order, which is greater
than all the previously mentioned orders,
because they will rejoice with confidence,
and because they will be bold without confusion,
and will be glad without fear, for
they hurry to see the face of him whom in
their lifetime they served, and from whom
they will receive their reward in glory.
99 This is the order of the souls of the
just, as from henceforth is announced to
them. Previously mentioned are the ways
of torture which those who would not give
heed will suffer from after this.”
100 I answered, “Will time therefore be
given to the souls after they are separated
from the bodies, that they may see what
you have described to me?”
101 He said, “Their freedom will be for
seven days, that for seven days they may
see the things you have been told, and
afterwards they will be gathered together
in their habitations.”
102 I answered, “If I have found favor
in your sight, show further to me your
servant whether in the day of judgment
the just will be able to intercede for the
ungodly or to entreat the Most High for
them,
103 whether fathers for children, or children
for parents, or kindred for kindred,
or kinsfolk for their next of kin, or friends
for those who are most dear.”
104 He answered me, “Since you have
found favor in my sight, I will show you
this also. The day of judgment is‡ a day
of decision, and displays to all the seal of
truth. Even as now a father doesn’t send
his son, or a son his father, or a master his
slave, or a friend him thatis most dear, that
in his place he may understand, or sleep,
or eat, or be healed,
105 so no one will ever pray for another
in that day, neither will one lay a burden
on another, for then everyone will
each bear his own righteousness or
unrighteousness.”
106 I answered, “How do we now find
that first Abraham prayed for the people of
Sodom, and Moses for the ancestors who
sinned in the wilderness,
107 and Joshua after him for Israel in the
days of *Achan, 108 and Samuel §in the days of Saul, and
David for the plague, and Solomon for
those who would worship in the sanctuary,
109 and Elijah for those that received
rain, and for the dead, that he might live,
110 and Hezekiah for the people in the
days of Sennacherib, and many others
prayed for many?
111 If therefore now, when corruption has grown and unrighteousness
increased, the righteous have prayed for
the ungodly, why will it not be so then
also?”
112 He answered me, “This present world
is not the end. The full glory doesn’t
remain in it. Therefore those who were able
prayed for the weak.
113 But the day of judgment will be the
end of this age, and the beginning of the
immortality to come, in which corruption
has passed away,
114 intemperance is at an end, infidelity
is cut off, but righteousnesshas grown, and
truth has sprung up.
115 Then no one will be able to have
mercy on him who is condemned in judgment,
nor to harm someone who is victorious.”
116 I answered then, “This is my first and
last saying, that it would have been better
if the earth had not produced Adam, or
else, when it had produced him, to have
restrained him from sinning.
117 For what profit is it for all who are in
this present time to live in heaviness, and
after death to look for punishment?
118 O Adam, what have you done? For
though it was you who sinned, the evil
hasn’t fallen on you alone, but on all of us
who come from you.
119 For what profit is it to us, if an
immortal time is promised to us, but we have
done deeds that bring death?
120 And thatthere is promisedus aneverlasting
hope, but we have most miserably failed?
121 And that there are reserved habitations
of health and safety, but we have
lived wickedly?
122 And that the glory of the Most High
will defend those who have led a pure life,
but we have walked in the most wicked
ways of all?
123 And that a paradise will be revealed,
whose fruit endures without decay, in
which is abundance and healing, but we
won’t enter into it,
124 for we have lived in perverse ways?
125 And that the faces of those who have
practiced self-control will shine more than
the stars, but our faces will be blacker than
darkness?
126 For while we lived and committed iniquity,
we didn’t consider what we would
have to suffer after death.”
127 Then he answered, “This is the
significance ofthe battle which
humans born on the earth will fight:
128 if they are overcome, they will suffer
as you have said, but if they get the victory,
they will receive the thing that I say.
129 For this is the way that Moses spoke to
the people while he lived, saying, ‘Choose
life, that you may live!’
130 Nevertheless they didn’t believe him
or the prophets after him, not even me,
who have spoken to them.
131 Therefore there won’t be such heaviness
in their destruction, as there will be
joy over those who are assured of salvation.”
132 Then I answered, “I know, Lord, that
the Most High is now called merciful, in
that he has mercy upon those who have
not yet come into the world;
133 and compassionate, in that he has
compassion upon those who turn to his law;
134 and patient, in that he is patient with
those who have sinned, since they are his
creatures;
135 and bountiful, in that he is ready to
give rather than to take away;
136 and very merciful, in that he multiplies
more and more mercies to those who
are present, and who are past, and also to
those who are to come
137 for if he wasn’t merciful, the world
wouldn’t continue with those who dwell in it
138 and one who forgives, for if he didn’t
forgive out of his goodness, that those
who have committed iniquities might be
relieved of them, not even one ten
thousandth part of mankind would
remain living;
139 and a judge, for if he didn’t pardon
those who were created by his word, and
blot out the multitude of sins,
140 there would perhaps be very few left
of an innumerable multitude.”