2 Esdras 9

Revised Standard Version

More about the Signs of the End

9 He answered me and said, “Measure carefully in your mind, and when you see that a certain part of the predicted signs are past, ² then you will know that it is the very time when the Most High is about to visit the world which he has made. ³ So when there shall appear in the world earthquakes, tumult of peoples, intrigues of nations, wavering of leaders, confusion of princes, ⁴ then you will know that it was of these that the Most High spoke from the days that were of old, from the beginning. ⁵ For just as with everything that has occurred in the world, the beginning is evident,^[a] and the end manifest; ⁶ so also are the times of the Most High: the beginnings are manifest in wonders and mighty works, and the end in requital^[b] and in signs. ⁷ And it shall be that every one who will be saved and will be able to escape on account of his works, or on account of the faith by which he has believed, ⁸ will survive the dangers that have been predicted, and will see my salvation in my land and within my borders, which I have sanctified for myself from the beginning. ⁹ Then those who have now abused my ways shall be amazed, and those who have rejected them with contempt shall dwell in torments. ¹⁰ For as many as did not acknowledge me in their lifetime, although they received my benefits, ¹¹ and as many as scorned my law while they still had freedom, and did not understand but despised it^[c] while an opportunity of repentance was still open to them, ¹² these must in torment acknowledge it^[d] after death. ¹³ Therefore, do not continue to be curious as to how the ungodly will be punished; but inquire how the righteous will be saved, those to whom the age belongs and for whose sake the age was made.”^[e]

The Argument Recapitulated

¹⁴ I answered and said, ¹⁵ “I said before, and I say now, and will say it again: there are more who perish than those who will be saved, ¹⁶ as a wave is greater than a drop of water.”

¹⁷ He answered me and said, “As is the field, so is the seed; and as are the flowers, so are the colors; and as is the work, so is the product; and as is the farmer, so is the threshing floor. ¹⁸ For there was a time in this age when I was preparing for those who now exist, before the world was made for them to dwell in, and no one opposed me then, for no one existed; ¹⁹ but now those who have been created in this world which is supplied both with an unfailing table and an inexhaustible pasture,^[f] have become corrupt in their ways. ²⁰ So I considered my world, and behold, it was lost, and my earth, and behold, it was in peril because of the devices of those who^[g] had come into it. ²¹ And I saw and spared some^[h] with great difficulty, and saved for myself one grape out of a cluster, and one plant out of a great forest.^{[i] 22} So let the multitude perish which has been born in vain, but let my grape and my plant be saved, because with much labor I have perfected them. ²³ But if you will let seven days more pass—do not fast during them, however; ²⁴ but go into a field of flowers where no house has been built, and eat only of the flowers of the field, and taste no meat and drink no wine, but eat only flowers, ²⁵ and pray to the Most High continually—then I will come and talk with you.”

The Abiding Glory of the Mosaic Law

²⁶ So I went, as he directed me, into the field which is called Ardat;^[j] and there I sat among the flowers and ate of the plants of the field, and the nourishment they afforded satisfied me. ²⁷ And after seven days, as I lay on the grass, my heart was troubled again as it was before. ²⁸ And my mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Most High, and said, ²⁹ “O Lord, thou didst show thyself among us, to our fathers in the wilderness when they came out from Egypt and when they came into the untrodden and unfruitful wilderness; ³⁰ and thou didst say, ‘Hear me, O Israel, and give heed to my words, O descendants of Jacob. ³¹ For behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you and you shall be glorified through it for ever.’ ³² But though our fathers received the law, they did not keep it, and did not observe the statutes; yet the fruit of the law did not perish—for it could not, because it was thine. ³³ Yet those who received it perished, because they did not keep what had been sown in them. ³⁴ And behold, it is the rule that, when the ground has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any dish food or drink, and when it happens that what was sown or what was launched or what was put in is destroyed, ³⁵ they are destroyed, but the things that held them remain; yet with us it has not been so. ³⁶ For we who have received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our heart which received it; ³⁷ the law, however, does not perish but remains in its glory.”

The Vision of a Weeping Woman

³⁸ When I said these things in my heart, I lifted up my eyes^[k] and saw a woman on my right, and behold, she was mourning and weeping with a loud voice, and was deeply grieved at heart, and her clothes were rent, and there were ashes on her head. ³⁹ Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged, and turned to her ⁴⁰ and said to her, “Why are you weeping, and why are you grieved at heart?”

⁴¹ And she said to me, “Let me alone, my lord, that I may weep for myself and continue to mourn, for I am greatly embittered in spirit and deeply afflicted.”

⁴² And I said to her, “What has happened to you? Tell me.”

⁴³ And she said to me, “Your servant was barren and had no child, though I lived with my husband thirty years. ⁴⁴ And every hour and every day during those thirty years I besought the Most High, night and day. ⁴⁵ And after thirty years God heard your handmaid, and looked upon my low estate, and considered my distress, and gave me a son. And I rejoiced greatly over him, I and my husband and all my neighbors;^[l] and we gave great glory to the Mighty One. ⁴⁶ And I brought him up with much care. ⁴⁷ So when he grew up and I came to take a wife for him, I set a day for the marriage feast.