2 Esdras 6:11-28

Common English Bible

¹¹ I answered: “Supreme Lord, if only you looked so favorably upon me ¹² that you would show your servant your final signs,^[a] which you showed me in part on a previous night.”

¹³ He answered: “Get up on your feet. You’ll hear a loud, echoing voice. ¹⁴ Don’t be afraid if the place on which you stand is greatly moved ¹⁵ while the voice is speaking. Since the word concerns the end, and since the foundations of the earth will understand ¹⁶ that the speech is about them, the place will tremble and shake, because it knows that it is destined to be transformed.”

¹⁷ When I heard, I rose on my feet and listened. There was a voice speaking, and its sound was like the sound of deep waters. ¹⁸ It said: “Look! The days are coming when I will begin to come near to visit those who live on earth, ¹⁹ when I will begin to examine those who unjustly inflicted harm in their cruelty. When the humiliation of Zion is complete, ²⁰ when the seal is placed on the age that begins to pass away, I will perform these signs: Scrolls will be opened in view of the firmament, and all will see together. ²¹ Infants a year old will speak with their voices, and pregnant women will give birth to premature babies of three and four months, but they will live and dance. ²² Fields that were not sown will suddenly appear sown,^[b] and full warehouses will suddenly be found empty. ²³ A trumpet will sound with a blast; when all hear it they will suddenly be terrified. ²⁴ In that time friends will make war on friends like enemies, the earth along with those who live on it will be terrified, and the sources of rivers will stand still so that they don’t run for three hours. ²⁵ Then everyone who is left after all these things that I have foretold to you will be saved. These will see my deliverance and the end of my age. ²⁶ They will see^[c] the people who have been taken up and who haven’t tasted death from their birth. The hearts of those who live on earth^[d] will be changed and converted to a different spirit, ²⁷ for evil will be erased and grief extinguished. ²⁸ Faith will flourish, and corruption will be overcome. Truth that was without fruit for so long will be displayed.”