2 Esdras 7:26-44

Common English Bible

²⁶ “Look! The time is coming when the signs appear that I told you about in advance, and the city will appear, appearing as a bride, and the land that is now hidden will be openly displayed. ²⁷ Everyone who is rescued from the evils foretold will see my wonders. ²⁸ My Son the anointed one^[a] will be revealed along with those who are with him, and those who remain will rejoice for four hundred years.

²⁹ “After these years, my Son the anointed one and all who have human breath will die. ³⁰ The world will be turned back to primeval silence for seven days, as in the earliest beginnings so that no one is left alive. ³¹ After seven days, the world that isn’t yet awake will be roused, and the corrupt world will die. ³² The earth will give back those who sleep, and the dust will give back in silence those who dwell in it, and the resting places will give back the souls that have been entrusted to them. ³³ The Most High will be revealed on the throne of judgment, and mercy will pass away. Patience will be withdrawn, ³⁴ and only judgment will remain. Truth will arise, faith will recover strength, ³⁵ and works will have their consequences. Reward will come about, righteous deeds will awake, and unrighteous deeds won’t sleep.

³⁶ “The lake^[b] of torment will appear, and across from it will be the place of rest. Hell’s^[c] furnace will be displayed and across from it the delightful paradise. ³⁷ Then the Most High will speak to the nations that have been raised: ‘Look and understand whom it is you have denied, whom you haven’t served, and whose ordinances you have despised. ³⁸ Look to one side and the other: Here is delight and rest, and over there are fire and torments.’ He will say these things to them on the Judgment Day, ³⁹ a day that has no sun or moon or stars, ⁴⁰ no cloud or thunder or lightning, no wind or water or air, no darkness or evening or morning, ⁴¹ no summer or spring or heat, no winter or frost or cold, no hail or rain or dew, ⁴² no noon or night or early dawn, no shining or brightness or light, but only the splendor of the light of the Most High. All will then begin to see what things are in store for them. ⁴³ It will take a period of about a week of years. ⁴⁴ This is my judgment and the arrangements made for it. I have shown this to you alone.”