2 Esdras 7:75-131

Common English Bible

⁷⁵ I replied: “If I have found favor with you, Lord, show this also to your servant: After death, as soon as each person gives up his or her soul, will we be kept asleep until the time comes for you to begin to renew creation, or will we be tormented right away?”

⁷⁶ He replied to me: “I will show you this too. But don’t associate yourself with those who have shown contempt, and don’t count yourself among those who are tormented. ⁷⁷ You have a treasure of works stored up with the Most High, but it won’t be shown to you until the last times.

⁷⁸ “Now a word about death: When the final sentence goes forth from the Most High that a person should die, when the spirit recedes from the body so that it may be sent again to him who gave it, the first thing is to stand in awe before the glory of the Most High. ⁷⁹ If the spirit belonged to one of those who showed contempt and didn’t keep the Most High’s way, if it was one of those who despised his Law and who hates those who fear God, ⁸⁰ these spirits don’t go into their dwellings but will immediately wander about in torments. They will constantly grieve and be sorrowful for seven reasons:^[a]

“They will wither in fear when they see the glory of the Most High, before whom they sinned when they were alive and before whom they are to be judged in the last times.

⁸⁸ “The arrangement for those who kept God’s ways is this when they begin to be separated from the corruptible body.^{[d] 89} In the time of their exile here they labored hard to serve the Most High. Every hour they endured danger so that they might keep the Law of the lawgiver perfectly. ⁹⁰ Therefore, this is the word about them: ⁹¹ First, they will see with great joy the glory of him who receives them. They will have rest on account of seven orders:

⁹⁹ “This is the order of the souls of the just, as is announced immediately, and those previously mentioned are the ways of torment that those who paid no heed will suffer.”

¹⁰⁰ I answered: “Will time, therefore, be given to souls after they are separated from the bodies to see what you told me?”

¹⁰¹ He said to me: “They will be free for seven days so that they may see in those seven days the things^[e] that have been foretold. After this, they will be gathered in their dwelling places.”

¹⁰² I answered: “If you look on me with favor, show your servant further whether on the Judgment Day the just will be able to seek mercy for the wicked or intercede for them with the Most High. ¹⁰³ Will parents be allowed to intercede^[f] for children, children for parents, siblings for each other, relatives for those close to them, faithful ones for those most dear to them?”

¹⁰⁴ He replied to me: “Because I do indeed favor you, I will also show you this. The Judgment Day is decisive.^[g] It reveals the seal of truth to all. Even in the here and now a parent doesn’t send a child, or a child the parent, or a master his servant, or a faithful friend a dear confidant, so that the one should understand or sleep or eat or be taken care of in the other person’s place. ¹⁰⁵ Just so, no one will ever intercede for another; everyone will then bear his or her own deeds of justice or injustice.”

¹⁰⁶ I answered: “How then do we find that Abraham first interceded for the people of Sodom; and Moses for our ancestors who sinned in the desert; ¹⁰⁷ and Joshua, who came after him, for Israel, in the days of Achan; ¹⁰⁸ and Samuel in the days of Saul;^[h] and David for the plague;^[i] and Solomon for those in the sanctuary; ¹⁰⁹ and Elijah for those who received the rain, and for a dead person that he might live; ¹¹⁰ and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many for many people? ¹¹¹ If, therefore, the just prayed for the wicked when corruption had increased and injustice had multiplied, why won’t it be the same then?”

¹¹² He answered me: “The present world isn’t the end. Glory does not^[j] continuously remain in it, and so those who were able prayed for the weak. ¹¹³ But the Judgment Day will be the end of this time and the beginning of the future, endless time in which decay is no more, ¹¹⁴ indulgence is undone, unbelief is cut off, but justice is fully grown, and truth arisen. ¹¹⁵ Therefore, no one will then be able to have mercy on someone who has been condemned in the judgment, nor to overwhelm one who has conquered.”

¹¹⁶ I answered: “This is my first and last word: It would have been better if the earth hadn’t brought forth Adam, or when it had brought him forth, that it had forced him not to sin. ¹¹⁷ What does it benefit everyone to live in sadness during the present time, and when dead to expect punishment? ¹¹⁸ Adam, what have you done?! If you sinned, the downfall wasn’t yours alone but also ours who are descended from you. ¹¹⁹ What benefit is it to us that we are promised an immortal time, but we have done works that bring death? ¹²⁰ What good is it to us that everlasting hope has been predicted for us, but we have utterly failed? ¹²¹ What good is it that safe and healthy dwelling places are reserved, but we have behaved badly? ¹²² What good is it that the glory of the Most High will protect those who have conducted themselves decently, but we have conducted ourselves indecently? ¹²³ What good is it that paradise will be revealed, whose fruit remains uncorrupted, in which there is plenty and healing, ¹²⁴ but we won’t enter it, for we have visited unseemly places? ¹²⁵ What good is it that the faces of those who practiced abstinence will shine brighter than stars when our faces are blacker than darkness? ¹²⁶ While we were alive and doing evil, we didn’t think about what we would suffer after death.”

¹²⁷ He answered: “These are the rules for the contest in which everyone born on earth takes part: ¹²⁸ Those who are defeated will suffer what you said, but those who conquer will receive what I say. ¹²⁹ This is the path that Moses declared when he was alive, speaking to the people, Choose life for yourself… so that you may live.^{[k] 130} But they didn’t believe him or the prophets who came after him. They didn’t even believe me when I spoke to them. ¹³¹ There won’t be sadness over their destruction, as there will be joy over those for whom salvation is sure.”