“On the fourth day thou didst command the brightness of the sun, the light of the moon, and the arrangement of the stars to come into being;

and over these thou didst place Adam, as ruler over all the works which thou hadst made; and from him we have all come, the people whom thou hast chosen.

and he said to me, “Rise, Ezra, and listen to the words that I have come to speak to you.”

If any one, then, wishes to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can he come to the broad part unless he passes through the narrow part?

And why have you not considered in your mind what is to come, rather than what is now present?”

For behold, the time will come, when the signs which I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city which now is not seen shall appear, and the land which now is hidden shall be disclosed.

And now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few, but torments to many.

And if we were not to come into judgment after death, perhaps it would have been better for us.”

He answered me and said, “When the Most High made the world and Adam and all who have come from him, he first prepared the judgment and the things that pertain to the judgment.

State of the Dead before Judgment

I answered and said, “If I have found favor in thy sight, O Lord, show this also to thy servant: whether after death, as soon as every one of us yields up his soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when thou wilt renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?”

The fifth order, they rejoice that they have now escaped what is corruptible, and shall inherit what is to come; and besides they see the straits and toil from which they have been delivered, and the spacious liberty which they are to receive and enjoy in immortality.

But the day of judgment will be the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come, in which corruption has passed away,

sinful indulgence has come to an end, unbelief has been cut off, and righteousness has increased and truth has appeared.

Ezra Appeals to God’s Mercy

I answered and said, “I know, O Lord, that the Most High is now called merciful, because he has mercy on those who have not yet come into the world;

and abundant in compassion, because he makes his compassions abound more and more to those now living and to those who are gone and to those yet to come,

He answered me and said, “The Most High made this world for the sake of many, but the world to come for the sake of few.

But I tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides very much clay from which earthenware is made, but only a little dust from which gold comes; so is the course of the present world.

For not of your own will did you come into the world, and against your will you depart, for you have been given only a short time to live.

and I have heard of the swiftness of the judgment that is to come.

Response to Ezra’s Prayer

He answered me and said, “Some things you have spoken rightly, and it will come to pass according to your words.

“For just as the farmer sows many seeds upon the ground and plants a multitude of seedlings, and yet not all that have been sown will come up in due season, and not all that were planted will take root; so also those who have been sown in the world will not all be saved.”

For if the farmer’s seed does not come up, because it has not received thy rain in due season, or if it has been ruined by too much rain, it perishes.

For you come far short of being able to love my creation more than I love it. But you have often compared yourself to the unrighteous. Never do so!

because it is for you that paradise is opened, the tree of life is planted, the age to come is prepared, plenty is provided, a city is built, rest is appointed, goodness is established and wisdom perfected beforehand.

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 had come into it.