2 Esdras 14:1
And it came to pass upon the third day, I sat under an oak, and, behold, there came a voice out of a bush over against me, and said, Esdras, Esdras.
2 Esdras 14:2
And I said, Here am I, Lord And I stood up upon my feet.
2 Esdras 14:3
Then said he unto me, In the bush I did manifestly reveal myself unto Moses, and talked with him, when my people served in Egypt:
2 Esdras 14:4
And I sent him and led my people out of Egypt, and brought him up to the mount of where I held him by me a long season,
2 Esdras 14:5
And told him many wondrous things, and shewed him the secrets of the times, and the end; and commanded him, saying,
2 Esdras 14:6
These words shalt thou declare, and these shalt thou hide.
2 Esdras 14:7
And now I say unto thee,
2 Esdras 14:8
That thou lay up in thy heart the signs that I have shewed, and the dreams that thou hast seen, and the interpretations which thou hast heard:
2 Esdras 14:9
For thou shalt be taken away from all, and from henceforth thou shalt remain with my Son, and with such as be like thee, until the times be ended.
2 Esdras 14:10
For the world hath lost his youth, and the times begin to wax old.
2 Esdras 14:11
For the world is divided into twelve parts, and the ten parts of it are gone already, and half of a tenth part:
2 Esdras 14:12
And there remaineth that which is after the half of the tenth part.
2 Esdras 14:13
Now therefore set thine house in order, and reprove thy people, comfort such of them as be in trouble, and now renounce corruption,
2 Esdras 14:14
Let go from thee mortal thoughts, cast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature,
2 Esdras 14:15
And set aside the thoughts that are most heavy unto thee, and haste thee to flee from these times.
2 Esdras 14:16
For yet greater evils than those which thou hast seen happen shall be done hereafter.
2 Esdras 14:17
For look how much the world shall be weaker through age, so much the more shall evils increase upon them that dwell therein.
2 Esdras 14:18
For the time is fled far away, and leasing is hard at hand: for now hasteth the vision to come, which thou hast seen.
2 Esdras 14:19
Then answered I before thee, and said,
2 Esdras 14:20
Behold, Lord, I will go, as thou hast commanded me, and reprove the people which are present: but they that shall be born afterward, who shall admonish them? thus the world is set in darkness, and they that dwell therein are without light.
2 Esdras 14:21
For thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the work that shall begin.
2 Esdras 14:22
But if I have found grace before thee, send the Holy Ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath been done in the world since the beginning, which were written in thy law, that men may find thy path, and that they which will live in the latter days may live.
2 Esdras 14:23
And he answered me, saying, Go thy way, gather the people together, and say unto them, that they seek thee not for forty days.
2 Esdras 14:24
But look thou prepare thee many box trees, and take with thee Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ecanus, and Asiel, these five which are ready to write swiftly;
2 Esdras 14:25
And come hither, and I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out, till the things be performed which thou shalt begin to write.
2 Esdras 14:26
And when thou hast done, some things shalt thou publish, and some things shalt thou shew secretly to the wise: to morrow this hour shalt thou begin to write.
2 Esdras 14:27
Then went I forth, as he commanded, and gathered all the people together, and said,
2 Esdras 14:28
Hear these words, O Israel.
2 Esdras 14:29
Our fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt, from whence they were delivered:
2 Esdras 14:30
And received the law of life, which they kept not, which ye also have transgressed after them.
2 Esdras 14:31
Then was the land, even the land of Sion, parted among you by lot: but your fathers, and ye yourselves, have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Highest commanded you.
2 Esdras 14:32
And forasmuch as he is a righteous judge, he took from you in time the thing that he had given you.
2 Esdras 14:33
And now are ye here, and your brethren among you.
2 Esdras 14:34
Therefore if so be that ye will subdue your own understanding, and reform your hearts, ye shall be kept alive and after death ye shall obtain mercy.
2 Esdras 14:35
For after death shall the judgment come, when we shall live again: and then shall the names of the righteous be manifest, and the works of the ungodly shall be declared.
2 Esdras 14:36
Let no man therefore come unto me now, nor seek after me these forty days.
2 Esdras 14:37
So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went into the field, and remained there.
2 Esdras 14:38
And the next day, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, open thy mouth, and drink that I give thee to drink.
2 Esdras 14:39
Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, he reached me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the colour of it was like fire.
2 Esdras 14:40
And I took it, and drank: and when I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit strengthened my memory:
2 Esdras 14:41
And my mouth was opened, and shut no more.
2 Esdras 14:42
The Highest gave understanding unto the five men, and they wrote the wonderful visions of the night that were told, which they knew not: and they sat forty days, and they wrote in the day, and at night they ate bread.
2 Esdras 14:43
As for me. I spake in the day, and I held not my tongue by night.
2 Esdras 14:44
In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books.
2 Esdras 14:45
And it came to pass, when the forty days were filled, that the Highest spake, saying, The first that thou hast written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it:
2 Esdras 14:46
But keep the seventy last, that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people:
2 Esdras 14:47
For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.
2 Esdras 14:48
And I did so.