3. Anon., 4 Ezra, 5.1-5.12, 6.20, 6.23-6.24, 7.26, 7.28-7.29, 7.31-7.44, 7.70, 8.51-8.53, 8.59-8.60, 9.1, 9.31-9.32, 9.38, 10.27, 11.39-11.46, 12.11, 12.32, 12.34, 12.36-12.38, 13.26, 13.30-13.50, 13.52-13.57, 14.23, 14.34-14.35, 14.45-14.47
| 5.1. Now concerning the signs: behold, the days are coming when those who dwell on earth shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith. 5.2. And unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly. 5.3. And the land which you now see ruling shall be waste and untrodden, and men shall see it desolate. 5.4. But if the Most High grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion after the third period; and the sun shall suddenly shine forth at night,and the moon during the day. 5.5. Blood shall drip from wood,and the stone shall utter its voice;the peoples shall be troubled, and the stars shall fall. 5.6. And one shall reign whom those who dwell on earth do not expect, and the birds shall fly away together; 5.7. and the sea of Sodom shall cast up fish; and one whom the many do not know shall make his voice heard by night, and all shall hear his voice. 5.8. There shall be chaos also in many places, and fire shall often break out, and the wild beasts shall roam beyond their haunts, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters. 5.9. And salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall conquer one another; then shall reason hide itself, and wisdom shall withdraw into its chamber 5.10. and it shall be sought by many but shall not be found, and unrighteousness and unrestraint shall increase on earth. 5.11. And one country shall ask its neighbor, `Has righteousness, or any one who does right, passed through you?' And it will answer, `No.' 5.12. And at that time men shall hope but not obtain; they shall labor but their ways shall not prosper. 6.20. and when the seal is placed upon the age which is about to pass away, then I will show these signs: the books shall be opened before the firmament, and all shall see it together. 6.23. and the trumpet shall sound aloud, and when all hear it, they shall suddenly be terrified. 6.24. At that time friends shall make war on friends like enemies, and the earth and those who inhabit it shall be terrified, and the springs of the fountains shall stand still, so that for three hours they shall not flow. 7.26. 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. 7.28. For my son the Messiah shall be revealed with those who are with him, and those who remain shall rejoice four hundred years. 7.29. And after these years my son the Messiah shall die, and all who draw human breath. 7.31. And after seven days the world, which is not yet awake, shall be roused, and that which is corruptible shall perish. 7.32. And the earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who dwell silently in it; and the chambers shall give up the souls which have been committed to them. 7.33. And the Most High shall be revealed upon the seat of judgment, and compassion shall pass away, and patience shall be withdrawn; 7.34. but only judgment shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong. 7.35. And recompense shall follow, and the reward shall be manifested; righteous deeds shall awake, and unrighteous deeds shall not sleep. 7.36. Then the pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of hell shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight. 7.37. Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead, `Look now, and understand whom you have denied, whom you have not served, whose commandments you have despised! 7.38. Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments!' Thus he will speak to them on the day of judgment -- 7.39. a day that has no sun or moon or stars 7.40. or cloud or thunder or lightning or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning 7.41. or summer or spring or heat or winter or frost or cold or hail or rain or dew 7.42. or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendor of the glory of the Most High, by which all shall see what has been determined for them. 7.43. For it will last for about a week of years. 7.44. This is my judgment and its prescribed order; and to you alone have I shown these things. 7.70. 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. 8.51. But think of your own case, and inquire concerning the glory of those who are like yourself 8.52. 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. 8.53. The root of evil is sealed up from you, illness is banished from you, and death is hidden; hell has fled and corruption has been forgotten; 8.59. For just as the things which I have predicted await you, so the thirst and torment which are prepared await them. For the Most High did not intend that men should be destroyed; 8.60. but they themselves who were created have defiled the name of him who made them, and have been ungrateful to him who prepared life for them. 9.1. He answered me and said, "Measure carefully in your mind, and when you see that a certain part of the predicted signs are past 9.31. For behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you and you shall be glorified through it for ever.' 9.32. But though our fathers received the law, they did not keep it, and did not observe the statutes; yet the fruit of the law did not perish -- for it could not, because it was thine. 9.38. When I said these things in my heart, I lifted up my eyes and saw a woman on my right, and behold, she was mourning and weeping with a loud voice, and was deeply grieved at heart, and her clothes were rent, and there were ashes on her head. 10.27. And I looked, and behold, the woman was no longer visible to me, but there was an established city, and a place of huge foundations showed itself. Then I was afraid, and cried with a loud voice and said 11.39. `Are you not the one that remains of the four beasts which I had made to reign in my world, so that the end of my times might come through them? 11.40. You, the fourth that has come, have conquered all the beasts that have gone before; and you have held sway over the world with much terror, and over all the earth with grievous oppression; and for so long you have dwelt on the earth with deceit. 11.41. And you have judged the earth, but not with truth; 11.42. for you have afflicted the meek and injured the peaceable; you have hated those who tell the truth, and have loved liars; you have destroyed the dwellings of those who brought forth fruit, and have laid low the walls of those who did you no harm. 11.43. And so your insolence has come up before the Most High, and your pride to the Mighty One. 11.44. And the Most High has looked upon his times, and behold, they are ended, and his ages are completed! 11.45. Therefore you will surely disappear, you eagle, and your terrifying wings, and your most evil little wings, and your malicious heads, and your most evil talons, and your whole worthless body 11.46. so that the whole earth, freed from your violence, may be refreshed and relieved, and may hope for the judgment and mercy of him who made it.' 12.11. The eagle which you saw coming up from the sea is the fourth kingdom which appeared in a vision to your brother Daniel. 12.32. this is the Messiah whom the Most High has kept until the end of days, who will arise from the posterity of David, and will come and speak to them; he will denounce them for their ungodliness and for their wickedness, and will cast up before them their contemptuous dealings. 12.34. But he will deliver in mercy the remt of my people, those who have been saved throughout my borders, and he will make them joyful until the end comes, the day of judgment, of which I spoke to you at the beginning. 12.36. And you alone were worthy to learn this secret of the Most High. 12.37. Therefore write all these things that you have seen in a book, and put it in a hidden place; 12.38. and you shall teach them to the wise among your people, whose hearts you know are able to comprehend and keep these secrets. 13.26. this is he whom the Most High has been keeping for many ages, who will himself deliver his creation; and he will direct those who are left. 13.30. And bewilderment of mind shall come over those who dwell on the earth. 13.31. And they shall plan to make war against one another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom. 13.32. And when these things come to pass and the signs occur which I showed you before, then my Son will be revealed, whom you saw as a man coming up from the sea. 13.33. And when all the nations hear his voice, every man shall leave his own land and the warfare that they have against one another; 13.34. and an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as you saw, desiring to come and conquer him. 13.35. But he shall stand on the top of Mount Zion. 13.36. And Zion will come and be made manifest to all people, prepared and built, as you saw the mountain carved out without hands. 13.37. And he, my Son, will reprove the assembled nations for their ungodliness (this was symbolized by the storm) 13.38. and will reproach them to their face with their evil thoughts and the torments with which they are to be tortured (which were symbolized by the flames), and will destroy them without effort by the law (which was symbolized by the fire). 13.39. And as for your seeing him gather to himself another multitude that was peaceable 13.40. these are the ten tribes which were led away from their own land into captivity in the days of King Hoshea, whom Shalmaneser the king of the Assyrians led captive; he took them across the river, and they were taken into another land. 13.41. But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where mankind had never lived 13.42. that there at least they might keep their statutes which they had not kept in their own land. 13.43. And they went in by the narrow passages of the Euphrates river. 13.44. For at that time the Most High performed signs for them, and stopped the channels of the river until they had passed over. 13.45. Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth. 13.46. Then they dwelt there until the last times; and now, when they are about to come again 13.47. the Most High will stop the channels of the river again, so that they may be able to pass over. Therefore you saw the multitude gathered together in peace. 13.48. But those who are left of your people, who are found within my holy borders, shall be saved. 13.49. Therefore when he destroys the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he will defend the people who remain. 13.50. And then he will show them very many wonders. 13.52. He said to me, "Just as no one can explore or know what is in the depths of the sea, so no one on earth can see my Son or those who are with him, except in the time of his day. 13.53. This is the interpretation of the dream which you saw. And you alone have been enlightened about this 13.54. because you have forsaken your own ways and have applied yourself to mine, and have searched out my law; 13.55. for you have devoted your life to wisdom, and called understanding your mother. 13.56. Therefore I have shown you this, for there is a reward laid up with the Most High. And after three more days I will tell you other things, and explain weighty and wondrous matters to you. 13.57. Then I arose and walked in the field, giving great glory and praise to the Most High because of his wonders, which he did from time to time 14.23. He answered me and said, "Go and gather the people, and tell them not to seek you for forty days. 14.34. If you, then, will rule over your minds and discipline your hearts, you shall be kept alive, and after death you shall obtain mercy. 14.35. For after death the judgment will come, when we shall live again; and then the names of the righteous will become manifest, and the deeds of the ungodly will be disclosed. 14.45. And when the forty days were ended, the Most High spoke to me, saying, "Make public the twenty-four books that you wrote first and let the worthy and the unworthy read them; 14.46. but keep the seventy that were written last, in order to give them to the wise among your people. 14.47. For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge. |
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