Fourth Ezra

And it came to pass after these things, while I was sitting under an oak tree,

behold, a voice came out of a bush opposite me and spoke, saying to me, “Ezra, Ezra!” And I said, “Here I am,” and I stood up on my feet. And he said to me:

“I clearly revealed myself in a bush and spoke with Moses when my people were enslaved in Egypt;

and I sent him and led my people out of Egypt, and brought him to Mount Sinai, and kept him with me for many days;

and I explained to him many wondrous things, and made known to him the mysteries of the times, and showed him the end of the ages; and I commanded him, saying,

‘These words you shall conceal some of them, and some you shall make public.’

And now I say to you, Ezra:

The signs that I previously showed you, and the visions that you saw, and their interpretations that you heard—lay them up in your heart and hide them.

For you shall be taken away from humanity, and henceforth you shall be with my Son and with those who are like you, until the times are completed.

For the world has lost its youth, and the times are drawing near to grow old.

Now therefore, set your house in order, and reprove your people, and comfort their afflicted, and instruct their wise; and renounce now this corruptible life,

and loose from yourself the burden of humanity, and cast away the thoughts of death, and strip off now the nature of weakness, and set aside the thoughts that are burdensome to you, and hasten to depart from these times.

For evils worse than those which you have now seen happen will happen hereafter.

For the more the world weakens through its old age, the more evils will multiply upon the inhabitants of the earth.

For truth will withdraw even farther, and falsehood will draw near; for already the eagle which you saw in the vision is hastening to come.”

And I answered and said, “Let me speak before you, Lord.

Behold, I will go as you have commanded me, and I will reprove this present people; but for those who are yet to be born, who will warn them?

For the world lies in darkness, and its inhabitants are without light.

For your Law has been burned, and no one knows the works that you have done or what you are about to do.

If then I have found mercy before you, send the Holy Spirit into me, Lord, and I will write everything that has happened in the world from the beginning, all that was written in your Law, so that human beings may be able to find the path, and those who desire to live in the last days may know the way.”

And he answered and said to me, “Go and gather your people, and tell them not to seek you for forty days.

But you, prepare for yourself

tablets

in great number, and take with you Seraiah, Daria, and Selemiah, together with Elkanah and Sheiel—these five men, because they are ready to write quickly;

and you shall come here, and I will light in your heart the lamp of understanding, which shall not be put out until what you are about to write is completed.

And when you have finished, some of them you shall make public, and some you shall conceal and deliver to the wise. For tomorrow at this hour you shall begin to write.”

Then I went as he had commanded me, and gathered all the people, and said to them:

“Hear these words, O Israel!

Our ancestors were sojourners in ancient times in the land of Egypt, and they were delivered from there,

and they received the Law of life, but they did not keep it, which you also have transgressed after them.

And the land was given to you for an inheritance in the land of Zion; but you and your fathers did unrighteously and did not keep the ways which Moses commanded you,

the servant

of the Lord.

And the Most High, who is a righteous judge, took away from you that which had been given to you for a time.

And now you are here in distress, and your brothers are farther inside than you in another land.

If, therefore, you will rule over yourselves and discipline your heart, in your life you will be preserved, and after death mercy will be upon you.

For the judgment will come after death, when we live again; and then the name of the righteous will be revealed, and the deeds of the ungodly will be seen.

But let no one come near me, and do not seek me for forty days.

So I took these five men, just as he commanded me, and went to the field, and we remained there as he told me.

And it came to pass on the next day, behold, a voice called to me and said: "Ezra, Ezra, open your mouth and drink what I give you to drink."

And I opened my mouth, and behold, there was offered to me a full cup; and it was full as of water, but its appearance was like fire.

And I took it and drank; and it came to pass while I was drinking it, behold, my heart poured forth understanding, and wisdom increased in my breast, and my spirit retained its memory.

And my mouth was opened, and was not closed again.

And the Most High gave understanding to those five men, and they wrote down what was spoken in order, in characters of signs which they did not know; and I sat there forty days. And they wrote by day,

and at night they ate bread only. But I spoke by day, and was not silent at night.

And in those forty days ninety-four books were written.

And it came to pass when the forty days were completed, the Most High spoke with me and said to me: "The twenty-four books that you have written first, place openly, and let the worthy and the unworthy among the people read them;

but keep these seventy, and deliver them to the wise of your people.

For in them are the veins of understanding, and the fountain of wisdom, and the light of knowledge."