Second Baruch

And I saw a vision:

and behold, a cloud was coming up from the very great sea,

and I was gazing at it,

and behold, it was full of white and black waters,

And there were many colors in those waters,

and something like the likeness of lightning,

great,

was seen on its top.

And I saw the cloud,

that

it was passing rapidly in swift courses,

and it covered all the earth.

And it happened after these things that that cloud began

to rain upon the earth the waters

that were

in it.

And I saw that the appearance was not uniform

of those waters which were descending from it.

For in the first beginning they were black,

they were

very much so, for a time.

And afterward I saw

that they were bright,

the waters,

yet they were not many.

And after these things again I saw black [waters],

and after these again bright [waters],

and again black, and again bright.

Now this happened up to twelve times,

but the black [waters] were always more numerous than the bright.

And it happened at the end of the cloud, and behold, it rained black waters,

and they were darker than all

the waters

that had been previously.

And fire was mixed with them,

and wherever those waters descended, they caused destruction and ruin.

And I saw after these things

that lightning which I had seen on the top

of the cloud, that it seized it and brought it down to the earth.

And exceedingly

did shine

that lightning,

so that it illuminated all the earth,

and healed those places

where the last waters had descended and caused destruction.

And it took hold of all the earth,

and ruled over it.

And I saw after these things,

and behold,

twelve

rivers

were ascending from the sea,

and they surrounded that lightning and were subject to it.

And I awoke from my fear.

<The Prayer of Baruch>