2Esdras:14

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* 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 . * And I said , Here am I , Lord And I stood up upon my feet . * 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 : * 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 , * And told him many wondrous things , and shewed him the secrets of the times , and the end ; and commanded him , saying , * These words shalt thou declare , and these shalt thou hide . * And now I say unto thee , * 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 : * 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 . * For the world hath lost his youth , and the times begin to wax old . * For the world is divided into twelve parts , and the ten parts of it are gone already , and half of a tenth part : * And there remaineth that which is after the half of the tenth part . * Now therefore set thine house in order , and reprove thy people , comfort such of them as be in trouble , and now renounce corruption , * Let go from thee mortal thoughts , cast away the burdens of man , put off now the weak nature , * And set aside the thoughts that are most heavy unto thee , and haste thee to flee from these times . * For yet greater evils than those which thou hast seen happen shall be done hereafter . * For look how much the world shall be weaker through age , so much the more shall evils increase upon them that dwell therein . * For the time is fled far away , and leasing is hard at hand : for now hasteth the vision to come , which thou hast seen . * Then answered I before thee , and said , * 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 . * For thy law is burnt , therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee , or the work that shall begin . * 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 . * And he answered me , saying , Go thy way , gather the people together , and say unto them , that they seek thee not for forty days . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * Then went I forth , as he commanded , and gathered all the people together , and said , * Hear these words , O Israel . * Our fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt , from whence they were delivered : * And received the law of life , which they kept not , which ye also have transgressed after them . * 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 . * And forasmuch as he is a righteous judge , he took from you in time the thing that he had given you . * And now are ye here , and your brethren among you . * 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 . * 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 . * Let no man therefore come unto me now , nor seek after me these forty days . * So I took the five men , as he commanded me , and we went into the field , and remained there . * And the next day , behold , a voice called me , saying , Esdras , open thy mouth , and drink that I give thee to drink . * 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 . * 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 : * And my mouth was opened , and shut no more . * 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 . * As for me . I spake in the day , and I held not my tongue by night . * In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books . * 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 : * But keep the seventy last , that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people : * For in them is the spring of understanding , the fountain of wisdom , and the stream of knowledge . * And I did so .

---