2Esdras:9

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* He answered me then , and said , Measure thou the time diligently in itself : and when thou seest part of the signs past , which I have told thee before , * Then shalt thou understand , that it is the very same time , wherein the Highest will begin to visit the world which he made . * Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people in the world : * Then shalt thou well understand , that the most High spake of those things from the days that were before thee , even from the beginning . * For like as all that is made in the world hath a beginning and an end , and the end is manifest : * Even so the times also of the Highest have plain beginnings in wonder and powerful works , and endings in effects and signs . * And every one that shall be saved , and shall be able to escape by his works , and by faith , whereby ye have believed , * Shall be preserved from the said perils , and shall see my salvation in my land , and within my borders : for I have sanctified them for me from the beginning . * Then shall they be in pitiful case , which now have abused my ways : and they that have cast them away despitefully shall dwell in torments . * For such as in their life have received benefits , and have not known me ; * And they that have loathed my law , while they had yet liberty , and , when as yet place of repentance was open unto them , understood not , but despised it ; * The same must know it after death by pain . * And therefore be thou not curious how the ungodly shall be punished , and when : but enquire how the righteous shall be saved , whose the world is , and for whom the world is created . * Then answered I and said , * I have said before , and now do speak , and will speak it also hereafter , that there be many more of them which perish , than of them which shall be saved : * Like as a wave is greater than a drop . * And he answered me , saying , Like as the field is , so is also the seed ; as the flowers be , such are the colours also ; such as the workman is , such also is the work ; and as the husbandman ls himself , so is his husbandry also : for it was the time of the world . * And now when I prepared the world , which was not yet made , even for them to dwell in that now live , no man spake against me . * For then every one obeyed : but now the manners of them which are created in this world that is made are corrupted by a perpetual seed , and by a law which is unsearchable rid themselves . * So I considered the world , and , behold , there was peril because of the devices that were come into it . * And I saw , and spared it greatly , and have kept me a grape of the cluster , and a plant of a great people . * Let the multitude perish then , which was born in vain ; and let my grape be kept , and my plant ; for with great labour have I made it perfect . * Nevertheless , if thou wilt cease yet seven days more , (but thou shalt not fast in them , * But go into a field of flowers , where no house is builded , and eat only the flowers of the field ; taste no flesh , drink no wine , but eat flowers only ;) * And pray unto the Highest continually , then will I come and talk with thee . * So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath , like as he commanded me ; and there I sat among the flowers , and did eat of the herbs of the field , and the meat of the same satisfied me . * After seven days I sat upon the grass , and my heart was vexed within me , like as before : * And I opened my mouth , and began to talk before the most High , and said , * O Lord , thou that shewest thyself unto us , thou wast shewed unto our fathers in the wilderness , in a place where no man treadeth , in a barren place , when they came out of Egypt . * And thou spakest saying , Hear me , O Israel ; and mark my words , thou seed of Jacob . * For , behold , I sow my law in you , and it shall bring fruit in you , and ye shall be honoured in it for ever . * But our fathers , which received the law , kept it not , and observed not thy ordinances : and though the fruit of thy law did not perish , neither could it , for it was thine ; * Yet they that received it perished , because they kept not the thing that was sown in them . * And , lo , it ls a custom , when the ground hath received seed , or the sea a ship , or any vessel meat or drink , that , that being perished wherein it was sown or cast into , * That thing also which was sown , or cast therein , or received , doth perish , and remaineth not with us : but with us it hath not happened so . * For we that have received the law perish by sin , and our heart also which received it * Notwithstanding the law perisheth not , but remaineth in his force . * And when I spake these things in my heart , I looked back with mine eyes , and upon the right side I saw a woman , and , behold , she mourned and wept with a loud voice , and was much grieved in heart , and her clothes were rent , and she had ashes upon her head . * Then let I my thoughts go that I was in , and turned me unto her , * And said unto her , Wherefore weepest thou ? why art thou so grieved in thy mind ? * And she said unto me , Sir , let me alone , that I may bewail myself , and add unto my sorrow , for I am sore vexed in my mind , and brought very low . * And I said unto her , What aileth thee ? tell me . * She said unto me , I thy servant have been barren , and had no child , though I had an husband thirty years , * And those thirty years I did nothing else day and night , and every hour , but make my , prayer to the Highest . * After thirty years God heard me thine handmaid , looked upon my misery , considered my trouble , and gave me a son : and I was very glad of him , so was my husband also , and all my neighbours : and we gave great honour unto the Almighty . * And I nourished him with great travail . * So when he grew up , and came to the time that he should have a wife , I made a feast .

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