2 Esdras
9:1 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,
9:2 Then shalt thou understand, that it is the very same time, wherein the
Highest will begin to visit the world which he made.
9:3 Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people
in the world:
9:4 Then shalt thou well understand, that the most High spake of those
things from the days that were before thee, even from the beginning.
9:5 For like as all that is made in the world hath a beginning and an end,
and the end is manifest:
9:6 Even so the times also of the Highest have plain beginnings in wonder
and powerful works, and endings in effects and signs.
9:7 And every one that shall be saved, and shall be able to escape by his
works, and by faith, whereby ye have believed,
9:8 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.
9:9 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.
9:10 For such as in their life have received benefits, and have not known me;
9:11 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;
9:12 The same must know it after death by pain.
9:13 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.
9:14 Then answered I and said,
9:15 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:
9:16 Like as a wave is greater than a drop.
9:17 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.
9:18 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.
9:19 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.
9:20 So I considered the world, and, behold, there was peril because of the
devices that were come into it.
9:21 And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept me a grape of the
cluster, and a plant of a great people.
9:22 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.
9:23 Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more, (but thou shalt
not fast in them,
9:24 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;)
9:25 And pray unto the Highest continually, then will I come and talk with
thee.
9:26 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.
9:27 After seven days I sat upon the grass, and my heart was vexed within me,
like as before:
9:28 And I opened my mouth, and began to talk before the most High, and said,
9:29 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.
9:30 And thou spakest saying, Hear me, O Israel; and mark my words, thou seed
of Jacob.
9:31 For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you, and
ye shall be honoured in it for ever.
9:32 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;
9:33 Yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that
was sown in them.
9:34 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,
9:35 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.
9:36 For we that have received the law perish by sin, and our heart also
which received it
9:37 Notwithstanding the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his force.
9:38 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.
9:39 Then let I my thoughts go that I was in, and turned me unto her,
9:40 And said unto her, Wherefore weepest thou? why art thou so grieved in
thy mind?
9:41 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.
9:42 And I said unto her, What aileth thee? tell me.
9:43 She said unto me, I thy servant have been barren, and had no child,
though I had an husband thirty years,
9:44 And those thirty years I did nothing else day and night, and every hour,
but make my, prayer to the Highest.
9:45 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.
9:46 And I nourished him with great travail.
9:47 So when he grew up, and came to the time that he should have a wife, I
made a feast.
