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| Revelation of Esdras.
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Revelation of
Esdras.
————————————
Word and Revelation of Esdras, the Holy
Prophet and Beloved of God.
It came to pass in the
thirtieth year, on the twenty-second of the month, I was in my
house. And I cried out and said to the Most High: Lord,
give the glory,2489
in order that
I may see Thy mysteries. And when it was night, there came an
angel, Michael the archangel, and says to me: O Prophet Esdras,
refrain from bread for seventy weeks.2490
| 2490 Supplied by
Tischendorf. Perhaps it should be days. | And I fasted as he told me.
And there came Raphael the commander of the host, and gave me a storax
rod. And I fasted twice sixty2491
| 2491 Perhaps this should
be five—έ instead of
ξ—which would make
seventy days, as above. |
weeks. And I saw the mysteries of God and His angels. And I
said to them: I wish to plead before God about the race of the
Christians. It is good for a man not to be born rather than to
come into the world. I was therefore taken up into heaven, and I
saw in the first heaven a great army of angels; and they took me to the
judgments. And I heard a voice saying to me: Have mercy on
us, O thou chosen of God, Esdras. Then began I to say: Woe
to sinners when they see one who is just more than the angels, and they
themselves are in the Gehenna of fire! And Esdras said:
Have mercy on the works of Thine hands, Thou who art compassionate, and
of great mercy. Judge me rather than the souls of the sinners;
for it is better that one soul should be punished, and that the whole
world should not come to destruction. And God said: I will
give rest in paradise to the righteous, and I have become2492
merciful. And Esdras said:
Lord, why dost Thou confer benefits on the righteous? for just as one
who has been hired out, and has served out his time, goes and again
works as a slave when he come to his masters, so also the righteous has
received his reward in the heavens. But have mercy on the
sinners, for we know that Thou art merciful. And God said:
I do not see how I can have mercy upon them. And Esdras
said: They cannot endure Thy wrath. And God said:
This is the fate of such. And God said: I wish to
have thee like Paul and John, as thou hast given me uncorrupted the
treasure that cannot be stolen, the treasure of virginity, the
bulwark2493
of men.
And Esdras said: It is good for a man not to be born. It is
good not to be in life. The irrational creatures are
better than man, because they have no punishment; but Thou hast taken
us, and given us up to judgment. Woe to the sinners in the world
to come! because their judgment is endless, and the flame
unquenchable. And while I was thus speaking to him, there came
Michael and Gabriel, and all the apostles; and they said:
Rejoice, O faithful man of God! And Esdras said:2494
| 2494 Tischendorf
supplies this clause from conjecture, and adds that some more seems to
have fallen out. | Arise, and come hither with me, O
Lord, to judgment. And the Lord said: Behold, I give thee
my covenant between me and thee, that you may receive it. And
Esdras said: Let us plead in Thy hearing.2495
And God said: Ask Abraham
your father how a son pleads with his father,2496
| 2496 This seems to be
the meaning of the text, which is somewhat corrupt. It obviously
refers to Abraham pleading for Sodom. | and come plead with us. And Esdras
said: As the Lord liveth, I will not cease pleading with Thee in
behalf of the race of the Christians. Where are Thine ancient
compassions, O Lord? Where is Thy long-suffering? And God
said: As I have made night and day, I have made the righteous and
the sinner; and he should have lived like the righteous. And the
prophet said: Who made Adam the first-formed? And God
said: My undefiled hands. And I put him in paradise to
guard the food of the tree of life; and thereafter he became
disobedient, and did this in transgression. And the prophet
said: Was he not protected by an angel? and was not his life
guarded by the cherubim to endless ages? and how was he deceived who
was guarded by angels? for Thou didst command all to be present, and to
attend to what was
said by Thee.2497
| 2497 This passage is
very corrupt in the text; but a few emendations bring out the meaning
above. | But if
Thou hadst not given him Eve, the serpent would not have deceived
her;2498
but whom Thou wilt Thou savest, and
whom Thou wilt Thou destroyest.2499
And
the prophet said: Let us come, my Lord, to a second
judgment. And God said: I cast fire upon Sodom and
Gomorrah. And the prophet said: Lord, Thou dealest with us
according to our deserts. And God said: Your sins transcend
my clemency. And the prophet said: Call to mind the
Scriptures, my Father, who hast measured out Jerusalem, and set her up
again. Have mercy, O Lord, upon sinners; have mercy upon Thine
own creatures;2500
| 2500 Lit., framing, or
fashioning. | have pity upon Thy
works. Then God remembered those whom He had made, and said to
the prophet: How can I have mercy upon them? Vinegar and
gall did they give me to drink,2501
and not even
then did they repent. And the prophet said: Reveal Thy
cherubim, and let us go together to judgment; and show me the day of
judgment, what like it is. And God said: Thou hast been
deceived, Esdras; for such is the day of judgment as that in which
there is no rain upon the earth; for it is a merciful tribunal as
compared with that day. And the prophet said: I will not
cease to plead with Thee, unless I see the day of the
consummation. And God said:2502
| 2502 This is inserted by
Tischendorf. | Number
the stars and the sand of the sea; and if thou shalt be able to number
this, thou art also able to plead with me. And the prophet
said: Lord, Thou knowest that I wear human flesh; and how can I
count the stars of the heaven, and the sand of the sea? And God
said: My chosen prophet, no man will know that great day and the
appearing2503
| 2503 Comp. 2 Tim. iv. 1, 8; Tit. ii. 13. | that comes to
judge the world. For thy sake, my prophet, I have told thee the
day; but the hour have I not told thee. And the prophet
said: Lord, tell me also the years. And God said: If
I see the righteousness of the world, that it has abounded, I will have
patience with them; but if not, I will stretch forth my hand, and lay
hold of the world by the four quarters, and bring them all together
into the valley of Jehoshaphat,2504
and I will
wipe out the race of men, so that the world shall be no more. And
the prophet said: And how can Thy right hand be glorified?
And God said: I shall be glorified by my angels. And the
prophet said: Lord, if Thou hast resolved to do this, why didst
Thou make man? Thou didst say to our father Abraham,2505
Multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore;2506
| 2506 Lit., the lip of the
sea. | and where is Thy promise? And God
said: First will I make an earthquake for the fall of four-footed
beasts and of men; and when you see that brother gives up brother to
death, and that children shall rise up against their parents, and that
a woman forsakes her own husband, and when nation shall rise up against
nation in war, then will you know that the end is near.2507
For then neither brother pities brother, nor man
wife, nor children parents, nor friends friends, nor a slave his
master; for he who is the adversary of men shall come up from Tartarus,
and shall show men many things. What shall I make of thee,
Esdras? and wilt thou yet plead with me? And the prophet
said: Lord, I shall not cease to plead with Thee. And God
said: Number the flowers of the earth. If thou shalt be
able to number them, thou art able also to plead with me. And the
prophet said: Lord, I cannot number them. I wear
human flesh; but I shall not cease to plead with Thee. I wish,
Lord, to see also the under parts of Tartarus. And God
said: Come down and see. And He gave me Michael, and
Gabriel, and other thirty-four angels; and I went down eighty-five
steps, and they brought me down five hundred steps, and I saw a fiery
throne, and an old man sitting upon it; and his judgment was
merciless. And I said to the angels: Who is this? and what
is his sin? And they said to me: This is Herod, who for a
time was a king, and ordered to put to death the children from two
years old and under.2508
And I
said: Woe to his soul! And again they took me down thirty
steps, and I there saw boilings up of fire, and in them there
was a multitude of sinners; and I heard their voice, but saw not
their forms. And they took me down lower many steps, which I
could not measure. And I there saw old men, and fiery pivots
turning in their ears. And I said: Who are these? and what
is their sin? And they said to me: These are they who would
not listen.2509
| 2509 Or, who heard
wrong. | And they
took me down again other five hundred steps, and I there saw the worm
that sleeps not, and fire burning up the sinners. And they took
me down to the lowest part of destruction, and I saw there the twelve
plagues of the abyss. And they took me away to the south, and I
saw there a man hanging by the eyelids; and the angels kept scourging
him. And I asked: Who is this? and what is his sin?
And Michael the commander said to me: This is one who lay with
his mother; for having put into practice a small wish, he has been
ordered to be hanged. And they took me away to the north, and I
saw there a man bound with iron chains. And I asked: Who is
this? And he said to me: This is he who said, I am the Son of God, that made
stones bread, and water wine. And the prophet said: My
lord, let me know what is his form, and I shall tell the race of men,
that they may not believe in him. And he said to me: The
form of his countenance is like that of a wild beast; his right eye
like the star that rises in the morning, and the other without motion;
his mouth one cubit; his teeth span long; his fingers like scythes; the
track of his feet of two spans; and in his face an inscription,
Antichrist. He has been exalted to heaven; he shall go down to
Hades.2510
At one time
he shall become a child; at another, an old man. And the prophet
said: Lord, and how dost Thou permit him, and he deceives the
race of men? And God said: Listen, my prophet. He
becomes both child and old man, and no one believes him that he is my
beloved Son. And after this a trumpet, and the tombs shall be
opened, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.2511
Then the adversary, hearing the
dreadful threatening, shall be hidden in outer darkness. Then the
heaven, and the earth, and the sea shall be destroyed. Then shall
I burn the heaven eighty cubits, and the earth eight hundred
cubits. And the prophet said: And how has the heaven
sinned? And God said: Since2512
| 2512 There is something
wanting here in the text. | …there is evil. And the prophet
said: Lord, and the earth, how has it sinned? And God
said: Since the adversary, having heard the dreadful threatening,
shall be hidden, even on account of this will I melt the earth, and
with it the opponent of the race of men. And the prophet
said: Have mercy, Lord, upon the race of the Christians.
And I saw a woman hanging, and four wild beasts sucking her
breasts. And the angels said to me: She grudged to give her
milk, but even threw her infants into the rivers. And I saw a
dreadful darkness, and a night that had no stars nor moon; nor is there
there young or old, nor brother with brother, nor mother with child,
nor wife with husband. And I wept, and said: O Lord God,
have mercy upon the sinners. And as I said this, there came a
cloud and snatched me up, and carried me away again into the
heavens. And I saw there many judgments; and I wept bitterly, and
said: It is good for a man not to have come out of his
mother’s womb. And those who were in torment cried out,
saying: Since thou hast come hither, O holy one of God, we have
found a little remission. And the prophet said: Blessed are
they that weep for their sins. And God said: Hear, O
beloved Esdras. As a husbandman casts the seed of the corn into
the ground, so also the man casts his seed into the parts of the
woman. The first month it is all together; the second it
increases in size; the third it gets hair; the fourth it gets nails;
the fifth it is turned into milk;2513
and the
sixth it is made ready, and receives life;2514
the seventh it is completely furnished; the ninth the barriers of the
gate of the woman are opened; and it is born safe and sound into the
earth. And the prophet said: Lord, it is good for man not
to have been born. Woe to the human race then, when Thou shalt
come to judgment! And I said to the Lord: Lord, why hast
Thou created man, and delivered him up to judgment? And God said,
with a lofty proclamation: I will not by any means have mercy on
those who transgress my covenant. And the prophet said:
Lord, where is Thy goodness? And God said: I have prepared
all things for man’s sake, and man does not keep my
commandments. And the prophet said: Lord, reveal to me the
judgments and paradise. And the angels took me away towards the
east, and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there Enoch, and
Elias, and Moses, and Peter, and Paul, and Luke, and Matthias, and all
the righteous, and the patriarchs. And I saw there the keeping of
the air within bounds, and the blowing of the winds, and the
storehouses of the ice, and the eternal judgments. And I saw
there a man hanging by the skull. And they said to me: This
man removed landmarks. And I saw there great judgments.2515
And I said to the Lord: O Lord
God, and what man, then, who has been born has not sinned? And
they took me lower down into Tartarus, and I saw all the sinners
lamenting and weeping and mourning bitterly. And I also wept,
seeing the race of men thus tormented. Then God says to me:
Knowest thou, Esdras, the names of the angels at the end of the
world? Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Aker,
Arphugitonos, Beburos, Zebuleon.
Then there came a voice to me: Come hither
and die, Esdras, my beloved; give that which hath been entrusted to
thee.2516
And the prophet said: And
whence can you bring forth my soul? And the angels said: We
can put it forth through the mouth. And the prophet said:
Mouth to mouth have I spoken with God,2517
and it comes not forth thence. And the angels said: Let us
bring it out through thy nostrils. And the prophet said: My
nostrils have smelled the sweet savour of the glory of God. And
the angels said: We can bring it out through thine eyes.
And the prophet said: Mine eyes have seen the back parts of
God.2518
And the angels said: We can
bring it out through the crown of thy head. And the prophet said: I walked
about with Moses also on the mountain, and it comes not forth
thence. And the angels said: We can put it forth through
the points of thy nails. And the prophet said: My feet also
have walked about on the altar. And the angels went away without
having done anything, saying: Lord, we cannot get his soul.
Then He says to His only begotten Son: Go down, my beloved Son,
with a great host of angels, and take the soul of my beloved
Esdras. For the Lord, having taken a great host of angels, says
to the prophet: Give me the trust which I entrusted to thee; the
crown has been prepared for thee.2519
And
the prophet said: Lord, if Thou take my soul from me, who will be
left to plead with Thee for the race of men? And God said:
As thou art mortal, and of the earth, do not plead with me. And
the prophet said: I will not cease to plead. And God
said: Give up just now the trust; the crown has been prepared for
thee. Come and die, that thou mayst obtain it. Then the
prophet began to say with tears: O Lord, what good have I done
pleading with Thee, and I am going to fall down into the earth?
Woe’s me, woe’s me, that I am going to be eaten up by
worms! Weep, all ye saints and ye righteous, for me, who have
pleaded much, and who am delivered up to death. Weep for me, all
ye saints and ye righteous, because I have gone to the pit of
Hades. And God said to him: Hear, Esdras, my beloved.
I, who am immortal, endured a cross; I tasted vinegar and gall; I was
laid in a tomb, and I raised up my chosen ones; I called Adam up out of
Hades, that I might save2520
| 2520 The word is
wanting in the ms. | the race of
men. Do not therefore be afraid of death: for that which is
from me—that is to say, the soul—goes to heaven; and that
which is from the earth—that is to say, the body—goes to
the earth, from which it was taken.2521
And
the prophet said: Woe’s me! woe’s me! what shall I
set about? what shall I do? I know not. And then the blessed
Esdras began to say: O eternal God, the Maker of the whole
creation, who hast measured the heaven with a span, and who holdest the
earth as a handful,2522
| 2522 Or, in a
measure. Δρακήν in the text should
be δρακά. Comp.
Isa. xl. 12 in the LXX. | who ridest upon
the cherubim, who didst take the prophet Elias to the heavens in a
chariot of fire,2523
who givest food
to all flesh, whom all things dread and tremble at from the face of Thy
power,—listen to me, who have pleaded much, and give to all who
transcribe this book, and have it, and remember my name, and honour my
memory, give them a blessing from heaven; and bless him2524
| 2524 So the
ms. Perhaps them would be
better. | in all things, as Thou didst bless Joseph
at last, and remember not his former wickedness in the day of his
judgment. And as many as have not believed this book shall be
burnt up like Sodom and Gomorrah. And there came to him a voice,
saying: Esdras, my beloved, all things whatever thou hast asked
will I give to each one. And immediately he gave up his precious
soul with much honour, in the month of October, on the
twenty-eighth. And they prepared him for burial with incense and
psalms; and his precious and sacred body dispenses strength of soul and
body perpetually to those who have recourse to him from a longing
desire. To whom is due glory, strength, honour, and
adoration,—to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.
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