4 Esdras (2 Esdras) 6

And he said to me: At the beginning of the earthly world, before ever the gates of the age stood, and before the gatherings of the winds blew,

and before the voices of thunder sounded, and before the flashes of lightning shone, and before the foundations of Paradise were established,

and before the fair flowers were seen, and before the moving powers were confirmed, and before the innumerable hosts of angels were gathered,

and before the heights of the air were raised up, and before the measures of the firmaments were named, and before the furnaces in Zion glowed,

and before the present years were searched out, and before the devisings of those who now sin were estranged, and those were sealed who have stored up faith;

then I took thought, and these things were made through me alone, and not through another; and the end shall be through me, and not through another.

And I answered and said: What shall be the dividing of the times? Or when shall be the end of the former, and the beginning of the latter?

And he said to me: From Abraham to Isaac, when Jacob and Esau were born of him, Jacob's hand held the heel of Esau from the beginning.

For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the age that follows.

The hand of a man is between the heel and the hand. Seek nothing further, Esdras.

And I answered and said: O Lord, Sovereign, if I have found grace before your eyes,

I pray that you would show your servant the end of your signs, part of which you showed me on the night before.

And he answered and said to me: Rise upon your feet, and you shall hear a voice full of sound.

And it shall be like a shaking, yet the place where you stand upon it shall not be shaken.

Therefore when it speaks, do not be afraid; for the word concerns the end, and the foundation of the earth is understood thereby,

for the talk of these things trembles and is shaken; for it knows that their end must be changed.

And it came to pass, when I had heard, I rose upon my feet and listened; and behold, a voice was speaking, and the sound of it was like the sound of many waters,

and it said: Behold, the days are coming, and it shall be when I begin to draw near, that I may visit the inhabitants of the earth;

and when I begin to demand a reckoning from those who unjustly harmed others by their injustice, and when the humiliation of Zion is complete;

and when the age that is to begin to pass away shall be sealed, then I will do these signs: the books shall be opened before the face of the firmament, and all shall see together;

and infants a year old shall speak with their voices, and women with child shall bring forth untimely infants of three and four months, and they shall live and be raised up.

And suddenly the sown places shall appear unsown, and the full storehouses shall suddenly be found empty;

and the trumpet shall sound with a blast, and when all hear it, they shall suddenly be terrified.

And it shall be at that time, that friends shall make war upon friends like enemies, and the earth shall be terrified together with them; and the veins of the fountains shall stand still, and shall not flow for three hours.

And it shall be, that whoever is left of all these things which I have foretold to you shall himself be saved, and shall see my salvation, and the end of your age.

And they shall see the men who were taken up, who have not tasted death from their birth; and the heart of the inhabitants shall be changed, and shall be turned to another mind.

For evil shall be blotted out, and deceit shall be extinguished.

But faith shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and the truth shall be made manifest, which for so many days has been without fruit.

And it came to pass, while he was speaking with me, behold, little by little I gazed upon him before whom I stood,

and he said these things to me: I have come to show you the time of the coming night.

If therefore you pray again, and fast again seven days, I will again declare to you greater things than these by day, which I have heard.

For your voice has been heard before the Most High; for the Mighty One has seen your uprightness, and has taken note of the purity which you have kept from your youth;

and for this reason he has sent me to show you all these things, and to say to you: Trust, and do not be afraid;

and do not hasten to think vain things concerning the former times, that you may not rush ahead concerning the latter times.

And it came to pass after this, that I wept again; and likewise I fasted seven days, to fulfil the three weeks which had been told me.

And it came to pass on the eighth night, that my heart was again troubled within me, and I began to speak before the Most High.

For my spirit was greatly kindled, and my soul was in anguish,

and I said: O Lord, you spoke from the beginning of creation, on the first day, saying, Let there be heaven and earth; and your word was a finished work.

And then there was spirit, and darkness was borne round about, and silence; the sound of a human voice was not yet from you.

Then you commanded that a shining light be brought forth out of your treasures, that your work might appear.

And on the second day you created the spirit of the firmament, and commanded it to divide and make a separation between the waters, that one part might withdraw upward, and another part remain below.

And on the third day you commanded the waters to be gathered into a seventh part of the earth; but six parts you dried up and preserved, that out of these there might be before you ministering lands, sown and tilled by God.

For your word went forth, and the work was done at once.

For suddenly there came forth an immense multitude of fruits, and manifold tastes for the appetite, and flowers of unchanging colour, and odours of fragrance past searching out; and on the third day these things were made.

And on the fourth day you commanded the brightness of the sun to be made, the light of the moon, and the ordering of the stars;

and you commanded them to serve man who was to be formed.

And on the fifth day you said to the seventh part, where the water was gathered, that it should bring forth living creatures, and birds, and fishes; and so it was done.

The dumb and lifeless water, at the bidding of God, brought forth living creatures, that from this the nations might recount your wonders.

And then you preserved two living creatures: the name of one you called Henoch, and the name of the second you called Leviathan,

and you separated them one from the other; for the seventh part, where the water was gathered, could not hold them both.

And you gave to Henoch one part, which was dried on the third day, that he might dwell in it, where there are a thousand mountains.

But to Leviathan you gave the seventh part, the moist one, and you kept it, that it might be for the devouring of whom you will, and when you will.

And on the sixth day you commanded the earth to create before you cattle, and beasts, and creeping things;

and over these, Adam, whom you appointed leader over all the works that you had made; and from him we are all brought forth, the people whom you have chosen.

All these things I have spoken before you, O Lord, because you created the age for our sake.

But as for the rest of the nations, born of Adam, you said that they are nothing, and that they are like spittle, and you likened their abundance to a drop dripping from a vessel.

And now, O Lord, behold, these nations, which are reckoned as nothing, have begun to rule over us, and to devour us;

but we your people, whom you have called your first-born, your only-begotten, your zealous lover, have been delivered into their hands.

And if the age was created for our sake, why do we not possess our inheritance with the age? How long shall these things be?