厄斯德拉四書（拉丁 2 Esdras） 第 14 章

And it came to pass on the third day, that I was sitting under an oak.

And behold, a voice came forth to me out of a bush, and said: Esdras, Esdras. And I said: Here I am, Lord. And I rose upon my feet. And he said to me:

Revealing myself, I was revealed in the bush, and spoke to Moses, when my people were in bondage in Egypt,

and I sent him, and brought my people out of Egypt, and led him to Mount Sinai, and kept him with me many days;

and I told him many wonders, and showed him the secrets of the times and the end; and I commanded him, saying:

These words you shall make public, and these you shall hide.

And now I say to you:

The signs which I have shown you, and the dreams which you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard, lay them up in your heart;

for you shall be taken up from among all men, and from henceforth you shall remain with my Son, and with those like you, until the times are ended.

For the age has lost its youth, and the times are drawing near to grow old.

For the age is divided into twelve parts, and ten parts of it, and half of the tenth part, have already passed;

and there remain of it the parts after the middle of the tenth part.

Now therefore set your house in order, and reprove your people, and comfort their lowly ones, and renounce now what is corruptible,

and put away from yourself mortal thoughts, and cast away from yourself the burdens of man, and strip yourself now of your weak nature, and lay aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and hasten to depart from these times;

for the evils which you have now seen come to pass, they shall do worse than these again;

for the weaker the age becomes through old age, the more shall evils be multiplied upon its inhabitants.

For the truth has withdrawn further off, and falsehood has drawn near; for the vision which you saw is already hastening to come.

And I answered and said before you, Lord:

For behold, I will go, as you have commanded me, and reprove the present people. But those who shall be born hereafter, who will admonish them?

For the age is set in darkness, and those who dwell in it are without light.

For your law has been burned, and therefore no one knows the things that have been done by you, or what works shall begin.

For if I have found grace before you, send into me the Holy Spirit, and I will write all that has been done in the age from the beginning, the things that were written in your law, that men may find the path, and that those who would live in the last days may live.

And he answered me and said: Go, gather the people together, and tell them not to seek you for forty days.

But you, prepare for yourself many writing tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Salemia, Echanus, and Asiel, these five who are ready to write swiftly.

And come here, and I will kindle in your heart the lamp of understanding, which shall not be put out until what you begin to write is finished.

And then, when you have finished, some things you shall make public, and some you shall deliver secretly to the wise; for tomorrow at this hour you shall begin to write.

And I went, as he had commanded me, and gathered all the people together, and said:

Hear these words, O Israel:

Our fathers were sojourners in Egypt from the beginning, and were delivered from there;

and they received the law of life, which they did not keep, and which you also after them have transgressed;

and the land was given to you for a possession, and the land of Zion; but you and your fathers committed iniquity, and did not keep the ways which the Most High commanded you;

and since he is a just judge, he took from you in due time what he had given.

And now you are here, and your brethren are within your borders.

If therefore you will rule over your understanding, and discipline your heart, you shall be preserved alive, and after death you shall obtain mercy.

For after death the judgement shall come, when we shall live again; and then the names of the righteous shall be manifest, and the deeds of the ungodly shall be shown.

Therefore let no one come to me now, nor seek me, for forty days.

And I took the five men, as he had commanded me, and we went out into the field, and remained there.

And it came to pass on the next day, that behold, a voice called me, saying: Esdras, open your mouth, and drink what I give you to drink.

And I opened my mouth, and behold, a full cup was held out to me. It was full as it were of water, but its colour was like fire.

And I took it, and drank; and when I had drunk it, my heart poured forth understanding, and wisdom grew within my breast, for my spirit retained its memory.

And my mouth was opened, and was no more shut.

The Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote what was dictated, in characters which they did not know, working in turns by night.

And by night they ate bread, but I spoke by day, and by night I was not silent.

And in forty days were written two hundred and four books.

And it came to pass, when the forty days were completed, that the Most High spoke, saying: The first things that you have written, set them forth in public, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them;

but the last seventy you shall keep, that you may deliver them to the wise among your people.

For in these is the vein of understanding, and the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge. And I did so.