---
title: "4 Ezra (2 Esdras)"
author: "Ezra (attributed)"
translator: "World English Bible"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Hidden books"
section: 2 of 9
url: https://scriptura.si/works/fourth-ezra/2/
cite: "Ezra (attributed), tr. World English Bible, 4 Ezra (2 Esdras), section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/fourth-ezra/2/"
---

# 4 Ezra (2 Esdras)

*Ezra (attributed), tr. World English Bible*

Seven visions of Ezra after the fall of Jerusalem: theodicy, the eagle, and the man from the sea.

## 2. First vision (3:1–5:20)

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/fourth-ezra/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/fourth-ezra/2/#p-N

### Chapter 3

[¶1] 1 In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city, I Salathiel, also called Esdras, was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart, 2 for I saw the desolation of Zion and the wealth of those who lived at Babylon. 3 My spirit was very agitated, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the Most High, and said, 4 “O sovereign Lord, didn’t you speak at the beginning when you formed the earth—and that yourself alone—and commanded the dust 5 and it gave you Adam, a body without a soul? Yet it was the workmanship of your hands, and you breathed into him the breath of life, and he was made alive in your presence. 6 You led him into the garden which your right hand planted before the earth appeared. 7 You gave him your one commandment, which he transgressed, and immediately you appointed death for him and his descendants. From him were born nations, tribes, peoples, and kindred without number. 8 Every nation walked after their own will, did ungodly things in your sight, and despised your commandments, and you didn’t hinder them. 9 Nevertheless, again in process of time, you brought the flood on those who lived in the world and destroyed them. 10 It came to pass that the same thing happened to them. Just as death came to Adam, so was the flood to these. 11 Nevertheless, you left one of them, Noah with his household, and all the righteous men who descended from him.

[¶2] 12 “It came to pass that when those who lived upon the earth began to multiply, they also multiplied children, peoples, and many nations, and began again to be more ungodly than their ancestors. 13 It came to pass, when they did wickedly before you, you chose one from among them, whose name was Abraham. 14 You loved, and to him only you showed the end of the times secretly by night, 15 and made an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that you would never forsake his descendants. To him, you gave Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. 16 You set apart Jacob for yourself, but rejected Esau. Jacob became a great multitude. 17 It came to pass that when you led his descendants out of Egypt, you brought them up to Mount Sinai. 18 You bowed the heavens also, shook the earth, moved the whole world, made the depths tremble, and troubled the age. 19 Your glory went through four gates, of fire, of earthquake, of wind, and of ice, that you might give the law to the descendants of Jacob, and the commandment to the descendants of Israel.

[¶3] 20 “Yet you didn’t take away from them their wicked heart, that your law might produce fruit in them. 21 For the first Adam, burdened with a wicked heart transgressed and was overcome, as were all who are descended from him. 22 Thus disease was made permanent. The law was in the heart of the people along with the wickedness of the root. So the good departed away and that which was wicked remained. 23 So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end. Then you raised up a servant, called David, 24 whom you commanded to build a city to your name, and to offer burnt offerings to you in it from what is yours. 25 When this was done many years, then those who inhabited the city did evil, 26 in all things doing as Adam and all his generations had done, for they also had a wicked heart. 27 So you gave your city over into the hands of your enemies.

[¶4] 28 “Then I said in my heart, ‘Are their deeds of those who inhabit Babylon any better? Is that why it gained dominion over Zion?’ 29 For it came to pass when I came here, that I also saw impieties without number, and my soul saw many sinners in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me. 30 For I have seen how you endure them sinning, and have spared those who act ungodly, and have destroyed your people, and have preserved your enemies; 31 and you have not shown how your way may be comprehended. Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Zion? 32 Or is there any other nation that knows you beside Israel? Or what tribes have so believed your covenants as these tribes of Jacob? 33 Yet their reward doesn’t appear, and their labor has no fruit, for I have gone here and there through the nations, and I see that they abound in wealth, and don’t think about your commandments. 34 Weigh therefore our iniquities now in the balance, and theirs also who dwell in the world, and so will it be found which way the scale inclines. 35 Or when was it that they who dwell on the earth have not sinned in your sight? Or what nation has kept your commandments so well? 36 You will find some men by name who have kept your precepts, but you won’t find nations.”

### Chapter 4

[¶6] 1 The angel who was sent to me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an answer, 2 and said to me, “Your understanding has utterly failed you regarding this world. Do you think you can comprehend the way of the Most High?”

[¶7] 3 Then I said, “Yes, my Lord.” He answered me, “I have been sent to show you three ways, and to set before you three problems.

[¶8] 4 If you can solve one for me, I also will show you the way that you desire to see, and I will teach you why the heart is wicked.”

[¶9] 5 I said, “Say on, my Lord.” Then said he to me, “Go, weigh for me the weight of a fire, or measure for me a blast of wind, or call back for me the day that is past.”

[¶10] 6 Then answered I and said, “Who of the sons of men is able to do this, that you should ask me about such things?”

[¶11] 7 He said to me, “If I had asked you, ‘How many dwellings are there in the heart of the sea? Or how many springs are there at the fountain head of the deep? Or how many streams are above the firmament? Or which are the exits of hell? Or which are the entrances of paradise?’ 8 perhaps you would say to me, ‘I never went down into the deep, or as yet into hell, neither did I ever climb up into heaven.’ 9 Nevertheless now I have only asked you about the fire, wind, and the day, things which you have experienced, and from which you can’t be separated, and yet you have given me no answer about them. ”

[¶12] 10 He said moreover to me, “You can’t understand your own things that you grew up with. 11 How then can your mind comprehend the way of the Most High? How can he who is already worn out with the corrupted world understand incorruption?” When I heard these things, I fell on my face

[¶13] 12 and said to him, “It would have been better if we weren’t here at all, than that we should come here and live in the midst of ungodliness, and suffer, and not know why.”

[¶14] 13 He answered me, and said, “A forest of the trees of the field went out, and took counsel together, 14 and said, ‘Come! Let’s go and make war against the sea, that it may depart away before us, and that we may make ourselves more forests.’ 15 The waves of the sea also in like manner took counsel together, and said, ‘Come! Let’s go up and subdue the forest of the plain, that there also we may gain more territory.’ 16 The counsel of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it. 17 Likewise also the counsel of the waves of the sea, for the sand stood up and stopped them. 18 If you were judge now between these two, which would you justify, or which would you condemn?”

[¶15] 19 I answered and said, “It is a foolish counsel that they both have taken, for the ground is given to the wood, and the place of the sea is given to bear its waves.”

[¶16] 20 Then answered he me, and said, “You have given a right judgment. Why don’t you judge your own case? 21 For just as the ground is given to the wood, and the sea to its waves, even so those who dwell upon the earth may understand nothing but what is upon the earth. Only he who dwells above the heavens understands the things that are above the height of the heavens.”

[¶17] 22 Then answered I and said, “I beg you, O Lord, why has the power of understanding been given to me? 23 For it was not in my mind to be curious of the ways above, but of such things as pass by us daily, because Israel is given up as a reproach to the heathen. The people whom you have loved have been given over to ungodly nations. The law of our forefathers is made of no effect, and the written covenants are nowhere regarded. 24 We pass away out of the world like locusts. Our life is like a vapor, and we aren’t worthy to obtain mercy. 25 What will he then do for his name by which we are called? I have asked about these things.”

[¶18] 26 Then he answered me, and said, “If you are alive you will see, and if you live long, you will marvel, for the world hastens quickly to pass away. 27 For it is not able to bear the things that are promised to the righteous in the times to come; for this world is full of sadness and infirmities. 28 For the evil about which you asked me has been sown, but its harvest hasn’t yet come. 29 If therefore that which is sown isn’t reaped, and if the place where the evil is sown doesn’t pass away, the field where the good is sown won’t come. 30 For a grain of evil seed was sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning, and how much wickedness it has produced to this time! How much more it will yet produce until the time of threshing comes! 31 Ponder now by yourself, how much fruit of wickedness a grain of evil seed has produced. 32 When the grains which are without number are sown, how great a threshing floor they will fill!”

[¶19] 33 Then I answered and said, “How long? When will these things come to pass? Why are our years few and evil?”

[¶20] 34 He answered me, and said, “Don’t hurry faster than the Most High; for your haste is for your own self, but he who is above hurries on behalf of many. 35 Didn’t the souls of the righteous ask about these things in their chambers, saying, ‘How long will we be here? When does the fruit of the threshing floor come?’ 36 To them, Jeremiel the archangel answered, ‘When the number is fulfilled of those who are like you. For he has weighed the world in the balance. 37 By measure, he has measured the times. By number, he has counted the seasons. He won’t move or stir them until that measure is fulfilled.’”

[¶21] 38 Then I answered, “O sovereign Lord, all of us are full of ungodliness. 39 Perhaps it is for our sakes that the threshing time of the righteous is kept back—because of the sins of those who dwell on the earth.”

[¶22] 40 So he answered me, “Go your way to a woman with child, and ask of her when she has fulfilled her nine months, if her womb may keep the baby any longer within her.”

[¶23] 41 Then I said, “No, Lord, that can it not.” He said to me, “In Hades, the chambers of souls are like the womb.

[¶24] 42 For just like a woman in labor hurries to escape the anguish of the labor pains, even so these places hurry to deliver those things that are committed to them from the beginning. 43 Then you will be shown those things which you desire to see.”

[¶25] 44 Then I answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, and if it is possible, and if I am worthy, 45 show me this also, whether there is more to come than is past, or whether the greater part has gone over us. 46 For what is gone I know, but I don’t know what is to come.”

[¶26] 47 He said to me, “Stand up on my right side, and I will explain the parable to you.”

[¶27] 48 So I stood, looked, and saw a hot burning oven passed by before me. It happened that when the flame had gone by I looked, and saw that the smoke remained. 49 After this, a watery cloud passed in front of me, and sent down much rain with a storm. When the stormy rain was past, the drops still remained in it.”

[¶28] 50 Then said he to me, “Consider with yourself; as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the quantity which is past was far greater; but the drops and the smoke still remained.”

[¶29] 51 Then I prayed, and said, “Do you think that I will live until that time? Or who will be alive in those days?”

[¶30] 52 He answered me, “As for the signs you asked me about, I may tell you of them in part; but I wasn’t sent to tell you about your life, for I don’t know.

### Chapter 5

[¶32] 1 “Nevertheless, concerning the signs, behold, the days will come when those who dwell on earth will be taken with great amazement, and the way of truth will be hidden, and the land will be barren of faith. 2 Iniquity will be increased above what now you see, and beyond what you have heard long ago. 3 The land that you now see ruling will be a trackless waste, and men will see it desolate. 4 But if the Most High grants you to live, you will see troubles after the third period. The sun will suddenly shine in the night, and the moon in the day. 5 Blood will drop out of wood, and the stone will utter its voice. The peoples will be troubled, and the stars will fall. 6 He will rule whom those who dwell on the earth don’t expect, and the birds will fly away together. 7 The Sodomite sea will cast out fish, and make a noise in the night, which many have not known; but all will hear its voice. 8 There will also be chaos in many places. Fires will break out often, and the wild animals will change their places, and women will bring forth monsters. 9 Salt waters will be found in the sweet, and all friends will destroy one another. Then reason will hide itself, and understanding withdraw itself into its chamber. 10 It will be sought by many, and won’t be found. Unrighteousness and lack of restraint will be multiplied on earth. 11 One country will ask another, ‘Has righteousness, or a man that does righteousness, gone through you?’ And it will say, ‘No.’ 12 It will come to pass at that time that men will hope, but won’t obtain. They will labor, but their ways won’t prosper. 13 I am permitted to show you such signs. If you will pray again, and weep as now, and fast seven days, you will hear yet greater things than these.”

[¶33] 14 Then I woke up, and an extreme trembling went through my body, and my mind was so troubled that it fainted. 15 So the angel who had come to talk with me held me, comforted me, and set me on my feet.

[¶34] 16 In the second night, it came to pass that Phaltiel the captain of the people came to me, saying, “Where have you been? Why is your face sad? 17 Or don’t you know that Israel is committed to you in the land of their captivity? 18 Get up then, and eat some bread, and don’t forsake us, like a shepherd who leaves the flock in the power of cruel wolves.”

[¶35] 19 Then said I to him, “Go away from me and don’t come near me for seven days, and then you shall come to me.” He heard what I said and left me.

[¶36] 20 So I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, like Uriel the angel had commanded me.