Chapter 5 (from verse 21)
21 After seven days, the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again, 22 and my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began to speak words before the Most High again. 23 I said, “O sovereign Lord of all the woods of the earth, and of all the trees thereof, you have chosen one vine for yourself. 24 Of all the lands of the world you have chosen one country for yourself. Of all the flowers of the world, you have chosen one lily for yourself. 25 Of all the depths of the sea, you have filled one river for yourself. Of all built cities, you have consecrated Zion for yourself. 26 Of all the birds that are created you have named for yourself one dove. Of all the livestock that have been made, you have provided for yourself one sheep. 27 Among all the multitudes of peoples you have gotten yourself one people. To this people, whom you loved, you gave a law that is approved by all. 28 Now, O Lord, why have you given this one people over to many, and have dishonored the one root above others, and have scattered your only one among many? 29 Those who opposed your promises have trampled down those who believed your covenants. 30 If you really do hate your people so much, they should be punished with your own hands.”
31 Now when I had spoken these words, the angel that came to me the night before was sent to me, 32 and said to me, “Hear me, and I will instruct you. Listen to me, and I will tell you more.”
33 I said, “Speak on, my Lord.” Then said he to me, “You are very troubled in mind for Israel’s sake. Do you love that people more than he who made them?”
34 I said, “No, Lord; but I have spoken out of grief; for my heart is in agony every hour while I labor to comprehend the way of the Most High, and to seek out part of his judgment.”
35 He said to me, “You can’t.” And I said, “Why, Lord? Why was I born? Why wasn’t my mother’s womb my grave, that I might not have seen the travail of Jacob, and the wearisome toil of the people of Israel?”
36 He said to me, “Count for me those who haven’t yet come. Gather together for me the drops that are scattered abroad, and make the withered flowers green again for me. 37 Open for me the chambers that are closed, and bring out the winds for me that are shut up in them. Or show me the image of a voice. Then I will declare to you the travail that you asked to see.”
38 And I said, “O sovereign Lord, who may know these things except he who doesn’t have his dwelling with men? 39 As for me, I lack wisdom. How can I then speak of these things you asked me about?”
40 Then said he to me, “Just as you can do none of these things that I have spoken of, even so you can’t find out my judgment, or the end of the love that I have promised to my people.”
41 I said, “But, behold, O Lord, you have made the promise to those who are alive at the end. What should they do who have been before us, or we ourselves, or those who will come after us?”
42 He said to me, “I will compare my judgment to a ring. Just as there is no slowness of those who are last, even so there is no swiftness of those who be first.”
43 So I answered, “Couldn’t you make them all at once that have been made, and that are now, and that are yet to come, that you might show your judgment sooner?”
44 Then he answered me, “The creature may not move faster than the creator, nor can the world hold them at once who will be created in it.”
45 And I said, “How have you said to your servant, that you will surely make alive at once the creature that you have created? If therefore they will be alive at once, and the creation will sustain them, even so it might now also support them to be present at once.”
46 And he said to me, “Ask the womb of a woman, and say to her, ‘If you bear ten children, why do you it at different times? Ask her therefore to give birth to ten children at once.”
47 I said, “She can’t, but must do it each in their own time.”
48 Then said he to me, “Even so, I have given the womb of the earth to those who are sown in it in their own times. 49 For just as a young child may not give birth, neither she who has grown old any more, even so have I organized the world which I created.”
50 I asked, “Seeing that you have now shown me the way, I will speak before you. Is our mother, of whom you have told me, still young? Or does she now draw near to old age?”
51 He answered me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you. 52 Say to her, ‘Why aren’t they whom you have now brought forth like those who were before, but smaller in stature?’ 53 She also will answer you, ‘Those who are born in the strength of youth are different from those who are born in the time of old age, when the womb fails.’ 54 Consider therefore you also, how you are shorter than those who were before you. 55 So are those who come after you smaller than you, as born of the creature which now begins to be old, and is past the strength of youth.”
56 Then I said, “Lord, I implore you, if I have found favor in your sight, show your servant by whom you visit your creation.”
Chapter 6
1 He said to me, “In the beginning, when the earth was made, before the portals of the world were fixed and before the gatherings of the winds blew, 2 before the voices of the thunder sounded and before the flashes of the lightning shone, before the foundations of paradise were laid, 3 before the fair flowers were seen, before the powers of the earthquake were established, before the innumerable army of angels were gathered together, 4 before the heights of the air were lifted up, before the measures of the firmament were named, before the footstool of Zion was established, 5 before the present years were reckoned, before the imaginations of those who now sin were estranged, and before they were sealed who have gathered faith for a treasure— 6 then I considered these things, and they all were made through me alone, and not through another; just as by me also they will be ended, and not by another.”
7 Then I answered, “What will be the dividing of the times? Or when will be the end of the first and the beginning of the age that follows?”
8 He said to me, “From Abraham to Isaac, because Jacob and Esau were born to him, for Jacob’s hand held Esau’s heel from the beginning. 9 For Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the one that follows. 10 The beginning of a man is his hand, and the end of a man is his heel. Seek nothing else between the heel and the hand, Esdras!”
11 Then I answered, “O sovereign Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, 12 I beg you, show your servant the end of your signs which you showed me part on a previous night.”
13 So he answered, “Stand up upon your feet, and you will hear a mighty sounding voice. 14 If the place you stand on is greatly moved 15 when it speaks don’t be afraid, for the word is of the end, and the foundations of the earth will understand 16 that the speech is about them. They will tremble and be moved, for they know that their end must be changed.”
17 It happened that when I had heard it, I stood up on my feet, and listened, and, behold, there was a voice that spoke, and its sound was like the sound of many waters. 18 It said, “Behold, the days come when I draw near to visit those who dwell upon the earth, 19 and when I investigate those who have caused harm unjustly with their unrighteousness, and when the affliction of Zion is complete, 20 and when the seal will be set on the age that is to pass away, then I will show these signs: the books will be opened before the firmament, and all will see together. 21 The children a year old will speak with their voices. The women with child will deliver premature children at three or four months, and they will live and dance. 22 Suddenly the sown places will appear unsown. The full storehouses will suddenly be found empty. 23 The trumpet will give a sound which when every man hears, they will suddenly be afraid. 24 At that time friends will make war against one another like enemies. The earth will stand in fear with those who dwell in it. The springs of the fountains will stand still, so that for three hours they won’t flow.
25 “It will be that whoever remains after all these things that I have told you of, he will be saved and will see my salvation, and the end of my world. 26 They will see the men who have been taken up, who have not tasted death from their birth. The heart of the inhabitants will be changed and turned into a different spirit. 27 For evil will be blotted out and deceit will be quenched. 28 Faith will flourish. Corruption will be overcome, and the truth, which has been so long without fruit, will be declared.”
29 When he talked with me, behold, little by little, the place I stood on rocked back and forth. 30 He said to me, “I came to show you these things tonight. 31 If therefore you will pray yet again, and fast seven more days, I will again tell you greater things than these. 32 For your voice has surely been heard before the Most High. For the Mighty has seen your righteousness. He has also seen your purity, which you have maintained ever since your youth. 33 Therefore he has sent me to show you all these things, and to say to you, ‘Believe, and don’t be afraid! 34 Don’t be hasty to think vain things about the former times, that you may not hasten in the latter times.’”