Lost Books of the Bible (157 page)

44: So I asked the angel, and said, Sir, what are these?

45: He answered and said to me, These are they that have put off the mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God: now are they crowned, and receive palms.

46: Then said I to the angel, What young person is it that crowns them, and gives them palms in their hands?

47: So he answered and said to me, It is the Son of God, whom they have confessed in the world. Then I began greatly to laud them that stood so solidly for the name of the Lord.

48: Then the angel said to me, Go your way, and tell my people what manner of things, and how great wonders of the Lord your God, you have seen.

 4 Ezra Chapter 3

1: In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:

2: I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of those dwelling at Babylon.

3: And my spirit was disturbed, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,

4: O Lord, who upholds rule, you spoke at the beginning, when you did plant the earth, and that yourself alone, and commanded the people,

5: And gave a body to Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of yours hands, and did breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before you.

6: And you lead him into paradise, which your right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.

7: You gave him the commandment to love your way: which he transgressed, and immediately you appointed death in him and in his generations, of whom came numberless nations, tribes, people, and kindred.

8: And every people walked after their own will, and did awful things before you, and despised your commandments.

9: And again in process of time you brought the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyed them.

10: And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.

11: Nevertheless, you left one of them , namely, Noah with his household, from who came all righteous men.

12: And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.

13: Now when they lived so wickedly before you, you chose a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

14: Him you loved, and to him only you showed your will:

15: And made an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that you would never forsake his seed.

16: And to him you gave Isaac, and to Isaac also you gave Jacob and Esau. You chose Jacob for your own, and put Esau away: and so Jacob became a great multitude.

17: And  when you led his seed out of Egypt, you brought them up to Mount Sinai.

18: And bowing the heavens, you set fast the earth, moved the whole world, and made the depths to tremble, and troubled the men of that age.

19: And your glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that you might give the law to the seed of Jacob, and diligence to the generation of Israel.

20: And yet you did not take away from them a wicked heart, that your law might bring forth fruit in them.

21: For the first Adam (man) bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all that are born of him.

22: Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil still lived there.

23: So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then you raised you up a servant, called David:

24: Whom you commanded to build a city to your name, and there to offer incense and offerings to you.

25: When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook you,

26: And in all things did as Adam and all his generations had done for they also had a wicked heart:

27: And so you gave your city over into the hands of yours enemies.

28: Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

29: For when I came there, and had seen sins without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

30: For I have seen how you allow them sinning, and have spared wicked doers: and have destroyed your people, and have preserved yours enemies, and have not signified it.

31: I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

32: Or is there any other people that knows you beside Israel? Or what generation has so believed your covenants like Jacob has?

33: And yet their reward does not appear, and their labor has no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon your commandments.

34: Weigh our wickedness now in the balance, and theirs also that dwell the world; and so will your name no where be found but in Israel.

35: Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in your sight? Or what people have so kept your commandments?

36: You will find that Israel by name has kept your precepts; but not the heathen.

4 Ezra Chapter 4

 1: And the angel, whose name was Uriel, was sent to me and gave me an answer,

2: And said, Your heart has gone to far in this world, and you think to understand the way of the most High?

3: Then I said, Yea, my lord. And he answered me, and said, I am sent to show you three ways, and to set forth three comparisons before you:

4: Whereof if you can answer one, I will show you also the way that you desire to see, and I will show you from where the wicked heart came.

5: And I said, Tell on, my lord. Then said he to me, Go your way, weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past.

6: Then I answered and said, What man is able to do that, that you should ask such things of me?

7: And he said to me, If I should ask you how great dwellings are in the midst of the sea, or how many springs are in the beginning of the deep, or how many springs are above the firmament, or which are the outgoings of paradise:

8: I would expect you would say to me, I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into hell, neither did I ever climb up into heaven.

9: Nevertheless now have I asked you but only of the fire and wind, and of the day through which you have passed, and of things from which you can not be separated, and yet you can give me no answer.

10: He said moreover to me, Your own things, and such as are grown up with you, you do not know;

11: How should your vessel (body /mind) then be able to comprehend the way of the Highest, and the world being now outwardly corrupted to understand the corruption that is evident in my sight?

12: Then I said to him, It were better that we were not at all, than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer, and not to know wherefore.

13: He answered me, and said, I went into a forest into a plain, and the trees took counsel,

14: And said, Come, let us go and make war against the sea that it may depart away before us, and that we may make us more woods.

15: The floods of the sea also in like manner took counsel, and said, Come, let us go up and subdue the woods of the plain, that there also we may make us another country.

16: The thought of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it.

17: The thought of the floods of the sea came likewise to naught, for the sand stood up and stopped them.

18: If you wert judge now betwixt these two, whom would you begin to justify? Or whom would you condemn?

19: I answered and said, Verily it is a foolish thought that they both have devised, for the ground is given to the wood, and the sea also has his place to bear his floods.

20: Then he answered me, and said, You have given a right judgment, but why not judge yourself also?

21: Like the ground is given to the wood, and the sea to his floods: even so they that dwell upon the earth may understand nothing but that which is upon the earth: and he that dwells above the heavens may only understand the things that are above the height of the heavens.

22: Then I answered and said, I beseech you, O Lord, let me have understanding:

23: It was not my mind to be curious of the high things, but of such as pass by us daily, namely, wherefore Israel is given up as a criticism for the heathen, and for what cause the people whom you have loved is given over to ungodly nations, and why the law of our forefathers is brought to nothing, and the written covenants come to no effect,

24: And we pass away out of the world like grasshoppers, and our life is aw and fear, and we are not worthy to obtain mercy.

25: What will he do to his name whereby we are called? Of these things have I asked.

26: Then he answered me, and said, The more you search, the more you will marvel; for the world hastens fast to pass away,

27: And cannot comprehend the things that are promised to the righteous in time to come: for this world is full of unrighteousness and sickness.

28: But as concerning the things whereof you ask me, I will tell you. Evil is sown, but the destruction has not yet come.

29: If therefore that which is sown is not turned upside down, and if the place where the evil is sown does not pass away, then that which is sown with good cannot come.

30: For the grain of evil seed has been sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning, and how much ungodliness has it brought up to this time? And how much will it yet bring forth until the time of threshing come?

31: Ponder now by yourself, how much wicked fruit the grain of evil seed has brought forth.

32: And when the ears will be cut down, which are without number, how large of a floor will they fill?

33: Then I answered and said, How, and when will these things come to pass? Are our years few and evil?

34: And he answered me, saying, Do not try to be above the most Highest your hurry is in vain to be above him, for you have much exceeded yourself.

35: Did not the souls of the righteous also ask questions of these things in their chambers, saying, How long will I hope in this way? When comes the fruit of the floor of our reward?

36: And to these things Uriel the archangel gave them answer, and said, When the number of seeds is filled in you: for he has weighed the world in the balance.

37: By measure he has measured the times; and by number has he numbered the times; and he does not move nor stir them, until the said measure be fulfilled.

38: Then I answered and said, O Lord that upholds rule, even we all are full of sin,.

39: For our sakes peradventure it is that the floors of the righteous are not filled, because of the sins of them that dwell upon the earth.

40: So he answered me, and said, 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 birth any longer within her.