II Esdras - Chapter 9

2Esdr 9:1
He answered me then, and said, Measure thou the time
diligently in itself: and when thou seest part of the signs
past, which I have told thee before,

2Esdr 9:2
Then shalt thou understand, that it is the very same time,
wherein the Highest will begin to visit the world which he made.

2Esdr 9:3
Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of
the people in the world:

2Esdr 9:4
Then shalt thou well understand, that the most High spake of
those things from the days that were before thee, even from the
beginning.

2Esdr 9:5
For like as all that is made in the world hath a beginning
and an end, and the end is manifest:

2Esdr 9:6
Even so the times also of the Highest have plain beginnings
in wonder and powerful works, and endings in effects and signs.

2Esdr 9:7
And every one that shall be saved, and shall be able to
escape by his works, and by faith, whereby ye have believed,

2Esdr 9:8
Shall be preserved from the said perils, and shall see my
salvation in my land, and within my borders: for I have
sanctified them for me from the beginning.

2Esdr 9:9
Then shall they be in pitiful case, which now have abused my
ways: and they that have cast them away despitefully shall dwell
in torments.

2Esdr 9:10
For such as in their life have received benefits, and have
not known me;

2Esdr 9:11
And they that have loathed my law, while they had yet liberty,
and, when as yet place of repentance was open unto them,
understood not, but despised it;

2Esdr 9:12
The same must know it after death by pain.

2Esdr 9:13
And therefore be thou not curious how the ungodly shall be
punished, and when: but enquire how the righteous shall be
saved, whose the world is, and for whom the world is created.

2Esdr 9:14
Then answered I and said,

2Esdr 9:15
I have said before, and now do speak, and will speak it also
hereafter, that there be many more of them which perish, than of
them which shall be saved:

2Esdr 9:16
Like as a wave is greater than a drop.

2Esdr 9:17
And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so is also
the seed; as the flowers be, such are the colours also; such as
the workman is, such also is the work; and as the husbandman ls
himself, so is his husbandry also: for it was the time of the
world.

2Esdr 9:18
And now when I prepared the world, which was not yet made,
even for them to dwell in that now live, no man spake against
me.

2Esdr 9:19
For then every one obeyed: but now the manners of them which
are created in this world that is made are corrupted by a
perpetual seed, and by a law which is unsearchable rid
themselves.

2Esdr 9:20
So I considered the world, and, behold, there was peril
because of the devices that were come into it.

2Esdr 9:21
And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept me a grape of
the cluster, and a plant of a great people.

2Esdr 9:22
Let the multitude perish then, which was born in vain; and
let my grape be kept, and my plant; for with great labour have I
made it perfect.

2Esdr 9:23
Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more, (but
thou shalt not fast in them,

2Esdr 9:24
But go into a field of flowers, where no house is builded,
and eat only the flowers of the field; taste no flesh, drink no
wine, but eat flowers only;)

2Esdr 9:25
And pray unto the Highest continually, then will I come and
talk with thee.

2Esdr 9:26
So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath, like
as he commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and did
eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same
satisfied me.

2Esdr 9:27
After seven days I sat upon the grass, and my heart was vexed
within me, like as before:

2Esdr 9:28
And I opened my mouth, and began to talk before the most
High, and said,

2Esdr 9:29
O Lord, thou that shewest thyself unto us, thou wast shewed
unto our fathers in the wilderness, in a place where no man
treadeth, in a barren place, when they came out of Egypt.

2Esdr 9:30
And thou spakest saying, Hear me, O Israel; and mark my
words, thou seed of Jacob.

2Esdr 9:31
For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in
you, and ye shall be honoured in it for ever.

2Esdr 9:32
But our fathers, which received the law, kept it not, and
observed not thy ordinances: and though the fruit of thy law did
not perish, neither could it, for it was thine;

2Esdr 9:33
Yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the
thing that was sown in them.

2Esdr 9:34
And, lo, it ls a custom, when the ground hath received seed,
or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, that, that being
perished wherein it was sown or cast into,

2Esdr 9:35
That thing also which was sown, or cast therein, or received,
doth perish, and remaineth not with us: but with us it hath not
happened so.

2Esdr 9:36
For we that have received the law perish by sin, and our
heart also which received it

2Esdr 9:37
Notwithstanding the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his
force.

2Esdr 9:38
And when I spake these things in my heart, I looked back with
mine eyes, and upon the right side I saw a woman, and, behold,
she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved in
heart, and her clothes were rent, and she had ashes upon her
head.

2Esdr 9:39
Then let I my thoughts go that I was in, and turned me unto
her,

2Esdr 9:40
And said unto her, Wherefore weepest thou? why art thou so
grieved in thy mind?

2Esdr 9:41
And she said unto me, Sir, let me alone, that I may bewail
myself, and add unto my sorrow, for I am sore vexed in my mind,
and brought very low.

2Esdr 9:42
And I said unto her, What aileth thee? tell me.

2Esdr 9:43
She said unto me, I thy servant have been barren, and had no
child, though I had an husband thirty years,

2Esdr 9:44
And those thirty years I did nothing else day and night, and
every hour, but make my, prayer to the Highest.

2Esdr 9:45
After thirty years God heard me thine handmaid, looked upon
my misery, considered my trouble, and gave me a son: and I was
very glad of him, so was my husband also, and all my neighbours:
and we gave great honour unto the Almighty.

2Esdr 9:46
And I nourished him with great travail.

2Esdr 9:47
So when he grew up, and came to the time that he should have
a wife, I made a feast.