Nevertheless as concerning the tokens, look, the days shall come, that they which dwell upon earth shall be taken in a great number, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith.
But iniquity shall be increased above that which now you see, or that you have heard long ago.
And the land, that you see now to have root, shall you see wasted suddenly.
But if the most High grant you to live, you shall see after the third trumpet that the sun shall suddenly shine again in the night, and the moon thrice in the day:
And blood shall drop out of wood, and the stone shall give his voice, and the people shall be troubled:
And even he shall rule, whom they look not for that dwell upon the earth, and the birds shall take their flight away together:
And the Sodomitish sea shall cast out fish, and make a noise in the night, which many have not known: but they shall all hear its voice.
There shall be a confusion also in many places, and the fire shall be often sent out again, and the wild beasts shall change their places, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters:
And salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall destroy one another; then shall wit hide itself, and understanding withdraw itself into his secret chamber,
And shall be sought of many, and yet not be found: then shall unrighteousness and incontinency be multiplied upon earth.
One land also shall ask another, and say, Is righteousness that makes a man righteous gone through you? And it shall say, No.
At the same time shall men hope, but nothing obtain: they shall labor, but their ways shall not prosper.
To show you such tokens I have leave; and if you will pray again, and weep as now, and fast seven days, you shall hear yet greater things.
Then I awaked, and an extreme fearfulness went through all my body, and my mind was troubled, so that it fainted.
So the angel that had come to talk with me held me, comforted me, and set me up upon my feet.
And in the second night it happened, that Shealtiel the captain of the people came to me, saying, Where have you been? and why is your countenance so heavy?
Do you not know that Israel is committed to you in the land of their captivity?
Up then, and eat bread, and forsake us not, as the shepherd that leaves his flock in the hands of cruel wolves.
Then said I to him, Go your ways from me, and come not near me. And he heard what I said, and went from me.
And so I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, like as Uriel the angel commanded me.
And after seven days so it was, that the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again,
And my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I began to talk with the most High again,
And said, O Lord you who bear rule, of every wood of the earth, and of all its trees, you have chosen you one only vine:
And of all lands of the whole world you have chosen you one pit: and of all its flowers one lily:
And of all the depths of the sea you have filled you one river: and of all built cities you have hallowed Zion to yourself:
And of all the birds that are created you have named you one dove: and of all the cattle that are made you have provided you one sheep:
And among all the multitudes of people you have gotten you one people: and to this people, whom you loved, you gave a law that is approved of all.
And now, O Lord, why have you given this one people over to many? and upon the one root have you prepared others, and why have you scattered your only one people among many?
And they which did gainsay your promises, and believed not your covenants, have trodden them down.
If you did so much hate your people, yet should you punish them with your own hands.
Now when I had spoken these words, the angel that came to me the night before was sent to me,
And said to me, Hear me, and I will instruct you; listen to the thing that I say, and I shall tell you more.
And I said, Speak on, my Lord. Then he said to me, You are deeply troubled in mind for Israel’s sake: do you love that people better than he that made them?
And I said, No, Lord: but of very grief have I spoken: for my inmost thoughts pain me every hour, while I labor to comprehend the way of the most High, and to seek out part of his judgment.
And he said to me, You cannot. And I said, Why, Lord? to which was I born then? or why was not my mother’s womb then my grave, that I might not have seen the toil of Jacob, and the wearisome toil of the stock of Israel?
And he said to me, Number me the things that have not yet come, gather me together the drops that are scattered abroad, make me the flowers green again that are withered,
Open me the places that are closed, and bring me forth the winds that in them are shut up, show me the image of a voice: and then I will declare to you the thing that you labor to know.
And I said, O Lord you who bear rule, who may know these things, but he that has not his dwelling with men?
As for me, I am unwise: how may I then speak of these things of which you ask me?
Then he said to me, Like as you can do none of these things that I have spoken of, even so can you not find out my judgment, or in the end the love that I have promised to my people.
And I said, Look, O Lord, yet are you near to them that are reserved till the end: and what shall they do that have been before me, or we that are now, or they that shall come after us?
And he said to me, I will liken my judgment to a ring: like as there is no slackness of the last, even so there is no swiftness of the first.
So I answered and said, Could you not make those that have been made, and be now, and that are to come, at once; that you might show your judgment the sooner?
Then he answered me, and said, The creature may not hasten above the maker; neither may the world hold them at once that shall be created therein.
And I said, As you have said to your servant, that you, which give life to all, have given life at once to the creature that you have created, and the creature bore it: even so it might now also bear them that now be present at once.
And he said to me, Ask the womb of a woman, and say to her, If you bring forth children, why do you it not together, but one after another? pray her therefore to bring forth ten children at once.
And I said, She cannot: but must do it by distance of time.
Then he said to me, Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those that are sown in it in their times.
For like as a young child may not bring forth the things that belong to the aged, even so have I disposed the world which I created.
And I asked, and said, Seeing you have now given me the way, I will proceed to speak before you: for our mother, of whom you have told me that she is young, draws now near to age.
He answered me, and said, Ask a woman that bears children, and she shall tell you.
Say to her, Why are not they whom you have now brought forth like those that were before, but less of stature?
And she shall answer you, They that are born in the strength of youth are of one fashion, and they that are born in the time of age, when the womb fails, are otherwise.
Consider therefore also, how that you are less of stature than those that were before you.
And so are they that come after you less than you, as the creatures which now begin to be old, and have passed over the strength of youth.
Then said I, Lord, I beg you, if I have found favor in your sight, show your servant by whom you visit your creature.