And when I had made an end of speaking these words, there was sent to me the angel which had been sent to me the nights before:
And he said to me, Up, Esdras, and hear the words that I have come to tell you.
And I said, Speak on, my God. Then he said to me, The sea is set in a wide place, that it might be deep and great.
But put the case the entrance were narrow, and like a river;
Who then could go into the sea to look upon it, and to rule it? if he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad?
There is also another thing; A city is built, and set upon a broad field, and is full of all good things:
Its entrance is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, like as if there were a fire on the right hand, and on the left a deep water:
And one only path between them both, even between the fire and the water, so small that there could but one man go there at once.
If this city now were given to a man for an inheritance, if he never shall pass the danger set before it, how shall he receive this inheritance?
And I said, It is so, Lord. Then he said to me, Even so also is Israel’s portion.
Because for their sakes I made the world: and when Adam transgressed my statutes, then was decreed that now is done.
Then were the entrances of this world made narrow, full of sorrow and toil: they are but few and evil, full of perils, and very painful.
For the entrances of the elder world were wide and sure, and brought immortal fruit.
If then they that live labor not to enter these narrow and vain things, they can never receive those that are laid up for them.
Now therefore why do you disturb yourself, seeing you are but a corruptible man? and why are you moved, whereas you are but mortal?
Why have you not considered in your mind this thing that is to come, rather than that which is present?
Then answered I and said, O Lord you who bear rule, you have ordained in your law, that the righteous should inherit these things, but that the ungodly should perish.
Nevertheless the righteous shall suffer narrow things, and hope for wide: for they that have done wickedly have suffered the narrow things, and yet shall not see the wide.
And he said to me, There is no judge above God, and none that has understanding above the Highest.
For there be many that perish in this life, because they despise the law of God that is set before them.
For God has given strict commandment to such as came, what they should do to live, even as they came, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.
Nevertheless they were not obedient to him; but spoke against him, and imagined vain things;
And deceived themselves by their wicked deeds; and said of the most High, that he is not; and knew not his ways:
But his law have they despised, and denied his covenants; in his statutes have they not been faithful, and have not performed his works.
And therefore, Esdras, for the empty are empty things, and for the full are the full things.
Look, the time shall come, that these tokens which I have told you shall happen, and the bride shall appear, and she coming forth shall be seen, that now is withdrawn from the earth.
And whoever is delivered from the foresaid evils shall see my wonders.
For my son Jesus shall be revealed with those that are with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within four hundred years.
After these years shall my son Christ die, and all men that have life.
And the world shall be turned into the old silence seven days, like as in the former judgments: so that no man shall remain.
And after seven days the world, that yet awakes not, shall be raised up, and that shall die that is corrupt.
And the earth shall restore those that are asleep in her, and so shall the dust those that dwell in silence, and the secret places shall deliver those souls that were committed to them.
And the most High shall appear upon the seat of judgment, and misery shall pass away, and the long suffering shall have an end:
But judgment only shall remain, truth shall stand, and faith shall grow strong:
And the work shall follow, and the reward shall be shown, and the good deeds shall be of force, and wicked deeds shall bear no rule.
Then said I, Abraham prayed first for the Sodomites, and Moses for the fathers that sinned in the wilderness:
And Jesus after him for Israel in the time of Achan:
And Samuel and David for the destruction: and Solomon for them that should come to the sanctuary:
And Helias for those that received rain; and for the dead, that he might live:
And Ezechias for the people in the time of Sennacherib: and many for many.
Even so now, seeing corruption is grown up, and wickedness increased, and the righteous have prayed for the ungodly: why shall it not be so now also?
He answered me, and said, This present life is not the end where much glory does remain; therefore have they prayed for the weak.
But the day of doom shall be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortality to come, in which corruption is past,
Intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off, righteousness is grown, and truth is sprung up.
Then shall no man be able to save him that is destroyed, nor to oppress him that has gotten the victory.
I answered then and said, This is my first and last saying, that it had been better not to have given the earth to Adam: or else, when it was given him, to have restrained him from sinning.
For what profit is it for men now in this present time to live in heaviness, and after death to look for punishment?
O you Adam, what have you done? for though it was you that sinned, you are not fallen alone, but we all that come of you.
For what profit is it to us, if there be promised us an immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?
And that there is promised us an everlasting hope, whereas ourselves being most wicked are made vain?
And that there are laid up for us dwellings of health and safety, whereas we have lived wickedly?
And that the glory of the most High is kept to defend them which have led a wary life, whereas we have walked in the most wicked ways of all?
And that there should be shown a paradise, whose fruit endures for ever, in which is security and medicine, since we shall not enter into it?
(For we have walked in unpleasant places.)
And that the faces of them which have used abstinence shall shine above the stars, whereas our faces shall be blacker than darkness?
For while we lived and committed iniquity, we considered not that we should begin to suffer for it after death.
Then he answered me, and said, This is the condition of the battle, which man that is born upon the earth shall fight;
That, if he be overcome, he shall suffer as you have said: but if he get the victory, he shall receive the thing that I say.
For this is the life of which Moses spoke to the people while he lived, saying, Choose you life, that you may live.
Nevertheless they believed not him, nor yet the prophets after him, no nor me which have spoken to them,
That there should not be such heaviness in their destruction, as shall be joy over them that are persuaded to salvation.
I answered then, and said, I know, Lord, that the most High is called merciful, in that he has mercy upon them which have not yet come into the world,
And upon those also that turn to his law;
And that he is patient, and long suffers those that have sinned, as his creatures;
And that he is bountiful, for he is ready to give where it needs;
And that he is of great mercy, for he multiplies more and more mercies to them that are present, and that are past, and also to them which are to come.
For if he shall not multiply his mercies, the world would not continue with them that inherit therein.
And he pardons; for if he did not so of his goodness, that they which have committed iniquities might be eased of them, the ten thousandth part of men should not remain living.
And being judge, if he should not forgive them that are cured with his word, and put out the multitude of contentions,
There should be very few left perhaps in an innumerable multitude.