4th Book Of EZRA - ESDRAS Ch5
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Signs Of The Approaching End Of The Age
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:1 Nevertheless as concerning the signs, behold, the days shall come, that they which dwell upon earth shall be taken in a great number and shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of true faith.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:2 And unrighteousness and iniquity shall be increased beyond that which you yourself now see, and beyond which you have heard of formerly. • Mt 24:1
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:3 And the land which you now see ruling shall be waste and untrodden, and men shall see it wasted suddenly.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:4 But if the Most High YAHWEH grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion after the third shofar that the sun shall suddenly shine again in the night, and the moon during in the day:
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:5 And blood shall drip from wood, and the stone shall utter its voice, and the people shall be troubled, and the stars shall fall. • Hab 2:11; Lk 19:40.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:6 And even he shall rule, whom they look not for that dwell upon the earth, and the fowls shall take their flight away together:
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:7 And the Sodomitish sea shall cast up fish, and one whom the many do not know shall make his voice heard by night, and all shall hear his voice.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:8 There shall be a confusion also in many places, and fire shall be often break out, and the wild beasts shall go beyond their haunts, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters:
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:9 And salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall destroy one another; then shall reason hide itself, and understanding withdraw itself into its secret chamber,
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:10 And shall be sought by many, and yet not be found: then shall unrighteousness and unrestraint be multiplied upon earth.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:11 And one country shall ask another, and say, Has righteousness, or a man that does upright passed through you? And it shall answer, No. • Isa 59:14.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:12 And at that same time men shall hope, but nothing obtain: they shall labor, but their ways shall not prosper.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:13 These are the signs which I am permitted to tell you; and if you will pray again, and weep as you do now, and fast seven days, you shall hear yet greater things than these.
Conclusion Of The Vision
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:14 Then I awakened, and my body shuddered violently, and my soul was troubled, so that it fainted.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:15 So the malak that was come to talk with me held me, comforted and strengthened me, and set me up upon my feet.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:16 And in the second night it came to pass, that Phaltiel the captain of the people came to me, saying, Where have you been? and why is your countenance so heavy?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:17 Know you not that Yisrael is committed to you in the land of their captivity?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:18 Rise up then, and eat bread, and forsake us not, as the shepherd that leaves his flock in the hands of cruel wolves.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:19 Then I said to him, Depart from me, and come not nigh me for seven days, and then you may come to me. And he heard what I said, and went from me.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:20 And so I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, just as Uriel the malak commanded me.
THE SECOND VISION
Ezra Reiterates His Complaints Of YAHWEH's Inequity
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:21 And after seven days so it was, that the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again,
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:22 And my soul recovered the ruach of understanding, and I began to speak words in the presence of the Most High YAHWEH again,
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:23 And I said, Oh Sovereign YAHWEH that bears rule, of every wood of the earth, and of all the trees thereof, YOU have chosen for YOURSELF only one vine:
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:24 And of all lands of the whole world YOU have chosen for YOURSELF one region: and of all the flowers of the world YOU have chosen for YOURSELF one lily:
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:25 And from all the depths of the sea YOU have filled for YOURSELF one river: and of all built cities YOU have set it apart and made kodesh Zion to YOURSELF: • (Song 2:2 - Hos 14:5)
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:26 And from all the fowls that are created YOU have named for YOURSELF one dove: and from all the cattle that YOU made, YOU have provided for YOURSELF one sheep:
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:27 And from all the multitudes of people YOU have gotten for YOURSELF one people: and to this people, whom YOU loved, YOU gave a Torah that is approved by all.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:28 And now, Oh YAHWEH, why have YOU given this one people over to the many? And upon the one root have YOU prepared others, and why have YOU scattered YOUR only one people among many?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:29 And they which did gainsay YOUR promises, and believed not YOUR covenants, have trodden down on those who believed YOUR covenants.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:30 If YOU hate YOUR people so much, should YOU punish them with YOUR own hands.
Response To Ezra's Complaints
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:31 Now when I had spoken these words, the malak who had come to me the previous time was sent to me,
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:32 And he said to me, Hear me, and I will instruct you; hearken to the words that I say, and I shall tell you more.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:33 And I said, Speak on, my master. Then said he to me, Why are you sore troubled in mind for Yisrael's sake? Do you love that people more than HE that made them?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:34 And I said, No, my master, but because of my grief I have spoken, for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I labor to understand and comprehend the way of the Most High YAHWEH, and to search out part of HIS just judgment.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:35 And he said to me, You cannot. And I said, Why not, my master? Why then was I born? Or why was not my mother's womb then my grave, that I might not see the travail of Yacob, and the wearisome toil of the people of Yisrael? • Job 3:11
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:36 And HE said to me, Count up for me the things that are not yet come, and gather to me the scattered raindrops, and make the flowers bloom again for me that are withered,
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:37 Open for me the places that are closed, and bring for me the winds that are in them that are shut up in them, show me the image of a voice: and then I will declare to you the travail that you labor to know and understand.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:38 And I said, Oh Sovereign YAHWEH that bears rule, who may know these things, but he that has not his dwelling with men?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:39 As for me, I am unwise: how may I then speak of these things whereof YOU ask me?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:40 Then said HE to me, Like as you cannot do one of these things that I have spoken of, even so you cannot discover MY just judgment, or the end of MY love that I have promised to MY people.
Why Successive Generations Have Been Created
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:41 And I said, Behold, Oh YAHWEH, yet are YOU nigh to them that be reserved till the end: and what shall they do that have been before us, or we that be now, or they that shall come after us?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:42 And HE said to me, I will liken MY judgment to a circle: just as there is no slackness on those who are last, even so there is no haste of the first.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:43 Then I answered and said, Could YOU not created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be; that YOU might show YOUR just judgment the sooner?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:44 Then answered HE me, and said, The creature cannot make more haste than the Creator; neither may the world hold them all at one time those who have been created in it.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:45 And I said, As YOU have said to YOUR servant that YOU will certainly give life at one time to YOUR creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time? And the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:46 And HE said to me, Ask the womb of a woman, and say to it, If you bring forth ten children, why one after another? Request it therefore to bring forth ten children at one time.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:47 And I said, It cannot: but must do it by distance of time.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:48 Then said HE to me, Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those who are to be sown in it in their times.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:49 For like as a young child does not bring forth the things that belong to the aged, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, even so have I organized the world which I created.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:50 And I asked, and said, Seeing YOU have now given me the way, I will proceed to speak before YOU: Is our mother, of whom YOU have told me, still young? Or is she now approaching old age?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:51 HE answered me, and said, Ask a woman who bears children, and she shall tell you.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:52 Say to her, Why are to they whom you have now brought forth not like those that were before, but smaller of stature?
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:53 And she herself shall answer you, They that be born in the the strength of youth are of one fashion, and they that are born in the time of age, when the womb fails, are different.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:54 Consider you therefore also, how that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those that were before you.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:55 And those who come after you will be smaller than you, as the creatures which now begin to be old, and have passed over the strength of youth.
EZRA -4- ESDRAS 5:56 Then said I, Oh YAHWEH, I beseech YOU, if I have found favor in YOUR sight, show YOUR servant through whom YOU are going to visit YOUR creation.
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