1   And it came to passe the third day, and I sate vnder an oke.

2   And behold a voice came forth against me out of a bush, and sayd: Esdras, Esdras: and I sayd: Loe here I am Lord. And I arose vpon my feete. And he sayd to me:

3   Reueling I was reueled vpon the bush, and spake to Moyses, when the people serued in Ægypt,

4   and I sent him, and brought my people out of Ægypt, and brought him vpon mount Sina, & held him with me manie dayes.

5   And I told him manie meruelous thinges, & shewed him the secrets of times, and the end: and I commanded him, saying:

6   These wordes thou shalt publish abroade, and these thou shalt hyde.

7   And now to thee I say.

8   The signes which I haue shewed, and the dreames which thou hast sene, and the interpretations which thou hast sene, lay them vp in thy hart.

9   For thou shalt be receiued of al, thou shalt be conuerted the residue with thy counsel, and with the like to thee, til the times be finished.

10   Because the world hath lost his youth, and the times draw nere to waxe old.

11   For the world is diuided by twelue partes, & the tenth part, & half of the tenth part are passed:

12   and there remaineth hereafter the half of the tenth part.

13   Now therefore dispose thy house, and correct thy people, & comfort the humble of them, & forsake now corruption,

14   and put from thee mortal cogitations, and cast from thee humane burdens, and doe from thee now infirme nature, & lay at one side cogitations most trublesome to thee, & make speedie transmigration from these times,

15   for the euiles which thou hast sene to haue chanced now, worse then these wil they doe againe:

16   for looke how much the world shal become weake by age, so much shal euiles be multiplied vpon the inhabitants.

17   For truth hath remoued it

self farther of, and lying hath approched, for now the vision which thou sawest, hasteneth to come.

18   And I answered, and sayd before thee ô Lord:

19   For behold I wil goe, as thou hast commanded me, & wil rebuke the people that now is. But them that shal yet be borne, who shal admonish?

20   The world therfore is set in darknes, and they that dwel in it without light.

21   Because thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the workes that haue bene done by thee, or that shal begin.

22   For if I haue found grace with thee, send the Holie Ghost to me, & I wil write al that hath bene done in the world from the beginning, the thinges that were written in thy law, that men may finde the pathe: and they that wil liue in the later times, may liue.

23   And he answered me, and sayd: Goe gather together the people, and thou shalt say to them, that they seeke thee not for fourtie dayes.

24   And doe thou prepare thee manie tables of boxe, & take with thee Sarea, Dabria, Salemia, Echanus, and Asiel, these fiue which are readie to write sweeftly.

25   And come hither, & I wil light in thy hart a candle of vnderstanding, which shal not be put out til the things be finished, which thou shalt begine to write.

26   And then some thinges thou shalt open to the perfect, some thou shalt deliuer secretly to the wyse. For to morrow this houre thou shalt begine to write.

27   And I went as he commanded me, & gathered together al the people, and sayd:

28   Heare Israel these wordes:

29   Our fathers were pilgrimes from the beginning in Ægypt, and were deliuered from thence.

30   And they receiued the law of life, which they kept not, which you also after them haue transgressed:

31   and the land was geuen you by lotte, and the land of Sion, and your fathers, and you haue done iniquitie, and haue not kept the wayes which the Highest commanded you.

32   And wheras he is a iust iudge, he hath taken from you in time that which he had geuen.

33   And now you are here, and your brethren are among you.

34   If then you wil rule ouer your sense, & instruct your hart, you shal be preserued aliue, and after death shal obtaine mercie.

35   For the iudgement shal come after death, when we shal returne to lyfe againe: and then the names of the iust shal appeare, and the dedes of the impious shal be shewed.

36   Let no man therfore come to me now, nor aske for me vntil fourtie dayes.

37   And I tooke the fiue men, as he commanded me, and we went forth into the field, and taried there.

38   And I was come to the morrow, & behold a voice called me, saying: Esdras open thy mouth, and drinke that which I wil geue thee to drinke.

39   And I opened my mouth, & behold a ful cuppe was brought me, this was ful as it were with water: but the colour therof like as fire.

40   And I tooke it, and dranke; and when I had drunken of it, my hart was tormented with vnderstanding, and wisdome grewe into my brest. For my spirit was kept by memorie.

41   And my mouth was opened, and was shut no more.

42   The Highest gaue vnderstanding vnto the fiue men, and they wrote excesses of the night which were spoken, which they knewe not.

43   And at night they did eate breade, but I spake by day, & by night held not my peace.

44   And there were written in the fourtie dayes two hundred foure bookes.

45   And it came to passe when they had ended the fourtie daies, the Highest spake, saying:

46   The former thinges which thou hast written, set abrode, and let the worthie and vnworthie reade: but the last seuentie bookes thou shalt keepe, that thou mayest deliuer them to the wyse of thy people.

47   For in these is the vaine of vnderstanding, and the fountaine of wisdome, and the streame of knowledge. and I did soe.

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