1   And it came to passe when I had ended to speake these wordes, the Angel was sent to me, which had bene sent to me the first nights,

2   and he sayd to me: Arise Esdras, and heare the wordes which I am come to speake to thee.

3   And I sayd: Speake my God. And he sayd to me: The sea is set in a large place,

that it might be deepe and wide:

4   but the entrance to it shal be set in a straict place, that it might be like to riuers.

5   For who witting wil enter into the sea, and see it, or rule ouer it: if he passe not the streite, how shal he come into the bredth?

6   Also an other thing: A citie is built, and set in a plaine place, and it is ful of al goodes.

7   The entrance therof narrow, and set in a stepe place, so that on the right hand there was fire, & on the left depe water:

8   and there is one onlie pathe set betwen them, that is, betwen the fire and the water, so that the pathe can not conteyne, but onlie a mans steppe.

9   And if the citie shal be geuen a man for inheritance, if he neuer passe through the peril set before it, how shal he receiue his inheritance?

10   And I sayd: So Lord. And he sayd to me, So it is: Israel also a part.

11   For I made the world for them: and when Adam transgressed my constitution; that was iudged which was done.

12   And the entrance of this world were made streite, and sorowful, & paynful, and few and euil, and ful of dangers, & stuffed very much with labour.

13   For the entrances of the greater world are large and secure, and making fruite of immortalitie.

14   If then they that liue entring in enter into these streite and vayne thinges: they can not receiue the thinges that are layd vp.

15   Now therfore why art thou trubled, wheras thou art corruptible? and why art thou moued, wheras thou art mortal?

16   And why hast thou not taken in thy hart that which is to come, but that which is present?

17   I answered, and sayd: Lord dominatour: behold thou hast disposed by thy law that the iust shal inherite these thinges, and the impious shal perish.

18   But the iust shal suffer the streites, hoping for the wyde places, for they that haue done impiously, haue both suffered the streites, and shal not see the wide places.

19   And he sayd to me: There is no iudge aboue God, nor that vnderstandeth aboue the Highest.

20   For manie present doe perish, because the law of God which was set before, is neglected.

21   For God commanding commanded them that came, when they came, what doing they should liue, and what obseruing they should not be punished.

22   But they were not perswaded, and gaynesayd him, and made to them selues a cogitation of vanitie,

23   and proposed to them selues deceites of sinnes, & they sayd to the Highest that he was not, and they knew not his wayes,

24   and dispised his law, and denyed his couenaunces, and had not fidelitie in his ordinances, and did not accomplish his workes.

25   For this cause Esdras, the emptie to the emptie, and the ful to the ful.

26   Behold the

time shal come, and it shal be when the signes shal come, which I haue foretold thee, and the bride shal appeare, and appearing she shal be shewed that now is hid with the earth:

27   and euerie one that is deliuered from the foresaid euils, he shal see my meruelous thinges.

28   For my sonne Iesvs shal be reueled with them that are with him, and they shal be merie that are leaft in the foure hundred yeares.

29   And it shal be after these yeares, and my sonne Christ shal dye: and al men that haue breath,

30   and the world shal be turned into the old silence seuen dayes, as in the former iudgementes, so that none shal be leaft.

31   And it shal be after seuen dayes, and the world shal be raysed vp that yet waketh not, and shal dye corrupted:

32   and the earth shal render the thinges that sleepe in it, & the dust them that dwel in it with silence, and the cellars shal render the soules that are commended to them.

33   And the Highest shal be reueled vpon the seate of iudgement, and miseries shal passe, and long sufferance shal be gathered together.

34   And iudgement onlie shal remayne, truth shal stand, and fayth shal waxe strong,

35   and the worke shal folow, and the reward shal be shewed, and iustice shal awake, and iniustice shal not haue dominion.

36   And I sayd: First Abraham prayed for the Sodomites, and Moyses for the fathers that sinned in the desert.

37   And they that were after him for Israel in the dayes of Achaz, and of Samuel,

38   and Dauid for the destruction, and Salomon for them that came vnto the sanctification.

39   And Elias for them that receiued raine, and for the dead that he might liue,

40   and Ezechias for the people in the dayes of Sennacherib, and manie for manie.

41   If therfore now when corruptible did increase, and iniustice was multiplied, and the iust prayed for the impious: why now also shal it not be so?

42   And he answered me and sayd: This present world is not the end, much glorie remaineth in it: for this cause they prayed for the impotent.

43   For the day of iudgement shal be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortalitie to come, wherein corruption is past:

44   intemperance is dissolued, incredulitie is cut of: and iustice hath increased, truth is sprong.

45   For then no man can saue him that hath perished, nor drowne him that hath ouercome. And I answered,

46   and sayd: This is my word the first and the last, that it had bene better not to geue the earth to Adam, or when he had now geuen it, to restraine him that he should not sinne.

47   For what doth it profit men presently to liue in sorow, and being dead to hope for punishment?

48   O what hast thou done Adam? For if thou didst sinne, it was not made thy fal only, but ours also which came of thee.

49   For what doth it profit vs if immortal time be promised to vs: but we haue done mortal workes?

50   And that euerlasting hope is foretold vs: but we most wicked are become vayne?

51   And that habitations of health and securitie are reserued for vs, but we haue conuerst naughtely?

52   And that the glorie of the Highest is reserued to protect them that haue slowly conuerst: but we haue walked in most wicked wayes.

53   And that paradise shal be shewed, whose fruite continueth incorrupted, wherin is securitie and remedie:

54   but we shal not enter in: for we haue conuerst in vnlawful places.

55   And their faces which haue had abstinence, shal shyne aboue the starres: but our faces blacke aboue darkenes.

56   For we did not thinke liuing when we did iniquitie, that we shal beginne after death to suffer.

57   And he answered, and sayd: This is the cogitation of the battel which man shal fight, who is borne vpon the earth,

58   that if he shal be ouercome, he suffer that which thou hast sayd: but if he ouercome he shal receiue that which I say:

59   for this is the life which Moyses spake of when he liued, to the people, saying: Choose vnto thee life, that thou mayst liue.

60   But they beleued him not, no nor the Prophetes after him, no nor me which haue spoken to them.

61   Because there should not be sorow vnto their perdition, as there shal be ioy vpon them, to whom saluation is perswaded.

62   And I answered, and sayd: I know Lord, that the Highest is called merciful in that, that he hath mercie on them which are not yet come into the world,

63   and that he hath mercie on them which conuerse in his law:

64   and he is long suffering, because he sheweth long sufferance to them that haue sinned, as it were with their owne workes:

65   and he is bountiful, because he wil geue according to exigentes:

66   and of great mercie, because he multiplieth more mercies to them that are present, and that are past, and that are to come.

67   For if he shal not multiplie his mercies, the world shal not be made aliue with them that did inherite it.

68   And he geueth: for if he shal not geue of his bountie, that they may be releeued which haue done iniquitie, the tenth thousand part of men can not be quickned from their iniquities.

69   And the iudge if he shal not forgeue them that are cured with his word, and wype away a multitude of contentions: there should not perhaps be leaft in an innumerable multitude, but very few.

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