The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Page 100
3. Grey hairs will be seen upon boys, and the young men will not respect or listen to the aged.
4. After that will arise another king, a deceitful man, who will rule for a short time. In his days there will be all manner of evils. There will be genocide of the race of men living in the east to Babylon (the death of the race of men from the east to Babylon).
5. Famine and death by the sword will follow from Chanaan (Canaan) to Rome. Then all the springs of water and all the wells will dry up (boil over) and be turned into dust and blood.
Chapter 4
1. The heaven will be moved and the stars will fall upon the earth. The sun will be cut in half like the moon, and the moon will not give light.
2. There will be great signs and wonders in those days when Antichrist draws near. These are the signs for those that live on the earth. In those days the pains of great and hard work like those of a woman in labor will come upon them.
3. Woe to them that build because they will not live in there buildings.
4. Woe to them that plow the ground because they labor for no cause (no results). Woe to them that marry because they will bring forth sons in the famine.
5. Woe to them that join house to house or field to field because all things will be consumed with fire. Woe to them that are not introspective (examine themselves and their actions) while time allows because after this they will be condemned forever.
6. Woe to them that turn away from the poor when he asks.
7. You will know that I am the Father most high and I am the Father of all spirits. As you will see, this is the beginning of the latter age.
Chapter 5
1. These are the seven signs of the ending of this world. There will be in all the earth famine and tremendous disease and sicknesses of vast proportions.
2. All nations will take captives and men will fall by the edge of the sword.
3. The beginning of the days of judgment will make you wonder greatly.
4. At the third hour (The Jewish day starts around 6:00 P.M.) of the first day will be a loud and powerful voice in the firmament (sky/theater of stars) of heaven, and a large cloud of blood will come down out of the north, and loud thunder and powerful lightning will follow the cloud.
5. Blood will rain down on all the earth. These are the signs of the first day. (There is some dispute as to whether this is a literal Sunday or Monday. It is assumed by the editor that Sunday is the first day.)
6. And on the second day there will be a loud voice in the firmament of heaven, and the earth will be moved out of its place and the portals of the eastern part of heaven will be and a great power will be sent forth as if it were belched by the portals of heaven themselves and the power will cover all the heaven even until evening and there will be fear and trembling in the world.
7. These are the signs of the second day. In the third day at about the second hour, there will be a voice in heaven, and the vast depths of the earth will sound their voices from the four corners of the earth.
8. The first heaven will be rolled up like a scroll and will vanish quickly in an instant.
9. Smoke and stench of the brimstone in the chasms will darken the day until the tenth hour. Then all men will say, “I think the end draws near, that we will die.” These are the signs of the third day.
10. And on the fourth day at the first hour, the eastern section of the earth will sound, the abyss will roar and all the earth be moved by a strong earthquake.
11. In that day all the idols of the heathen will fall along with all the buildings on earth. These are the signs of the fourth day.
12. And on the fifth day, at the sixth hour the thunder will be loud and sudden in the sky, and the stars (powers of light) and the sphere of the sun will be snatched away, and there will be total (vast) darkness over the world until evening, and the stars will be sent off their course.
13. In that day all nations will hate the world and all men will despise his life on the world. These are the signs of the fifth day.
14. On the sixth day there will be signs in heaven. At the fourth hour the firmament of heaven will be split from east to west. And the angels of the heavens will be looking out on the earth and they will open the heavens.
15. And all men will see the host of the angels above the earth looking out of heaven. Then all men will flee.
16. All men will flee to the mountains and hide themselves from the face of the righteous angels, and will say, “I wish the earth would open and swallow us!” These things will happen like this world has never seen since it was created.
17. Then they will see me coming from above in the light of my Father with the power and honor of the holy angels.
18. At my coming, the fires that border/restrain paradise will be removed because paradise is encompassed with fire.
19. And this is a perpetual fire that will consume the earth and all the elements of the world. Then they will be clothed, and be carried by the hand of the holy angels as I have told you before.
20. They will be lifted up in the air on a cloud of light, and will go with me into heaven rejoicing. They will continue in the light and honor of my Father.
21. There be gladness abounding with my Father and before the holy angels. These are the signs of the sixth day.
Chapter 6
1. Then will the spirits and souls of all men come out of paradise and will come on all the earth and every one of them will go to his own body where it is laid up, and every one of them will say, “My body lies here.”
2. And when the loud voices of those spirits will be heard, like a huge earthquake (there will be a large earthquake) all over the world.
3. The mountains will be split in two from above and the rocks from beneath. Then every spirit will return into his own vessel and the bodies of the saints who have died (which have fallen asleep) will rise.
4. Then will their bodies be changed into the image and likeness and the honor of the holy angels, and into the power of the image of my holy Father.
5. Then will they be clothed with the garments of life eternal made from the cloud of light which has never been seen in this world, because that cloud came down out of the highest realm of the heaven from the power of my Father.
6. And that cloud will contain the beauty of all the spirits that have believed in me.
7. And on the seventh day at the eighth hour there will be voices in the four corners of the heaven. And all the air will be shaken, and filled with holy angels, and they will make war among the heathen all the day long. And in that day my elect will be sought out by the holy angels and saved from the destruction of the world. Then all men (unbelievers) will see that the hour of their destruction draws near.
8. These are the signs of the seventh day. And when the seven days are passed by, on the eighth day at the sixth hour there will be a sweet and tender voice in heaven from the east. Then that angel will be revealed which has power over all the holy angels and all the angels will go out with him who is sitting upon a chariot made of the clouds of my holy Father and they will rejoice, running upon the air beneath the heaven to deliver the elect that have believed in me.
9. And they will rejoice that the destruction of this world has come.
10. Thomas, you must hear because I am the Son of God the Father and I am the father of all spirits. You must hear my signs that will come to pass at the end of this world.
11. The end of the world will come and the world will pass away before my elect depart out of the world. I will tell (have told) you openly (plainly) what will come, but when these things will come to pass even the princes of the angels do not know. It is now hidden from their sight as to what day the end will come.”
12. The words of the Savior to Thomas are ended, concerning the end of this world.
4 Ezra - History
2 Esdras, also referred to as 4 Ezra or the Apocalypse of Ezra, was written toward the end of the first century A.D. to explain the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. It is listed amo
ng the Apocrypha by the Catholic Church and most Protestant churches, however the Ethiopian and Russian Orthodox churches consider it to be canon.
In the years of the Renaissance and afterward heated arguments over this book inflamed emotions. Discussion regarding the book has evoked high tension and responses from the beginning. The French intelligentsia were among the most verbal. The French mystic Antoinette Bourignon said it was “the finest book in the Bible.” John Floyer said it was “the best Key to all the Old and New Prophecies”. Saint Jerome included the book in his Latin version of the Bible but assigned it to the apocryphal section. There were opponents also. Humphrey Prideaux considered it ”a Book too absurd for the Romanists themselves to receive into their Canon.”
Within the Old Testament apocrypha, 2 Esdras or 4 Ezra occupies a special place because it is dated from approximately A.D. 90, well into the New Testament era. The Vulgate version, written by Jerome, contains second and third century texts. These contain additions made by Christian writers, which made the book more acceptable to the Christian audience. 4 Ezra 7:28-9,: “For my son Jesus will be revealed with those that are with him, and they that remain will rejoice for four hundred years. After these years will my son Christ die, and all men that have life.”
This makes it the only book in the Old Testament to name Jesus as the Christ. Even though many scholars believe this portion of text to be an addition made around the third to fourth century, it makes Ezra the perfect bridge between the Old Testament and New Testament.
4 EZRA / 2 ESDRAS
4 Ezra Chapter 1
1: The second book of the prophet Esdras, the son of Saraias, the son of Azarias, the son of Helchias, the son of Sadamias, the son of Sadoc, the son of Achitob,
2: The son of Achias, the son of Phinees, the son of Heli, the son of Amarias, the son of Aziei, the son of Marimoth, the son of Ama, son of Uzzi, son of Borith, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,
3: The son of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi; which was captive in the land of the Medes, in the reign of Areexerxes, King of the Persians.
4: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5: “Go your way, and show my people their sinful deeds, and their children their wickedness which they have done against me; that they may tell their children’s children:
6: Because the sins of their fathers are increased in them for they have forgotten me, and have offered (sacrificed) to strange gods.
7: Am not I even he that brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage? But they have provoked me to rage, and despised my counsels.
8: Pull out the hair of your head, and cast all evil upon them, for they have not been obedient to my law, but they are a rebellious people.
9: How long will I forbear them, unto whom I have done so much good?
10: Many kings have I destroyed for their sakes; Pharaoh with his servants and all his power have I beaten down.
11: All the nations have I destroyed before them, and in the east I have scattered the people of two provinces, even of Tyrus and Sidon, and have killed all their enemies.
12: Speak therefore to them, saying, Thus says the Lord,
13: I led you through the sea and in the beginning gave you a large and safe passage; I gave you Moses for a leader, and Aaron for a priest.
14: I gave you light in a pillar of fire, and great wonders have I done among you; yet you have forgotten me, says the Lord.
15: Thus, says the Almighty Lord, The quails were a gift to you; I gave you tents for your safeguard; nevertheless you murmured there,
16: And did not triumph in my name for the destruction of your enemies, but even to this day you continue to complain.
17: Where are the benefits that I have done for you? When you were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness, did you not cry to me,
18: Saying, Why have you brought us into this wilderness to kill us? It had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness.
19: Then had I pity upon your mourning, and gave you manna to eat; so you ate angels’ bread.
20: When you were thirsty, did I not cleave the rock, and waters flowed out to fill you? For the heat I covered you with the leaves of the trees.
21: I divided among you a fruitful land, I cast out the Canaanites, the Pherezites, and the Philistines, before you: what will I yet do more for you? says the Lord.
22: Thus says the Almighty Lord, When you were in the wilderness, in the river of the Amorites, being thirsty, and blaspheming my name,
23: I did not give you fire for your blasphemies, but cast a tree in the water, and made the river sweet.
24: What will I do to you, O Jacob, O Judah, who would not obey me? I will turn to other nations, and to those will I give my name, that they may keep my statutes.
25: Seeing you have forsaken me, I will forsake you also; when you desire me to be gracious to you, I will have no mercy upon you.
26: When ever you will call upon me, I will not hear you, for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder of men.
27: You have not forsaken me, but your own selves, says the Lord.
28: Thus says the Almighty Lord, Have I not prayed for (whished blessings on) you as a father his sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her young babes,
29: That you would be my people, and I should be your God; that you would be my children, and I should be your father?
30: I gathered you together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but now, what will I do to you? I will cast you away from my face.
31: When you offer to me, I will turn my face from you for your solemn feast days, your new moons, and your circumcisions, have I forsaken.
32: I sent to you my servants the prophets, whom you have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require of your hands, says the Lord.
33: Thus says the Almighty Lord, Your house is desolate, I will cast you out as the wind does the stubble (of hay).
34: And your children will not be fruitful; for they have despised my commandment, and have done the thing that is an evil before me.
35: Your houses will I give to a people that will come; which not having heard of me yet will believe me; to whom I have showed no signs, yet they will do that I have commanded them.
36: They have seen no prophets, yet they will call their sins to remembrance, and acknowledge them.
37: I take to witness the grace of the people to come, whose little ones rejoice in gladness: and though they have not seen me with bodily eyes, yet in spirit they believe the thing that I say.
38: And now, brother, behold what glory; and see the people that come from the east:
39: To whom I will give for leaders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Oseas, Amos, and Micheas, Joel, Abdias, and Jonas,
40: Nahum, and Abacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zachary, and Malachy, which is called also an angel of the Lord.
4 Ezra Chapter 2
1: Thus says the Lord, I brought this people out of bondage, and I gave them my commandments by (my) menservants, the prophets; whom they would not hear, but (they) despised my counsels.
2: The mother that bare them says to them, Go your way, you children; for I am a widow and forsaken.
3: I brought you up with gladness; but with sorrow and heaviness have I lost you, for you have sinned before the Lord your God, and done that thing that is evil before him.
4: But what will I now do to you? I am a widow and forsaken; go your way, O my children, and ask mercy of the Lord.
5: As for me, O father, I call upon you for a witness over the mother of these children, which would not keep my covenant,
6: That you bring them to confusion, and their mother to a spoil, that there may be no offspring of them.
7: Let them be scattered abroad among the heathen, let their names be put out of the earth for they have despised my covenant.
8: Woe be to you, Assur, you that hide t
he unrighteous in you! O you wicked people, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrha;
9: Whose land lies in clods of pitch (clumps of tar) and heaps of ashes; even so also will I do to them that hear me not, says the Almighty Lord.
10: Thus says the Lord to Esdras, Tell my people that I will give them the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given to Israel.
11: Their glory also will I take to me, and give these the everlasting tabernacles, which I had prepared for them.
12: They will have the tree of life for an ointment of sweet savor; they will neither labor, nor be weary.
13: Go, and you will receive: pray for few days to you, that they may be shortened: the kingdom is already prepared for you: watch.
14: Take heaven and earth to witness; for I have broken the evil in pieces, and created the good; for I live, says the Lord.
15: Mother, embrace your children, and bring them up with gladness, make their feet as fast as a pillar, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.
16: And those that are dead will I raise up again from their places, and bring them out of the graves, for I have known my name in Israel.
17: Fear not, you mother of the children for I have chosen you, says the Lord.
18: For your help will I send my servants Esau and Jeremy, after whose counsel I have sanctified and prepared for you twelve trees laden with various fruits,
19: And as many fountains flowing with milk and honey, and seven mighty mountains, whereupon there grow roses and lilies, whereby I will fill your children with joy.
20: Do right to the widow, judge for (protect) the fatherless, give to the poor, defend the orphan, clothe the naked,
21: Heal the broken and the weak, do not mock the lame to scorn, defend the maimed, and let the blind man come into the clearness of my sight.