The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Read online

  50: So the people went their way into the city, like as I commanded them:

  51: But I remained still in the field seven days, as the angel commanded me; and did eat only in those days of the flowers of the field, and had my meat of the herbs

  4 Ezra Chapter 13

  1: And it came to pass after seven days, I dreamed a dream by night.

  2: And, lo, there arose a wind from the sea, that it moved all the waves thereof.

  3: And I beheld, and, lo, that man waxed strong with the thousands of heaven and when he turned his countenance to look, all the things trembled that were seen under him.

  4: And when the voice went out of his mouth, all they burned that heard his voice, like as the earth fails when it feels the fire.

  5: And after this I beheld, and, lo, there was gathered together a multitude of men, out of number, from the four winds of the heaven, to subdue the man that came out of the sea

  6: But I beheld, and, lo, he had graved himself a great mountain, and flew up upon it.

  7: But I would have seen the region or place throughout the hill was graven, and I could not.

  8: And after this I beheld, and, lo, all they which were gathered together to subdue him were sore afraid, and yet did fight.

  9: And, lo, as he saw the violence of the multitude that came, he neither lifted up his hand, nor held sword, nor any instrument of war:

  10: But only I saw that he sent out of his mouth as it had been a blast of fire, and out of his lips a flaming breath, and out of his tongue he cast out sparks and tempests.

  11: And they were all mixed together; the blast of fire, the flaming breath, and the great tempest; and fell with violence upon the multitude which was prepared to fight, and burned them up every one, so that upon a sudden of an innumerable multitude nothing was to be perceived, but only dust and smell of smoke; when I saw this I was afraid.

  12: Afterward saw I the same man come down from the mountain, and call to him another peaceable Multitude.

  13: And there came much people to him, whereof some were glad, some were sorry, and some of them were bound, and other some brought of them that were offered. Then was I sick through great fear, and I awakened, and said,

  14: You have showed your servant these wonders from the beginning, and have counted me worthy that you should receive my prayer:

  15: Show me now yet the interpretation of this dream.

  16: For as I conceive in mine understanding, woe to them that will be left in those days and much more woe to them that are not left behind!

  17: For they that were not left were in heaviness.

  18: Now understand I the things that are laid up in the latter days, which will happen to them, and to those that are left behind.

  19: Therefore are they come into great perils and many necessities, like as these dreams declare.

  20: Yet is it easier for him that is in danger to come into these things, than to pass away as a cloud out of the world, and not to see the things that happen in the last days. And he answered to me, and said,

  21: The interpretation of the vision will I show you, and I will open to you the thing that you have required.

  22: Whereas you have spoken of them that are left behind, this is the interpretation:

  23: He that will endure the peril in that time has kept himself: they that be fallen into danger are such as have works, and faith toward the Almighty.

  24: Know this therefore, that they which be left behind are more blessed than they that be dead.

  25: This is the meaning of the vision: Whereas you saw a man coming up from the midst of the sea:

  26: The same is he whom God the Highest has kept a great season, which by his own self will deliver his creature: and he will order them that are left behind.

  27: And whereas you saw, that out of his mouth there came as a blast of wind, and fire, and storm;

  28: And that he held neither sword, nor any instrument of war, but that the rushing in of him destroyed the whole multitude that came to subdue him; this is the interpretation:

  29: Behold, the days come, when the most High will begin to deliver them that are upon the earth.

  30: And he will come to the astonishment of them that dwell on the earth.

  31: And one will undertake to fight against another, one city against another, one place against another, one people against another, and one realm against another.

  32: And the time will be when these things will come to pass, and the signs will happen which I showed you before, and then will my Son be declared, whom you saw as a man ascending.

  33: And when all the people hear his voice, every man will in their own land leave the battle they have one against another.

  34: And an innumerable multitude will be gathered together, as you saw them, willing to come, and to overcome him by fighting.

  35: But he will stand upon the top of the Mount Sion.

  36: And Sion will come, and will be showed to all men, being prepared and built, like as you saw the hill graven without hands.

  37: And this my Son will rebuke the wicked inventions of those nations, which for their wicked life are fallen into the tempest;

  38: And will lay before them their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they will begin to be tormented, which are like to a flame: and he will destroy them without labor by the law which is like to me.

  39: And whereas you saw that he gathered another peaceable multitude to him;

  40: Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.

  41: But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,

  42: That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.

  43: And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.

  44: For the most High then showed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.

  45: For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.

  46: Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now when they will begin to come,

  47: The Highest will stay the springs of the stream again, that they may go through, therefore saw you the multitude with peace.

  48: But those that be left behind of your people are they that are found within my borders.

  49: Now when he destroys the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he will defend his people that remain.

  50: And then will he show them great wonders.

  51: Then said I, O Lord that upholds rule, show me this: Wherefore have I seen the man coming up from the midst of the sea?

  52: And he said to me, Like as you can neither seek out nor know the things that are in the deep of the sea; even so can no man upon earth see my Son, or those that be with him, but in the day time.

  53: This is the interpretation of the dream which you saw, and whereby you only are here lightened.

  54: For you have forsaken yours own way, and applied your diligence to my law, and sought it.

  55: Your life have you ordered in wisdom, and have called understanding your mother.

  56: And therefore have I showed you the treasures of the Highest; after other three days I will speak other things to you, and declare to you mighty and wondrous things.

  57: Then went I forth into the field, giving praise and thanks greatly to the most High because of his wonders which he did in time;

  58: And because he governs the same, and such things as fall in their seasons, and there I sat three days.

  4 Ezra Chapter 14

  1: And it came to pass upon the third day, I sat under an oak, and, behold, there came a voice out of a bush over against me, and said, Esdras, Esdras.
r />   2: And I said, Here am I, Lord And I stood up upon my feet.

  3: Then said he to me, In the bush I did manifestly reveal myself to Moses, and talked with him, when my people served in Egypt:

  4: And I sent him and led my people out of Egypt, and brought him up to the mount of where I held him by me a long season,

  5: And told him many wondrous things, and showed him the secrets of the times, and the end; and commanded him, saying,

  6: These words will you declare, and these will you hide.

  7: And now I say to you,

  8: That you lay up in your heart the signs that I have showed, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard:

  9: For you will be taken away from all, and from henceforth you will remain with my Son, and with such as be like you, until the times be ended.

  10: For the world has lost his youth, and the times begin to wax old.

  11: For the world is divided into twelve parts (pieces or section), and the ten part (pieces or section) of it are gone already, and half of a tenth section (piece):

  12: And there remains that which is after the half of the tenth section (piece).

  13: Now therefore set yours house in order, and reprove your people, comfort such of them as be in trouble, and now renounce corruption,

  14: Let go from you mortal thoughts, cast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature,

  15: And set aside the thoughts that are most heavy to you, and haste you to flee from these times.

  16: For yet greater evils than those which you have seen happen will be done hereafter.

  17: For look how much the world will be weaker through age, so much the more will evils increase upon them that dwell therein.

  18: For the time is fled far away, and leasing is hard at hand: for now hasten the vision to come, which you have seen.

  19: Then I answered before you, and said,

  20: Behold, Lord, I will go, as you have commanded me, and reprove the people which are present, but they that will be born afterward, who will admonish them? Thus the world is set in darkness, and they that dwell therein are without light.

  21: For your law is burnt, therefore no man knows the things that are done of you, or the work that will begin.

  22: But if I have found grace before you, send the Holy Ghost into me, and I will write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, which were written in your law, that men may find your path, and that they which will live in the latter days may live.

  23: And he answered me, saying, Go your way, gather the people together, and say to them, that they seek you not for forty days.

  24: But look you prepare you many box trees, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ecanus, and Asiel, these five which are ready to write swiftly;

  25: And come hither, and I will light a candle of understanding in your heart, which will not be put out, till the things be performed which you will begin to write.

  26: And when you have done, some things will you publish, and some things will you show secretly to the wise. Tomorrow this hour will you begin to write.

  27: Then went I forth, as he commanded, and gathered all the people together, and said,

  28: Hear these words, O Israel.

  29: Our fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt, from whence they were delivered;

  30: And received the law of life, which they kept not, which you also have transgressed after them.

  31: Then was the land, even the land of Sion, parsed among you by lot; but your fathers, and you yourselves, have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Highest commanded you.

  32: And for as much as he is a righteous judge, he took from you in time the thing that he had given you.

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

  34: Therefore if so be that you will subdue your own understanding, and reform your hearts, you will be kept alive and after death you will obtain mercy.

  35: For after death will the judgment come, when we will live again: and then will the names of the righteous be manifest, and the works of the ungodly will be declared.

  36: Let no man therefore come to me now, nor seek after me these forty days.

  37: So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went into the field, and remained there.

  38: And the next day, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, open your mouth, and drink that I give you to drink.

  39: Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, he reached me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the color of it was like fire.

  40: And I took it, and drank: and when I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit strengthened my memory:

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

  42: The Highest gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote the wonderful visions of the night that were told, which they knew not and they sat forty days, and they wrote in the day, and at night they ate bread.

  43: As for me. I spoke in the day, and I held not my tongue by night.

  44: In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books.

  45: And when the forty days were filled, that the Highest spoke, saying, The first that you have written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it:

  46: But keep the seventy last, that you may deliver them only to such as be wise among the people;

  47: For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.

  48: And I did so.

  4 Ezra Chapter 15

  1: Behold, speak you in the ears of my people the words of prophecy, which I will put in your mouth, says the Lord:

  2: And cause them to be written in paper for they are faithful and true.

  3: Fear not the imaginations against you, let not the incredulity of them trouble you, that speak against you.

  4: For all the unfaithful will die in their unfaithfulness.

  5: Behold, says the Lord, I will bring plagues upon the world; the sword, famine, death, and destruction.

  6: For wickedness has exceedingly polluted the whole earth, and their hurtful works are fulfilled.

  7: Therefore says the Lord,

  8: I will hold my tongue no more as touching their wickedness, which they profanely commit, neither will I suffer them in those things, in which they wickedly exercise themselves. Behold, the innocent and righteous blood cries to me, and the souls of the just complain continually.

  9: And therefore, says the Lord, I will surely avenge them, and receive to me all the innocent blood from among them.

  10: Behold, my people is led as a flock to the slaughter: I will not suffer them now to dwell in the land of Egypt:

  11: But I will bring them with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, and strike Egypt with plagues, as before, and will destroy all the land thereof.

  12: Egypt will mourn, and the foundation of it will be smitten with the plague and punishment that God will bring upon it.

  13: They that till the ground will mourn for their seeds will fail through the blasting and hail, and with a fearful constellation.

  14: Woe to the world and them that dwell therein!

  15: For the sword and their destruction draws near, and one people will stand up and fight against another, and swords in their hands.

  16: For there will be sedition among men, and invading one another; they will not regard their kings nor princes, and the course of their actions will stand in their power.

  17: A man will desire to go into a city, and will not be able.

  18: For because of their pride the cities will be troubled, the houses will be destroyed, and men will be afraid.

  19: A man will have no pity upon his neighbor, but will destroy their houses with the sword, and spoil their goods, because of the lack of bread, and for great tribulation.

  20: Behold, says God, I will call together all the kings of the earth to
reverence me, which are from the rising of the sun, from the south, from the east, and Libanus; to turn themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them.

  21: Like as they do yet this day to my chosen, so will I do also, and recompense in their bosom. Thus says the Lord God;

  22: My right hand will not spare the sinners, and my sword will not cease over them that shed innocent blood upon the earth.

  23: The fire is gone forth from his rage, and has consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like the straw that is kindled.

  24: Woe to them that sin, and keep not my commandments! says the Lord.

  25: I will not spare them Go your way, you children, from the power, defile not my sanctuary.

  26: For the Lord knows all them that sin against him, and therefore delivers he them to death and destruction.

  27: For now are the plagues come upon the whole earth and you will remain in them for God will not deliver you, because you have sinned against him.

  28: Behold an horrible vision, and the appearance thereof from the east;

  29: Where the nations of the dragons of Arabia will come out with many chariots, and the multitude of them will be carried as the wind upon earth, that all they which hear them may fear and tremble.

  30: Also the Carmanians raging in rage will go forth as the wild boars of the wood, and with great power will they come, and join battle with them, and will waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians.

  31: And then will the dragons have the upper hand, remembering their nature; and if they will turn themselves, conspiring together in great power to persecute them,

  32: Then these will be troubled bled, and keep silence through their power, and will flee.

  33: And from the land of the Assyrians will the enemy besiege them, and consume some of them, and in their host will be fear and dread, and strife among their kings.

  34: Behold clouds from the east and from the north to the south, and they are very horrible to look upon, full of rage and storm.

  35: They will strike one upon another, and they will strike down a great multitude of stars upon the earth, even their own star; and blood will be from the sword to the belly,