The Revelation of Esdras from the Ancient Writings of The Set-Apart Bible. Read free with the Sacred Names (Yahweh, Yahshua, Elohim) and audio narration.
1 Revelation of Esdras.
2 Word and Revelation of Esdras, the Holy Prophet and Beloved of Elohim.
3 It came to pass in the thirtieth year, on the twenty-second of the month, I was in my house. And I cried out and said to the Most High: Adonai, give the glory, in order that I may see Thy mysteries. And when it was night, there came an angel, Michael the archangel, and says to me: O Prophet Esdras, refrain from bread for seventy weeks . And I fasted as he told me. And there came Raphael the commander of the host, and gave me a storax rod. And I fasted twice sixty weeks. And I saw the mysteries of Elohim and His angels. And I said to them: I wish to plead before Elohim about the race of the Christians. It is good for a man not to be born rather than to come into the world. I was therefore taken up into heaven, and I saw in the first heaven a great army of angels; and they took me to the judgments. And I heard a voice saying to me: Have mercy on us, O thou chosen of Elohim, Esdras. Then began I to say: Woe to sinners when they see one who is just more than the angels, and they themselves are in the Gehenna of fire! And Esdras said: Have mercy on the works of Thine hands, Thou who art compassionate, and of great mercy. Judge me rather than the souls of the sinners; for it is better that one soul should be punished, and that the whole world should not come to destruction. And Elohim said: I will give rest in paradise to the righteous, and I have become merciful. And Esdras said: Adonai, why dost Thou confer benefits on the righteous? for just as one who has been hired out, and has served out his time, goes and again works as a slave when he come to his masters, so also the righteous has received his reward in the heavens. But have mercy on the sinners, for we know that Thou art merciful. And Elohim said: I do not see how I can have mercy upon them. And Esdras said: They cannot endure Thy wrath. And Elohim said: This is the fate of such. And Elohim said: I wish to have thee like Paul and John, as thou hast given me uncorrupted the treasure that cannot be stolen, the treasure of virginity, the bulwark of men. And Esdras said: It is good for a man not to be born. It is good not to be in life. The irrational creatures are better than man, because they have no punishment; but Thou hast taken us, and given us up to judgment. Woe to the sinners in the world to come! because their judgment is endless, and the flame unquenchable. And while I was thus speaking to him, there came Michael and Gabriel, and all the apostles; and they said: Rejoice, O faithful man of Elohim! And Esdras said: Arise, and come hither with me, O Adonai, to judgment. And Adonai said: Behold, I give thee my covenant between me and thee, that you may receive it. And Esdras said: Let us plead in Thy hearing. And Elohim said: Ask Abraham your father how a son pleads with his father, and come plead with us. And Esdras said: As Adonai liveth, I will not cease pleading with Thee in behalf of the race of the Christians. Where are Thine ancient compassions, O Adonai? Where is Thy long-suffering? And Elohim said: As I have made night and day, I have made the righteous and the sinner; and he should have lived like the righteous. And the prophet said: Who made Adam the first-formed? And Elohim said: My undefiled hands. And I put him in paradise to guard the food of the tree of life; and thereafter he became disobedient, and did this in transgression. And the prophet said: Was he not protected by an angel? and was not his life guarded by the cherubim to endless ages? and how was he deceived who was guarded by angels? for Thou didst command all to be present, and to attend to what was said by Thee. But if Thou hadst not given him Eve, the serpent would not have deceived her; but whom Thou wilt Thou savest, and whom Thou wilt Thou destroyest. And the prophet said: Let us come, my Adonai, to a second judgment. And Elohim said: I cast fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And the prophet said: Adonai, Thou dealest with us according to our deserts. And Elohim said: Your sins transcend my clemency. And the prophet said: Call to mind the Scriptures, my Father, who hast measured out Jerusalem, and set her up again. Have mercy, O Adonai, upon sinners; have mercy upon Thine own creatures; have pity upon Thy works. Then Elohim remembered those whom He had made, and said to the prophet: How can I have mercy upon them? Vinegar and gall did they give me to drink, and not even then did they repent. And the prophet said: Reveal Thy cherubim, and let us go together to judgment; and show me the day of judgment, what like it is. And Elohim said: Thou hast been deceived, Esdras; for such is the day of judgment as that in which there is no rain upon the earth; for it is a merciful tribunal as compared with that day. And the prophet said: I will not cease to plead with Thee, unless I see the day of the consummation. And Elohim said: Number the stars and the sand of the sea; and if thou shalt be able to number this, thou art also able to plead with me. And the prophet said: Adonai, Thou knowest that I wear human flesh; and how can I count the stars of the heaven, and the sand of the sea? And Elohim said: My chosen prophet, no man will know that great day and the appearing that comes to judge the world. For thy sake, my prophet, I have told thee the day; but the hour have I not told thee. And the prophet said: Adonai, tell me also the years. And Elohim said: If I see the righteousness of the world, that it has abounded, I will have patience with them; but if not, I will stretch forth my hand, and lay hold of the world by the four quarters, and bring them all together into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will wipe out the race of men, so that the world shall be no more. And the prophet said: And how can Thy right hand be glorified? And Elohim said: I shall be glorified by my angels. And the prophet said: Adonai, if Thou hast resolved to do this, why didst Thou make man? Thou didst say to our father Abraham, Multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore; and where is Thy promise? And Elohim said: First will I make an earthquake for the fall of four-footed beasts and of men; and when you see that brother gives up brother to death, and that children shall rise up against their parents, and that a woman forsakes her own husband, and when nation shall rise up against nation in war, then will you know that the end is near.