4 Esdras 2

²Their mother that bare them, saith to them: Go children, because I am a widow & forsaken.

³I brought you up with joy, and have lost you with mourning and sorrow, because you have sinned before our Lord your God, & have done that which is evil before him.

⁴But now what shall I do to you? I am a widow and desolate, go my children, and ask mercy of our Lord.

⁵And I call thee o father a witness upon the mother of the children, that would not keep my testament,

⁶that thou give them confusion, and their mother into spoil, that there be no generation of them.

⁷Let their names be dispersed into the Gentiles, let them be destroyed out of the land: because they have despised my sacrament.

⁸Woe be to thee Assur, which hidest the wicked with thee. Thou naughty nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrha:

⁹whose land lieth in clods of pitch, and heaps of ashes: so will I make them, that have not heard me, saith our Lord omnipotent.

¹⁰Thus saith our Lord to Esdras: Tell my people, that I will give them the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which I meant to give to Israel.

¹¹And I will take to me the glory of them, and will give them eternal tabernacles, which I had prepared for them.

¹²The wood of life shall be to them for an odour of ointment, & they shall not labour, nor be wearied.

¹³Go and you shall receive. Ask for yourselves a few days, that they may abide. Now the Kingdom is prepared for you, watch ye.

¹⁴Call thou heaven and earth to witness: for I have destroyed evil, and have created good, because I live saith our Lord.

¹⁵Mother embrace thy children, bring them up with joy. As a dove confirm their feet: because I have chosen thee, saith our Lord.

¹⁶And I will raise again the dead out of their places, and out of the monuments I will bring them forth, because I have known my name in Israel.

¹⁷Fear not o mother of the children, because I have chosen thee, saith our Lord.

¹⁸I will send thee aid, my servants Isaie, and Jeremie, at whose counsel I have sanctified, and prepared for thee twelve trees loden with diverse fruits.

¹⁹& as many fountains flowing milk and honey: and seven huge mountains, having the rose and the lily, in the which I will fill thy children with joy. Exod. 15. v. 27.

²⁰Justify thou the widow, judge for the pupil, give to the needy, defend the orphan, clothe the naked,

²¹cure the broken and feeble, mock not the lame, defend the maimed, and admit the blind to the vision of my glory.

²²The old man & the young keep within thy walls:

²³where thou shalt find the dead, commit them to the grave signing it, and I will give thee the first seat in my resurrection.

²⁴Pause and rest my people, because thy rest shall come.

²⁵As a good nurse nourish thy children, confirm their feet.

²⁶The servants that I have given thee, none of them shall perish. For I will require them of thy number.

²⁷Be not wearied. For when the day of affliction and distress shall come, others shall weep, & be sad, but thou shalt be merry and plenteous.

²⁸The gentiles shall envy, & shall be able to do nothing against thee, saith our Lord.

²⁹My hands shall cover thee, that thy children see not hell.

³⁰Be pleasant thou mother with thy children, because I will deliver thee saith our Lord.

³¹Remember thy children that sleep, for I will bring them out of the sides of the earth, & will do mercy with them: because I am merciful, saith our Lord omnipotent.

³²Embrace thy children till I come, & shew them mercy: because my fountains run over, & my grace shall not fail.

³³I Esdras received commandment of our Lord in mount Oreb, that I should go to Israel: to whom when I came, they refused me, & rejected the commandment of our Lord.

³⁴And therefore, I say unto you gentiles, which hear, and understand, Look for your pastor, he will give you the rest of eternity: because he is at hand, that shall come in the end of the world.

³⁵Be ye ready for the rewards of the Kingdom, because perpetual light shall shine to you for time everlasting.

³⁶Fly from the shadow of this world: receive ye the pleasantness of your glory. I openly call to witness my saviour.

³⁷Receive the commended gifts and be pleasant, giving thanks to him that called you to the heavenly Kingdoms.

³⁸Arise, & stand & see the number of them that are signed in the feast of our Lord.

³⁹They that have transferred themselves from the shadow of the world, have received glorious garments of our Lord.

⁴⁰Receive o Sion thy number, and shut up thine made white, which have accomplished the law of our Lord.

⁴¹The number of thy children, which thou didst wish is full. Desire the power of our Lord that thy people may be sanctified, which was called from the beginning.

⁴²I Esdras saw in mount Sion a great multitude, which I could not number, and they did all praise our Lord with songs. Apoc. 7. v. 9.

⁴³And in the midst of them was a young man high of stature, appearing above over them all, and he put crowns upon every one of their heads, and he was more exalted. And I was astonished at the miracle.

⁴⁴Then asked I an Angel, and said: Who are these

⁴⁵Who answering said to me: These are they that have laid off the mortal garment, and taken an immortal, and have confessed the name of God. Now they are crowned, and receive palms.

⁴⁶And I said to the Angel: That young man what is he, which putteth the crowns upon them, & giveth palms into their hands?

⁴⁷And answering he said to me: The same is the Son of God, whom they did confess in the world: and I began to magnify them, that stood strongly for the name of our Lord.

⁴⁸Then said the Angel to me: Go, tell my people, what manner of marvelous things and how great thou hast seen of the Lord God.