4 Esdras 12

²and behold the head that had overcome, and those four wings appeared not which passed to him, and were set up to reign: and their reign was small, and full of tumult.

³And I saw, and behold they appeared not, & all the body of the eagle was burnt, and the earth was afraid exceedingly, & I by the tumult & trance of mind, and for great fear awaked, and said to my spirit:

⁴Behold thou hast given me this, in that, that thou searchest the ways of the Highest.

⁵Behold yet I am weary in mind, and in my spirit I am very feeble, and there is not so much as a little strength in me for the great fear, that I was afraid of this night.

⁶Now therefore I will pray the Highest, that he strengthen me even to the end.

⁷And I said: Lord Dominatour, if I have found grace before thine eyes, and if I am justified before thee above many, and if indeed my prayer be ascended before thy face,

⁸Strengthen me, and shew unto me thy servant the interpretation, and distinction of this horrible vision, that thou mayst comfort my soul most fully.

⁹For thou hast counted me worthy to shew unto me the later times. And he said to me:

¹⁰This is the interpretation of this vision.

¹¹The eagle which thou sawest coming up from the sea, this is the Kingdom which was seen in a vision to Daniel thy brother.

¹²But it was not interpreted to him, therefore I do now interpret it to thee.

¹³Behold the days come, and there shall rise a Kingdom upon the earth, and the fear shall be more terrible than of all the Kingdoms that were before it.

¹⁴And there shall twelve kings reign in it, one after another.

¹⁵For the second shall begin to reign, and he shall continue more time than the rest of the twelve.

¹⁷And the voice that spake which thou heardest, not coming forth of her heads, but from the midst of her body,

¹⁸this is the interpretation, that after the time of that Kingdom shall rise no small contentions, and it shall be in danger to fall: and it shall not fall then, but shall be constituted again according to the beginning thereof.

¹⁹And whereas thou sawest eight underwings cleaving to the wings thereof,

²⁰this is the interpretation: eight kings shall arise in it, whose times shall be light, and years swift, and two of them shall perish.

²¹But when the middest time approacheth, four shall be kept till a time, when the time thereof shall begin to approach to be ended, yet two shall be kept to the end.

²²And whereas thou sawest three heads resting,

²³this is the interpretation: in her last days the Highest will raise up three Kingdoms, and will call back many things into them, and they shall rule over the earth,

²⁴and them that dwell in it, with much labour above all them that were before them. For this cause they are called the heads of the eagle.

²⁵For these shall be they that shall recapitulate her impieties, and that shall accomplish her last things.

²⁶And whereas thou sawest a greater head not appearing, this is the interpretation thereof: that one of them shall die upon his bed, and yet with torments.

²⁷For the two that shall remain, the sword shall eat them.

²⁸For the sword of one shall devour him that is with him: but yet this also at the last shall fall by the sword.

²⁹And whereas thou sawest two underwings passing over the head that is on the right side,

³⁰this is the interpretation: these are they whom the Highest hath kept to their end, this is a small Kingdom, and full of trouble.

³¹As thou sawest the lion also, whom thou sawest awaking out of the wood, and roaring, and speaking to the eagle, and rebuking her, and her injustices by all his words as thou hast heard:

³²this is the wind which the Highest hath kept unto the end for them, and their impieties: and he shall rebuke them, and shall cast in their spoils before them.

³³For he shall set them in judgement alive: and it shall be, when he hath reproved them, then shall he chastise them.

³⁴For the rest of my people he shall deliver with misery, them that are saved upon my borders, and he shall make them joyful till the end shall come, the day of judgement, whereof I have spoken to thee from the beginning.

³⁵This is the dream which thou sawest, and these be the interpretations.

³⁶Thou therefore only hast been worthy to know this secret of the Highest.

³⁷Write therefore in a Book all these things which thou hast seen, and put them in a hidden place:

³⁸and thou shalt teach them the wise men of thy people, whose hearts thou knowest able to take, & to keep these secrets.

³⁹But do thou stay here yet other seven days, that there may be shewed thee whatsoever shall seem good to the Highest to shew thee.

⁴⁰And he departed from me, And it came to pass, when all the people had heard that the seven days were past, and I had not returned into the city, and all gathered themselves together from the least unto the greatest: and came to me, and spake to me saying:

⁴¹What have we sinned to thee, or what have we done unjustly against thee, that leaving us thou hast sitten in this place?

⁴²For thou alone art remaining to us of all peoples, as a cluster of grapes of the vineyard, and as a candle in a dark place, and as an haven and ship saved from the tempest.

⁴³Or are not the evils that chance, sufficient for us?

⁴⁴If then thou shalt forsake us, how much better had it been to us, if we also had been burnt with the burning of Sion?

⁴⁵For we are not better than they that died there. And they wept with a loud voice. And I answered them, & said:

⁴⁶Be of good cheer Israel, & be not sorrowful thou house of Jacob.

⁴⁷For there is remembrance of you before the Highest, and the Strong hath not forgotten you in tentation.

⁴⁸For I have not forsaken you, neither did I depart from you: but I came into this place, to pray for the desolation of Sion, and to seek mercy for the low estate of your sanctification.

⁴⁹And now go every one of you into his house, and I will come to you after these days.

⁵⁰And the people departed, as I said to them, into the city:

⁵¹but I sat in the field seven days, as he commanded me: and I did eat of the flowers of the field only, of the herbs was my meat made in those