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Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: 5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And I said, No, my lord.

And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. So they walked to and fro through the earth. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Let us restore the decayed fortune of our people, and let us fight for our people and the sanctuary.

And the men of the fortress were his guides. The heathen that are round about us are assembled together against us to destroy us: 11 And they are preparing to come and take the fortress whereunto we are fled, Timotheus being captain of their host.

Upon this Judas went to meet them. Thus was Carnaim subdued, neither could they stand any longer before Judas. The sleep is gone from mine eyes, and my heart faileth for very care. Now when Demetrius was set upon the throne of his kingdom, 5 There came unto him all the wicked and ungodly men of Israel, having Alcimus, who was desirous to be high priest, for their captain: 6 And they accused the people to the king, saying, Judas and his brethren have slain all thy friends, and driven us out of our own land.

Howbeit the enemies were prepared to take away Judas by violence. It was told him also of their wars and noble acts which they had done among the Galatians, and how they had conquered them, and brought them under tribute; 3 And what they had done in the country of Spain, for the winning of the mines of the silver and gold which is there; King Demetrius unto the people of the Jews sendeth greeting: 26 Whereas ye have kept covenants with us, and continued in our friendship, not joining yourselves with our enemies, we have heard hereof, and are glad.

I release it from this day forth, so that they shall not be taken of the land of Judea, nor of the three governments which are added thereunto out of the country of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth for evermore. I will not only do this for thee and thy people, but I will greatly honour thee and thy nation, if opportunity serve. So he removed, and came to Bethsan.

Ye yourselves know what great things I, and my brethren, and my father's house, have done for the laws and the sanctuary, the battles also and troubles which we have seen.

So he departed, and came into the country of Galaad. Moreover the hill of the temple that was by the tower he made stronger than it was, and there he dwelt himself with his company. The eighteenth day of the month Elul, in the hundred threescore and twelfth year, being the third year of Simon the high priest, 28 At Saramel in the great congregation of the priests, and people, and rulers of the nation, and elders of the country, were these things notified unto us.

King Antiochus to Simon the high priest and prince of his nation, and to the people of the Jews, greeting: Hereunto Athenobius answered him not a word; 36 But returned in a rage to the king, and made report unto him of these speeches, and of the glory of Simon, and of all that he had seen: whereupon the king was exceeding wroth.

I, and my brethren, and my father's house, have ever from my youth unto this day fought against the enemies of Israel; and things have prospered so well in our hands, that we have delivered Israel oftentimes. Afterward he returned into the land of Judea in peace. And when they had spoken these words, they appeared no more. Wherefore they were both called before the king.

Thus the Lord rewarded him his punishment, as he had deserved. Then might a man have seen the present misery. And now will we come to the declaring of the matter in a few words. And when he had said these words, immediately he went to the torment: 29 They that led him changing the good will they bare him a little before into hatred, because the foresaid speeches proceeded, as they thought, from a desperate mind.

Wherefore he also received the next torment in order, as the former did. I will not obey the king's commandment: but I will obey the commandment of the law that was given unto our fathers by Moses. Therefore commanded he his chariotman to drive without ceasing, and to dispatch the journey, the judgment of God now following him. For he had spoken proudly in this sort, That he would come to Jerusalem and make it a common burying place of the Jews.

I have appointed my son Antiochus king, whom I often committed and commended unto many of you, when I went up into the high provinces; to whom I have written as followeth: The hundred and eight and fortieth year, the four and twentieth day of the month Dioscorinthius.

In the hundred forty and eighth year, and the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus. This hundred and eight and fortieth year, the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus.

Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin. Thus it went touching the king's coming and departing. If ye will not deliver me Judas as a prisoner, I will lay this temple of God even with the ground, and I will break down the altar, and erect a notable temple unto Bacchus.

Hindy Najman. A short summary of this paper. Imitation And Emulation In 4 Ezra. His work modifies our conception of the past, as it will modify the future. If we can identify the context in which a text was produced, then we can use the context to draw conclusions about the text, and we can use the text to draw conclusions about the context.

However, it is often difficult to locate the context in which a text was written and the author by whom it was composed. But for those of us who work on pseudepigraphical texts, the job is particularly challenging. First these texts deliberately efface their relations to their contexts of composition, because they present themselves as written by another author, often from another time.

Second, scholars have often contextualized these texts within modern practices of authorship and composition—hence as forgery, clerical deception or plagiarism. The problems facing those of us who work on pseudepigrapha may seem insuperable. When they sinned, you chose for yourself one of 14 them, whose name was Abraham; him you loved, and to him alone, 15 secretly, at dead of night, you showed how the world would end. You made an everlasting covenant with him and promised never to abandon 16 his descendants.

You gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau; of these you chose Jacob for yourself and rejected Esau; and Jacob grew to be a great nation. There you bent the sky, shook the earth, moved the round world, 19 made the depths shudder, and turned creation upside down. Your glory passed through the four gates of fire and earthquake, wind and frost; and you gave the commandments of the law to the Israelites, the race of Jacob.

For the first man, Adam, was burdened with a wicked heart; 22 he sinned and was overcome, and not only he but all his descendants.

So the weakness became inveterate. You told him to build the city that bears your name and there offer to you in sacrifice what was already your own. And so you gave your own city over to your enemies. My heart sank, because I saw how you tolerate sinners and spare the godless; how you have destroyed your own 31 people, but protected your enemies.

You have given no hint whatever to anyone how to understand your ways. Is Babylon more virtuous than 32 Zion?

Has any nation except Israel ever known you? What tribes have put 33 their trust in your covenants as the tribes of Jacob have? But they have seen no reward, no fruit for their pains. I have travelled up and down among the nations, and have seen how they prosper, heedless though they are of 34 your commandments. So weigh our sins in the balance against the sins of the rest of the world; and it will be clear which way the scale tips.

Has there ever been a time when the inhabitants of the earth did not sin against you? You may find one man here, one there; but nowhere a whole nation.

If you can explain to me any one of them, then I will answer your question about the way of the Most High, and teach you why the heart is wicked. Where are the paths out of the 8 grave, and the roads into paradise?

A man corrupted by the flesh world can never know the way of the spirits. If you had to judge between the two, which would you pronounce right, and which wrong? Why then have you failed to 21 do so with your own question? Just as the land belongs to the trees and the sea to the waves, so men on earth can understand earthly things and nothing else; only those who live above the skies can understand the things above the skies.

My question is not about the distant heavens, but about the things which happen every day before our eyes. Why has Israel been made a byword among the Gentiles; why has the people you loved been put at the mercy of godless nations?

Why has the law of our fathers been 24 brought to nothing, and the written covenants made a dead letter? These are my questions. For this present age is quickly passing away; it is full of sorrow and frailties, too full to enjoy what is promised in due time for the 28 godly.

The evil about which you ask me has been sown, but its reaping has 29 not yet come. Until the crop of evil has been reaped as well as sown, until the ground where it was sown has vanished, there will be no room for the 30 field which has been sown with the good.

A grain of the evil seed was sown in the heart of Adam from the first; how much godlessness has it produced 31 already! How much more will it produce before the harvest! Reckon this 32 up: if one grain of evil seed has produced so great a crop of godlessness, how vast a harvest will there be when good seeds beyond number have been sown!

How long have we to wait? Why are our lives so 34 short and so miserable? You are in a hurry for yourself alone; the Most High 35 for many. For the Lord has weighed the world in a 37 balance, he has measured and numbered the ages; he will move nothing, alter nothing, until the appointed number is achieved.

Can it be that because of us, because of the sins of mankind, the 40 harvest and the reward of the just are delayed? As a woman in travail is impatient to see the end of her labor, so they are impatient to give back all the souls committed to them since time began. What is past I know, but not what is still to be.

After that a dark rain-cloud passed before me; there was a heavy storm, 50 and when it had gone over, there were still some raindrops left. In the same way, the past far exceeds the future in length; what remains is but raindrops and smoke. But the length of your own life I am not commissioned to tell you; of that I know nothing.

The way of truth will be hidden 2 from sight, and the land will be barren of faith. There will be a great increase in wickedness, worse than anything you now see or have ever 3 heard of. The country you now see governing the world will become a 4 trackless desert, laid waste for all to see. After the third period if the Most High grants you a long enough life you will see confusion everywhere. The sun will suddenly begin to shine in the middle of the night, and the 5 moon in the day-time.

Trees will drip blood, stones will speak, nations 6 will be in confusion, and the courses of the stars will be changed. A king unwelcome to the inhabitants of earth will succeed to the throne; even the 7 birds will all fly away. The Dead Sea will cast up fish, and at night a voice 8 will sound, unknown to the many but heard by all.

Chasms will open in many places and spurt out flames incessantly. Wild beasts will range far 9 afield, women will give birth to monsters, fresh springs will run with salt water, and everywhere friends will become enemies.

Then understanding 10 will be hidden, and reason withdraw to her secret chamber. Many will seek her, but not find her; the earth will overflow with vice and wickedness. But turn again to prayer, continue to weep and fast for seven days; and then you shall hear further signs, even greater than these. But the angel who had come and talked to me gave me support and strength, and set me on my feet.

Have you forgotten that 18 Israel in exile has been entrusted to your care? Rouse yourself, take nourishment. Do not abandon us like a shepherd abandoning his flock to 19 savage wolves.

By the end of the seven days my mind was again 22 deeply disturbed, but I recovered the power of thought and spoke once more to the Most High. From all the depths of the sea you have filled one stream for yourself, and of all the cities ever built you have set Zion apart 26 as your own.

From all the birds that were created you have named one dove, and from all the animals that were fashioned you have taken one 27 sheep.

Out of all the countless nations, you have adopted one for your own, and to this chosen people you have given the law which all men have 28 approved.

Why then, Lord, have you put this one people at the mercy of so many? Why have you humiliated this one stock more than all others, and 29 scattered your own people among the hordes of heathen? Those who reject your promises have trampled on the people who trust your covenants. Attend carefully, and I will tell you more. I am only a fool; how then can I answer your questions?

What is to be the fate of those who lived before us, or of ourselves, or of those who come after us? Then you could have held your assize 44 with less delay. If it is going to be possible for all of them to be alive at the same time and for the world to support them all, then it could support all of them together 46 now.

An infant cannot give birth, nor can a woman who is too old; and I have made the same rule for the world I have created. Then did I think my thought; and the whole world was created through me and through me alone.

In the same way, through me and through me alone the end shall come. When will 8 the first age end and the next age begin? Esau represents the end of the first age, and Jacob 10 the beginning of the next age. The beginning of a man is his hand, and the end of a man is his heel. Between the heel and the hand, Ezra, do not look for any interval. They will tremble and shake; for they 17 know that at the end they must be transformed.

Its sound was like the 18 sound of rushing waters. Then I will perform these signs: the books shall be opened in the sight of heaven, and all shall see them at the 21 same moment. Children only one year old shall be able to talk, and pregnant women shall give birth to premature babes of three and four months, 22 who shall live and leap about.

Fields that were sown shall suddenly prove 23 unsown, and barns that were full shall suddenly be found empty. There shall be a loud trumpet-blast and it shall strike terror into all who hear it. Running streams shall stand still; for three hours they shall cease to flow.

Then shall men on earth feel a change of heart and come to 27, 28 a better mind. Wickedness shall be blotted out and deceit destroyed, but fidelity shall flourish, corruption be overcome, and truth, so long unfruitful, be brought to light. For be sure your voice has been heard by the Most High. The Mighty God has seen your integrity 33 and the chastity you have observed all your life. Do not rush too quickly into unprofitable thoughts now in the present age; then you will not act hastily when the last age comes.

On the eighth 37 night I was again disturbed at heart, and spoke to the Most High. At that time the hovering spirit was there, and darkness 40 circled round; there was silence, no sound as yet of human voice. Then you commanded a ray of light to be brought out of your store-chambers, 41 to make your works visible from that time onwards. On the second day you created the angel of the firmament, and commanded him to make a dividing barrier between the waters, one part withdrawing upwards and the other 42 remaining below.

On the third day you ordered the waters to collect in a seventh part of the earth; the other six parts you made into dry land, and 43 from it kept some to be sown and tilled for your service. Your word went 44 forth, and at once the work was done. A vast profusion of fruits appeared instantly, of every kind and taste that can be desired, with flowers of the most subtle colors and mysterious scents.

These were made on the third 45 day. On the fourth day by your command you created the splendor of the 46 sun, the light of the moon, and the stars in their appointed places; and you ordered them to be at the service of man, whose creation was about to take 47 place. And so, at your command, dumb lifeless water brought forth living creatures, and gave the 49 nations cause to tell of your wonders.

Then you set apart two creatures; 50 one you called Behemoth and the other Leviathan. You put them in separate places, for the seventh part where the water was collected was not 51 big enough to hold them both. A part of the land which was made dry on the third day you gave to Behemoth as his territory, a country of a thousand 52 hills.

To Leviathan you gave the seventh part, the water. You have kept 53 them to be food for whom you will and when you will. On the sixth day you ordered the earth to produce for you cattle, wild beasts, and creeping 54 things. To crown your work you created Adam, and gave him sovereignty over everything you had made.

It is from Adam that we, your chosen people, are all descended. And yet, O Lord, those nations which count for nothing are today ruling over 58 us and devouring us; and we, your people, have been put into their power your people, whom you have called your first-born, your only son, your 59 champion, and your best beloved. Was the world really made for us? Why then, may we not take possession of our world?

How much longer shall it be so? If anyone is determined to reach this sea, whether to set eyes on it or to gain command of it, he cannot arrive at its open waters except through the narrow gorge 6 Or again, imagine a city built in a plain, a city full of everything you can 7 desire, but the entrance to it narrow and steep, with fire to the right and 8 deep water to the left. There is only the one path, between the fire and the 9 water; and that is only wide enough for one man at a time.

If some man has been given this city as a legacy, how can he take possession of his inheritance 10 except by passing through these dangerous approaches?

It was for Israel that I made the world, and when Adam transgressed my decrees the creation came under 12 judgment. The entrances to this world were made narrow, painful, and 13 arduous, few and evil, full of perils and grinding hardship. But the entrances 14 to the greater world are broad and safe, and lead to immortality. All men must therefore enter this narrow and futile existence; otherwise they can 15 never attain the blessings in store.

Why then, Ezra, are you so deeply disturbed 16 at the thought that you are mortal and must die? Why have you not turned your mind to the future instead of the present? Better that many now living should be lost, than that the law God has set before them should be despised!

But the ungodly have refused to 23 obey him; they have set up their own empty ideas, and planned deceit and wickedness; they have even denied the existence of the Most High 24 and have not acknowledged his ways. They have rejected his law and refused his promises, have neither put faith in his decrees nor done what 25 he commands.

Therefore, Ezra, emptiness for the empty, fullness for the full! Everyone who has been delivered from the evils 28 I have foretold shall see for himself my marvelous acts. My son the Messiah shall appear with his companions and bring four hundred years 29 of happiness to all who survive. At the end of that time, my son the 30 Messiah shall die, and so shall all mankind who draw breath. Then the world shall return to its original silence for seven days as at the beginning 31 of creation, and no one shall be left alive.

After seven days the age which is not yet awake shall be roused and the age which is flesh shall die. Then the Most High shall be seen on the judgment- seat, and there 34 shall be an end of all pity and patience. Judgment alone shall remain; 35 truth shall stand firm and faithfulness be strong; requitals shall at once begin and open payment be made; good deeds shall awake and wicked 36 deeds shall not be allowed to sleep.

Then the place of torment shall appear and over against it the place of rest; the furnace of hell shall be displayed, and on the opposite side the paradise of delight. Look on this side, then on that: here are rest and delight, there fire and torments. There shall be only the radiant glory of the Most High, by 43 which all men will see everything that lies before them. It shall last as it 44 were for a week of years.

Such is the order that I have appointed for the Judgment. I have given this revelation to you alone. I see now that there are few to whom the world to come will bring happiness, and many to 48 whom it will bring torment.

It has done this, not merely to a few, but to almost all who have been created. It is for this reason that the Most High has created not one 51 world but two. There are, you say, not many who are just, but only a few, 52 whereas the wicked are very numerous; well then, hear the answer. Suppose you had a very few precious stones; would you add to their number 53 by putting common lead and clay among them? There is more silver than gold, more copper than silver, more iron than copper, more lead than 57 iron, more clay than lead.

In the same way, at my promised judgment, I shall have joy in the few who are saved, because it is they who have made my glory prevail, and through them that my name has been made 61 known.

But I shall not grieve for the many who are lost; for they are no more than a vapor, they are like flame or smoke; they catch fire, blaze up and then die out. Is the mind 63 of man, like the rest of creation, a product of the dust? What sorrow for mankind; what happiness for the wild beasts! How much better their lot than ours They have no judgment to expect, no knowledge of torment or salvation after death. What good to us is the promise of a future life if it is going 67 to be one of torment?

For every man alive is burdened and defiled 68 with wickedness, a sinner through and through. Would it not have 69 been better for us if there had been no judgment awaiting us after death? Your own words, when you said that man grows up with the 72 power of thought, will give you the answer.

It was with conscious knowledge that the people of this world sinned, and that is why torment awaits them; they received the commandments but did not keep them, they 73 accepted the law but violated it.

What defense will they be able to make 74 at the judgment, what answer at the last day? How patient the Most High has been with the men of this world, and for how long! For you have a treasure of good works stored up with the Most High, though you will not be shown 78 it until the last days. But now to speak of death: when the Most High has given final sentence for a man to die, the spirit leaves the body to return to the One who gave it, and first of all to adore the glory of the Most High.

And this for seven 81, 82 reasons. First, they have despised the law of the Most High. Secondly, they have lost their last chance of making a good repentance and so gaining 83 life. Two Early ApocalypsesBy J. PopulistThis book contains both 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch with cross referencing. The Introduction was very educational with details of the history, variations, and similarities of these two books.