Biblia the Byble, that is, the holy Scrypture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully translated in to Englyshe.

The XIIII. Chapter.

VPon the thirde daye I satt vnder an [ A] oke tre, then came there a voyce vnto me out of the bush, & sayde: Eszdras, Eszdras. And I sayde: here I am LORDE, and stode vp vpon my fete.* 1.1 Thē spake he vn∣to me: In the bush dyd I appeare vnto Mo¦ses, & talked w^t him, whā my people serued in Egipte, and I sent him, and led my people out of Egipte, & brought him vpō y^e mount Sion, where I helde him by me a longe sea¦son, and tolde him my wonderous workes, and shewed him y^e secretes of the tymes, and the ende, and commaunded him, sayēge: The¦se wordes shalt thou declare, & not hyde thē. And now I saye vnto the, that thou laye vp in thine hert the dreames that thou hast se∣ne, and the interpretacions which I haue shewed the: for thou shalt be receaued of all, thou shal be turned and remayne w^t my coun¦cell, and with soch as be like the, vntyll y^e ty∣mes be ended. For the worlde hath lost his youth, and the tymes begynne to waxe olde. For the tyme is deuyded in to twolue partes, and ten partes of it are gone all ready, and half of the tenth parte: yet remayneth there that, which is after y^e half of y^e tenth parte.

Therfore prepare and ordre thy house, and [ B] refourme thy people: comforte soch of thou as be in trouble: and tell now of the destruc∣cion: let go from the mortall thoughtes: cast awaye the burthens of man: put of the wea∣ke nature: laye vp in some place y^e thoughtes that are most heuy vnto the, and haist the to flyt from these tymes: for soch euell & wicked¦nesse as thou hast now sene happē, shal they do yet moch worse. For the weaker that the worlde and the tyme is,* 1.2 the more shal 〈…〉〈…〉 wickednesse increase, in them that dwell vpō earth. For the trueth is fled farre awaye, & le∣synge is hard at hande. For now ha••••teth the vision to come, that thou hast sene.

Then answered I and sayde: Beholde LOR¦DE, I wyl go as thou hast commaunded me, and refourme the people which are present. But they y^t shal be borne afterwarde, who wyl exhorte or rebuke thē? Thus the worlde is set in darcknes, and they y^t dwel therin, are [ C] without light: for thy lawe is kyndled, bec••u¦se no man knoweth the thinges that are do∣ne of the, or that shalbe done. Yf I haue foū∣de grace before the, sende the holy goost in to me, and I shall wryte all that hath be∣ne done in the worlde sene the begynnynge,

which was wrytten in thy lawe, that men maye fynde the path, and that they which wyl lyue in the latter dayes, maye lyue.

And he answered me, sayēge: Go y^t waye, gather thy people together, & saye vnto thē, that they seke the not for xl. dayes, but loke thou gather the many boxe trees, and take with the Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Echanus and Asial, these fyue, which are ready to wry¦te swiftly, and come hither, and I shal light a cādle of vnderstōdinge in thine hert, which shal not be put out, tyll the thinges be per∣fourmed which thou shalt begynne to wry∣te. And then shalt thou declare some thinges openly vnto the perfecte, and some thinges shalt thou shew secretly vnto y^e wyse. Tomo¦row this houre shalt thou begynne to wryte.

[ D] Then wēte I forth (as he commaūded me) and gathered all y^e people together, and say∣de: Heare these wordes o Israel: Oure fathers from the begynnynge were straunges in E∣gipte, from whēce they were delyuered, and receaued the lawe of life,* 1.3 which they kepte not, which ye also haue trāsgressed after thē. Then was this londe and the londe of Sion parted amōge you by the lot to possesse. But yo^r fathers and ye yo^r selues also haue done vnrighteousnes, & haue not kepte the wayes which the Hyest cōmaunded you. And for so moch as he is a righteous iudge, he toke from you in tyme the thinge that had geuen you. And now are ye here and yo^r brethren amōge you. Therfore yf so be that ye wil subdue yo^r owne vnderstandinge, and refourme youre hert, ye shal be kepte aliue, & after death shal ye opteyne mercy. For after death shall the iudgment come, whan we shal lyue agayne: and then shal the names of the righteous be manifest, and y^e names of the vngodly with their workes shalbe declared. Let no mā ther¦fore come now vnto me, ner axe eny question at me these xl. dayes.

[ E] So I toke the fyue men (as he commaun∣ded me) and we wente in to the felde, and re∣mayned there. The next daye a voyce called me sayēge: Eszdras, Open thy mouth, & dryn∣ke that I geue the.* 1.4 Thē opened I my mouth, & beholde, he reached me a full cuppe, which was full of water, but the colo^r of it was li∣ke fyre. And I toke it and dranke. And whā I had dronken it, my hert had vnderstondin¦ge, and wyszdome grew in my brest: for my sprete was kepte in remembraunce, and my mouth was opened and shut nomore. The Hyest gaue vnderstondinge vnto the fyue men, y^t they wrote y^e hye thīges of the night, which they vnderstode not. But in the night they ate bred: as for me, I spake in the daye, and helde not my tonge by night. In xl. day∣es, they wrote two hundreth & foure bokes.

And it happened whā the xl. dayes were fulfilled, that the Hyest spake, sayenge: The first that thou hast wryttē, speake openly, y^t the worthy and vnworthy maye rede it. But kepe y^e lxx. last, y^t thou mayest shew it onely to soch as be wyse amonge thy people. For in them is the sprynge of vnderstōdinge, the fountayne of wyszdome, and the streame of knowlege. And I dyd so.

Notes

• * 1.1

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• * 1.2

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• * 1.3

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• * 1.4

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