The. holie. Bible. conteynyng the olde Testament and the newe.

The .xiiij. Chapter.

3 Howe God appeared to Moyses in the bushe. 10 All thynges decline to age. 16 The latter age worse then the former. 29 The ingratitude of Israel. 35 The resurrec∣tion and iudgement.

[unspec A] 1 VPon the thirde day I sate vnder an oke tree, then came there a voyce vnto me out of the bushe, and sayde: Esdras, Esdras.

2 And I sayde, Here am I Lorde: and stoode vp vpon my feete.

3 Then saide he vnto me: * 1.1 In the bushe did I appeare vnto Moyses, and talked with hym when my people serued in Egypt,

4 And I sent hym, and led my people out of Egypt, and brought hym vp to the mount Sina, where I helde hym by me a long season:

5 And tolde hym many wonderous workes, and shewed hym the secretes of the tymes and the ende, and com∣maunded hym, saying:

6 These wordes shalt thou declare, and these shalt thou hyde.

7 And nowe I say vnto thee,

8 That thou lay vp in thine heart the signes that I haue shewed, and the dreames that thou hast seene, and the interpretations which thou hast heard.

9 For thou shalt be taken away from among all, and hencefoorth thou shalt remayne with my counsayle and with such as be like thee, vntyll the tymes be ended.

[unspec B] 10 For the worlde hath lost his youth, and the tymes begynne to waxe olde.

11 For the worlde is deuided into twelue partes, and tenne partes of it are gone alredy, and halfe of a tenth part:

12 And there remayneth there that which is after the halfe of “ 1.2 the tenth part.

13 Therfore set thine house in order, and refourme thy people, comfort such of them as be in trouble, and nowe re∣nounce corruption,

14 Let go from thee mortall thoughtes, cast away the burthens of men, put of the weake nature.

15 And set aside the thoughtes that are most heauy vnto thee, and haste thee to flee from these tymes:

16 For as for such euyll [and wickednesse] as thou hast nowe seene happen, they shall do yet much worse.

17 * 1.3For the weaker that the worlde is by reason of age, the more shall euils in∣crease vpon them that dwell therin.

18 For the trueth is fled farre away, and leasyng is hearde at hande: For nowe hasteth the vision to come that thou hast seene.

19 Then aunswered I before thee, and sayde:

20 Beholde Lorde, I wyll go as thou [unspec C] hast commaunded me, and refourme the people which are present: but they that shalbe borne afterwarde, who will admonishe them? Thus the worlde is set in darknesse, and they that dwell therin are without lyght.

21 For thy lawe is burnt, therfore no man knoweth the thynges that are done of thee, or the workes that shalbe done.

22 But yf I haue founde grace before thee, sende the holy ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath ben done in the worlde since the begynnyng, which was written in thy lawe, that men may finde the path, and that they which will lyue in the latter dayes, may lyue.

23 And he aunswered me, saying: Go thy way, gather the people together, and say vnto them that they seke thee not for fourtie dayes.

24 But loke thou gather thee many bore trees, and take with thee Sarca, Da¦bria, Selemia, Ecanus, and Asiel, these fyue, which are redy to write swiftly:

25 And come hyther, and I shall lyght a candel of vnderstandyng in thine heart, which shall not be put out till y^e thinges be perfourmed which thou shalt begyn to write.

26 And then shalt thou declare some thynges openly vnto the perfect, and some thynges shalt thou shewe secretly vnto the wise: To morowe this houre

shalt thou begyn to write.

27 Then went I foorth as he com¦maunded me, and gathered all the peo∣ple together, and sayde,

[unspec D] 28 Heare these wordes O Israel:

29 Our fathers at the begynnyng were staungers in Egypt, from whence they were deliuered,

30 And receaued the lawe of lyfe, * 1.4which they kept not, which ye also haue trans∣gressed after them.

31 Then was the lande, euen the lande of Sion parted among you by lot [to possesse]: But your fathers, and ye your selues also haue done vnrighteousnesse, and haue not kept the wayes which the hyest commaunded you:

32 And for so much as he is a righteous iudge, he toke from you in tyme the thyng that he had geuen you.

33 And nowe are ye here, and your bre∣thren among you.

34 Therfore, yf so be that ye wyll subdue your owne vnderstandyng, & refourme your heart, ye shalbe kept alyue, and after death shall ye obteyne mercie.

[unspec E] 25 For after death shall the iudgement come when we shall liue agayne: & then shall the names of the righteous be ma∣nifest, and the workes of the vngodly shalbe declared.

26 Let no man therfore come nowe vnto me, nor seke after me these fourtie dayes.

37 So I toke the fyue men as he com∣maunded me, and we went into the fielde, and remayned there.

38 The next day a voyce called me, saying Esdras, * 1.5 open thy mouth, and drynke that I geue thee to drynke.

39 Then opened I my mouth, and be∣holde he reached me a full cuppe, which was full as it were with water, but the colour of it was lyke fire.

40 And I toke it and dranke: And when [unspec F] I had drunken it, my heart had vnder∣dandyng, and wisdome grewe in my brest: for my spirite was strenthened in remembraunce,

41 And my mouth was opened, and shut no more.

42 The hyest gaue vnderstandyng vnto the fyue men, that they wrote the hye thynges of the nyght which they vn∣derstoode not.

43 But in the nyght they dyd eate bread: as for me I spake in the day, and helde not my tongue by nyght.

44 In fourtie dayes, they wrote two hundred and foure bookes.

45 And it came to passe when the fourtie dayes were fulfylled, that the hyest spake, saying: The first that thou hast written, publishe openly, that the wor∣thy and vnworthy may reade it:

46 But kepe the seuentie last, that thou mayest deliuer them only to such as be wise among thy people.

47 For in them is the spring of vnder∣standyng, the fountayne of wisdome, and the streame of knowledge.

48 And I dyd so.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Exod iii. a.
• “ 1.2

  Or, that.
• * 1.3

  Mat. 24▪ a. i. Ioh. ii. c.
• * 1.4

  〈1 paragraph〉〈1 paragraph〉
• * 1.5

  〈…〉〈…〉. Apo•• x b.