1 And it came to be on the third day, I sat under a terebinth, and see, a voice came out of a bush opposite me, and said, “Ezra, Ezra.”
2 And I said, “Here I am, Aḏonai.” And I stood up on my feet.
3 Then He said to me, “I clearly revealed Myself to Mosheh in the bush, and talked with him, when My people were slaves in Mitsrayim;
4 and I sent him and led My people out of Mitsrayim, and brought him up to the Mount of where I held him with Me many days,
5 and told him great wonders, and showed him the secrets of the times, and the end; and commanded him, saying,
6 ‘These words you shall declare, and these you shall hide.’
7 “And now I say to you:
8 “Lay up in your heart the signs that I have shown, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard;
9 for you shall be taken away from all, and from now on you shall remain with My Bĕn, and with those who are like you, until the times are ended.
10 “For the world has lost its youth, and the times begin to grow old.
11 “For the world is divided into twelve parts, and the ten parts of it have gone already, and half of a tenth part;
12 and there remains that which is after the half of the tenth part.
13 “Now therefore put your house in order, and reprove your people; comfort those who are in distress, and now renounce that which is corrupt.
14 “Let go of your mortal thoughts, throw away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature,
15 and lay aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and hasten to flee from these times.
16 “For even greater evils than those which you have seen shall come to be after this.
17 “For see how much the world weakens through age; therefore evil increases much more upon those who dwell in it.
18 “For truth has fled far away, and falsehood is close at hand; for the vision which you seen now hastens to come.”
19 Then I answered, and said,
20 “See, Aḏonai, I shall go as You have commanded me, and reprove the people who are present; but those who are born after, who shall admonish them? Thus the world lays in darkness, and those who dwell in it are without light.
21 “For Your Law has been burned, therefore no one knows that which is done by You, or the work that shall begin.
22 “But if I have found favour before You, send the Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh into me, and I shall write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, which was written in Your Law, that men may find Your Way, and that those who live in the latter days may live.”
23 And He answered me, saying, “Go your way, gather the people together, and say to them, not to seek you for forty days.
24 “But see, prepare for yourself many writing tablets, and take with you Serayah, Daḇriyah, Shelemyah, Ĕthan, and Asi’ĕl, these five who are able to write swiftly;
25 and come here, and I shall light a lamp of understanding in your heart, which shall not be put out, till that which you shall begin to write is complete.
26 “And when you are done, you shall publish some, and some you shall show secretly to the wise; tomorrow at this hour you shall begin to write.”
27 Then I went out as He commanded, and gathered all the people together, and said,
28 “Hear these words, O Yisra’ĕl.
29 “At the beginning our fathers were sojourners in Mitsrayim, from where they were delivered;
30 and received the Law of ḥai, which they did not guard, which you have also transgressed after them.
31 “Then the land, even the land of Tsiyon, was divided among you by lot; but your fathers, and you have done unrighteousness, and have not guarded the Ways which the Most High Commanded you.
32 “And because He is a righteous Judge, in due time, He took from you that which He had given you,
33 and now you are here, and your brothers are among you.
34 “Therefore if you humble your own understanding, and transform your hearts, you shall be kept alive and after death you shall obtain kindness.
35 “For after death the judgment shall come, when we shall live again; and then the names of the righteous shall be revealed, and the works of the wicked shall be declared.
36 “Therefore let no man come to me now, nor seek me for forty days.”
37 So I took the five men, as He commanded me, and we went to the field, and remained there.
38 And the next day, see, a voice called to me saying, “Ezra, open your mouth and drink what I give you to drink.”
39 Then I opened my mouth, and see, he brought me a cup, which was full of water, but the colour of it was like fire.
40 And I took it, and drank; and when I had drunk from it, my heart spoke with understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for the remembrance in my spirit was strengthened;
41 and my mouth was opened, and no longer closed.
42 And the Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote the extraordinary night visions that were related, which they did not know; and they sat forty days, and wrote in the day, and ate their bread at night.
43 As for me; I spoke during the day, and did not keep silent by night.
44 In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books.
45 And it came to be, when the forty days were complete, that the Most High spoke, saying, “The first that you have written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it;
46 but guard the seventy last, that you may deliver them only to those who are wise among the people;
47 for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge.”
48 And I did so.