2 Esdras 14:12-22

12 as well as half of the tenth part; so two of its parts remain, besides half of the tenth part.
13 Now therefore, set your house in order, and reprove your people; comfort the lowly among them, and instruct those that are wise. And now renounce the life that is corruptible,
14 and put away from you mortal thoughts; cast away from you the burdens of humankind, and divest yourself now of your weak nature;
15 lay to one side the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and hurry to escape from these times.
16 For evils worse than those that you have now seen happen shall take place hereafter.
17 For the weaker the world becomes through old age, the more shall evils be increased upon its inhabitants.
18 Truth shall go farther away, and falsehood shall come near. For the eagle that you saw in the vision is already hurrying to come."
19 Then I answered and said, "Let me speak in your presence, Lord.
20 For I will go, as you have commanded me, and I will reprove the people who are now living; but who will warn those who will be born hereafter? For the world lies in darkness, and its inhabitants are without light.
21 For your law has been burned, and so no one knows the things which have been done or will be done by you.
22 If then I have found favor with you, send the holy spirit into me, and I will write everything that has happened in the world from the beginning, the things that were written in your law, so that people may be able to find the path, and that those who want to live in the last days may do so."

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Syr lacks verses 11, 12: Ethiop [For the world is divided into ten parts, and has come to the tenth, and half of the tenth remains. Now . . .]
  • [b]. Lat lacks [and . . . wise]
  • [c]. Syr Ethiop Arab Arm: Meaning of Lat uncertain
  • [d]. Most Lat Mss lack [Let me speak]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.