2 Esdras 14:35-45

35 for Judgment Day comes after death. We will be brought back to life, and the righteous people will be made known, while what the godless have done will be exposed.
36 But now for forty days, no one is to come near me or try to find me."
37 As I had been commanded, I took the five men, and we went to the field and stayed there.
38 On the next day I suddenly heard a voice saying, "Ezra, open your mouth and drink what I am giving you."
39 So I opened my mouth, and I was handed a cup full of a fiery-colored liquid,
40 which I took and drank. When I had drunk it, my mind overflowed with understanding, and wisdom increased within me as my memory became perfect.
41 I began to speak and went on talking without stopping.
42 God Most High also gave wisdom to the five men with me, and they took turns writing down what I said. They used an alphabet that they had not known before, and worked for forty days, writing in the daytime and eating at night.
43 I spoke all day long, and I was not silent even at night.
44 During the forty days, ninety-four books were written.
45 At the end of the forty days, God Most High said to me, "You are now to make public the first twenty-four books that you wrote, so that everyone, whether they are worthy or not, may read them.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. [Some ancient translations] an alphabet; [Latin unclear.]
  • [b]. [Some ancient translations] ninety-four; [Latin unclear.]
  • [c]. [Some ancient translations] twenty-four; [Latin does not have this word.]
  • [d]. twenty-four books: [The Hebrew Bible contains twenty-four books, corresponding to the thirty-nine books of the Christian Old Testament.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.