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a day that has no sun or moon or stars, and Elijah for those who received the rain, and for the one who was dead, that he might live,
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or cloud or thunder or lightning or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning, and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many others prayed for many?
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or summer or spring or heat or winter or frost or cold or hail or rain or dew, If therefore the righteous have prayed for the ungodly now, when corruption has increased and unrighteousness has multiplied, why will it not be so then as well?"
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or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendor of the glory of the Most High, by which all shall see what has been determined for them. He answered me and said, "This present world is not the end; the full glory does not abide in it; therefore those who were strong prayed for the weak.
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For it will last for about a week of years. But the day of judgment will be the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come, in which corruption has passed away,
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This is my judgment and its prescribed order; and to you alone have I shown these things." sinful indulgence has come to an end, unbelief has been cut off, and righteousness has increased and truth has appeared.
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I answered and said, "O sovereign Lord, I said then and I say now: Blessed are those who are alive and keep thy commandments! Therefore no one will then be able to have mercy on him who has been condemned in the judgment, or to harm him who is victorious."
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But what of those for whom I prayed? For who among the living is there that has not sinned, or who among men that has not transgressed thy covenant? I answered and said, "This is my first and last word, that it would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam, or else, when it had produced him, had restrained him from sinning.
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And now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few, but torments to many. For what good is it to all that they live in sorrow now and expect punishment after death?
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For an evil heart has grown up in us, which has alienated us from God, and has brought us into corruption and the ways of death, and has shown us the paths of perdition and removed us far from life -- and that not just a few of us but almost all who have been created!" O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants.
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He answered me and said, "Listen to me, Ezra, and I will instruct you, and will admonish you yet again. For what good is it to us, if an eternal age has been promised to us, but we have done deeds that bring death?