2 Esdras 14:43-48

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.

46 But the last seventy books that you wrote are to be held back and to be given only to those who are wise among your people,

47 because these books contain a flood of understanding, a fountain of wisdom, and a river of knowledge."

48 Then I did as I was told.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some ancient translations] ninety-four; [Latin unclear.]
• [b]. [Some ancient translations] twenty-four; [Latin does not have this word.]
• [c]. twenty-four books: [The Hebrew Bible contains twenty-four books, corresponding to the thirty-nine books of the Christian Old Testament.]