40
He answered me and said, "Go and ask a woman who is with child if, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the child within her any longer."
41
And I said, "No, lord, it cannot." And he said to me, "In Hades the chambers of the souls are like the womb.
42
For just as a woman who is in travail makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these places hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning.
43
Then the things that you desire to see will be disclosed to you."
44
I answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, and if it is possible, and if I am worthy,
45
show me this also: whether more time is to come than has passed, or whether for us the greater part has gone by.
46
For I know what has gone by, but I do not know what is to come."
47
And he said to me, "Stand at my right side, and I will show you the interpretation of a parable."
48
So I stood and looked, and behold, a flaming furnace passed by before me, and when the flame had gone by I looked, and behold, the smoke remained.
49
And after this a cloud full of water passed before me and poured down a heavy and violent rain, and when the rainstorm had passed, drops remained in the cloud.
50
And he said to me, "Consider it for yourself; for as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the quantity that passed was far greater; but drops and smoke remained."