41
Then said I, No, Lord, that can she not. And he said unto me, In the grave the chambers of souls are like the womb of a woman:
42
For like as a woman that travaileth maketh haste to escape the necessity of the travail: even so do these places haste to deliver those things that are committed unto them.
43
From the beginning, look, what thou desirest to see, it shall be shewed thee.
44
Then answered I and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, and if it be possible, and if I be meet therefore,
45
Shew me then whether there be more to come than is past, or more past than is to come.
46
What is past I know, but what is for to come I know not.
47
And he said unto me, Stand up upon the right side, and I shall expound the similitude unto thee.
48
So I stood, and saw, and, behold, an hot burning oven passed by before me: and it happened that when the flame was gone by I looked, and, behold, the smoke remained still.
49
After this there passed by before me a watery cloud, and sent down much rain with a storm; and when the stormy rain was past, the drops remained still.
50
Then said he unto me, Consider with thyself; as the rain is more than the drops, and as the fire is greater than the smoke; but the drops and the smoke remain behind: so the quantity which is past did more exceed.
51
Then I prayed, and said, May I live, thinkest thou, until that time? or what shall happen in those days?