Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible Part 11

2 Esdr 3:7 And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.

2 Esdr 3:8 And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.

2 Esdr 3:9 And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.

2 Esdr 3:10 And it came to pa.s.s in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.

2 Esdr 3:11 Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men.

2 Esdr 3:12 And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more unG.o.dly than the first.

2 Esdr 3:13 Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

2 Esdr 3:14 Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:

2 Esdr 3:15 And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.

2 Esdr 3:16 And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great mult.i.tude.

2 Esdr 3:17 And it came to pa.s.s, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

2 Esdr 3:18 And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age.

2 Esdr 3:19 And thy glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob, and diligence unto the generation of Israel.

2 Esdr 3:20 And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.

2 Esdr 3:21 For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.

2 Esdr 3:22 Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still.

2 Esdr 3:23 So the times pa.s.sed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:

2 Esdr 3:24 Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.

2 Esdr 3:25 When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee,

2 Esdr 3:26 And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:

2 Esdr 3:27 And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.

2 Esdr 3:28 Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

2 Esdr 3:29 For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

2 Esdr 3:30 For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it.

2 Esdr 3:31 I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

2 Esdr 3:32 Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel?

or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?

2 Esdr 3:33 And yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon thy commandments.

2 Esdr 3:34 Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and their's also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel.

2 Esdr 3:35 Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments?

2 Esdr 3:36 Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.

2 Esdr 4:1 And the angel that was sent unto me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an answer,

2 Esdr 4:2 And said, Thy heart hath gone to far in this world, and thinkest thou to comprehend the way of the most High?

2 Esdr 4:3 Then said I, Yea, my lord. And he answered me, and said, I am sent to shew thee three ways, and to set forth three similitudes before thee:

2 Esdr 4:4 Whereof if thou canst declare me one, I will shew thee also the way that thou desirest to see, and I shall shew thee from whence the wicked heart cometh.

2 Esdr 4:5 And I said, Tell on, my lord. Then said he unto me, Go thy way, weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past.

2 Esdr 4:6 Then answered I and said, What man is able to do that, that thou shouldest ask such things of me?

2 Esdr 4:7 And he said unto me, If I should ask thee how great dwellings are in the midst of the sea, or how many springs are in the beginning of the deep, or how many springs are above the firmament, or which are the outgoings of paradise:

2 Esdr 4:8 Peradventure thou wouldest say unto me, I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into h.e.l.l, neither did I ever climb up into heaven.

2 Esdr 4:9 Nevertheless now have I asked thee but only of the fire and wind, and of the day wherethrough thou hast pa.s.sed, and of things from which thou canst not be separated, and yet canst thou give me no answer of them.

2 Esdr 4:10 He said moreover unto me, Thine own things, and such as are grown up with thee, canst thou not know;

2 Esdr 4:11 How should thy vessel then be able to comprehend the way of the Highest, and, the world being now outwardly corrupted to understand the corruption that is evident in my sight?

2 Esdr 4:12 Then said I unto him, It were better that we were not at all, than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer, and not to know wherefore.

2 Esdr 4:13 He answered me, and said, I went into a forest into a plain, and the trees took counsel,

2 Esdr 4:14 And said, Come, let us go and make war against the sea that it may depart away before us, and that we may make us more woods.

2 Esdr 4:15 The floods of the sea also in like manner took counsel, and said, Come, let us go up and subdue the woods of the plain, that there also we may make us another country.

2 Esdr 4:16 The thought of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it.

2 Esdr 4:17 The thought of the floods of the sea came likewise to nought, for the sand stood up and stopped them.

2 Esdr 4:18 If thou wert judge now betwixt these two, whom wouldest thou begin to justify? or whom wouldest thou condemn?

2 Esdr 4:19 I answered and said, Verily it is a foolish thought that they both have devised, for the ground is given unto the wood, and the sea also hath his place to bear his floods.

2 Esdr 4:20 Then answered he me, and said, Thou hast given a right judgment, but why judgest thou not thyself also?