And it came to pass upon the third day, I sat under an oak, and, behold, there came a voice out of a bush over against me, and said, Esdras, Esdras. And I said, Here am I, Lord. And I stood up upon my feet. Then said he unto me, In the bush I did manifestly reveal myself unto Moses, and talked with him, when my people served in Egypt: And I sent him and led my people out of Egypt, and brought him up to the mount of where I held him by me a long season, And told him many wondrous things, and showed him the secrets of the times, and the end; and commanded him, saying, These words you shall declare, and these you shall hide. And now I say unto you, That you lay up in your heart the signs that I have showed, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard: For you shall be taken away from all, and from henceforth you shall remain with my Son, and with such as be like you, until the times be ended. For the world has lost his youth, and the times begin to wax old. For the world is divided into twelve parts, and the ten parts of it are gone already, and half of a tenth part: And there remains that which is after the half of the tenth part. Now therefore set your house in order, and reprove your people, comfort such of them as be in trouble, and now renounce corruption, Let go from you mortal thoughts, cast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature, And set aside the thoughts that are most heavy unto you, and haste you to flee from these times. For yet greater evils than those which you have seen happen shall be done hereafter. For look how much the world shall be weaker through age, so much the more shall evils increase upon them that dwell therein. For the time is fled far away, and leasing is hard at hand: for now hastens the vision to come, which you have seen. Then answered I before you, and said, Behold, Lord, I will go, as you have commanded me, and reprove the people which are present: but they that shall be born afterward, who shall admonish them? thus the world is set in darkness, and they that dwell therein are without light. For your law is burnt, therefore no man knows the things that are done of you, or the work that shall begin. But if I have found grace before you, send the Ruach Hakodesh into me, and I shall write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, which were written in your law, that men may find your path, and that they which will live in the latter days may live. And he answered me, saying, Go your way, gather the people together, and say unto them, that they seek you not for forty days. But look you prepare you many box trees, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ecanus, and Asiel, these five which are ready to write swiftly;
