Ezra Sutuel

And I answered and said: O Lord my Lord, I said even then and say now again, that blessed are all they who have come and have kept the commandments which have been set forth by you.

But concerning those about whom my petition was made—who is there, then, of those who have come, who has not sinned? Or who is there of those born who has not transgressed your commandment?

And now I see that for few shall that coming world effect delight, but for many torment.

For there is in us the evil heart which has caused us to err from these, and led us into corruption, and has shown us the ways of death, and made known to us the paths of perdition, and removed us far from life; and this not of a few, but of all who have been.

And he answered and said to me: Hear me, and I will speak to you, and once again instruct you.

For this cause the Most High has made not one world but two.

You, however, because you have said there are not many righteous but few, hear the answer to this:

If you have precious stones and few, will you set with them lead and clay?

And I said: How, O Lord, is that possible? And he answered and said to me: Not only so, but ask the earth, and she shall tell you; speak to her, and she shall recount to you.

Say to her: Gold have you brought forth, and silver, and copper, and iron, and lead, and clay;

But the silver is more abundant than gold, and copper than silver, and iron than copper, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.

Do you, then, reckon up and see, what things are precious and to be desired, the many or the few?

And I answered and said: O Lord my Lord: Things abundant are what are worthless, and things few are precious.

And he answered and said to me: Do you, then, reckon up in your own mind what you have thought! Because everyone who has a little that is rare rejoices over it more than that one who has what is abundant.

So also is the promise of my judgment; for I rejoice and delight over the few who live, because they it is who now strengthen my glory, and for whose sake my name is now extolled.

And I am not pained over the multitude of those who are perishing; for these are they who now are made like a breath, and as the smoke are they counted, and are comparable unto the flame; who are burnt and extinguished.

And I answered and said: Oh, what have you done, O earth, that these have been born from you and are going to perdition! If now the intelligence is from the dust like the rest of creation,

it would have been better if also the dust had not been, in order that the intelligence might not come into being from there.

Now, however, the intelligence grows with us; and on this account we are tormented, because while we know it we are perishing.

Let the race of men mourn, but the beasts of the field rejoice! Let all who are born lament, but the cattle and the flock exult!

For it is far better for them than for us, because they do not expect the judgment, neither do they know torture, nor has life after death been promised to them.

For what do we profit that we live, but are to suffer torment? For all who are born are defiled with sins, and are full of iniquities, and upon them their offenses weigh heavily!

And if after death we were not coming into judgment, it had been much better for us!

And he answered and said to me: When the Most High made the world, and Adam and all that came from him, he first prepared the judgment, and the things which pertain to the judgment.

And now from your own words understand that you have said that the intelligence grows with us.

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are on this account to suffer torment, because while they have intelligence they have committed iniquity, and have received commandments but have not kept them, yes, the law which was bestowed upon them they have rejected.

And what is there for them to say in the judgment? Or how shall they open their mouth and speak in the last time?

For, how long a time has the Most High been long-suffering with the inhabitants of the world—and not indeed for their sakes but for the sake of the times ordained?

And I answered and said: If I have found favor before you, O Lord my Lord, make known to your servant this also, whether after death now, when we give up, each one of us, our soul—whether we are to be kept in rest until those times come in which you shall renew your creation, or are we to suffer torment forthwith?

And he answered and said to me: I will make known to you concerning this also; but do not you mingle yourself with the rebellious, nor number yourself with those that suffer torment.

For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High, and it shall not be shown to you until the last times.

But concerning death the teaching is: When the decisive decree of judgment goes forth from the Most High concerning a man that he shall die, as the spirit separates from the body, that it may be sent to him who gave it, it first of all worships the glory of God.

But if it be of the deniers, or of those who have not kept the ways of the Most High, or of those who have hated the God-bearers, these souls enter not into the chambers, but henceforth are in torment, sighing and anguished, in seven ways.

The first way: that they have resisted the law of the Most High.

The second way: that they are unable to repent and do good works whereby to live.

The third way: that they see the reward laid up for those who have believed.

The fourth way: when they know and understand the torment that is prepared for them at the last.

The fifth way: that they see the chambers of the other souls, that are guarded by angels in great quietness.

The sixth way: that they see the torment which is made ready for them henceforth.

The seventh way, which exceeds all the ways aforesaid: that they pine away through confusion, and come to an end through shame, and burn through fear, in that they see the glory of the Most High before whom they now sin in their life, and before whom they are destined at the last to be judged.

Of those, however, who have kept the way of the Most High, this is the way, when the day comes that they shall be delivered from this corruptible vessel.

For in the time when they dwelt therein they served the Most High painfully, and at all hours endured danger, in order perfectly to keep the law of the lawgiver.

Therefore this is the word concerning them.

First they behold with great joy the glory of the Most High, who has guided them, and they rest by seven ways.

The first way: because with much toil they have striven to overcome the evil thought which was fashioned with them, that they might not go astray from life to death.

The second way: that they see the whirl whereby the souls of the ungodly are whirled and driven about, and the torment reserved for them.

The third way: that they see the witness which their fashioner witnesses concerning them; because they kept the law entrusted to them.

The fourth way: that they see and understand the rest in which they now, as soon as they have been gathered into their chambers, rest in profound rest, and are guarded by angels; and the glory which is reserved for them at the last.

The fifth way: that they rejoice that they have fled now from what is corruptible, and that they inherit what is future; and further they see the straitness and much toil from which they have been freed, and the wide room which they are destined to receive, and the delights they shall gain, and be immortal.

The sixth way: when it shall be shown to them how their faces are destined to shine as the sun, and how they are destined to be made like the light of the stars, and no more corruptible.

The seventh way, which exceeds all these aforesaid: that they exult with boldness, and are confident and not ashamed, and hasten to behold the face of him whom they served in their life and from whom they are destined to be glorified, and from whom they are destined to receive reward.

These are the ways of the souls of the righteous which from henceforth are announced; and the way of tortures aforesaid shall the resisters receive.

And I answered and said: Is then place or time given to the souls, after they separate from the body, to see what you have told me?

And he answered and said to me: Seven days have they freedom that in these seven days they may see these things aforesaid; and after this they shall be gathered into their chambers.

And I answered and said: If I have found favor in your sight, make known to your servant this also: whether in the Day of Judgment the righteous can intercede for the ungodly, or entreat the Most High for them—

either fathers in behalf of their sons, or sons in behalf of their fathers, or brothers in behalf of their brothers, or kinsfolk in behalf of their kinsfolk, or friends in behalf of their friends?

And he answered and said to me: Because you have found favor before my sight, I will make known to you concerning this also. The Day of Judgment is a decisive day, and one declaring to all the seal of truth. For as now a father sends not a son, or a son his father, or a master his slave, or a friend his dearest that in his stead he may be ill, or sleep, or eat or be healed;

so also then can none pray on behalf of any on that day, neither shall one lay a burden on any, for all then bear everyone his own righteousness or his iniquity.

And I answered and said: How is it, then, my Lord, that we have found that formerly Abraham prayed for the Sodomites, and Moses for our fathers who sinned in the desert?

And Jesus after him for Israel, in the days of Achan? And Samuel and David for the destruction? And Solomon for those who should come to the sanctuary? And Elijah for those who received the rain? And for one who was dead, that he might live? And Hezekiah for the people, in the days of Sennacherib? And many for many?

And he answered and said to me: This is the meaning: For the ungodly there is no entreaty on the day of judgment, but for the righteous there is.

For those who are like the ungodly have nothing to say; but those who are like the righteous have to speak for others, as they themselves have, on their behalf.

And I answered and said: This is my first and last word; that it would have been better for the earth not to have produced Adam, or else, when she did produce him, that you had instructed him not to sin.

For how does it profit all who have come to live here in affliction, and when they are dead to await torment?

Oh, what have you done, Adam! For though it was you that did sin, yet the evil was not yours alone, but ours also who are from you!

For what advantage is it that lo, there is promised to us an immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?

And that there has been made known to us an imperishable hope, whereas we miserably are brought to futility?

And that there are chambers of safety and health kept, whereas we have behaved wickedly?

And that the glory of the Most High is destined to protect them who have lived chastely, whereas we proceed in wicked ways?

And that Paradise, whose fruit withers not, wherein is delight and healing, is manifested, whereas we do not enter in, because we have served evil places?

And that the faces of the holy ones are destined to shine above the stars, while our faces shall be blacker than darkness?

For we did not consider in our life, while we were committing iniquity, that we were destined to suffer after our death.

And he answered and said to me: This is the meaning of the struggle which man who is born wages upon the earth:

that if he be vanquished he shall suffer what you have said; but if he be victorious he shall receive what I have said.

Because this is the way of which Moses, while he was alive, spoke to the people, and said to them: Behold, I have set before you today, life and death, good and evil; choose you, then, life that you may live.

And they resisted and believed him not, nor the prophets after him, and even me who have spoken with them.

Therefore shall there be no grief over their perdition, as there is joy over the life of those who have believed.

And I answered and said to him: I know, Lord, that now the Most High is called the compassionate, because he compassionates those who have not yet come into the world;

and gracious, because he is gracious to those who turn to his law;

and long-suffering, because he is long-suffering with those who sin, because we are his works;

and giver, because he is willing to give rather than exact;

and of great mercy, because he greatly multiplies mercies upon them who are now in existence, and upon those who have passed away, and upon those who are to come—

for if he did not multiply his mercies, the world with its inhabitants could not live;

and the Giver, because unless in his goodness he gave, so that evildoers were eased of their iniquities, not even one of ten thousand men could live;

and Judge, because if he did not pardon those who were created by his word and blot out the multitude of their iniquities, there would perhaps be left of all the human race only a very few.