2 Esdras 5 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021(NRSVUE)

2 Esdras 5Signs of the End

1 and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith.

2Unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see and beyond what you heard of formerly.

3And the land that you now see ruling shall be a trackless waste, and people shall see it desolate.

4

and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night

and the moon during the day.

5

6“And one shall reign whom those who inhabit the earth do not expect, and the birds shall fly away together,

7and the sea of Sodom shall cast up fish, and one whom the many do not know shall make his voice heard by night, and all shall hear his voice.

8There shall be chaos also in many places, fire shall often break out, the wild animals shall roam beyond their haunts, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters.

9 and from all the flowers of the world you have chosen for yourself one lily,

25 the one root beyond the others and scattered your only one among the many?

29And those who opposed your promises have trampled on those who believed your covenants.

30 just as for those who are last there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.”

43 will certainly give life at one time to your creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.”

46He said to me, “Ask a woman’s womb, and say to it, ‘If you bear ten children, why one after another?’ Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.”

47I said, “Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time.”

48 2 Esd 10.10–14 He said to me, “Even so I have given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it.

49Gen 18.12, 13; Lk 1.18For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so I have made the same rule for the world that I created.”

When and How Will the End Come?

50 v 48 Then I inquired and said, “Since you have now given me the opportunity, let me speak before you. Is our mother, of whom you have told me, still young, or is she now approaching old age?”

51He replied to me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you.

52Gen 6.4; Num 13.33; 1 Sam 17.4; 2 Sam 21.16–22Say to her, ‘Why are those whom you have borne recently not like those whom you bore before, but smaller in stature?’

53And she herself will answer you, ‘Those born in the strength of youth are different from those born during the time of old age, when the womb is failing.’

54Gen 6.4; Num 13.33Therefore you also should consider that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those who were before you,

55and those who come after you will be smaller than you, as born of a creation that already is aging and passing the strength of youth.”

56 2 Esd 4.44; 6.18; 9.2 I said, “I implore you, O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, show your servant through whom you will visit your creation.”