Chapter 7

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AND when I had made an end of speaking these words, there was sent unto me the angel which had been sent unto me the nights afore:

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And he said unto me, Up, Ezra, and hear the words that I am come to tell you.

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And I said, Speak on, my Elohiym. Then said he unto me, The sea is set in a wide place, that it might be deep and great.

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But put the case the entrance were narrow, and like a river;

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Who then could go into the sea to look upon it, and to rule it? if he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad?

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There is also another thing; A city is built, and set upon a broad field, and is full of all good things:

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The entrance thereof is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, like as if there were a fire on the right hand, and on the left a deep water:

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And there is but one path between them, even between the fire and the water, so small that there could but one man go there at once.

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If this city now were given unto a man for an inheritance, if he never shall pass the danger set before it, how shall he receive this inheritance?

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And I said, It is so, Adonai. Then said he unto me, Even so also is Yashar'el's portion.

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Because for their sakes I made the world: and when A'dam transgressed my statutes, then was decreed that now is done.

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Then were the entrances of this world made narrow, full of sorrow and travail: they are but few and evil, full of perils,: and very painful.

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For the entrances of the elder world were wide and sure, and brought immortal fruit.

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If then they that live labor not to enter these strait and vain things, they can never receive those that are laid up for them.

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Now therefore why disquiet yourself, seeing you are but a corruptible man? and why are you moved, whereas you are but mortal?

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'Why have you not considered in your mind this thing that is to come, rather than that which is present?

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Then answered I and said, O Yahuah Adonai, you have ordained in your Torah, that the righteous should inherit these things, but that the wicked should perish.

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Nevertheless the righteous shall suffer strait things, and hope for wide: for they that have done wickedly have suffered the strait things, and yet shall not see the wide.

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And he said unto me. There is no judge above Elohiym, and none that has understanding above El Elyon.

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For there be many that perish in this life, because they despise the Torah of Elohiym that is set before them.

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For Elohiym has given strait commandment to such as came, what they should do to live, even as they came, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.

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Nevertheless they were not obedient unto him; but spoke against him, and imagined vain things;

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And deceived themselves by their wicked deeds; and said of El Elyon, that he is not; and knew not his ways:

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But his Torah have they despised, and denied his covenants; in his statutes have they not been faithful, and have not performed his works.

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And therefore, Ezra, for the empty are empty things, and for the full are the full things.

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Behold, the time shall come, that these tokens which I have told you shall come to pass, and the bride shall appear, and she coming forth shall be seen, that now is withdrawn from the earth.

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And whosoever is delivered from the foresaid evils shall see my wonders.

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For my Son Yahusha shall be revealed with those that be with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within four hundred years.

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After these years shall my Son Mashiach die, and all men that have life.

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And the world shall be turned into the old silence seven days, like as in the former judgments: so that no man shall remain.

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And after seven days the world, that yet awakens not, shall be raised up, and that shall die that is corrupt.

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And the earth shall restore those that are asleep in her, and so shall the dust those that dwell in silence, and the secret places shall deliver those souls that were committed unto them.

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And El Elyon shall appear upon the seat of judgment, and misery shall pass away, and the longsuffering shall have an end:

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But judgment only shall remain, truth shall stand, and faith shall wax strong:

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And the work shall follow, and the reward shall be showed, and the good deeds shall be of force, and wicked deeds shall bear no rule.

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Then the pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of She’ol shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight.

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Then El Elyon will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead: Look now, and understand whom ye have denied, whom ye have not served, whose commandments ye have despised!

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Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments! Thus, he will speak to them on the day of judgment.

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A day that has no sun or moon or stars,

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or cloud or thunder or lightning or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning,

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or summer or spring or heat or winter or frost or cold or hail or rain or dew,

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or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendor of the glory of El Elyon, by which all shall see what has been determined for them.

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For it will last for about a week of years.

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This is my judgment and its prescribed order; and to you alone have I shown these things.

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I answered and said: O Yahuah Tseva’oth, I said then and I say now: Blessed are those who are alive and guard your commandments!

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But what of those for whom I prayed? For who among the living is there that has not sinned, or who among men that has not transgressed your covenant?

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And now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few, but torments to many.

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For an evil heart has grown up in us, which has alienated us from Elohiym, and has brought us into corruption and the ways of death and has shown us the paths of perdition and removed us far from life; and that not just a few of us but almost all who have been created!

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He answered me and said: Listen to me, Ezra, and I will instruct you, and will admonish you yet again.

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For this reason El Elyon has made not one world but two.

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For whereas you have said that the righteous are not many but few, while the wicked abound, hear the explanation for this.

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If you have just a few precious stones, will you add to them lead and clay?

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I said: Yahuah, how could that be?

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And he said to me: Not only that but ask the earth and she will tell you; defer to her, and she will declare it to you.

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Say to her: You produce gold and silver and brass, and also iron and lead and clay;

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but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than brass, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.

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Judge therefore which things are precious and desirable, those that are abundant or those that are rare?

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I said: O Yahuah Tseva’oth, what is plentiful is of less worth, for what is more rare is more precious.

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He answered me and said: Weigh within yourself what you have thought, for he who has what is hard to get rejoices more than he who has what is plentiful.

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So also will be the judgment which I have promised; for I will rejoice over the few who shall be saved, because it is they who have made my glory to prevail now, and through them my name has now been honored.

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And I will not grieve over the multitude of those who perish; for it is they who are now like a mist and are similar to a flame and smoke. They are set on fire and burn hotly and are extinguished.

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I replied and said: O earth, what have you brought forth, if the mind is made out of the dust like the other created things!

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For it would have been better if the dust itself had not been born, so that the mind might not have been made from it.

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But now the mind grows with us, and therefore we are tormented, because we perish and know it.

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Let mankind lament but let the beasts of the field be glad; let all who have been born lament but let the four-footed beasts and the flocks rejoice!

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For it is much better with them than with us; for they do not look for a judgment, nor do they know of any torment or yeshu`ah promised to them after death.

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For what does it profit us that we shall be preserved alive but cruelly tormented?

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For all who have been born are involved in iniquities and are full of sins and burdened with transgressions.

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And if we were not to come into judgment after death, perhaps it would have been better for us.

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He answered me and said: When El Elyon made the world and A'dam and all who have come from him, he first prepared the judgment and the things that pertain to the judgment.

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

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For this reason, therefore, those who dwell on earth shall be tormented, because though they had understanding they committed iniquity, and though they received the commandments they did not guard them, and though they obtained the Torah they dealt unfaithfully with what they received.

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What, then, will they have to say in the judgment, or how will they answer in the last times?

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For how long the time is that El Elyon has been patient with those who inhabit the world, and not for their sake, but because of the times which he has foreordained!

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I answered and said: If I have found favor in your sight, O Yahuah, show this also to your servant: whether after death, as soon as every one of us yields up his soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when you will renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?

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He answered me and said: I will show you that also, but do not be associated with those who have shown scorn, nor number yourself among those who are tormented.

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For you have a treasure of works laid up with El Elyon; but it will not be shown to you until the last times.

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Now, concerning death, the teaching is: When the decisive decree has gone forth from El Elyon that a man shall die, as the ruach leaves the body to return again to him who gave it, first of all it adores the glory of El Elyon.

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And if it is one of those who have shown scorn and have not guarded the Way of El Elyon, and who have despised his Torah, and who have hated those who fear Elohiym;

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such ruachoth shall not enter into habitations, but shall immediately wander about in torments, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways.

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The first way, because they have scorned the Torah of El Elyon.

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The second way, because they cannot now make a good repentance that they may live.

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The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of El Elyon.

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The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for themselves in the last days.

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The fifth way, they shall see how the habitations of the others are guarded by angels in profound quiet.

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The sixth way, they shall see how some of them will pass over into torments.

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The seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have been mentioned, because they shall utterly waste away in confusion and be consumed with shame and shall wither with fear at seeing the glory of El Elyon before whom they sinned while they were alive, and before whom they are to be judged in the last times.

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Now this is the order of those who have guarded the ways of El Elyon, when they shall be separated from their mortal body.

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During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served El Elyon, and withstood danger every hour, that they might guard the Torah of the Torah giver perfectly.

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Therefore this is the teaching concerning them:

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First of all, they shall see with great joy the glory of him who receives them, for they shall have rest in seven orders.

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The first order, because they have striven with great effort to overcome the evil thought which was formed with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death.

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The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the wicked wander, and the punishment that awaits them.

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The third order, they see the witness which he who formed them bears concerning them, that while they were alive they guarded the Torah which was given them in trust.