2 Esdr 16:35
Hear now these things and understand them, ye servants of the Lord.
2 Esdr 16:36 Behold, the word of the Lord, receive it: believe not the gods of whom the Lord spake.
2 Esdr 16:37 Behold, the plagues draw nigh, and are not slack.
2 Esdr 16:38 As when a woman with child in the ninth month bringeth forth her son, with two or three hours of her birth great pains compass her womb, which pains, when the child cometh forth, they slack not a moment:
2 Esdr 16:39 Even so shall not the plagues be slack to come upon the earth, and the world shall mourn, and sorrows shall come upon it on every side.
2 Esdr 16:40 O my people, hear my word: make you ready to thy battle, and in those evils be even as pilgrims upon the earth.
2 Esdr 16:41 He that selleth, let him be as he that fleeth away: and he that buyeth, as one that will lose:
2 Esdr 16:42 He that occupieth merchandise, as he that hath no profit by it: and he that buildeth, as he that shall not dwell therein:
2 Esdr 16:43 He that soweth, as if he should not reap: so also he that planteth the vineyard, as he that shall not gather the grapes:
2 Esdr 16:44 They that marry, as they that shall get no children; and they that marry not, as the widowers.
2 Esdr 16:45 And therefore they that labour labour in vain:
2 Esdr 16:46 For strangers shall reap their fruits, and spoil their goods, overthrow their houses, and take their children captives, for in captivity and famine shall they get children.
2 Esdr 16:47 And they that occupy their merchandise with robbery, the more they deck their cities, their houses, their possessions, and their own persons:
2 Esdr 16:48
The more will I be angry with them for their sin, saith the Lord.
2 Esdr 16:49 Like as a whore envieth a right honest and virtuous woman:
2 Esdr 16:50 So shall righteousness hate iniquity, when she decketh herself, and shall accuse her to her face, when he cometh that shall defend him that diligently searcheth out every sin upon earth.
2 Esdr 16:51 And therefore be ye not like thereunto, nor to the works thereof.
2 Esdr 16:52 For yet a little, and iniquity shall be taken away out of the earth, and righteousness shall reign among you.
2 Esdr 16:53
Let not the sinner say that he hath not sinned: for God shall burn coals of fire upon his head, which saith before the Lord God and his glory, I have not sinned.
2 Esdr 16:54 Behold, the Lord knoweth all the works of men, their imaginations, their thoughts, and their hearts:
2 Esdr 16:55 Which spake but the word, Let the earth be made; and it was made: Let the heaven be made; and it was created.
2 Esdr 16:56 In his word were the stars made, and he knoweth the number of them.
2 Esdr 16:57 He searcheth the deep, and the treasures thereof; he hath measured the sea, and what it containeth.
2 Esdr 16:58 He hath shut the sea in the midst of the waters, and with his word hath he hanged the earth upon the waters.
2 Esdr 16:59 He spreadeth out the heavens like a vault; upon the waters hath he founded it.
2 Esdr 16:60 In the desert hath he made springs of water, and pools upon the tops of the mountains, that the floods might pour down from the high rocks to water the earth.
2 Esdr 16:61 He made man, and put his heart in the midst of the body, and gave him breath, life, and understanding.
2 Esdr 16:62 Yea and the Spirit of Almighty God, which made all things, and searcheth out all hidden things in the secrets of the earth,
2 Esdr 16:63 Surely he knoweth your inventions, and what ye think in your hearts, even them that sin, and would hide their sin.
2 Esdr 16:64 Therefore hath the Lord exactly searched out all your works, and he will put you all to shame.
2 Esdr 16:65 And when your sins are brought forth, ye shall be ashamed before men, and your own sins shall be your accusers in that day.
2 Esdr 16:66 What will ye do? or how will ye hide your sins before God and his angels?
2 Esdr 16:67 Behold, God himself is the judge, fear him: leave off from your sins, and forget your iniquities, to meddle no more with them for ever: so shall God lead you forth, and deliver you from all trouble.
2 Esdr 16:68 For, behold, the burning wrath of a great multitude is kindled over you, and they shall take away certain of you, and feed you, being idle, with things offered unto idols.
2 Esdr 16:69 And they that consent unto them shall be had in derision and in reproach, and trodden under foot.
2 Esdr 16:70 For there shall be in every place, and in the next cities, a great insurrection upon those that fear the Lord.
2 Esdr 16:71 They shall be like mad men, sparing none, but still spoiling and destroying those that fear the Lord.
2 Esdr 16:72 For they shall waste and take away their goods, and cast them out of their houses.
2 Esdr 16:73 Then shall they be known, who are my chosen; and they shall be tried as the gold in the fire.
2 Esdr 16:74 Hear, O ye my beloved, saith the Lord: behold, the days of trouble are at hand, but I will deliver you from the same.
2 Esdr 16:75 Be ye not afraid neither doubt; for God is your guide,
2 Esdr 16:76 And the guide of them who keep my commandments and precepts, saith the Lord God: let not your sins weigh you down, and let not your iniquities lift up themselves.
2 Esdr 16:77 Woe be unto them that are bound with their sins, and covered with their iniquities like as a field is covered over with bushes, and the path thereof covered with thorns, that no man may travel through!
2 Esdr 16:78 It is left undressed, and is cast into the fire to be consumed therewith.
The Greek Additions to Esther
[The Rest of the Chapters of the Book of Esther]
AddEsth 10:4
Then Mardocheus said, God hath done these things.
AddEsth 10:5 For I remember a dream which I saw concerning these matters, and nothing thereof hath failed.
AddEsth 10:6 A little fountain became a river, and there was light, and the sun, and much water: this river is Esther, whom the king married, and made queen:
AddEsth 10:7
And the two dragons are I and Aman.
AddEsth 10:8 And the nations were those that were assembled to destroy the name of the Jews:
AddEsth 10:9 And my nation is this Israel, which cried to God, and were saved: for the Lord hath saved his people, and the Lord hath delivered us from all those evils, and God hath wrought signs and great wonders, which have not been done among the Gentiles.
AddEsth 10:10 Therefore hath he made two lots, one for the people of God, and another for all the Gentiles.
AddEsth 10:11 And these two lots came at the hour, and time, and day of judgment, before God among all nations.
AddEsth 10:12
So God remembered his people, and justified his inheritance.
AddEsth 10:13 Therefore those days shall be unto them in the month Adar, the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the same month, with an assembly, and joy, and with gladness before God, according to the generations for ever among his people.
AddEsth 11:1 In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemeus and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemeus his son, brought this epistle of Phurim, which they said was the same, and that Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus, that was in Jerusalem, had interpreted