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As for the truth, it endureth, and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore.

As for the truth, it endureth, and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore.

Then said the king unto him, Ask what thou wilt more than is appointed in the writing, and we will give it thee, because thou art found wisest; and thou shalt sit next me, and shalt be called my cousin.

Yea, that there should be yearly given twenty talents to the building of the temple, until the time that it were built;

And so he took the letters, and went out, and came unto Babylon, and told it all his brethren.

To offer burnt sacrifices upon it, according as it is expressly commanded in the book of Moses the man of God.

To offer burnt sacrifices upon it, according as it is expressly commanded in the book of Moses the man of God.

Also they held the feast of tabernacles, as it is commanded in the law, and offered sacrifices daily, as was meet:

Unto them of Zidon also and Tyre they gave carrs, that they should bring cedar trees from Libanus, which should be brought by floats to the haven of Joppa, according as it was commanded them by Cyrus king of the Persians.

Insomuch that the trumpets might not be heard for the weeping of the people: yet the multitude sounded marvellously, so that it was heard afar off.

Wherefore when the enemies of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin heard it, they came to know what that noise of trumpets should mean.

Then Zorobabel and Jesus and the chief of the families of Israel said unto them, It is not for us and you to build together an house unto the Lord our God.

And those works are done with great speed, and the work goeth on prosperously in their hands, and with all glory and diligence is it made.

And as for this house, it was builded many years ago by a king of Israel great and strong, and was finished.

Who pulled down the house, and burned it, and carried away the people captives unto Babylon.

Then the same Sanabassarus, being come hither, laid the foundations of the house of the Lord at Jerusalem; and from that time to this being still a building, it is not yet fully ended.

Now therefore, if it seem good unto the king, let search be made among the records of king Cyrus:

And if it be found that the building of the house of the Lord at Jerusalem hath been done with the consent of king Cyrus, and if our lord the king be so minded, let him signify unto us thereof.

I have commanded also to have it built up whole again; and that they look diligently to help those that be of the captivity of the Jews, till the house of the Lord be finished:

I Darius the king have ordained that according unto these things it be done with diligence.

As many therefore as have a mind thereunto, let them depart with thee, as it hath seemed good both to me and my seven friends the counsellors;

And whatsoever thing else thou shalt remember for the use of the temple of thy God, thou shalt give it out of the king’s treasury.

And I king Artexerxes have also commanded the keepers of the treasures in Syria and Phenice, that whatsoever Esdras the priest and the reader of the law of the most high God shall send for, they should give it him with speed,

And thou, Esdras, according to the wisdom of God ordain judges and justices, that they may judge in all Syria and Phenice all those that know the law of thy God; and those that know it not thou shalt teach.

And whosoever shall transgress the law of thy God, and of the king, shall be punished diligently, whether it be by death, or other punishment, by penalty of money, or by imprisonment.

And when I had weighed it, I delivered unto them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels of an hundred talents, and an hundred talents of gold,

That the land, which ye enter into to possess as an heritage, is a land polluted with the pollutions of the strangers of the land, and they have filled it with their uncleanness.

But forasmuch as the people are many, and it is foul weather, so that we cannot stand without, and this is not a work of a day or two, seeing our sin in these things is spread far:

Also Jesus, Anus, Sarabias, Adinus, Jacubus, Sabateas, Auteas, Maianeas, and Calitas, Asrias, and Joazabdus, and Ananias, Biatas, the Levites, taught the law of the Lord, making them withal to understand it.

Pull thou off then the hair of thy head, and cast all evil upon them, for they have not been obedient unto my law, but it is a rebellious people.

Saying, Why hast thou brought us into this wilderness to kill us? it had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness.

Ye have not as it were forsaken me, but your own selves, saith the Lord.

Then said I unto the angel, What young person is it that crowneth them, and giveth them palms in their hands?

So he answered and said unto me, It is the Son of God, whom they have confessed in the world. Then began I greatly to commend them that stood so stiffly for the name of the Lord.

And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.

And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.

And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it.

Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments?

Then said I unto him, It were better that we were not at all, than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer, and not to know wherefore.

And said, Come, let us go and make war against the sea that it may depart away before us, and that we may make us more woods.

The thought of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it.

I answered and said, Verily it is a foolish thought that they both have devised, for the ground is given unto the wood, and the sea also hath his place to bear his floods.

For it was not my mind to be curious of the high things, but of such as pass by us daily, namely, wherefore Israel is given up as a reproach to the heathen, and for what cause the people whom thou hast loved is given over unto ungodly nations, and why the law of our forefathers is brought to nought, and the written covenants come to none effect,

If therefore that which is sown be not turned upside down, and if the place where the evil is sown pass not away, then cannot it come that is sown with good.

For the grain of evil seed hath been sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning, and how much ungodliness hath it brought up unto this time? and how much shall it yet bring forth until the time of threshing come?

For the grain of evil seed hath been sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning, and how much ungodliness hath it brought up unto this time? and how much shall it yet bring forth until the time of threshing come?

And for our sakes peradventure it is that the floors of the righteous are not filled, because of the sins of them that dwell upon the earth.

From the beginning, look, what thou desirest to see, it shall be shewed thee.

Then answered I and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, and if it be possible, and if I be meet therefore,

So I stood, and saw, and, behold, an hot burning oven passed by before me: and it happened that when the flame was gone by I looked, and, behold, the smoke remained still.

He answered me, and said, As for the tokens whereof thou askest me, I may tell thee of them in part: but as touching thy life, I am not sent to shew thee; for I do not know it.

One land also shall ask another, and say, Is righteousness that maketh a man righteous gone through thee? And it shall say, No.

Then I awaked, and an extreme fearfulness went through all my body, and my mind was troubled, so that it fainted.

And in the second night it came to pass, that Salathiel the captain of the people came unto me, saying, Where hast thou been? and why is thy countenance so heavy?

And after seven days so it was, that the thoughts of my heart were very grievous unto me again,

And I said, As thou hast said unto thy servant, that thou, which givest life to all, hast given life at once to the creature that thou hast created, and the creature bare it: even so it might now also bear them that now be present at once.

And I said, As thou hast said unto thy servant, that thou, which givest life to all, hast given life at once to the creature that thou hast created, and the creature bare it: even so it might now also bear them that now be present at once.

And he said unto me, Ask the womb of a woman, and say unto her, If thou bringest forth children, why dost thou it not together, but one after another? pray her therefore to bring forth ten children at once.

And I said, She cannot: but must do it by distance of time.

Then said he unto me, Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those that be sown in it in their times.

Before it thundered and lightened, or ever the foundations of paradise were laid,

Then answered I and said, What shall be the parting asunder of the times? or when shall be the end of the first, and the beginning of it that followeth?

For Esau is the end of the world, and Jacob is the beginning of it that followeth.

And it shall be as it were a great motion; but the place where thou standest shall not be moved.

And it shall be as it were a great motion; but the place where thou standest shall not be moved.

And therefore when it speaketh be not afraid: for the word is of the end, and the foundation of the earth is understood.

And why? because the speech of these things trembleth and is moved: for it knoweth that the end of these things must be changed.

And it happened, that when I had heard it I stood up upon my feet, and hearkened, and, behold, there was a voice that spake, and the sound of it was like the sound of many waters.

And it happened, that when I had heard it I stood up upon my feet, and hearkened, and, behold, there was a voice that spake, and the sound of it was like the sound of many waters.

And it happened, that when I had heard it I stood up upon my feet, and hearkened, and, behold, there was a voice that spake, and the sound of it was like the sound of many waters.

And it said, Behold, the days come, that I will begin to draw nigh, and to visit them that dwell upon the earth,

And the men that are received shall see it, who have not tasted death from their birth: and the heart of the inhabitants shall be changed, and turned into another meaning.

As for faith, it shall flourish, corruption shall be overcome, and the truth, which hath been so long without fruit, shall be declared.

And it came to pass after this, that I wept again, and fasted seven days in like manner, that I might fulfil the three weeks which he told me.

Upon the second day thou madest the spirit of the firmament, and commandedst it to part asunder, and to make a division betwixt the waters, that the one part might go up, and the other remain beneath.

Upon the fifth day thou saidst unto the seventh part, where the waters were gathered that it should bring forth living creatures, fowls and fishes: and so it came to pass.

Upon the fifth day thou saidst unto the seventh part, where the waters were gathered that it should bring forth living creatures, fowls and fishes: and so it came to pass.

Upon the sixth day thou gavest commandment unto the earth, that before thee it should bring forth beasts, cattle, and creeping things:

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

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?

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?

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?

And I said, It is so, Lord. Then said he unto me, Even so also is Israel’s portion.

Even so now, seeing corruption is grown up, and wickedness increased, and the righteous have prayed for the ungodly: wherefore shall it not be so now also?

I answered then and said, This is my first and last saying, that it had been better not to have given the earth unto Adam: or else, when it was given him, to have restrained him from sinning.

I answered then and said, This is my first and last saying, that it had been better not to have given the earth unto Adam: or else, when it was given him, to have restrained him from sinning.

For what profit is it for men now in this present time to live in heaviness, and after death to look for punishment?

O thou Adam, what hast thou done? for though it was thou that sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee.

For what profit is it unto us, if there be promised us an immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?

And that there should be shewed a paradise, whose fruit endureth for ever, wherein is security and medicine, since we shall not enter into it?

For while we lived and committed iniquity, we considered not that we should begin to suffer for it after death.

And that he is bountiful, for he is ready to give where it needeth;

I will tell thee a similitude, Esdras; As when thou askest the earth, it shall say unto thee, that it giveth much mould whereof earthen vessels are made, but little dust that gold cometh of: even so is the course of this present world.

I will tell thee a similitude, Esdras; As when thou askest the earth, it shall say unto thee, that it giveth much mould whereof earthen vessels are made, but little dust that gold cometh of: even so is the course of this present world.

O Lord, if thou suffer not thy servant, that we may pray before thee, and thou give us seed unto our heart, and culture to our understanding, that there may come fruit of it; how shall each man live that is corrupt, who beareth the place of a man?

For when the body is fashioned now in the mother’s womb, and thou givest it members, thy creature is preserved in fire and water, and nine months doth thy workmanship endure thy creature which is created in her.

But that which keepeth and is kept shall both be preserved: and when the time cometh, the womb preserved delivereth up the things that grew in it.

That the thing which is fashioned may be nourished for a time, till thou disposest it to thy mercy.

Thou broughtest it up with thy righteousness, and nurturedst it in thy law, and reformedst it with thy judgment.