admin1, Author at The Lost Books

Excerpts of Theodotus
Selections from the prophetic scriptures

1. Those around Sedrach, Misak, and Abednago in the furnace of fire say as they praise God, “Bless, ye heavens, the Lord; praise and exalt Him for ever;” then, “Bless, ye angels, the Lord;” then, “Bless the Lord, all ye waters that are above heaven.” So the Scriptures assign the heavens and the waters to the class of pure powers as is shown in Genesis. Suitably, then, inasmuch as “power” is used with a variety of meaning, Daniel adds, “Let every power bless the Lord;” then, further, “Bless the Lord, sun and moon;” and, “Bless the Lord, ye stars of heaven. Bless the Lord, all ye that worship Him; praise and confess the God of gods, for His mercy is for ever.” It is written in Daniel, on the occasion of the three children praising in the furnace.

2. “Blessed art Thou, who lookest on the abysses as Thou sittest on the cherubim,” says Daniel, in agreement with Enoch, who said, “And I saw all sorts of matter.” For the abyss, which is in its essence boundless, is bounded by the power of God. These material essences then, from which the separate genera and their species are produced, are called abysses; since you would not call the water alone the abyss, although matter is allegorically called water, the abyss.

3. “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth,” both terrestrial and celestial things. And that this is true, the Lord said to Osee, “Go, take to thyself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: because the land committing fornication, shall commit fornication, departing from the Lord.” For it is not the element of earth that he speaks of, but those that dwell in the element, those who have an earthly disposition.

4. And that the Son is the beginning or head, Hosea teaches clearly: “And it shall be, that in the place in which it was said to them, Ye are not my people, they shall be called the children of the living God: and the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered to the same place, and they shall place over them one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great is the day of Jezreel.” For whom one believes, him He chooses. But one believes the Son, who is the head; wherefore also he said in addition: “But I will have mercy on the sons of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God.” Now the Saviour who saves is the Son of God. He is then the head.

5. The Spirit by Osee says, “I am your Instructor;” “Blow ye the trumpet upon the hills of the Lord; sound upon the high places.” And is not baptism itself, which is the sign of regeneration, an escape from matter, by the teaching of the Saviour, a great impetuous stream, ever rushing on and bearing us along? The Lord accordingly, leading us out of disorder, illumines us by bringing us into the light, which is shadow-less and is material no longer.

6. This river and sea of matter two prophets cut asunder and divided by the power of the Lord, the matter being bounded, through both divisions of the water. Famous leaders both, by whom the signs were believed, they complied with the will of God, so that the righteous man may proceed from matter, having journeyed through it first. On the one of these commanders also was imposed the name of our Saviour.

7. Now, regeneration is by water and spirit, as was all creation: “For the Spirit of God moved on the abyss.” And for this reason the Saviour was baptized, though not Himself needing to be so, in order that He might consecrate the whole water for those who were being regenerated. Thus it is not the body only, but the soul, that we cleanse. It is accordingly a sign of the sanctifying of our invisible part, and of the straining off from the new and spiritual creation of the unclean spirits that have got mixed up with the soul.

8. “The water above the heaven.” Since baptism is performed by water and the Spirit as a protection against the twofold fire,–that which lays hold of what is visible, and that which lays hold of what is invisible; and of necessity, there being an immaterial element of water and a material, is it a protection against the twofold fire. And the earthly water cleanses the body; but the heavenly water, by reason of its being immaterial and invisible, is an emblem of the Holy Spirit, who is the purifier of what is invisible, as the water of the Spirit, as the other of the body.

9. God, out of goodness, hath mingled fear with goodness. For what is beneficial for each one, that He also supplies, as a physician to a sick man, as a father to his insubordinate child: “For he that spareth his rod hateth his son.” And the Lord and His apostles walked in the midst of fear and labours. When, then, the affliction is sent in the person of a righteous man, it is either from the Lord rebuking him for a sin committed before, or guarding him on account of the future, or not preventing by the exercise of His power an assault from without, — for some good end to him and to those near, for the sake of example.

10. Now those that dwell in a corrupt body, like those who sail in an old ship, do not lie on their back, but are ever praying, stretching their hands to God.

11. The ancients were exceedingly distressed, unless they had always some suffering in the body. For they were afraid, that if they received not in this world the punishment of the sins which, in numbers through ignorance, accompany those that are in the flesh, they would in the other world suffer the penalty all at once. So that they preferred curative treatment here. What is to be dreaded is, then, not external disease, but sins, for which disease comes, and disease of the soul, not of the body: “For all flesh is grass,” and corporeal and external good things are temporary; “but the things which are unseen are eternal.”

12. As to knowledge, some elements of it we already possess; others, by what we do possess, we firmly hope to attain. For neither have we attained all, nor do we lack all. But we have received, as it were, an earnest of the eternal blessings, and of the ancestral riches. The provisions for the Lord’s way are the Lord’s beatitudes. For He said: “Seek,” and anxiously seek, “the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you: for the Father knoweth what things ye have need of.” Thus He limits not only our occupations, but our cares. For He says: “Ye cannot, by taking thought, add aught to your stature.” For God knows well what it is good for us to have and what to want. He wishes, therefore, that we, emptying ourselves of worldly cares, should be filled with that which is directed towards God. “For we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with that which is incorruptible, before putting off corruption.” For when faith is shed abroad, unbelief is nonplussed. Similarly also with knowledge and righteousness. We must therefore not only empty the soul, but fill it with God. For no longer is there evil in it, since that has been made to cease; nor yet is there good, since it has not yet received good. But what is neither good nor evil is nothing. “For to the swept and empty house return,” if none of the blessings of salvation has been put in, the unclean spirit that dwelt there before, taking with him seven other unclean spirits. Wherefore, after emptying the soul of what is evil, we must fill with the good God that which is His chosen dwelling-place. For when the empty rooms are filled, then follows the seal, that the sanctuary may be guarded for God.

13. “By two and three witnesses every word is established.” By Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, by whose witness and help the prescribed commandments ought to be kept.

14. Fasting, according to the signification of the word, is abstinence from food. Now food makes us neither more righteous nor less. But mystically it shows that, as life is maintained in individuals by sustenance, and want of sustenance is the token of death; so also ought we to fast from worldly things, that we may die to the world, and after that, by partaking of divine sustenance, live to God. Especially does fasting empty the soul of matter, and make it, along with the body, pure and light for the divine words. Worldly food is, then, the former life and sins; but the divine food is faith, hope, love, patience, knowledge, peace, temperance. For “blessed are they that hunger and thirst after” God’s “righteousness; for they shall be filled.” The soul, but not the body, it is which is susceptible of this craving.

15. The Saviour showed to the believing apostles prayer to be stronger than faith in the case of a demoniac, whom they could not cleanse, when He said, Such things are accomplished by prayer. He who has believed has obtained forgiveness of sins from the Lord; but he who has attained knowledge, inasmuch as he no longer sins, obtains from himself the forgiveness of the rest.

16. For as cures, and prophecies, and signs are performed by the agency of men, God working in them, so also is Gnostic teaching. For God shows His power through men. And the prophecy rightly says, “I will send to them a man who will save them.” Accordingly He sends forth at one thee prophets, at another apostles, to be saviours of men. Thus God does good by the agency of men. For it is not that God can do some things, and cannot do others: He is never powerless in anything. No more are some things done with, and some things against His will; and some things by Him, and some things by another. But He even brought us into being by means of men, and trained us by means of men.

17. God made us, having previously no existence. For if we had a previous existence, we must have known where we were, and how and why we came hither. But if we had no pre-existence, then God is the sole author of our creation. As, then, He made us who had no existence; so also, now that we are made, He saves us by His own grace, if we show ourselves worthy and susceptible; if not, He will let us pass to our proper end. For He is Lord both of the living and the dead.

18. But see the power of God, not only in the case of men, in bringing to existence out of non-existence, and making them when brought into being grow up according to the progress of the thee of life, but also in saving those who believe, in a way suitable to each individual. And now He changes both hours, and times, and fruits, and elements. For this is the one God, who has measured both the beginning and the end of events suitably to each one.

19. Advancing from faith and fear to knowledge, man knows how to say Lord, Lord; but not as His slave, he has learned to say, Our Father. Having set free the spirit of bondage, which produces fear, and advanced by love to adoption, he now reverences from love Him whom he feared before. For he no longer abstains from what he ought to abstain from out of fear, but out of love clings to the commandments. “The Spirit itself,” it is said, “beareth witness when we cry, Abba, Father.”

20. Now the Lord with His precious blood redeems us, freeing us from our old bitter masters, that is, our sins, on account of which the spiritual powers of wickedness ruled over us. Accordingly He leads us into the liberty of the Father, — sons that are co-heirs and friends. “For,” says the Lord, “they that do the will of my Father are my brethren and fellow-heirs.” “Call no man, therefore, father to yourselves on earth.” For it is masters that are on earth. But in heaven is the Father, of whom is the whole family, both in heaven and on earth. For love rules willing hearts, but fear the unwilling. One kind of fear is base; but the other, leading us as a pedagogue to good, brings us to Christ, and is saving.

21. Now if one has a conception of God, it by no means corresponds with His worthiness. For what can the worthiness of God be? But let him, as far as is possible, conceive of a great and incomprehensible and most beautiful light; inaccessible, comprehending all good power, all comely virtue; caring for all, compassionate, passionless, good; knowing all things, foreknowing all things, pure, sweet, shining, stainless.

22. Since the movement of the soul is self-originated, the grace of God demands from it what the soul possesses, willingness as its contribution to salvation. For the soul wishes to be its own good; which the Lord, however, gives it. For it is not devoid of sensation so as to be carried along like a body. Having is the result of taking, and taking of willing and desiring; and keeping hold of what one has received, of the exercise of care and of ability. Wherefore God has endowed the soul with free choice, that He may show it its duty, and that it choosing, may receive and retain.

23. As through the body the Lord spake and healed, so also formerly by the prophets, and now by the apostles and teachers. For the Church is the minister of the Lord’s power. Thence He then assumed humanity, that by it He might minister to the Father’s will. And at all times, the God who loves humanity invests Himself with man for the salvation of men, — in former tithes with the prophets, and now with the Church. For it is fitting that like should minister to like, in order to a like salvation.

24. For we are of the earth. . . . Caesar is the prince, for the thee being, whose earthly image is the old man, to which he has returned. To him, then, we are to render the earthly things, which we bore in the image of the earthly, and the things of God to God. For each one of the passions is on us as a letter, and stamp, and sign. Now the Lord marks us with another stamp, and with other names and letters, faith instead of unbelief, and so forth. Thus we are translated from what is material to what is spiritual, “having borne the image of the heavenly.”

25. John says: “I indeed baptize you with water, but there cometh after me He that baptizeth with the Spirit and fire.” But He baptized no one with fire. But some, as Heraclius says, marked with fire the ears of those who were sealed; understanding so the apostolic saying, “For His fan is in His hand, to purge His floor: and He will gather the wheat into the garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire un-quenchable.” There is joined, then, the expression “by fire” to that” by the Spirit;” since He separates the wheat from the chaff, that is, from the material husk, by the Spirit; and the chaff is separated, being fanned by the wind : so also the Spirit possesses a power of separating material forces. Since, then, some things are produced from what is unproduced and indestructible, -that is, the germs of life,–the wheat also is stored, and the material part, as long as it is conjoined with the superior part, remains; when separated from it, it is destroyed; for it had its existence in another thing. This separating element, then, is the Spirit, and the destroying element is the fire: and material fire is to be understood. But since that which is saved is like wheat, and that which grows in the soul like chaff, and the one is incorporeal, and that which is separated is material; to the incorporeal He opposes spirit, which is rarefied and pure -almost more so than mind; and to the material He opposes fire, not as being evil or bad, but as strong and capable of cleansing away evil. For fire is conceived as a good force and powerful, destructive of what is baser, and conservative of what is better. Wherefore this fire is by the prophets called wise.

26. Thus also, then, when God is called “a consuming fire,” it is because a name and sign, not of wickedness, but of power, is to be selected. For as fire is the most potent of the elements, and masters all things; so also God is all-powerful and almighty, who is able to hold, to create, to make, to nourish, to make grow, to save, having power of body and soul. As, then, fire is superior to the elements, so is the Almighty Ruler to gods, and powers, and principalities. The power of fire is twofold: one power con-duces to the production and maturing of fruits and of animals, of which the sun is the image; and the other to consumption and destruction, as terrestrial fire. When, then, God is called a consuming fire, He is called a mighty and resist-less power, to which nothing is impossible, but which is able to destroy.

Respecting such a power, also, the Saviour says, “I came to send fire upon the earth,” indicating a power to purify what is holy, but destructive, as they say, of what is material; and, as we should say, disciplinary. Now fear pertains to fire, and diffusion to light.

27. Now the more ancient men did not write, as they neither wished to encroach on the thee devoted to attention bestowed on what they handed down, in the way of teaching, by the additional attention bestowed on writing, nor spent the thee for considering what was to be said on writing. And, perhaps convinced that the function of composition and the department of teaching did not belong to the same cast of mind, they gave way to those who had a natural turn for it. For in the case of a speaker, the stream of speech flows unchecked and impetuous, and you may catch it up hastily. But that which is always tested by readers, meeting with strict examination, is thought worthy of the utmost pains, and is, so to speak, the written confirmation of oral instruction, and of the voice so wafted along to posterity by written composition. For that which was committed in trust to the elders, speaking in writing, uses the writer’s help to hand itself down to those who are to read it. As, then, the magnet, repelling other matter, attracts iron alone by reason of affinity; so also books, though many read them, attract those alone who are capable of comprehending them. For the word of truth is to some “foolishness,” and to others a “stumbling-block;” but to a few “wisdom.” So also is the power of God found to be. But far from the Gnostic be envy. For it is for this reason also that he asks whether it be worse to give to the unworthy, or not commit to the worthy; and runs the risk, from his abundant love of communicating, not only to every one who is qualified, but sometimes also to one unworthy, who asks importunately; not on account of his entreaty (for he loves not glory), but on account of the persistency of the petitioner who bends his mind towards faith with copious entreaty.

28. There are those calling themselves Gnostics who are envious of those in their own house more than strangers. And, as the sea is open to all, but one swims, another sails, and a third catches fish; and as the land is common, but one walks, another ploughs, another hunts, –somebody else searches the mines, and another builds a house: so also, when the Scripture is read, one is helped to faith, another to morality, and a third is freed from superstition by the knowledge of things. The athlete, who knows the Olympic stadium, strips for training, contends, and becomes victor, tripping up his antagonists who contend against his scientific method, and fighting out the contest. For scientific knowledge is necessary both for the training of the soul and for gravity of conduct; making the faithful more active and keen observers of things. For as there is no believing without elementary instruction, so neither is there comprehension without science.

29. For what is useful and necessary to salvation, such as the knowledge of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, and also of our own soul, are wholly requisite; and it is at once beneficial and necessary to attain to the scientific account of them. And to those who have assumed the lead in doing good, lunch experience is advantageous; so that none of the things which appear to be known necessarily and eruditely by others may escape their notice. The exposition, too, of heterodox teaching affords another exercise of the inquiring soul, and keeps the disciple froth being seduced from the truth, by his having already had practice beforehand in sounding all round on warlike instruments of music.

30. The life of the Gnostic rule, (as they say that Crete was barren of deadly animals,) is pure from every evil deed, and thought, and word; not only hating no one, but beyond envy and hatred, and all evil-speaking and slander.

31. In length of days, it is not on account of his having lived long that the man is to be regarded happy, to whose lot it has also fallen, through his having lived, to be worthy of living for ever. He has pained no one, except in instructing by the word the wounded in heart, as it were by a salutary honey, which is at once sweet and pungent. So that, above all, the Gnostic preserves the decorous along with that which is in accordance with reason. For passion being cut away and stript off from the whole soul, he henceforth consorts and lives with what is noblest, which has now become pure, and emancipated to adoption.

32. Pythagoras thought that he who gave things their names, ought to be regarded not only the most intelligent, but the oldest of the wise men. We must, then, search the Scriptures accurately, since they are admitted to be expressed in parables, and from the names hunt out the thoughts which the Holy Spirit, pro-pounding respecting things, teaches by imprinting His mind, so to speak, on the expressions; that the names used with various meanings, being made the subject of accurate investigation, may be explained, and that that which is hidden trader many integuments may, being handled and learned, come to light and gleam forth. For so also lead turns white as you rub it; white lead being produced from black. So also scientific knowledge (gnosis), shedding its light and brightness on things, shows itself to be in truth the divine wisdom, the pure light, which illumines the men whose eyeball is clear, unto the sure vision and comprehension of truth.

33. Lighting, then, our torch at the source of that light, by the passionate desire which has it for its object, and striving as much as possible to be assimilated to it, we become men full of light, Israelites indeed. For He called those friends and brethren who by desire and pursuit aimed after likeness to the Divinity.

34. Pure places and meadows have received voices and visions of holy phantasms. But every man who has been perfectly purified, shall be thought worthy of divine teaching and of power.

35. Now I know that the mysteries of science (gnosis) are a laughing-stock to many, especially when not patched up with sophistical figurative language. And the few are at first startled at them; as when light is suddenly brought into a convivial party in the dark. Subsequently, on getting used and accustomed, and trained to reasoning, as if gladdened and exulting for delight, they praise the Lord. . . . For as pleasure has for its essence release from pain; so also has knowledge the removal of ignorance. For as those that are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of dream-visions very vivid and fixed; so those that are most ignorant think that they know most. But blessed are they who rouse themselves from this sleep and derangement, and raise their eyes to the light and the truth.

36. It is, therefore, equally requisite for him who wishes to have a pupil who is docile, and has blended faith with aspiration, to exercise himself and constantly to study by himself, investigating the truth of his speculations; and when he thinks himself right, to descend to questions regarding things contiguous. For the young birds make attempts to fly in the nest, exercising their wings.

37. For Gnostic virtue everywhere makes man good, and meek, and harmless, and painless, and blessed, and ready to associate in the best way with all that is divine, in the best way with men, at once a contemplative and active divine image, and turns him into a lover of what is good by love. For what is good, as there it is contemplated and comprehended by wisdom, is here by self-control and righteousness carried into effect through faith: practising in the flesh an angelic ministry; hallowing the soul in the body, as in a place clear and stainless.

38. Against Tatian, who says that the words, “Let there be light,” are supplicatory. If, then, He is supplicating the supreme God, how does He say, “I am God, and beside me there is none else?” We have said that there are punishments for blasphemies, for nonsense. for outrageous expressions; which are punished and chastised by reason.

39. And he said, too, that on account of their hair and finery, women are punished by the Power that is set over these matters; which also gave to Samson strength in his hair; which punishes the women who allure to fornication through the adornment of their hair.

40. As by the effluence of good, people are made good; in like manner are they made bad. Good is the judgment of God, and the discrimination of the believing from the unbelieving, and the judgment beforehand, so as not to fall into greater judgment — this judgment being correction.

41. Scripture says that infants which are exposed are delivered to a guardian angel, and that by him they are trained and reared. “And they shall be,” it says, “as the faithtful in this world of a hundred years of age.” Wherefore also Peter, in the Revelation, says: “And a flash of fire, leaping from those infants, and striking the eyes of the women.” For the just shines: forth as a spark in a reed, and will judge the nations.

42. “With the holy Thou wilt be holy.” “According to thy praise is thy name glorified;” God being glorified through our knowledge, and through the inheritance. Thus also it is said, “The Lord liveth,” and “The Lord hath risen.”

43. “A people whom I knew not hath served me;” –by covenant I knew them not, alien sons, who desired what pertained to another.

44. “Magnifying the salvations of His king.” All the faithful are called kings, brought to royalty through inheritance.

45. Long-suffering is sweetness above honey; not because it is long-suffering, but in consequence of the fruit of long-suffering. Since, then, the man of self-control is devoid of passion, inasmuch as he restrains the passions, not without toil; but when habit is formed, he is no longer a man of self-control, the man having come trader the influence of one habit and of the Holy Spirit.

46. The passions that are in the soul are called spirits,–not spirits of power, since in that case the man under the influence of passion would be a legion of demons; but they are so called in consequence of the impulse they communicate. For the soul itself, through modifications, taking on this and that other sort of qualities of wickedness, is said to receive spirits.

47. The Word does not bid us renounce property; but to manage property without inordinate affection; and on anything happening, not to be vexed or grieved; and not to desire to acquire. Divine Providence bids keep away from possession accompanied with passion, and from all inordinate affection, and from this turns back those still remaining in the flesh.

48. For instance, Peter says in the Apocalypse, that abortive infants shall share the better fate; that these are committed to a guardian angel, so that, on receiving knowledge, they may obtain the better abode, having had the same experiences which they would have had had they been in the body. But the others shall obtain salvation merely, as being injured and pitied, and remain without punishment, receiving this reward.

49. The milk of women, flowing from the breasts and thickening, says Peter in the Apocalypse, will produce minute beasts, that prey on flesh, and running back into them will consume them: teaching that punishments arise for sins. He says that they are produced from sins; as it was for their sins that the people were sold. And for their want of faith in Christ, as the apostle says, they were bitten by serpents.

50. An ancient said that the embryo is a living thing; for that the soul entering into the womb after it has been by cleansing prepared for conception, and introduced by one of the angels who preside over generation, and who knows the time for conception, moves the woman to intercourse; and that, on the seed being deposited, the spirit, which is in the seed, is, so to speak, appropriated, and is thus assumed into conjunction in the process of formation. He cited as a proof to all, how, when the angels give glad tidings to the barren, they introduce souls before conception. And in the Gospel “the babe leapt” as a living thing. And the barren are barren for this reason, that the soul, which unites for the deposit of the seed, is not introduced so as to secure conception and generation.

51. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” The heavens are taken in various meanings, both those defined by space and revolution, and those by covenant,–the immediate operation of the first-created angels. For the covenants caused a more especial appearance of angels,–that in the case of Adam, that in the case of Noah, that in the case of Abraham, that in the case of Moses. For, moved by the Lord, the first-created angels exercised their influence on the angels attached to the prophets, considering the covenants the glory of God. Furthermore, the things done on earth by angels were done by the first-created angels to the glory of God.

52. It is the Lord that is principally denominated the Heavens, and then the First-created; and after these also the holy men before the Law, as the patriarchs, and Moses, and the prophets; then also the apostles. “And the firmament showeth His handiwork.” He applies the term “firmament” to God, the passionless and immoveable, as also elsewhere the same David says, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength and my refuge.” Accordingly, the firmament itself shows forth the work of His hands,–that is, shows and manifests the work of His angels. For He shows forth and manifests those whom He hath made.

53. “Day unto day uttereth speech.” As the heavens have various meanings, so also has day. Now speech is the Lord; and He is also frequently called day. “And night unto night showeth forth knowledge.” The devil knew that the Lord was to come. But he did not believe that He was God; wherefore also he tempted Him, in order to know if He were powerful. It is said, “he left Him, and departed from Him for a season;” that is, he postponed the discovery till the resurrection. For he knew that He who was to rise was the Lord. Likewise also the demons; since also they suspected that Solomon was the Lord, and they knew that he was not so, on his sinning. “Night to night.” All the demons knew that He who rose after the passion was the Lord. And already Enoch had said, that the angels who transgressed taught men astronomy and divination, and the rest of the arts.

54. “There are no speeches or words whose voices are not heard,” neither of days nor nights. “Their sound is gone forth unto all the earth.” He has transferred the discourse to the saints alone, whom he calls both heavens and days.

55. The stars, spiritual bodies, that have communications with the angels set over them, and are governed by them, are not the cause of the production of things, but are signs of what is taking place, and will take place, and have taken place in the case of atmospheric changes, of fruitfulness and barrenness, of pestilence and fevers, and in the case of men. The stars do not in the least degree exert influences, but indicate what is, and will be, and has been.

56. “And in the sun hath He set His tabernacle.” There is a transposition here. For it is of the second coming that the discourse is. So, then, we must read what is transposed in its due sequence: “And he, as a bridegroom issuing from his chamber, will rejoice as a giant to run his way. From heaven’s end is his going forth; and there is no one who shall hide himself from his heat;” and then, “He hath set His tabernacle in the sun.”

Some say that He deposited the Lord’s body in the sun, as Hermogenes. And “His tabernacle,” some say, is His body, others the Church of the faithful.

Our Pantaenus used to say, that prophecy utters its expressions indefinitely for the most part, and uses the present for the future, and again the present for the past. Which is also seen here. For “He hath set” is put both for the past and the future. For the future, because, on the completion of this period, which is to run according to its present constitution, the Lord will come to restore the righteous, the faithful, in whom He rests, as in a tent, to one and the same unity; for all are one body, of the same race, and have chosen the same faith and righteousness. But sortie as head, some as eyes, some as ears, some as hands, some as breasts, some as feet, shall be set, resplendent, in the sun. “Shine forth as the sun,” or in the sun; since an angel high in command is in the sun. For he is appointed for rule over days; as the moon is for ruling over night. Now angels are called days. Along with the angels in the sun, it is said, they shall have assigned to them one abode, to be for some time and in some respects the sun, as it were the head of the body which is one. And, besides, they also are the rulers of the days, as that angel in the sun, for the greater purpose for which he before them migrated to the same place. And again destined to ascend progressively, they reach the first abode, in accordance with the past “He hath set:” so that the first-created angels shall no longer, according to providence, exercise a definite ministry, but may be in repose, and devoted to the contemplation of God alone; while those next to them shall be promoted to the post which they have left; and so those beneath them similarly.

57. There are then, according to the apostle, those on the summit, the first-created. And they are thrones, although Powers, being the first-created, inasmuch as God rests in them, as also in those who believe. For each one, according to his own stage of advancement possesses the knowledge of God in a way special to himself; and in this knowledge God reposes, those who possess knowledge being made immortal by knowledge. And is not “He set His tabernacle in the sun” to be understood thus? God “set in the sun,” that is, in the God who is beside Him, as in the Gospel, Eli, Eli, instead of my God, my God. And what is above all rule, and authority, and power, and every name that is named,” are those from among men that are made perfect as angels and archangels, so as to rise to the nature of the angels first-created. For those who are changed from men to angels are instructed for a thousand years by the angels after they are brought to perfection. Then those who have taught are translated to archangelic authority; and those who have learned instruct those again who from men are changed to angels. Thus afterwards, in the prescribed periods, they are brought to the proper angelic state of the body.

58. “The law of God is perfect, converting souls.” The Saviour Himself is called Law and Word, as Peter in “the Preaching,” and the prophet: “Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

59. “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making children wise.” The covenant of the Lord is true, making wise children; those free from evil, both the apostles, and then also us. Besides, the testimony of the Lord, according to which He rose again after His passion, having been verified by fact, led the Church to confirmation in faith.

60. “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever.” He says that those who have been turned from fear to faith and righteousness endure for ever. “The judgments of the Lord are true,”–sure, and incapable of being overturned; and giving rewards according to what is right, bringing the righteous to the unity of the faith. For this is shown in the words, “justified for the same.” “Such desires are above gold and precious stone.”

61. “For also Thy servant keeps them.” Not that David alone is called servant; but the whole people saved is called the servant of God, in virtue of obedience to the command.

62. “Cleanse me from my secret faults;”–thoughts contrary to right reason–defects. For He calls this foreign to the righteous man.

63. “If they have not dominion over me, then shall I be innocent.” If those who persecute me as they did the Lord, do not have dominion over me, I shall not be innocent. For no one becomes a martyr unless he is persecuted; nor appears righteous, unless, being wronged, he takes no revenge; nor forbearing …

The Apocalypse of Zephaniah

After 100 B.C. & Before A.D. 70

Clement, Stromata 5.11.77

The scene in the fifth heaven.

A And a spirit took me and brought me up into the fifth heaven. And I saw angels who are called “lords.” And the diadem was set upon them in the Holy Spirit, and the throne of each of them was sevenfold more (brilliant) than the light of the rising sun. (And they were dwelling in the temples of salvation and singing hymns to the ineffable God.)

Sahidic fragment

The seer’s vision of a soul in torment.

B₁I saw a soul which five thousand angels punished and guarded. ₂They took it to the East and they brought it to the West. They beat its … they gave it a hundred … lashes for each one daily. ₃I was afraid and I cast myself upon my face so that my joints dissolved. ₄The angel helped me. He said unto me, “Be strong, O one who will triumph, and prevail so that thou wilt triumph over the accuser and thou wilt come up from Hades.” ₅And after I arose I said, “Who is this whom they are punishing?” ₆He said unto me, “This is a soul which was found in its lawlessness.” And before it attained to repenting it was visited, and taken out of its body. ₇Truly, I, Zephaniah, saw these things in my vision.

The scene in a broad place.

₈And the angel of the Lord went with me. I saw a great broad place, thousands of thousands surrounded it on its left side and myriads of myriads on its right side. The form of each one was different. ₉Their hair was loose like that belonging to women. Their teeth were like the teeth of …

Akhmimic Text

Fragment dealing with burial.

1₁ … dead. We will bury him like any man. ₂Whenever he dies, we will carry him out playing the cithera before him and chanting psalms and odes over his body.

SCenes from above the seer’s city.

2₁Now I went with the angel of the Lord, and he took me up (over) all my city. There was nothing before my eyes. ₂Then I saw two men walking together on one road. I watched them as they talked. ₃And, moreover, I also saw two women grinding together at a mill. And I watched them as they talked. ₄And I also saw two upon a bed, each one of them acting for their (mutual) … upon a bed. ₅And I saw the whole inhabited world hanging like a drop of water which is suspended from a bucket when it comes up from a well. ₆I said unto the angel of the Lord. “Then does not darkness or night exist in this place?” ₇He said unto me, “No, because darkness existeth not in that place where the righteous and the saints are, but rather they always exist in the light.”

₈And I saw all the souls of men as they existed in punishment. ₉And I cried out to the Lord Almighty, “O God, if Thou remainest with the saints, Thou (certainly) hast compassion on behalf of the world and the souls which are in this punishment.”

REcording angels from Mount Seir.

3 ₁The angel of the Lord said unto me, “Come, let me show thee the place of righteousness.” ₂And he took me up upon Mount Seir and he showed me three men, as two angels walked with them rejoicing and exulting over them. ₃I said to the angel, “Of what sort are these?” ₄He said to me, “These are the three sons of Joatham, the priest, who neither kept the commandment of their father nor observed the ordinances of the Lord.”

₅Then I saw two other angels weeping over the three sons of Joatham, the priest. ₆I said, “O angel, who are these?” He said, “These are the angels of the Lord Almighty. They write down all the good deeds of the righteous upon their scrolls as they watch at the gate of heaven.” ₇And I take them from their hands and bring them up before the Lord Almighty; He writeth their name in the Book of the Living. ₈Also the angels of the accuser who is upon the earth, they also write down all the sins of men upon their scrolls. ₉They also sit at the gate of heaven. They tell the accuser and he writeth them upon his scroll so that he might accuse them when they come out of the world (and go) down there.”

Ugly angels carry off the souls of ungodly men.

4 ₁Then I walked with the angel of the Lord. I looked before me and I saw a place there. ₂Thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of angels entered through it. ₃Their faces were like a leopard, their tusks being outside their mouth like wild boars. ₄Their eyes were mixed with blood. Their hair was loose like the hair of women, and fiery scourges were in their hands. ₅When I saw them, I was afraid. I said unto that angel who walked with me, “Of what sort are these?” ₆He said unto me, “These are the servants of all creation who come to the souls of ungodly men and bring them and leave them in this place. ₇They spend three days going around with them in the air before they bring them and cast them into their eternal punishment.”

₈I said, “I beseech thee, O Lord, give them not authority to come to me.” ₉The angel said, “Fear not. I will not permit them to come to thee because thou art pure before the Lord. I will not permit them to come to thee because the Lord Almighty sent me unto thee because <thou> are pure before him.” ₁₀Then he beckoned to them, and they withdrew themselves and they ran from me.

The heavenly city.

5 ₁But I went with the angel of the Lord, and I looked in front of me and I saw gates. ₂Then when I approached them I discovered that they were bronze gates. ₃The angel touched them and they opened before him. I entered with him and found its whole square like a beautiful city, and I walked in its midst. ₄Then the angel of the Lord transformed himself beside me in that place.

₅Now I looked at them, and I discovered that they were bronze gates and bronze bolts and iron bars. ₆Now my mouth was shut therein. I beheld the bronze gates in front of me as fire was being cast forth for about fifty stadia.

The accuser and the angel Eremiel in Hades.

6₁Again I turned back and walked, and I saw a great sea. ₂But I thought that it was a sea of water. I discovered that it was entirely a sea of flame like a slime which casteth forth much flame and whose waves burn sulfur and bitumen. ₃They began to approach me.

₄Then I thought that the Lord Almighty had come to visit me. ₅Then when I saw, I fell upon my face before him in order that I might worship him. ₆I was very much afraid, and I entreated him that he might save me from this distress. ₇I cried out, saying, “Eloe, Lord, Adonai, Sabaoth. I beseech Thee to save me from this distress because it hath befallen me.”

₈In that same instant I stood up, and I saw a great angel before me. His hair was spread out like that of lionesses’. His teeth were outside his mouth like a bear. His hair was spread out like women’s. His body was like the serpent’s when he wished to swallow me. ₉And when I saw him, I was afraid of him so that all the parts of my body were loosened and I fell upon my face. ₁₀I was unable to stand, and I prayed before the Lord Almighty, “Thou wilt save me from this distress. Thou art the one who saved Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Thou saved Susanna from the hand of the elders of injustice. Thou saved the three holy men, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, from the furnace of burning fire. I beg you to save me from this distress.”

₁₁Then I arose and stood, and I saw a great angel standing before me with his face shining like the rays of the sun in its glory since his face is like that which is perfected in its glory. ₁₂And he was girded as if a golden girdle were upon his breast. His feet were like bronze which is melted in a fire. ₁₃And when I saw him, I rejoiced, for I thought that the Lord Almighty had come to visit me. ₁₄I fell upon my face, and I worshiped him. ₁₅He said to me, “Take heed. Worship me not. I am not the Lord Almighty, but am the great angel, Eremiel, who is over the abyss and Hades, the one in which all of the souls are imprisoned from the end of the Flood, which came upon the earth, until this day.”

₁₆Then I inquired of the angel, “What is the place to which I have come?” He said to me, “It is Hades.” ₁₇Then I asked him, “Who is the great angel who stands thus, whom I saw?” He said, “This is the one who accuses men in the presence of the Lord.”

The two scrolls.

7₁Then I looked, and I saw him with a scroll in his hand. He began to unroll it. ₂Now after he had spread it out, I read it in my (own) language. I found that all my sins which I had done were written in it, those which I had done from my youth until this day. ₃They were all written upon that scroll of mine without there being a false word in them. ₄If I did not go to visit a sick man or a widow, I found it written down as a shortcoming upon my manuscript. ₅If I did not visit an orphan, it was found written down as a shortcoming on my scroll. ₆A day on which I did not fast (or) pray in the time of prayer I found written down as a failing upon my scroll. ₇And a day when I did not turn to the sons of Israel — since it is a shortcoming — I found written down upon my scroll ₈so that I threw myself upon my face and prayed before the Lord Almighty, “May thy mercy reach me and may thou wipe out my scroll because Thy mercy hath come to be in every place and hath filled every place.”

₉Then I arose and stood, and I saw a great angel before me saying to me, “Triumph, prevail because thou hast prevailed and hast triumphed over the accuser, and thou hast come up from Hades and the abyss. Thou wilt now cross over the crossing place.”

₁₀Again he brought another scroll which was written by hand. ₁₁He began to unroll it, and I read it, and found it written in my (own) language …

Leaving Hades.

two pages missing (In the missing pages the author probably discussed the content of the second scroll, which should have recorded the good deeds of the seer. If the missing material is parallel to the preceding section, the reading of the scroll would be followed by a prayer — possibly a prayer of thanksgiving — and a pronouncement of triumph by a great angel. That would be followed by preparations for crossing over the river in a journey out of Hades. The section that follows begins after the arrival of a boat.)

8 … ₁They helped me and set me on that boat. ₂Thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of angels gave praise before me. ₃I, myself, put on an angelic garment. I saw all of those angels praying. ₄I, myself, prayed together with them. ₅I knew their language, which they spoke with me. ₆Now, moreover, my sons, this is the trial because it is necessary that the good and the evil be weighed in a balance.

The 1st trumpet: triumph & visitation of the righteous.

9₁Then a great angel came forth having a golden trumpet in his hand, and he blew it three times over my head, saying, “Be courageous! O one who hath triumphed. Prevail! O one who hath prevailed. For thou hast triumphed over the accuser, and thou hast escaped from the abyss and Hades. ₂Thou wilt now cross over the crossing place. For thy name is written in the Book of the Living.” ₃I wanted to embrace him, (but) I was unable to embrace the great angel because his glory is great.

₄Then he ran to all the righteous ones, namely, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Enoch and Elijah and David. ₅He spoke with them as friend to friend speaking one with another.

A 2nd trumpet: opening of heaven & souls in torment.

10₁Then the great angel came to me with the golden trumpet in his hand, and he blew it up unto heaven. ₂Heaven opened from the place where the sun rises to where it sets, from the north to the south. ₃I saw the sea which I had seen at the bottom of Hades. Its waves came up to the clouds. ₄I saw all the souls sinking in it. I saw some whose hands were bound to their neck, with their hands and feet being fettered. ₅I said, “Who are these?” He said unto me, “These are the ones who were bribed and they were given gold and silver until the souls of men were led astray.” ₆And I saw others covered with mats of fire. ₇I said, “Who are these?” He said unto me, “These are the ones who give money at interest, and they receive interest for interest.” ₈And I also saw some blind ones crying out. And I was amazed when I saw all these works of God. ₉I said, “Who are these?” He said unto me, “These are catechumens who heard the word of God, but they were not perfected in the work which they heard.” ₁₀And I said unto him, “Then have they not repentance here?” He said, “Yes,” ₁₁I said, “How long?” He said unto me, “Until the day when the Lord will judge.” ₁₂And I saw others with their hair on them. ₁₃I said, “Then there is hair and body in this place?” ₁₄He said, “Yes, the Lord gives body and hair to them as he desires.”

The intercession of the saints for those in torment.

11₁And I also saw multitudes. He brought them forth. ₂As they looked at all of the torments they called out, praying before the Lord Almighty, saying, “We pray unto Thee on account of those who are in all these torments so that Thou might have mercy on all of them.” ₃And when I saw them, I said to the angel who spoke with me, “<Who are these?>” ₄He said, “These who beseech the Lord are Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. ₅Then at a certain hour daily they come forth with the great angel. He soundeth a trumpet up unto heaven and another soundeth upon the earth. ₆All the righteous hear the sound. They come running, praying to the Lord Almighty daily on behalf of these who are in all these torments.”

Another trumpet: the coming wrath of God.

12₁And again the great angel cometh forth with the golden trumpet in his hand blowing over the earth. ₂They hear (it) from the place of the sunrise to the place of the sunset and from the southern regions to the northern regions. ₃And again he blows (it) up unto heaven and its sound is heard. ₄I said, “O Lord, why left thou me not until I saw them all?” ₅He said unto me, “I have not authority to show them unto thee until the Lord Almighty riseth up in his wrath to destroy the earth and the heavens. ₆They will see and be disturbed, and they will all cry out, saying, ‘All flesh which is ascribed to Thee we will give unto Thee on the day of the Lord.’ ₇Who will stand in His presence when He riseth in His wrath <to destroy> the earth <and the heavens?> ₈Every tree which groweth upon the earth will be plucked up with its roots and fall down. And every high tower and the birds which fly will fall … ”

four pages missing

Eupolemus

From Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.21:

Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ Πολυΐστωρ ἐπικληθεὶς ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἰουδαίων συγγράμματι ἀνέγραψέν τινας ἐπιστολὰς Σολομῶνος μὲν πρός τε Οὐάφρην τὸν Αἰγύπτου βασιλέα πρός τε τὸν Φοινίκης Τυρίων τάς τε αὐτῶν πρὸς Σολομῶντα, καθ᾽ ἃς δείκνυται ὁ μὲν Οὐάφρης ὀκτὼ μυριάδας ἀνδρῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀπεσταλκέναι αὐτῷ εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ νεώ, ἅτερος δὲ τὰς ἴσας σὺν ἀρχιτέκτονι Τυρίῳ ἐκ μητρὸς Ἰουδαίας ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Δαβίδ, ὡς ἐκεῖ γέγραπται, Ὑπέρων τοὔνομα. ….

And Alexander, surnamed Polyhistor, in his work on the Jews, has transcribed some letters of Solomon to Vaphres king of Egypt, and to the king of the Phoenicians at Tyre, and theirs to Solomon; in which it is shown that Vaphres sent eighty thousand Egyptian men to him for the building of the temple, and the other as many, along with a Tyrian artificer, the son of a Jewish mother, of the tribe of Dan, as is there written, of the name of Hyperon. ….

Ἔτι δὲ καὶ Εὐπόλεμος ἐν τῇ ὁμοίᾳ πραγματείᾳ τὰ πάντα ἔτη φησὶν ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ ἄχρι τοῦ πέμπτου ἔτους Δημητρίου βασιλείας Πτολεμαίου τὸ δωδέκατον βασιλεύοντος Αἰγύπτου συνάγεσθαι ἔτη, ερμθ ́. ἀφ᾽ οὗ δὲ χρόνου ἐξήγαγε Μωυσῆς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐπὶ τὴν προειρημένην προθεσμίαν συνάγεσθαι ἔτη {δισ}χίλια πεντακόσια ὀγδοήκοντα. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τούτου ἄχρι τῶν ἐν Ῥώμῃ ὑπάτων Γναίου Δομετίου καὶ Ἀσινίου συναθροίζεται ἔτη ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι.

Besides, Eupolemus, in a similar work, says that all the years from Adam to the fifth year of Ptolemy Demetrius, who reigned twelve years in Egypt, when added, amount to five thousand a hundred and forty-nine; and from the time that Moses brought out the Jews from Egypt to the above-mentioned date, there are, in all, two thousand five hundred and eighty years. And from this time till the consulship in Rome of Caius Domitian and Casian, a hundred and twenty years are computed.

From Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.23:

Εὐπόλεμος δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ βασιλέων τὸν Μωυσῆ φησι πρῶτον σοφὸν γενέσθαι καὶ γραμματικὴν πρῶτον τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις παραδοῦναι καὶ παρὰ Ἰουδαίων Φοίνικας παραλαβεῖν, Ἕλληνας δὲ παρὰ Φοινίκων.

And Eupolemus, in his book on the kings in Judea, says that “Moses was the first wise man, and the first that imparted grammar to the Jews, that the Phoenicians received it from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phoenicians.”

From Eusebius, Preparation 9.17-18:

Συνᾴδει δὲ τούτοις καὶ ὁ Πολυΐστωρ Ἀλέξανδρος, πολύνους ὢν καὶ πολυμαθὴς ἀνὴρ τοῖς τε μὴ πάρεργον τὸν ἀπὸ παιδείας καρπὸν πεποιημένοις Ἕλλησι γνωριμώτατος, ὃς ἐν τῇ Περὶ Ἰουδαίων συντάξει τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἁβραὰμ τοῦτον ἱστορεῖ κατὰ λέξιν τὸν τρόπον· «Εὐπόλεμος δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἰουδαίων τῆς Ἀσσυρίας φησὶ πόλιν Βαβυλῶνα πρῶτον μὲν κτισθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν διασωθέντων ἐκ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ· εἶναι δὲ αὐτοὺς γίγαντας, οἰκοδομεῖν δὲ τὸν ἱστορούμενον πύργον. Πεσόντος δὲ τούτου ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας τοὺς γίγαντας διασπαρῆναι καθ’ ὅλην τὴν γῆν. Δεκάτῃ δὲ γενεᾷ, φησίν, ἐν πόλει τῆς Βαβυλωνίας Καμαρίνῃ, ἥν τινας λέγειν πόλιν Οὐρίην εἶναι δὲ μεθερμηνευομένην Χαλδαίων πόλιν, ἢ ἐν τρισκαιδεκάτῃ γενέσθαι Ἁβραὰμ γενεᾷ, εὐγενείᾳ καὶ σοφίᾳ πάντας ὑπερβεβηκότα, ὃν δὴ καὶ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν καὶ Χαλδαϊκὴν εὑρεῖν ἐπί τε τὴν εὐσέβειαν ὁρμήσαντα εὐαρεστῆσαι τῷ θεῷ. Τοῦτον δὲ διὰ τὰ προστάγματα τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς Φοινίκην ἐλθόντα κατοικῆσαι, καὶ τροπὰς ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα διδάξαντα τοὺς Φοίνικας εὐαρεστῆσαι τῷ βασιλεῖ αὐτῶν. Ὕστερον δὲ Ἀρμενίους ἐπιστρατεῦσαι τοῖς Φοίνιξι· νικησάντων δὲ καὶ αἰχμαλωτισαμένων τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἁβραὰμ μετὰ οἰκετῶν βοηθήσαντα ἐγκρατῆ γενέσθαι τῶν αἰχμαλωτισαμένων καὶ τῶν πολεμίων αἰχμαλωτίσαι τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας. Πρέσβεων δὲ παραγενομένων πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅπως χρήματα λαβὼν ἀπολυτρώσῃ ταῦτα, μὴ προελέσθαι τοῖς δυστυχοῦσιν ἐπεμβαίνειν, ἀλλὰ τὰς τροφὰς λαβόντα τῶν νεανίσκων ἀποδοῦναι τὰ αἰχμάλωτα ξενισθῆναί τε αὐτὸν ὑπὸ πόλεως ἱερὸν Ἀργαριζίν, ὃ εἶναι μεθερμηνευόμενον ὄρος ὑψίστου· παρὰ δὲ τοῦ Μελχισεδὲκ ἱερέως ὄντος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ βασιλεύοντος λαβεῖν δῶρα. Λιμοῦ δὲ γενομένου τὸν Ἁβραὰμ ἀπαλλαγῆναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον πανοικίᾳ κἀκεῖ κατοικεῖν τήν τε γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων γῆμαι, φάντος αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὴν εἶναι. Περισσότερον δ’ ἱστόρησεν ὅτι οὐκ ἠδύνατο αὐτῇ συγγενέσθαι καὶ ὅτι συνέβη φθείρεσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸν λαὸν καὶ τὸν οἶκον, μάντεις δὲ αὐτοῦ καλέσαντος τούτους φάναι μὴ εἶναι χήραν τὴν γυναῖκα· τὸν δὲ βασιλέα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων οὕτως ἐπιγνῶναι ὅτι γυνὴ ἦν τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ καὶ ἀποδοῦναι αὐτὴν τῷ ἀνδρί. Συζήσαντα δὲ τὸν Ἁβραὰμ ἐν Ἡλιουπόλει τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων ἱερεῦσι πολλὰ μεταδιδάξαι αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν ἀστρολογίαν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦτον αὐτοῖς εἰση γήσασθαι, φάμενον Βαβυλωνίους ταῦτα καὶ αὑτὸν εὑρηκέναι, τὴν δὲ εὕρεσιν αὐτῶν εἰς Ἐνὼχ ἀναπέμπειν, καὶ τοῦτον εὑρηκέναι πρῶτον τὴν ἀστρολογίαν, οὐκ Αἰγυπτίους. Βαβυλωνίους γὰρ λέγειν πρῶτον γενέσθαι Βῆλον, ὃν εἶναι Κρόνον· ἐκ τούτου δὲ γενέσθαι Βῆλον καὶ Χαναάν, τοῦτον δὲ τὸν Χαναὰν γεννῆσαι τὸν πατέρα τῶν Φοινίκων, τούτου δὲ Χοὺμ υἱὸν γενέσθαι, ὃν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων λέγεσθαι Ἄσβολον, πατέρα δὲ Αἰθιόπων, ἀδελφὸν δὲ τοῦ Μεστραείμ, πατρὸς Αἰγυπτίων· Ἕλληνας δὲ λέγειν τὸν Ἄτλαντα εὑρηκέναι ἀστρολογίαν, εἶναι δὲτὸν Ἄτλαντα τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ Ἐνώχ· τοῦ δὲ Ἐνὼχ γενέσθαι υἱὸν Μαθουσάλαν,ὃν πάντα δι’ ἀγγέλων θεοῦ γνῶναι καὶ ἡμᾶς οὕτως ἐπιγνῶναι.»

And with this agrees also Alexander Polyhistor, a man of great intellect and much learning, and very well known to those Greeks who have gathered the fruits of education in no perfunctory manner: for in his compilation concerning the Jews he records the history of this man Abraham in the following manner word for word: “Eupolemus in his book concerning the Jews of Assyria says that the city Babylon was first founded by those who escaped from the Deluge; and that they were giants, and built the tower renowned in history. But when this had been overthrown by the act of God, the giants were dispersed over the whole earth. And in the tenth generation, he says, in Camarina a city of Babylonia, which some call the city Uria (and which is by interpretation the city of the Chaldees), in the thirteenth generation, Abraham was born, who surpassed all men in nobility and wisdom, who was also the inventor of astronomy and the Chaldaic art, and pleased God well by his zeal towards religion. By reason of God’s commands this man came and dwelt in Phoenicia, and pleased their king by teaching the Phoenicians the changes of the sun and moon and all things of that kind. And afterwards the Armenians invaded the Phoenicians; and when they had been victorious, and had taken his nephew prisoner, Abraham came to the rescue with his servants, and prevailed over the captors, and made prisoners of the wives and children of the enemy. And when there came to him ambassadors asking that he would ransom them for money, he did not choose to trample upon the unfortunate, but on receiving food for his young men restored the booty; he was also admitted as a guest into the temple of the city called Argarizin, which being interpreted is “Mount of the Most High,” and received gifts from Melchizedek, who was the king, and the priest of God. But when there came a famine Abraham removed into Egypt with all his household, and dwelt there, and the king of Egypt took his wife in marriage, Abraham having said that she was his sister. He also related fully that the king was unable to consort with her, and that it came to pass that his people and his household were perishing. And when he had called for the soothsayers, they said that the woman was not a widow; and thus the king of Egypt learned that she was Abraham’s wife, and gave her back to her husband. And Abraham dwelt with the Egyptian priests in Heliopolis and taught them many things; and it was he who introduced astronomy and the other sciences to them, saying that the Babylonians and himself had found these things out, but tracing back the first discovery to Enoch, and saying that he, and not the Egyptians, had first invented astrology.For the Babylonians say that the first man was Belus, who is Kronos; and that of him was born a son Belus, and Chanaan; and that this Chanaan begat the father of the Phoenicians, and that his son was Churn, who is called by the Greeks Asbolus, and is father of the Aethiopians, and a brother of Mestraim the father of the Egyptians. But the Greeks say that Atlas invented astrology, and that Atlas is the same as Enoch: and that Enoch had a son Methuselah, who learned all things through angels of God, and thus we gained our knowledge.”

…. Ἐν δὲ ἀδεσπότοις εὕρομεν τὸν Ἁβραὰμ ἀναφέροντα εἰς τοὺς γίγαντας, τούτους δὲ οἰκοῦντας ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἀναιρεθῆναι, ὧν ἕνα Βῆλον ἐκφεύγοντα τὸν θάνατον ἐν Βαβυλῶνι κατοικῆσαι πύργον τε κατασκευάσαντα ἐν αὐτῷ διαιτᾶσθαι, ὃν δὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος Βήλου Βῆλον ὀνομασθῆναι. τὸν δὲ Ἅβραμον τὴν ἀστρολογικὴν ἐπιστήμην παιδευθέντα πρῶτον μὲν ἐλθεῖν εἰς Φοινίκην καὶ τοὺς Φοίνικας ἀστρολογίαν διδάξαι, ὕστερον δὲ εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραγενέσθαι.

…. In certain anonymous works, however, we found that Abraham traced back his origin to the giants, and that they dwelling in Babylonia were destroyed by the gods for their impiety; but that one of them, named Belus, escaped death and settled in Babylon, and lived in a tower which he had built, and which was called Belus from the Belus who built it: and that Abraham having been instructed in the science of astrology came first into Phoenicia, and taught astrology to the Phoenicians, and afterwards passed on into Egypt.

[This entire passage is not actually from Eupolemus, and its probably Samaritan author is known to scholars only as pseudo-Eupolemus.]

From Eusebius, Preparation 9.25-26:

Τοσαῦτα καὶ περὶ τούτων ὁ Πολυΐστωρ. Καὶ περὶ Μωσέως δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς πλεῖστα παρατίθεται, ὧν καὶ αὐτῶν ἐπακοῦσαι ἄξιον· Εὐπόλεμος δέ φησι τὸν Μωσῆν πρῶτον σοφὸν γενέσθαι καὶ γράμματα παραδοῦναι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις πρῶτον, παρὰ δὲ Ἰουδαίων Φοίνικας παραλαβεῖν, Ἕλληνας δὲ παρὰ Φοινίκων, νόμους τε πρῶτον γράψαι Μωσῆν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις.

So much says Polyhistor on this subject. And concerning Moses the same author again brings forward many things, which are worth hearing: “But Eupolemus says that the first wise man was Moses, and that he was the first to teach the Jews letters, and from the Jews the Phoenicians received them, and from the Phoenicians the Greeks, and that Moses was the first to give written laws to the Jews.”

From Eusebius, Preparation 9.30-34:

Εὐπόλεμος δέ φησιν ἔν τινι Περὶ τῆς Ἠλίου προφητείας Μωσῆν προφητεῦσαι ἔτη μ ́· εἶτα Ἰησοῦν, τὸν τοῦ Ναυῆ υἱόν, ἔτη λ ́· βιῶσαι δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἔτη ρι ́ πῆξαί τε τὴν ἱερὰν σκηνὴν ἐν Σιλοῖ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα προφήτην γενέσθαι Σαμουήλ. εἶτα τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ βουλήσει ὑπὸ Σαμουὴλ Σαοῦλον βασιλέα αἱρεθῆναι, ἄρξαντα δὲ ἔτη κα ́ τελευτῆσαι. εἶτα Δαβὶδ τὸν τούτου υἱὸν δυναστεῦσαι, ὃν καταστρέψασθαι Σύρους τοὺς παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην οἰκοῦντας ποταμὸν καὶ τὴν Κομμαγηνὴν καὶ τοὺς ἐν Γαλαδηνῇ Ἀσσυρίους καὶ Φοίνικας. στρατεῦσαι δ᾽ αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπὶ Ἰδουμαίους καὶ Ἀμμανίτας καὶ Μωαβίτας καὶ Ἰτουραίους καὶ Ναβαταίους καὶ Ναβδαίους, αὖθις δὲ ἐπιστρατεῦσαι ἐπὶ Σούρωνα βασιλέα Τύρου καὶ Φοινίκης· οὓς καὶ ἀναγκάσαι φόρους Ἰουδαίοις ὑποτελεῖν· πρός τε Οὐαφρῆν τὸν Αἰγύπτιον βασιλέα φιλίαν συνθέσθαι. βουλόμενόν τε τὸν Δαβὶδ οἰκοδομῆσαι ἱερὸν τῷ θεῷ ἀξιοῦν τὸν θεὸν τόπον αὐτῷ δεῖξαι τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. ἔνθα δὴ ἄγγελον αὐτῷ ὀφθῆναι ἑστῶτα ἐπάνω τοῦ τόπου, οὗ τὸν βωμὸν ἱδρῦσθαι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, καὶ κελεύειν αὐτὸν μὴ ἱδρύ{ε}σθαι τὸ ἱερόν, διὰ τὸ αἵματι ἀνθρωπίνῳ πεφύρθαι καὶ πολλὰ ἔτη πεπολεμηκέναι· εἶναι δ᾽ αὐτῷ ὄνομα Διαναθάν· προστάξαι τε αὐτῷ τοῦτον ὅπως τῷ υἱῷ ἐπιτρέψῃ τὴν οἰκοδομίαν, αὐτὸν δὲ εὐτρεπίζειν τὰ πρὸς τὴν κατασκευὴν ἀνήκοντα, χρυσίον, ἀργύριον, χαλκόν, λίθους, ξύλα κυπαρίσσινα καὶ κέδρινα. ἀκούσαντα δὲ τὸν Δαβὶδ πλοῖα ναυπηγήσασθαι ἐν Ἐλάνοις πόλει τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ πέμψαι μεταλλευτὰς εἰς τὴν Οὐφρῆ νῆσον, κειμένην ἐν τῇ Ἐρυθρᾷ Θαλάσσῃ, μέταλλα χρυσικὰ ἔχουσαν· καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ἐκεῖθεν μετακομίσαι τοὺς μεταλλευτὰς εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν. βασιλεύσαντα δὲ τὸν Δαβὶδ ἔτη μ ́ Σολομῶνι τῷ υἱῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν παραδοῦναι, ὄντι ἐτῶν ιβ ́, ἐνώπιον Ἠλεὶ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ τῶν δώδεκα φυλάρχων καὶ παραδοῦναι αὐτῷ τόν τε χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ χαλκὸν καὶ λίθον καὶ ξύλα κυπαρίσσινα καὶ κέδρινα. καὶ αὐτὸν μὲν τελευτῆσαι, Σολομῶνα δὲ βασιλεύειν καὶ γράψαι πρὸς Οὐαφρῆν τὸν Αἰγύπτου βασιλέα τὴν ὑπογεγραμμένην ἐπιστολήν. Βασιλεὺς Σολομῶν Οὐαφρῇ βασιλεῖ Αἰγύπτου φίλῳ πατρικῷ χαίρειν Γίνωσκέ με παρειληφότα τὴν βασιλείαν παρὰ Δαβὶδ τοῦ πατρὸς διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ μεγίστου, [καὶ] ἐπιτεταχότος μοι οἰκοδομῆσαι ἱερὸν τῷ θεῷ, ὃς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἔκτισεν, ἅμα δέ σοι γράψαι ἀποστεῖλαί μοι τῶν παρὰ σοῦ λαῶν, οἳ παραστήσονταί μοι μέχρι τοῦ ἐπιτελέσαι πάντα κατὰ τὴν χρείαν, καθότι ἐπιτέτακται. Βασιλεὺς Οὐαφρῆς Σολομῶνι βασιλεῖ μεγάλῳ χαίρειν Ἅμα τῷ ἀναγνῶναι τὴν παρὰ σοῦ ἐπιστολὴν σφόδρα ἐχάρην καὶ λαμπρὰν ἡμέραν ἤγαγον ἐγώ τε καὶ ἡ δύναμίς μου πᾶσα ἐπὶ τῷ παρειληφέναι σε τὴν βασιλείαν παρὰ χρηστοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ δεδοκιμασμένου ὑπὸ τηλικούτου θεοῦ. περὶ δὲ ὧν γράφεις μοι, περὶ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς λαοὺς τοὺς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἀπέσταλκά σοι μυριάδας ὀκτώ, ὧν καὶ τὰ πλήθη ἐξ ὧν εἰσι διασεσάφηκά σοι· ἐκ μὲν τοῦ Σεβριθίτου νομοῦ μυρίους, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Μενδησίου καὶ Σεβεννύτου δισμυρίους· Βουσιρίτου, Λεοντοπολίτου καὶ Ἀθριβίτου ἀνὰ μυρίους. φρόντισον δὲ καὶ τὰ δέοντα αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὅπως εὐτακτῇ, καὶ ἵνα ἀποκατασταθῶσιν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν, ὡς ἂν ἀπὸ τῆς χρείας γενόμενοι. Βασιλεὺς Σολομῶν Σούρωνι τῷ βασιλεῖ Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος καὶ Φοινίκης φίλῳ πατρικῷ χαίρειν Γίνωσκέ με παρειληφότα τὴν βασιλείαν παρὰ Δαβὶδ τοῦ πατρὸς διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ μεγίστου, ἐπιτεταχότος μοι οἰκοδομῆσαι ἱερὸν τῷ θεῷ, ὃς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἔκτισεν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ σοὶ γράψαι ἀποστεῖλαί μοι τῶν παρὰ σοῦ λαῶν, οἳ συμπαραστήσονται ἡμῖν μέχρι τοῦ ἐπιτελέσαι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ χρείαν, καθότι μοι ἐπιτέτακται. γέγραφα δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν καὶ Σαμαρεῖτιν καὶ Μωαβῖτιν καὶ Ἀμμανῖτιν καὶ Γαλαδῖτιν χορηγεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς τὰ δέοντα ἐκ τῆς χώρας, κατὰ μῆνα κόρους σίτου μυρίους· ὁ δὲ κόρος ἐστὶν ἀρταβῶν ἕξ· καὶ οἴνου κόρους μυρίους· ὁ δὲ κόρος τοῦ οἴνου ἐστὶ μέτρα δέκα. τὸ δὲ ἔλαιον καὶ τὰ ἄλλα χορηγηθήσεται αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἱερεῖα δὲ εἰς κρεωφαγίαν ἐκ τῆς Ἀραβίας. Σούρων Σολομῶνι βασιλεῖ μεγάλῳ χαίρειν Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεός, ὃς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἔκτισεν, ὃς εἵλετο ἄνθρωπον χρηστὸν ἐκ χρηστοῦ ἀνδρός· ἅμα τῷ ἀναγνῶναι τὴν παρὰ σοῦ ἐπιστολὴν σφόδρα ἐχάρην καὶ εὐλόγησα τὸν θεὸν ἐπὶ τῷ παρειληφέναι σὲ τὴν βασιλείαν. περὶ δὲ ὧν γράφεις μοι, περὶ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς λαοὺς τοὺς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἀπέσταλκά σοι Τυρίων καὶ Φοινίκων ὀκτακισμυρίους καὶ ἀρχιτέκτονά σοι ἀπέσταλκα ἄνθρωπον Τύριον, ἐκ μητρὸς Ἰουδαίας, ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τῆς Δαβίδ. ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν αὐτὸν ἐρωτήσῃς τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν πάντων κατ᾽ ἀρχιτεκτονίαν, ὑφηγήσεταί σοι καὶ ποιήσει. περὶ δὲ τῶν δεόντων καὶ ἀποστελλομένων σοι παίδων καλῶς ποιήσεις ἐπιστείλας τοῖς κατὰ τόπον ἐπάρχοις, ὅπως χορηγῆται τὰ δέοντα. Διελθὼν δὲ Σολομῶν, ἔχων τοὺς πατρικοὺς φίλους, ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ τοῦ Λιβάνου μετὰ τῶν Σιδωνίων καὶ Τυρίων, μετήνεγκε τὰ ξύλα τὰ προκεκομμένα ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης εἰς Ἰόππην, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πεζῇ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα. καὶ ἄρξασθαι οἰκοδομεῖν τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, ὄντα ἐτῶν τρισκαίδεκα, ἐργάζεσθαι δὲ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ προειρημένα καὶ φυλὰς δώδεκα τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ παρέχειν ταῖς ἑκκαίδεκα μυριάσι τὰ δέοντα πάντα, κατὰ μῆνα φυλὴν μίαν. θεμελιῶσαί τε τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, μῆκος πηχῶν ξ ́, πλάτος πηχῶν ξ ́, τὸ δὲ πλάτος τῆς οἰκοδομῆς καὶ τῶν θεμελίων πηχῶν ι ́. οὕτω γὰρ αὐτῷ προστάξαι Νάθαν τὸν προφήτην τοῦ θεοῦ. οἰκοδομεῖν δὲ ἐναλλὰξ δόμον λίθινον καὶ ἔνδεσμον κυπαρίσσινον, πελεκίνοις χαλκοῖς ταλαντιαίοις καταλαμβάνοντα{σ} τοὺς δύο δόμους. οὕτω δ᾽ αὐτὸν οἰκοδομήσαντα ξυλῶσαι ἔσωθεν κεδρίνοις ξύλοις καὶ κυπαρισσίνοις, ὥστε τὴν λιθίνην οἰκοδομὴν μὴ φαίνεσθαι· χρυσῶσαί τε τὸν ναὸν ἔσωθεν χωννύντα πλινθία χρυσᾶ πενταπήχη καὶ προστιθέναι προσηλοῦντα ἥλοις ἀργυροῖς, ταλαντιαίοις τὴν ὁλκήν, μαστοειδέσι τὸν ῥυθμόν, τέσσαρσι δὲ τὸν ἀριθμόν. οὕτω δ᾽ αὐτὸν χρυσῶσαι ἀπὸ ἐδάφους ἕως τῆς ὀροφῆς τό τε ὀρόφωμα ποιῆσαι ἐκ φατνωμάτων χρυσῶν, τὸ δὲ δῶμα ποιῆσαι χαλκοῦν ἀπὸ κεραμίδων χαλκῶν, χαλκὸν χωνεύσαντα καὶ τοῦτον καταχέαντα. ποιῆσαι δὲ δύο στύλους χαλκοῦς καὶ καταχρυσῶσαι αὐτοὺς χρυσίῳ ἀδόλῳ, δακτύλου τὸ πάχος. εἶναι δὲ τοὺς στύλους τῷ ναῷ ἰσομεγέθεις, τὸ δὲ πλάτος κύκλῳ ἕκαστον κίονα πηχῶν δέκα· στῆσαι δὲ αὐτοὺς τοῦ οἴκου ὃν μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν, ὃν δὲ ἐξ εὐωνύμων. ποιῆσαι δὲ καὶ λυχνίας χρυσᾶς {δέκα}, δέκα τάλαντα ἑκάστην ὁλκὴν ἀγούσας, ὑπόδειγμα λαβόντα τὴν ὑπὸ Μωσέως ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου τεθεῖσαν· στῆσαι δ᾽ ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους τοῦ σηκοῦ τὰς μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν, τὰς δὲ ἐξ εὐωνύμων. ποιῆσαι δ᾽ αὐτὸν καὶ λύχνους χρυσοῦς ο ́, ὥστε καίεσθαι ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστης λυχνίας ἑπτά. οἰκοδομῆσαι δὲ καὶ τὰς πύλας τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ κατακοσμῆσαι χρυσίῳ καὶ ἀργυρίῳ· καὶ καταστεγάσαι φατνώμασι κεδρίνοις καὶ κυπαρισσίνοις. ποιῆσαι δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸ πρὸς βορρᾶν μέρος τοῦ ἱεροῦ στοὰν καὶ στύλους αὐτῇ ὑποστῆσαι χαλκοῦς μη ́· κατασκευάσαι δὲ καὶ λουτῆρα χαλκοῦν, μῆκος πηχῶν κ ́ καὶ πλάτος πηχῶν κ ́, τὸ δὲ ὕψος πηχῶν ε ́· ποιῆσαι δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ στεφάνην πρὸς τὴν βάσιν ἔξω ὑπερέχουσαν πῆχυν ἕνα πρὸς τὸ τοὺς ἱερεῖς τούς τε πόδας προσκλύζεσθαι καὶ τὰς χεῖρας νίπτεσθαι ἐπιβαίνοντας· ποιῆσαι δὲ καὶ τὰς βάσεις τοῦ λουτῆρος τορευτὰς χωνευτὰς δώδεκα καὶ τῷ ὕψει ἀνδρομήκεις καὶ στῆσαι ἐξ ὑστέρου μέρους ὑπὸ τὸν λουτῆρα, ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. ποιῆσαι δὲ καὶ βάσιν χαλκῆν τῷ ὕψει πηχῶν δυοῖν κατὰ τὸν λουτῆρα, ἵν ́ ἐφεστήκῃ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς ὁ βασιλεύς, ὅταν προσεύχηται, ὅπως ὀπτάνηται τῷ λαῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. οἰκοδομῆσαι δὲ καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον πηχῶν κε ́ ἐπὶ πήχεις κ ́, τὸ δὲ ὕψος πηχῶν δώδεκα. ποιῆσαι δὲ καὶ δακτυλίους δύο χαλκοῦς ἁλυσιδωτοὺς καὶ στῆσαι αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ μηχανημάτων ὑπερεχόντων τῷ ὕψει τὸν ναὸν πήχεις κ ́ καὶ σκιάζειν ἐπάνω παντὸς τοῦ ἱεροῦ· καὶ προσκρεμάσαι ἑκάστῃ δίκτυϊ κώδωνας χαλκοῦς ταλαντιαίους τετρακοσίους· καὶ ποιῆσαι ὅλας τὰς δίκτυας πρὸς τὸ ψοφεῖν τοὺς κώδωνας καὶ ἀποσοβεῖν τὰ ὄρνεα, ὅπως μὴ καθίζῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ μηδὲ νοσσεύῃ ἐπὶ τοῖς φατνώμασι τῶν πυλῶν καὶ στοῶν καὶ μολύνῃ τοῖς ἀποπατήμασι τὸ ἱερόν. περιβαλεῖν δὲ καὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα τὴν πόλιν τείχεσι καὶ πύργοις καὶ τάφροις· οἰκοδομῆσαι δὲ καὶ βασίλεια ἑαυτῷ. προσαγορευθῆναι δὲ τὸ ἀνάκτορον πρῶτον μὲν ἱερὸν Σολομῶνος, ὕστερον δὲ παρεφθαρμένως τὴν πόλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὀνομασθῆναι, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων φερωνύμως Ἱεροσόλυμα λέγεσθαι. συντελέσαντα δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τὴν πόλιν τειχίσαντα ἐλθεῖν εἰς Σηλὼμ καὶ θυσίαν τῷ θεῷ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν προσαγαγεῖν βοῦς χιλίους. λαβόντα δὲ τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ τὰ σκεύη, ἃ ἐποίησε Μωσῆς, εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἐνεγκεῖν καὶ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ θεῖναι. καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν δὲ καὶ τὸν βωμὸν τὸν χρυσοῦν καὶ τὴν λυχνίαν καὶ τὴν τράπεζαν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα σκεύη ἐκεῖ καταθέσθαι, καθὼς προστάξαι αὐτῷ τὸν προφήτην. προσαγαγεῖν δὲ τῷ θεῷ θυσίαν μυρίαν, πρόβατα δισχίλια, μόσχους τρισχιλίους πεντακοσίους. τὸ δὲ σύμπαν χρυσίον τὸ εἰς τοὺς δύο στύλους καὶ τὸν ναὸν καταχρησθὲν εἶναι τάλαντα μυριάδων υξ ́· εἰς δὲ τοὺς ἥλους καὶ τὴν ἄλλην κατασκευὴν ἀργυρίου τάλαντα χίλια διακόσια τριάκοντα δύο· χαλκοῦ δὲ εἰς τοὺς κίονας καὶ τὸν λουτῆρα καὶ τὴν στοὰν τάλαντα μύρια ὀκτακισχίλια πεντήκοντα. ἀποπέμψαι δὲ τὸν Σολομῶνα καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ τοὺς Φοίνικας, ἑκάστους εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν, ἑκάστῳ χρυσοῦ σίκλους δόντα δέκα· τὸ δὲ τάλαντον εἶναι σίκλον. καὶ τῷ μὲν Αἰγύπτου βασιλεῖ Οὐαφρῇ ἐλαίου μετρητὰς μυρίους, φοινικοβαλάνων ἀρτάβας χιλίας, μέλιτος δὲ ἀγγεῖνα ἑκατὸν καὶ ἀρώματα πέμψαι· τῷ δὲ Σούρωνι εἰς Τύρον πέμψαι τὸν χρυσοῦν κίονα, τὸν ἐν Τύρῳ ἀνακείμενον ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ Διός.

….

But Eupolemus says, in some comment on the prophecy of Elias, that Moses prophesied forty years; then Jesus the sou of Nave thirty years, and he lived a hundred and ten years, and pitched the holy tabernacle in Silo. And afterwards Samuel rose up as a prophet: and then by God’s -will Saul was chosen king by Samuel, and died after a reign of twenty-one years. Then his son David reigned, who subdued the Syrians which live beside the river Euphrates, and Commagene, and the Assyrians in Galadene, and the Phoenicians; he also made expeditions against the Edomites, and Ammonites, and Moabites, and Ituraeans, and Nabathaeans, and Nabdaeans. And again he made an expedition against Suron king of Tyre and Phoenicia; and compelled these nations to pay tribute to the Jews; and contracted a friendly alliance with Vaphres king of Egypt.

‘And when David wished to build a temple for God, he entreated God to point out to him a place for the altar; whereupon there appeared to him an angel standing above the place, where the altar is built in Jerusalem, who commanded him not to build the temple, because he was defiled with men’s blood and had passed many years in war. And the angel’s name was Dianathan; and he bade him commit the building of the temple to his son, but himself to prepare the things pertaining to the building, gold, silver, brass, stones, cypress wood and cedar.

‘And on bearing this David built ships in Aelan a city of Arabia, and sent miners to the island Drphe which lies in the Red Sea, and contains gold mines. And thence the miners transported the gold into Judaea. When David had reigned forty years he gave over the government to Solomon his son, who was twelve years old, in the presence of Eli the High Priest and the twelve princes of the tribes, and delivered to him the gold and silver and brass and stone and cypress wood and cedar. Then David died, and Solomon was king, and wrote to Vaphres king of Egypt the letter which is transcribed below.

“King Solomon to Vaphres king of Egypt, his father’s friend, greeting. Know thou that I have succeeded to the kingdom of my father David by the help of the Most High God, who has also enjoined on me to build a temple to the God who made heaven and earth: and withal to write to thee, to send me some of thy peoples, who shall stay and help me, until we shall have completed all things that are required, according to the injunction laid on me.”

“King Vaphres to Solomon the great king, greeting. I rejoiced much when I read thy letter, and both I and all my kingdom kept a festive day in honour of thy succession, to the throne after a man so good and approved by so great a God. But as to what thou writest to me concerning the men among our peoples here, I have sent thee eighty thousand, and have clearly explained to thee their numbers and the places from which they come: from the Sebrithitic nome tea thousand, and from the Mendesian and Sebennytic twenty thousand: from the nomes of Busiris Leonto-polis and Athribites ten thousand each. And do thou carefully provide what things they require, and for the rest, that they may be in good order, and may be restored to their own country, as soon as they cease to be wanted.”

“King Solomon to Suron king of Tyre and Sidon and Phoenicia, his father’s friend, greeting. Know thou that I have received the kingdom from my father David by help of the Most High God, who also enjoined on me to build a temple to the God who made the heaven and the earth, and withal to write to thee to send me some men from thy peoples, who shall stay and help us until we have fulfilled the requirement of God, according to the injunction laid upon me. I have written also to Galilee, and Samaria, and the land of Moab, and Ammon, and Gilead, to supply them with necessaries from the country every month, ten thousand cors of corn (a cor is six artabae) and ten thousand homers of wine (the homer of wine is ten measures): and oil and the rest shall be supplied to them from Judaea, and from Arabia, victims for sacrifice on which to feed.”

“Suron to Solomon the great king, greeting. Blessed be God, who made the heaven and the earth, who hath chosen a worthy son of a worthy father. As soon as I read thy letter I rejoiced greatly, and gave praise to God for thy succession to the kingdom. And as to what thou writest concerning the men in our various peoples, I have sent thee of Tyrians and Phoenicians eighty thousand, and as chief architect I have sent thee a man of Tyre, of a Jewish mother of the tribe of David: on whatsoever thou shalt ask him of all things under heaven, relating to architecture, he will give thee advice, and will carry out the work. And with regard to necessary provisions, and to the servants whom I send to thee, thou wilt do well in commanding the local governors, that all things necessary he provided.”

When Solomon with his father’s friends had passed over to mount Lebanon with the Sidonians and Tyrians, he transported the timber which had previously been cut by his father to Joppa by sea, and thence by land to Jerusalem. And he began to build the temple of God when he was thirteen years old: and the work was done by the nations before-mentioned, and the twelve tribes of the Jews supplied the hundred and sixty thousand with all things necessary, one tribe each month; and they laid the foundations of the temple of God, sixty cubits in length, and sixty cubits in breadth, but the breadth of the building and of the foundations was ten cubits, for so had Nathan the prophet of God commanded him. And they built alternately a course of stone and a beam of cypress-wood, fastening the two courses together with bronze cramps of a talent in weight. And when he had built it thus, he boarded it outside with planks of cedar and cypress, so that the stone building was not visible: and covered the temple with gold on the inside, by piling up bricks of gold five cubits long, and nailing them to the walls with silver nails of a talent in weight, four in number, and shaped like a breast. Thus he covered it with gold from floor to roof, and the ceiling he made of golden panels, and the roof he made of brass, that is of brass tiles, having smelted brass and poured it into moulds. He made also two columns of brass, and covered them with pure gold, a finger’s breadth in thickness. And the columns were as high as the temple, and in size each pillar ten cubits in circumference: and they stood one on the right side of the house, and the other on the left. He made also golden lamp-stands, weighing ten talents each, having taken as a pattern the lamp-stand set by Moses in the tabernacle of the Testimony. And he set them on either side of the shrine, some on the right and some on the left. He made also seventy golden lamps, so that there might be seven burning on each lamp-stand. He built also the gates of the temple, and adorned them with gold and silver, and roofed them over with panels of cedar and cypress. He made a porch also on the north side of the temple, and supported it on forty-eight pillars of brass. He made also a brazen laver, twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and five cubits high. And upon it he made a brim projecting on the outside towards the base one cubit, in order that the priests might stand up on it, and wash their feet and hands. Also he made the bases of the laver, twelve in number, molten and chased, and of the height of a man, and set them at the hinder side beneath the laver, on the right side of the altar. He made also a brazen step two cubits high, near the laver, that the king might stand upon it, when praying, so that he might be seen by the Jewish people. Also he built the altar of twenty-five cubits by twenty cubits, and twelve cubits high. He made also two brazen rings of chain-work, and set them upon machines rising twenty cubits in height above the temple, and they cast a shadow over the whole temple: and to each net-work he hung four hundred brass bells of a talent in weight, and the net-works he made solid, that the bells might sound, and frighten away the birds, that they might not settle upon the temple, nor nest upon the panels of the gates and porches, and defile the temple with their dung. He also surrounded the city Jerusalem with walls and towers and moats, and built a palace for himself. And the Lord’s house was at first called the Temple of Solomon; afterwards by a corruption the city was named Hierusalem from the Temple, but by the Greeks was called Hierosolyma after the king’s name. And when he had completed the Temple and the walls of the city, he went to Shiloh, and offered a thousand oxen for a burnt-offering. And he took the Tabernacle, and the altar, and the vessels which Moses made, and brought them to Jerusalem, and put them in the house. Moreover the Ark, and the golden altar, and the lamp-stand, and the table, and the other vessels he deposited there, as the prophet commanded him. And he offered to God an immense sacrifice, two thousand sheep, three thousand five hundred calves. And the whole amount of gold which was expended upon the two pillars and the temple was four millions six hundred thousand talents: and upon the nails and the rest of the furniture one thousand two hundred and thirty-two talents of silver: and of brass for the columns and the laver and the porch eighteen thousand and fifty talents. And Solomon sent away both the Egyptians and the Phoenicians each to their own country, having given to every man ten shekels of gold; now the shekel is a talent. And to Vaphres the king of Egypt he sent ten thousand measures of oil, a thousand measures of dates, a hundred vessels of honey, and spices. And to Suron at Tyre he sent the golden pillar which is dedicated in the temple of Zeus at Tyre.

….

Ποιῆσαι δέ φησιν ὁ Εὐπόλεμος τὸν Σολομῶνα καὶ ἀσπίδας χρυσᾶς χιλίας, ὧν ἑκάστην πεντακοσίων εἶναι χρυσῶν. βιῶσαι δὲ αὐτὸν ἔτη πεντήκοντα δύο, ὧν ἐν εἰρήνῃ βασιλεῦσαι ἔτη μ ́.

And Eupolemus says that Solomon made also a thousand golden shields, each of which weighed five hundred staters of gold. He lived fifty-two years, of which he reigned forty in peace.

From Eusebius, Preparation 9.39:

Ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ τῆς Ἱερεμίου προφητείας τοῦ Πολυΐστορος μνήμην πεποιημένου, ἡμᾶς ἀποσιωπῆσαι ταύτην πάντων ἂν εἴη παραλογώτατον. κείσθω τοίνυν καὶ αὕτη· Εἶτα Ἰωναχείμ· ἐπὶ τούτου προφητεῦσαι Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην. τοῦτον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποσταλέντα καταλαβεῖν τοὺς Ἰουδαίους θυσιάζοντας εἰδώλῳ χρυσῷ, ὧͺ εἶναι ὄνομα Βάαλ. τοῦτον δὲ αὐτοῖς τὴν μέλλουσαν ἀτυχίαν δηλῶσαι. τὸν δὲ Ἰωναχεὶμ ζῶντα αὐτὸν ἐπιβαλέσθαι κατακαῦσαι· τὸν δὲ φάναι τοῖς ξύλοις τούτοις Βαβυλωνίοις ὀψοποιήσειν καὶ σκάψειν τὰς τοῦ Τίγριδος καὶ Εὐφράτου διώρυχας αἰχμαλωτισθέντας. τὸν δὲ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων βασιλέα ἀκούσαντα Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου προμαντευθέντα παρακαλέσαι Ἀστιβάρην τὸν Μήδων βασιλέα συστρατεύειν αὐτῷ. παραλαβόντα δὲ Βαβυλωνίους καὶ Μήδους καὶ συναγαγόντα πεζῶν μὲν ὀκτωκαίδεκα, ἱππέων δὲ μυριάδας δώδεκα καὶ πεζῶν ἅρματα μυρία, πρῶτον μὲν τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν καταστρέψασθαι καὶ Γαλιλαίαν καὶ Σκυθόπολιν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Γαλααδίτιδι οἰκοῦντας Ἰουδαίους· αὖθις δὲ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα παραλαβεῖν καὶ τὸν Ἰουδαίων βασιλέα Ἰωναχεὶμ ζωγρῆσαι· τὸν δὲ χρυσὸν τὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ χαλκὸν ἐκλέξαντα εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἀποστεῖλαι, χωρὶς τῆς κιβωτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ πλακῶν· ταύτην δὲ τὸν Ἱερεμίαν κατασχεῖν.

Besides this, as Polyhistor has made mention of the prophecy of Jeremiah, it would be a most unreasonable thing for us to pass it over in silence. Let this then also be set down: “Then Jonachim: in his time prophesied Jeremiah the prophet. He was sent by God, and found the Jews sacrificing to a golden image, the name of which was Baal. And he foreshowed to them the calamity which was to come. Jonachim then attempted to burn him alive: but he said that with that fuel they should cook food for the Babylonians, and as prisoners of war should dig the canals of the Tigris and Euphrates. When Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians, had heard of the predictions of Jeremiah, he summoned Astibares, the king of the Medes, to join him in an expedition. And having taken with him Babylonians and Medes, and collected a hundred and eighty thousand infantry and a hundred and twenty thousand cavalry, and ten thousand chariots, he first subdued Samaria, and Galilee, and Scythopolis, and the Jews who lived in the region of Gilead; and afterwards took Jerusalem, and made Jonachim, the king of the Jews, a prisoner. And the gold that was in the temple, and the silver and brass, they chose out and sent to Babylon, except the Ark and the tables that were in it: but this Jeremiah retained.”

[This fragment is assigned to Eupolemus on internal grounds only, as Polyhistor makes no external attribution.]

Ezekiel the Tragedian

Ezekiel the Tragedian exists only in three longer quotations Eusebius’ Preparation for the Gospel 9.28-29, Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies 1.23.155.1-5, Epiphanius’ Medicine Box (Panarion) 64.29.6-30.1, and Pseudo-Eustanthius’ Commentary on the six days of the Creation (Commentarius in Hexaemeron) PG 18, 729. Since only the first two are readily available on-line, well I guess you just have to suck it up at this point, but here they are. AH

Eusebius Preparation for the Gospel (Praeparatio Evangelica) Ch. 28

Tr. E.H. Gifford

‘WITH regard to Moses being exposed by his mother in the marsh, and taken up and reared by the king’s daughter, Ezekiel the tragic poet gives an account, taking up the narrative from the beginning when Jacob and his family came into Egypt to Joseph. And he tells it as follows, bringing Moses forward as the speaker: 30

“When Jacob from the land of Canaan down
To Egypt came, with threescore souls and ten,
He there begat a multitudinous race,
Who much endured and long, by wicked men
And tyrant’s hand to this our day crushed down.
For when he saw our people had waxed strong,
The king with subtle craft our fathers ruled,
And some in making bricks ho sore oppressed,
And some in raising heavy stones to build
His lofty towers, for their despite contrived.
Next he commands that all the Hebrew race
Cast every man-child in the Nile’s deep flood.
And I have often heard my mother tell,
How at that time she hid me for three months:
Fearing detection then, she wrapped me close
In rough attire, and laid me secretly
‘Mid the thick rushes by the river’s bank.
My sister Miriam close at hand kept watch,
Till Pharaoh’s daughter with her maids came down
To bathe her shining limbs in the cool stream.
She saw the babe, and straightway took it up,
And knew its Hebrew birth. My sister then
Ran up, and to the princess thus she spake:
‘Wilt thou I find as nurse for this fair child
Some Hebrew wife?’ The princess bade her speed,
And to her mother quick she told the tale,
Who came with speed, and took me in her arms.
Then spake the Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Take this child
To nurse, good dame, and I will pay thy wage.’
‘Moses’ the name she gave, to mark the fact
That from the river’s brink she drew me forth.”

‘To this farther on in the tragedy Ezekiel adds more on the following points, bringing Moses forward as speaking:

“So when my time of infancy was past,
My mother led me to the princess’ home,
But first she told me all the tale, my birth
And kindred, and God’s gifts of old.
The princess then through all my boyhood’s years,
As I had been a son of her own womb,
In royal state and learning nurtured me.
But when the circle of the days was full,
I left the palace, urged to lofty deeds
By my own soul, and by the king’s device.
Then the first day I saw two men at strife,
Egyptian one, and one of Hebrew race.
And when I saw that we were quite alone,
None else in sight, I to the rescue came,
Avenged my kinsman, and the Egyptian slew,
And buried in the sand, that none might see
What we had ventured, and lay bare the deed.
But on the morrow’s dawn again I saw
Two of our kin in deadly strife, and cried,
‘Why smitest thou thy weaker brother thus?’
But he replied, ‘And who made thee a judge,
Or ruler here? Me also wouldest thou slay,
As that man yestermorn?’ Then to myself
In fear I said, ‘How came that deed abroad?’
All this was quickly carried to the king.
And Pharaoh sought to take away my life.
His plot I learned, and from his hands escaped,
And now to other lands am wandering forth.”

‘Then, concerning the daughters of Raguel he adds this:

“But here, behold! some seven fair maids I see.”

‘And on his asking them what maidens they were, Zipporah replies:

“The land, O stranger, bears the common name
Of Libya, but by various tribes is held
Of dark-skinned Aethiops: yet the land is ruled
By one sole monarch, and sole chief in war.
This city has for ruler and for judge
A priest, the father of myself and these.”

‘He then describes the giving drink to the cattle, and adds the account of his marriage with Zipporah, bringing forward Chum and Zipporah as speaking in alternate verses:

“Ch. ‘Yet this thou need’st must tell me, Zipporah.’
Z. ‘My father gave me for this stranger’s wife.'”

Eus. PrEv ch. 29

‘DEMETRIUS described the slaying of the Egyptian, and the quarrel with him who gave information about the deceased man, in the same way as the writer of the Sacred Book. He says, however, that Moses fled into Midian, and there married Zipporah the daughter of Jothor, who was, as far as one may conjecture from the names, one of the descendants of Keturah, of the stock of Abraham, from Jexan who was the son of Abraham by Keturah: and from Jexan was born Dadan, and from Dadan Raguel, and from Raguel, Jothor, and Hobab: and from Jothor Zipporah, whom Moses married.’The generations also agree; for Moses was seventh from Abraham, and Zipporah sixth. For Isaac, from whom Moses descended, was already married when Abraham at the age of a hundred and forty married Keturah, and begat by her a second son Isaar. Now he begat Isaac when he was a hundred years old; so that Isaar, from whom Zipporah derived her descent, was born forty-two years later than Isaac.

‘There is therefore no inconsistency in Moses and Zipporah having lived at the same time. And they dwelt in the city Madiam, which was called from one of the sons of Abraham. For it says that Abraham sent his sons towards the East to find a dwelling-place: for this reason also Aaron and Miriam said at Hazeroth that Moses had married an Aethiopian woman.

‘Ezekiel also speaks of this in the Exodus, adding to the tradition the dream that was seen by Moses and interpreted by his father-in-law. And Moses himself talks with his father-in-law in alternate verses, as follows: 31

“Methought upon Mount Sinai’s brow I saw
A mighty throne that reached to heaven’s high vault,
Whereon there sat a man of noblest mien
Wearing a royal crown; whose left hand held
A mighty sceptre; and his right to me
Made sign, and I stood forth before the throne.
He gave me then the sceptre and the crown,
And bade me sit upon the royal throne,
From which himself removed. Thence I looked forth
Upon the earth’s wide circle, and beneath
The earth itself, and high above the heaven.
Then at my feet, behold! a thousand stars
Began to fall, and I their number told,
As they passed by me like an armed host:
And I in terror started up from sleep.”

‘Then his father-in-law thus interprets the dream:

“This sign from God bodes good to thee, my friend.
Would I might live to see thy lot fulfilled!
A mighty throne shalt thou set up, and be
Thyself the leader and the judge of men!
And as o’er all the peopled earth thine eye
Looked forth, and underneath the earth, and high
Above God’s heaven; so shall thy mind survey
All things in time, past, present, and to come.”

‘With regard to the burning bush, and the mission of Moses to Pharaoh, he again brings Moses forward as holding converse alternately with God. Moses speaks thus:

“Ha! see! What sign is this from yonder bush?
A marvel such as no man might believe.
A sudden mighty fire flames round the bush,
And yet its growth remains all green and fresh.
What then? I will go forward, and behold
This wondrous sign, that passes man’s belief.”

‘Then God speaks to him:

“Stay, Moses, faithful servant, draw not nigh,
Ere thou hast loosed thy shoes from off thy feet:
The place thou standest on is holy ground;
And from this bush God’s word shines forth for thee.
Fear not, My son, but hearken to My words.
Of mortal birth, thou canst not see My face;
Yet mayest thou hear the words I came to speak.
Thy fathers’ God, the God of Abraham,
Of Isaac, and of Jacob, I am God.
I do remember all My gifts to them,
And come to save My people Israel;
For I have seen their sorrows and their toils.
Go then, and signify thou in My name,
First to the Hebrews gathered by themselves,
Then to the king of Egypt, this My will,
That thou lead forth My people from the land.”

‘Then lower down Moses himself speaks some lines in answer:

“I am not eloquent, O Lord, but slow
Of speech my tongue, and weak my stammering voice
To utter words of mine before the king?”

‘Then God in answer to this says to him:

“Thy brother Aaron I will send with speed: First tell thou him all I have told to thee; And he before the king, and thou with Me Alone shalt speak, he what he hears from thee.”

‘With regard to the rod, and the other wonders thus he speaks in alternate verse:

“God. ‘Say, what is that thou holdest in thine hand? ‘
M. ‘A rod, wherewith to smite or beasts or men.’
God. ‘Cast it upon the ground, and flee in haste;
For a fierce serpent will affright thine eye.’
N. ‘Lo! there I cast it. Save me, gracious Lord!
How huge, how fierce! In pity spare Thou me.
I shudder at the sight in every limb.’
God. ‘Fear not: stretch forth thy hand, and seize the tail.
Again ’twill be a rod. Now thrust thy hand
Into thy bosom: take it out again.
See, at My word, ’tis leprous, white as snow.
Now thrust it in again, ’tis as before.’ “

To this, after some words that he has interposed, he adds the following:’Now this is what Ezekiel says in The Exodus, when he brings forward God speaking of the signs, as follows:

“With this thy rod thou shalt work all these plagues.
The river first shall flow all red with blood,
And every spring, and stream, and stagnant pool.
Then frogs and lice shall swarm o’er all the land.
Next ashes from the furnace sprinkled round
In ulcers sore shall burst on man and beast.
And swarms of flies shall come, and sore afflict
The bodies of the Egyptians. After that
On those hard hearts the pestilence and death
Shall fall. And heaven’s wrath let loose on high
Shall pour down fire and hail and deadly storm
On man, and beast, and all the fruits of earth.
Then shall be darkness over all the land
For three whole days, and locusts shall devour
All food, all fruits, and every blade of grass.
Moreover I will slay each first-born child,
And crush this evil nation’s wanton pride.
Yet none of these My plagues shall touch the king,
Until he see his first-born son lie dead:
Then will he send you forth in fear and haste.
This also speak to all the Hebrew race:
‘This month shall be the first month of your year,
Wherein I bring you to that other land,
As to the fathers of your race I sware.’
Also command the people, in this month,
At evening ere the moon’s full orb appear,
To sacrifice the Passover to God,
And strike the side-posts of the door with blood:
So shall My messenger of death pass by.
But the flesh eat ye roast with fire at night.
Then will the king drive forth your gathered host
In haste; but ere ye go, I will give grace
To this My people in the Egyptians’ eyes,
So that each woman from her neighbour’s store
All needful vessels freely shall receive,
Silver and gold, and raiment meet for man,
To make requital for their evil deeds.
And when ye shall have reached your promised land,
Take heed that, from the morn whereon ye fled
From Egypt and marched onward seven whole days,
From that same morn so many days each year
Ye eat unleavened bread, and serve your God,
Offering the first-born of all living things,
All males that open first the mother’s womb.”

‘And again concerning this same feast he says that the poet has spoken with more careful elaboration:

“And when the tenth day of this month is come,
Let every Hebrew for his household choose
Unblemished lambs and calves, and keep them up
Until the fourteenth day; and then at eve
Offer the solemn sacrifice, and eat
The flesh and inward parts all roast with fire.
Thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girt up,
And shoes upon your feet, a staff withal
Held ready in your hand; for in great haste
The king will bid them drive you from his land.
Let each man’s eating for the lamb make count;
And when the victim has been duly slain,
Take a full bunch of hyssop in your hand,
Dipped in the sacred blood, and therewith strike
The posts and upper lintel of the door;
That death may pass o’er every Hebrew’s house.
Keep ever thus this feast unto the Lord,
Eating for seven days unleavened bread,
And in your houses let no leaven be found.
For ye shall be delivered, and the Lord
Shall lead you forth from Egypt in this month,
Henceforth to be tho first month of your year.”

Again, after some other passages he further says:’Ezekiel also, in the drama which is entitled The Exodus, brings forward a Messenger describing both the condition of the Hebrews and the destruction of the Egyptians, as follows:

“For when king Pharaoh from his house set forth
With all this crowd of countless men-at-arms,
With horsemen, and with four-horsed chariots,
In serried ranks in front and on each flank,
The embattled host was dreadful to behold.
The centre footmen held in phalanx deep
With spaces for the chariots to drive through.
And on the right wing and the left were set
The best of all the Egyptian chivalry.
The numbers of our army which I asked,
Were thousand thousands brave well-armed men.
The Hebrews, when o’ertaken by our host,
Lay some in groups hard by the Red Sea shore
Worn out with toil, and others with their wives
To feed their tender infants were intent:
Cumbered with flocks and herds and household goods.
The men themselves with hands not armed for fight,
At sight of us, set up a doleful cry,
And all, with hands uplift to heaven, invoked
Their fathers’ God. Great was their multitude;
But on our side all jubilant our camp
Behind them close we pitched, where by the sea
There lies a city, Baal-zephon hight.
And as the sun was near his western couch,
We waited, longing for the fight at dawn,
Trusting our mighty host and deadly arms.
But now the signs of heaven’s own wrath began,
A dread and wondrous sight. For suddenly
A pillar of cloud rose high above the earth
Midway between the Hebrew camp and ours:
And then their leader Moses took his rod
Of power divine, which late on Egypt wrought
So many baneful signs and prodigies.
Therewith he struck the waves, and the deep sea
Was cleft asunder; and with eager steps
Their host rushed swiftly o’er that briny path.
We then upon their track without delay
Trod the same path, and marching forward met
The darkness of the night; when suddenly,
As if fast bound in chains, our chariot wheels
Refused to turn; and from the sky a flame
As of a mighty fire before us shone.
Their God, methinks, was there to succour them:
For they no sooner reached the farther shore,
Than close at hand we heard the mighty roar
Of surging waves; and one in terror cried:
‘Flee from the vengeful hand of the Most High,
For it is He that helps our enemies,
And works for our destruction.’ Then the sea
Surged o’er our path, and overwhelmed our host.”

And again soon after:’Thence they went forward three days, as Demetrius himself says, and the Holy Scripture agrees with him: but as he found there no sweet water, but bitter, at God’s command he cast the wood of a certain tree into the fountain, and the water became sweet. And thence they came to Elim, and found there twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees. As to these, and the bird which appeared there, Ezekiel in The Exodus introduces some one who speaks to Moses concerning the palm-trees and the twelve springs thus:

”See, my lord Moses, what a spot is found
Fanned by sweet airs from yonder shady grove.
For as thyself mayest see, there lies the stream,
And thence at night the fiery pillar shed
Its welcome guiding light. A meadow there
Beside the stream in grateful shadow lies
And a deep glen in rich abundance pours
From out a single rock twelve sparkling springs.
There tall and strong, and laden all with fruit,
Stand palms threescore and ten; and plenteous grass
Well watered gives sweet pasture to our flocks.”

‘Then lower down he gives a full description of the bird that appeared:

“Another living thing we saw, more strange
And marvellous than man e’er saw before.
The noblest eagle scarce was half as large:
His outspread wings with varying colours shone;
The breast was bright with purple, and the legs
With crimson glowed, and on the shapely neck
The golden plumage shone in graceful curves:
The head was like a gentle nestling’s formed:
Bright shone the yellow circlet of the eye
On all around, and wondrous sweet the voice.
The king he seemed of all the winged tribe,
As soon was proved; for birds of every kind
Hovered in fear behind his stately form:
While like a bull, proud leader of the herd,
Foremost he marched with swift and haughty step.”

And after a few words he adds that:’Some one asked how the Israelites got weapons, as they came out unarmed. For they said that after they had gone out a three days’ journey, and offered sacrifice, they would return again. It appears therefore that these who had not been overwhelmed in the sea made use of the others’ arms.’

Clement of Alexandria Miscellanies (Stromata) 1.23.155f

The ante-nicene fathers

And respecting the education of Moses, we shall find a harmonious account in Ezekiel,21052105 [Eusebius, Prזp Evang., ix. 4.] the composer of Jewish tragedies in the drama entitled The Exodus. He thus writes in the person of Moses:—

“For, seeing our race abundantly increase,
His treacherous snares King Pharaoh ’gainst us laid,
And cruelly in brick-kilns some of us,
And some, in toilsome works of building, plagued.
And towns and towers by toil of ill-starred men
He raised. Then to the Hebrew race proclaimed,
That each male child should in deep-flowing Nile
Be drowned. My mother bore and hid me then
Three months (so afterwards she told). Then took,
And me adorned with fair array, and placed
On the deep sedgy marsh by Nilus bank,
While Miriam, my sister, watched afar.
Then, with her maids, the daughter of the king,
To bathe her beauty in the cleansing stream, 336
Came near, straight saw, and took and raised me up;
And knew me for a Hebrew. Miriam
My sister to the princess ran, and said,
‘Is it thy pleasure, that I haste and find
A nurse for thee to rear this child
Among the Hebrew women?’ The princess
Gave assent. The maiden to her mother sped,
And told, who quick appeared. My own
Dear mother took me in her arms. Then said
The daughter of the king: ‘Nurse me this child,
And I will give thee wages.’And my name
Moses she called, because she drew and saved
Me from the waters on the river’s bank.
And when the days of childhood had flown by,
My mother brought me to the palace where
The princess dwelt, after disclosing all
About my ancestry, and God’s great gifts.
In boyhood’s years I royal nurture had,
And in all princely exercise was trained,
As if the princess’s very son. But when
The circling days had run their course,
I left the royal palace.”

Then, after relating the combat between the Hebrew and the Egyptian, and the burying of the Egyptian in the sand, he says of the other contest:—

“Why strike one feebler than thyself?
And he rejoined: Who made thee judge o’er us,
Or ruler? Wilt thou slay me, as thou didst
Him yesterday? And I in terror said,
How is this known?”

Eldad and Modad

Eldad and Modad (sometimes read as ‘Modat’ or ‘Medad’) is the title for a now lost work who’s only surviving fragments are in quotations from it given in Hermas’ Vision 2.3.4 and in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. The similarity of these two quotes is such that they may reference the same passage (E. G. Martin in Charlesworth’s OTP). Other passages in early Christian and Jewish literature refer to, but do not quote the work.

“The LORD is near to them who return unto Him,” as it is written in Eldad and Modad, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness. [Hermas Vision 2.3.4]

The Lord is near to those in distress. [Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Num. 11.26]

Pseudo-Jonathan also tells us that the work addressed an eschatological attack on Jerusalem, war with Gog and Magog, and the triumph of the royal Messiah (Martin).

The Apocalypse of Elijah

^1.The word of YHWH came to me saying, “Son of man, say to his people, ‘why do you add sin to your sins and anger the Lord God who created you ?’ ” 2.Don’t love the world or the things which are in the world, for the boasting of the world and its destruction belong to the devil. 3.Remember that the Lord of glory, Who created everything, had mercy upon you so that He might save us from the captivity of this age. 4.For many times the devil desired not to let the sun rise above the earth and not to let the earth yield fruit, since he desires to consume men like a fire which rages in stubble, and he desires to swallow them like water. 5.Therefore, on account of this, the God of glory had mercy upon us, and He sent His Son to the world so that He might save us from the captivity. 6.He did not inform an angel or an archangel or any principality when He was about to come to us, but ?He changed Himself to be like a man when He was about to come to us so that He might save use [from flesh]. 7.Therefore become sons to Him since He is a father to you.

8.Remember that He has prepared thrones and crowns for you in heaven, saying, “Everyone who will obey Me will receive thrones and crowns among those who are Mine.” 9.The Lord said, “I will write My name upon their forehead and I will seal their right hand, and they will not hunger or thirst. 10.Neither will the son of lawlessness prevail over them, nor will the thrones hinder them, but they will walk with the angels up to My city.” 11.Now as for the sinners, they will be shamed and they will not pass by the thrones, but the thrones of death will seize them and rule over them because the angels will not agree with them. 12.They have alienated themselves from His dwellings.

13.Hear, O wise men of the land, concerning the deceivers who will multiply in the last times so that they will set down for themselves doctrines which do not belong to God, setting aside the Law of God, those who have made their belly their God, saying, “The fast does not exist, nor did God create it,” making themselves strangers to the covenant of God and robbing themselves of the glorious promises. 14.Now these are not ever correctly established in the firm faith. Therefore don’t let those people lead you astray.

15. Remember that from the time when He created the heavens, the Lord created the fast for a benefit to men on account of the passions and desires which fight against you so that the evil will not inflame you. 16.“But it is a pure fast which I have created,” said the Lord. 17.The one who fasts continually will not sin although jealousy and strife are within him. 18.Let the pure one fast, but whenever the one who fasts is not pure he has angered the Lord and also the angels. 19.And he has grieved his soul, gathering up wrath for himself for the day of wrath.

20. But a pure fast is what I created, with a pure heart and pure hands. 21.It releases sin. It heals diseases. It casts out demons. 22.It is effective up to the throne of God for an ointment and for a release from sin by means of a pure prayer.

23.Who among you , if he is honored in his craft, will go forth to the field without a tool in his hand? Or who will go forth to the battle to fight without a breastplate on? 24.If he is found, will he not be killed because he despised the service of the king? 25.Likewise no one is able to enter the holy place if he is double minded. 26.The one who is double minded in his prayer is darkness to himself. And even the angels do not trust him. 27.Therefore be single-minded in the Lord at all times so that you might know every moment.

1.Furthermore, concerning the kings of Assyria and the dissolution of the heaven and the earth and the things beneath the earth. 2.“now therefore <those who are Mine> will not be overcome” says the Lord, “nor will they fear in the battle.” 3.When they see [a king] who rises in the north, [who will be called] “the king of [Assyria” and] “the king of injustice,” [he will increase] his battles and his disturbances against Egypt. 4.The land will groan together because your children will be seized. 5.Many will desire death in those days, but death will flee from them.

6.And a king who will be called “the king of peace” will rise up in the west. 7.He will run upon the sea like a roaring lion. 8.He will kill the king of injustice, and he will take vengeance on Egypt with battles and much bloodshed.

9.It will come to pass in those days that he will command a p[eace] and a [vain] gift in Egypt. 10.[He will give] peace to these who are holy, [saying], “The name of [God] is one.” 11.[He will] give honors to the s[aints and] an exalting to the places of the saints. 12.He will give vain gifts to the house of God. 13.He will wander around in the cities of Egypt with guile, without their knowing. 14.He will take count of the holy places. He will weigh the idols of the heathen. He will take count of their wealth. He will establish priests for them. 15.He will command that the wise men and the great ones of the people be seized, and they will be brought to the metropolis which is by the sea, saying, “There is but one language.” 16.But when you hear, “Peace and joy exist,” I will…

17.Now I will tell you his signs so that you might know him. 18.For he has two sons: one on his right and one on his left. 19.The one on his right will receive a demonic face, (and) he will fight against the name of God. 20.Now four kings will descend from that king. 21.In his thirtieth year he will come up to Memphis, (and) he will build a temple in Memphis. 22.On that day his own son will rise up against him and kill him. 23.The whole land will be disturbed.

24.On that day he will issue an order over the whole land so that the priests of the land and all of the saints will be seized, saying, “You will repay doubly every gift and all of the good things which my father gave to you.” 25.He will shut up the holy places. He will take their houses. He will take their sons prisoner. 26.He will order and sacrifices and abominations and bitter evils will be done in the land. 27.He will appear before the sun and the moon. 28.On that day the priests of the land will tear their clothes.

29.Woe to you , O rulers of Egypt, in those days because your day has passed. 30.The violence (being done to) the poor will turn against you, and your children will be seized as plunder. 31.In those days the cities of Egypt will groan for the voice of the one who sells and the one who buys will not be heard. The markets of the cities of Egypt will become dusty. 32.Those who are in Egypt will weep together. They will desire death, (but) death will flee and leave them.

33.In those days, they will run up to the rocks and leap off, saying, “Fall upon us.” And still they will not die. 34.A double affliction will multiply upon the whole land.

35.In those days, the king will command, and all the nursing women will be seized and brought to him bound. They will suckle serpents. And their blood will be drawn from their breasts, and it will be applied as poison to the arrows. 36.On account of their distress of the cities, he will command again, and all the young lads from twelve years and under will be seized and presented in order to teach them to shoot arrows. 37.The midwife who is upon the earth will grieve. The woman who has given birth will lift her eyes to heaven, saying, “Why did I sit upon the birthstool, to bring forth a son to the earth?” 38.The barren woman and the virgin will rejoice, saying, “It is our time to rejoice, because we have no child upon the earth, but our children are in heaven.”

39.In those days, three kings will arise among the Persians, and they will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt. They will bring them to Jerusalem, and the will inhabit it and dwell there.

40.Then when you hear that there is security in Jerusalem, tear you garments, O priests of the land, because the son of perdition will soon come.

41.In those days, the lawless one will appear in the holy places —

42.In (those) days the kings of the Persians will hasten and they will stand to fight with the kings of Assyria. Four kings will fight with three. 43.They will spend three years in that place until they carry off the wealth of the temple which is in that place.

44.In those days, blood will flow from Kos to Memphis. The river of Egypt will become blood, and they will not be able to drink from it for three days.

45.Woe to Egypt and those who are in it.

46.In those days, a king will arise in the city which is called “the city of the sun,” and the whole land will be disturbed. <He will> flee to Memphis (with the Persians).

47.In the sixth year, the Persian kings will plot an ambush in Memphis. They will kill the Assyrian king. 48.The Persians will take vengeance on the land, and they will command to kill all the heathen and the lawless ones. They will command to build the temples of the saints. 49.They will give double gifts to the house of God. They will say, “The name of God is one.” 50.The whole land will hail the Persians.

51.Even the remnant, who did not die under the afflictions, will say, “The Lord has sent us a righteous king so that the land will not become a desert” 52.He will command that no royal matter be presented for three years and six months. The land will be full of good in an abundant well-being.
53.Those who are alive will go to those who are dead, saying, “Rise up and be with us in this rest.”

III

^1.In the fourth year of that king, the son of lawlessness will appear, saying, “I am the Christ,” although he is not. Don’t believe him!
^2.When the Christ comes, He will come in the manner of a covey of doves with the crown of doves surrounding Him. He will walk upon the heaven’s vaults with the sign of the cross leading Him.
^3.The whole world will behold Him like the sun which shines from the eastern horizon to the western.
^4.This is how He will come, with all his angels surrounding Him.
^5.But the son of lawlessness will begin to stand again in the holy places.

^6.He will say to the sun, “Fall,” and it will fall.
He will say, “Shine,” and it will do it.
He will say, “Darken,” and it will do it.
^7.He will say to the moon, “Become bloody,” and it will do it.
8.He will go forth with them from the sky.
He will walk upon the sea and the rivers as upon dry land.
9.He will cause the lame to walk.
He will cause the deaf to hear.
He will cause the dumb to speak.
He will cause the blind to see.
10.The lepers he will cleanse.
The ill he will heal.
The demons he will cast out.

11.He will multiply his signs and his wonders in the presence of everyone.
12.He will do the works which the Christ did, except for raising the dead alone.
13.In this you will know that he is the son of lawlessness, because he is unable to give life.
14.For behold I will tell you his signs so that you might know him.
15.He is a …of a skinny-legged young lad, having a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head. His eyebrows will reach to his ears. There is a leprous bare spot on the front of his hands.
16.He will transform himself in the presence of those who see him. He will become a young child. He will become old.
17.He will transform himself in every sign. But the signs of his head will not be able to change.
18.Therin you will know that he is the son of lawlessness.

1.The virgin, whose name is Tabitha, will hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy places. And she will put on her garment of fine linen.
2.And she will pursue him up to Judea, scolding him up to Jerusalem, saying, “O shameless one, O son of lawlessness, O you who have been hostile to all the saints.
3.Then the shameless one will be angry at the virgin. He will pursue her up to the regions of the sunset. He will suck her blood in the evening.
4.And he will cast her upon the temple, and she will become a healing for the people.
5.She will rise up at dawn. And she will live and scold him, saying, “o shameless one, you have no power against my soul or my body, because I live in the Lord always.
6.And also my blood which you have cast upon the temple has become a healing for the people.”
7.Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight with him saying,

^8.Are you indeed not ashamed? When you attach yourself to the saints, because you are always estranged.
9.you have been hostile to those who belong to heaven. you have acted against those belonging to the earth.
10.You have been hostile to the thrones. you have acted against the angels. you are always a stranger.
11.you have fallen from heaven like the morning stars. you were changed, and your tribe became dark for you.
12.But you are not ashamed, when you stand firmly against God you are a devil.

13.The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the market place of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting with them.
14.And they will spend three and one half days in the market place dead, while all the people see them
15.But on the fourth day they will rise up and they will scold him saying. “O shameless one, O son of lawlessness. Are you indeed not ashamed of yourself since you are leading astray the people of God for whom you did not suffer? Do you not know that we live in the Lord?”
16.As the words were spoken, they prevailed over him, saying, “Furthermore, we will lay down before the flesh for the spirit, and we will kill you since you are unable to speak on that day because we are always strong in the Lord. But you are always hostile to God.
17.The shameless one will hear, and he will be angry and fight them.
18.And the whole city will surround them.
19.On that day they will shout up to heaven as they shine while all the people and all the world see them.
20.The son of lawlessness will not prevail over them. He will be angry at the land, and he will seek to sin against the people.
21.He will pursue all of the saints. They and the priests of the land will be brought back bound.
22.He will kill them and destroy them…them. And their eyes will be removed with iron spikes.
23.He will remove their skin from their heads. He will remove their nails one by one. He will command that vinegar and lime be put in their nose.
24. Now those who are unable to bear up under the tortures of that king will take gold and flee over the fords to the desert places. They will lie down as one who sleeps.
25.The Lord will receive their spirits and their souls to Himself.
26.Their flesh will petrify. No wild animals will eat them until the last day of the great judgment.
27.And they will rise up and find a place of rest. but they will not be in the kingdom of the Christ as those who have endured because the Lord said, “I will grant to them that they sit on my right hand.”
28.They will receive favor over others, and they will triumph over the son of lawlessness. And they will witness the dissolution of heaven and earth.
29.They will receive the thrones of glory and the crowns.
30.The sixty righteous ones who are prepared for this hour will hear.
31.And they will gird on the breastplate of YHWH, and they will run to Jerusalem and fight with the shameless one, saying, “All powers which the prophets have done from the beginning you have done. But you were unable to raise the dead because you have no power to give life. Therein we have known that you are the son of lawlessness.”
32.He will hear, and he will be angry and command to kindle altars
33.And the righteous ones will be bound. They will be lifted up and burned.

1.And on that day the heart of many will harden and they will flee from him, saying, “This is not the Christ. The Christ does not kill the righteous. He does not pursue men so that he might seek them, but He persuades them with signs and wonders.”
2.On that day the Christ will pity those who are His own. And He will send from heaven his sixty-four thousand angels, each of whom has six wings.
3.The sound will move heaven and earth when they give praise and glorify.
4.Now those upon whose forehead the name of Christ is written and upon whose hand is the seal both the small and the great, will be taken up upon their wings and lifted up before his wrath.
5.Then Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light leading them into the holy land.
6.It will be granted to them to eat from the tree of life. They will wear white garments…and angels will watch over them. They will not thirst, nor will the son of lawlessness be able to prevail over them.
7.And on that day the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth.
8.The birds will fall on the earth, dead.
9.The earth will be dry. The waters of the sea will dry up.
10.The sinners will groan upon the earth saying, “What have you done to us, O son of lawlessness, saying I am the Christ, when you are the devil?
11.You are unable to save yourself so that you might save us. You produced signs in our presence until you alienated us from the Christ who created us. Woe to us because we listened to you.
12.Lo now we will die in a famine. Where indeed is now the trace of a righteous one and we will worship him, or where indeed is the one who will teach us and we will appeal to him.
13.Now indeed we will be wrathfully destroyed because we disobeyed YHWH.
14.We went to the deep places of the sea, and we did not find water. We dug in the rivers and papyrus reeds, and we did not find water.”
15.Then on that day, the shameless one will speak, saying, “Woe to me because my time has passed by for me while I was saying that my time would not pass by for me.
16.My years became months and my days have passed away as dust passes away. Now therefore I will perish together with you.
17.Now therefore run forth to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them.
18.Bring up the saints. For because of them, the earth yields fruit. for because of them the sun shines upon the earth. For because of them the dew will come upon the earth.”
19.The sinners will weep saying, “You made us hostile to YHWH. If you are able, rise up and pursue them.”
20.Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the saints. He will fight with them again.
21.The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords.
22.It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire.
23.And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble.
24.A true judgment will occur.
25.On that day, the mountains and the earth will utter speech. The byways will speak with one another, saying, “Have you heard today the voice of a man who walks who has not come to the judgment of the Son of YHWH.”
26.The sins of each one will stand against him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or of the night.
27.Those who belong to the righteous and … will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and those who handed them over to death in their torments.
28.Then the sinners [ in torment ] will see the place of the righteous.
29.And thus grace will occur. In those days, that which the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them.

30.On that day, YHWH will judge the heaven and the earth. He will judge those who transgressed in heaven, and those who did so on earth.
31.He will judge the shepherds of the people. He will ask about the flock of sheep, and they will be given to Him, without any deadly guile existing in them.

32.After these things, Elijah and Enoch will come down. They will lay down the flesh of the world, and they will receive their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the son of lawlessness and kill him since he is not able to speak.
33.On that day, he will dissolve in their presence like ice which was dissolved by a fire. He will perish like a serpent which has no breath in it.
34.They will say to him, “Your time has passed by for you. Now therefore you wand those who believe you will perish.”
35.They will be cast into the bottom of the abyss and it will be closed for them.
36.On that day, the Christ, the King and all His saints will come forth from heaven.
37.He will burn the earth. He will spend a thousand years upon it.
38.Because the sinners prevailed over it, He will create a new heaven and a new earth. No deadly devil will exist in them.
39.He will rule with His saints, ascending and descending, while they are always with the angels and they are with the Christ for a thousand years.

Third Baruch

From The Apocrypha and Pseudeipgrapha of the Old Testament by R. H. Charles, vol. II , Oxford Press

Prologue. 1 A narrative and revelation of Baruch, concerning those ineffable things which he saw by command of God. Bless Thou, O Lord. 2 A revelation of Baruch, who stood upon the river Gel weeping over the captivity of 3 Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God, at the farm of Agrippa. And he was sitting thus at the beautiful gates, where the Holy of holies lay.

1 1 Verily I Baruch was weeping in my mind and sorrowing on account of the people, and that 2 Nebuchadnezzar the king was permitted by God to destroy His city, saying: Lord, why didst Thou set on fire Thy vineyard, and lay it waste? Why didst Thou do this? And why, Lord, didst Thou not requite us with another chastisement, but didst deliver us to nations such as these, so that they 3 reproach us and say, Where is their God? And behold as I was weeping and saying such things, I saw an angel of the Lord coming and saying to me: Understand, O man, greatly beloved, and trouble not thyself so greatly concerning the salvation of Jerusalem, for thus saith the Lord God, 4 the Almighty. For He sent me before thee, to make known and to show to thee all (the things) 5, 6 of God. For thy prayer was heard before Him, and entered into the ears of the Lord God. And when he had said these things to me, I was silent. And the angel said to me: Cease to provoke 7 God, and I will show thee other mysteries, greater than these. And I Baruch said, As the Lord God liveth, if thou wilt show me, and I hear a word of thine, I will not continue to speak any longer. 8 God shall add to my judgement in the day of judgement, if I speak hereafter. And the angel of the powers said to me, Come, and I will show thee the mysteries of God.

The First Heaven 2 1 And he took me and led me where the firmament has been set fast, and where there was a river 2 which no one can cross, nor any strange breeze of all those which God created. And he took me and led me to the first heaven, and showed me a door of great size. And he said to me, Let us enter 3 through it, and we entered as though borne on wings, a distance of about thirty days journey. And he showed me within the heaven a plain; and there were men dwelling thereon, with the faces of 4 oxen, and the horns of stags, and the feet of goats, and the haunches of lambs. And I Baruch asked the angel, Make known to me, I pray thee, what is the thickness of the heaven in which we journeyed, 5 or what is its extent, or what is the plain, in order that I may also tell the sons of men? And the angel whose name is Phanuel said to me: This door which thou seest is the door of heaven, and as great as is the distance from earth to heaven, so great also is its thickness; and again as great as is the distance (from North to South, so great) is the length of the plain which thou didst see. And again the angel of the powers said to me, Come, and I will show thee greater mysteries. But 6, 7 I said, I pray thee show me what are these men. And he said to me, These are they who built the tower of strife against God, and the Lord banished them.

The Second Heaven. 3 1 And the angel of the Lord took me and led me to a second heaven. And he showed me there 2 also a door like the first and said, Let us. enter through it. And we entered, being borne on wings 3 a distance of about sixty days’ journey. And he showed me there also a plain, and it was full of 4 men, whose appearance was like that of dogs, and whose feet were like those of stags. And I asked 5 the angel: I pray thee, Lord, say to me who are these. And he said, These are they who gave counsel to build the tower, for they whom thou seest drove forth multitudes of both men and women to make bricks; among whom, a woman making bricks was not allowed to be released in the hour of child-birth, but brought forth while she was making bricks, and carried her child in her apron, and 6 continued to make bricks. And the Lord appeared to them and confused their speech, when they 7 had built the tower to the height of four hundred and sixty-three cubits. And they took a gimlet, and sought to pierce the heaven, saying, Let us see (whether) the heaven is made of clay, or of 8 brass, or of iron. When God saw this He did not permit them, but smote them with blindness and confusion of speech, and rendered them as thou seest.

The Third Heaven. 4 1 And I Baruch said, Behold, Lord, Thou didst show me great and wonder ful things; and now 2 show me all things for the sake of the Lord. And the angel said to me, Come, let us proceed. (And I proceeded) with the angel from that place about one hundred and eighty-five days’ 3 journey. And he showed me a plain and a serpent, which appeared to be two hundred plethra 4 in length. And he showed me Hades, and its appearance was dark and abominable. And I said, 5 Who is this dragon, and who is this monster around him? And the angel said, The dragon is he 6 who eats the bodies of those who spend their life wickedly, and he is nourished by them. And this is Hades, which itself also closely resembles him, in that it also drinks about a cubit from 7 the sea, which does not sink at all. Baruch said, And how does this happens? And the angel said, Hearken, the Lord God made three hundred and sixty rivers, of which the chief of 8 all are Alphias, Abyrus, and the Gericus; and because of these the sea does not sink. And I said, I pray thee show me which is the tree which led Adam astray. And the angel said to me, It is the vine, which the angel Sammael planted, whereat the Lord God was angry, and He cursed him and his plant, while also on this account He did not permit Adam to touch it, and therefore 9 the devil being envious deceived him through his vine. [And I Baruch said, Since also the vine has been the cause of such great evil, and is under judgement of the curse of God, and was the 10 destruction of the first created, how is it now so useful? And the angel said, Thou askest aright. When God caused the deluge upon earth, and destroyed all flesh, and four hundred and nine thousand giants, and the water rose fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, then the water entered into paradise and destroyed every flower; but it removed wholly without the bounds the shoot 11 of the vine and cast it outside. And when the earth appeared out of the water, and Noah came out 12 of the ark, he began to plant of the plants which he found. But he found also the shoot of the vine; and he took it, and was reasoning in himself, What then is it ? And I came and spake to 13 him the things concerning it. And he said, Shall I plant it, or what shall I do ? Since Adam was destroyed because of it, let me not also meet with the anger of God because of it. And saying 14 these things he prayed that God would reveal to him what he should do concerning it. And when he had completed the prayer which Lasted forty days, and having besought many things and wept, 15 he said: Lord, I entreat thee to reveal to me what I shall do concerning this plant. But God sent his angel Sarasael, and said to him, Arise, Noah, and plant the shoot of the vine, for thus saith the Lord: Its bitterness shall be changed into sweetness, and its curse shall become a blessing, and that which is produced from it shall become the blood of God; and as through it the human race obtained condemnation, so again through Jesus Christ the Immanuel will they receive in Him the 16 upward calling, and the entry into paradise]. Know therefore, O Baruch, that as Adam through this very tree obtained condemnation, and was divested of the glory of God, so also the men who now drink insatiably the wine which is begotten of it, transgress worse than Adam, and are far from the 17 glory of God, and are surrendering themselves to the eternal fire. For (no) good comes through it. For those who drink it to surfeit do these things: neither does a brother pity his brother, nor a father his son, nor children their parents, but from the drinking of wine come all evils, such as murders, adulteries, fornications, perjuries, thefts, and such like. And nothing good is established by it. 5 1, 2 And I Baruch said to the angel, Let me ask thee one thing, Lord. Since thou didst say to me 3 that the dragon drinks one cubit out of the sea, say to me also, how great is his belly? And the angel said, His belly is Hades; and as far as a plummet is thrown (by) three hundred men, so great is his belly. Come, then, that I may show thee also greater works than these. 6 1 And he took me and led me where the sun goes forth; and he showed me a chariot and four, under which burnt a fire, and in the chariot was sitting a man, wearing a crown of fire, (and) the chariot (was) drawn by forty angels. And behold a bird circling before the sun, about nine 3 cubits away. And I said to the angel, What is this bird? And he said to me, This is the 4, 5 guardian of the earth. And I said, Lord, how is he the guardian of the earth? Teach me. And the angel said to me, This bird flies alongside of the sun, and expanding his wings receives its fiery 6 rays. For if he were not receiving them, the human race would not be preserved, nor any other 7 living creature. But God appointed this bird thereto. And he expanded his wings, and I saw on his right wing very large letters, as large as the space of a threshing-floor, the size of about four 8 thousand modii; and the letters were of gold. And the angel said to me, Read them. And I read, 9 and they ran thus: Neither earth nor heaven bring me forth, but wings of fire bring me forth. And 10 I said, Lord, what is this bird, and what is his name? And the angel said to me, His name is called 11 Phoenix. (And I said), And what does he eat ? And he said to me, The manna of heaven and 12 the dew of earth. And I said, Does the bird excrete? And he said to me, He excretes a worm, and the excrement of the worm is cinnamon, which kings and princes use. But wait and thou shalt 13 see the glory of God. And while he was conversing with me, there was as a thunder-clap, and the place was shaken on which we were standing. And I asked the angel, My Lord, what is this sound? And the angel said to me, Even now the angels are opening the three hundred and sixty-five gates 14 of heaven, and the light is being separated from the darkness. And a voice came which said, Light 15 giver, give to the world radiance. And when I heard the noise of the bird, I said, Lord, what is this 16 noise? And he said, This is the bird who awakens from slumber the cocks upon earth. For as men do through the mouth, so also does the cock signify to those in the world, in his own speech. For the sun is made ready by the angels, and the cock crows. 7 1, 2 And I said, And where does the sun begin its labours, after the cock crows? And the angel said to me, Listen, Baruch: All things whatsoever I showed thee are in the first and second heaven, and in the third heaven the sun passes through and gives light to the world. But wait, and thou 3 shall see the glory of God. And while I was conversing with him, I saw the bird, and he appeared 4 in front, and grew less and less, and at length returned to his full size. And behind him I saw the shining sun, and the angels which draw it, and a crown upon its head, the sight of which we were 5 not able to gaze upon; and behold. And as soon as the sun shone, the Phoenix also stretched out his wings. But I, when I beheld such great glory, was brought low with great fear, and I fled and 6 hid in the wings of the angel. And the angel said to me, Fear not, Baruch, but wait and thou shalt also see their setting. 8 1 And he took me and led me towards the west; and when the time of the setting came, I saw again the bird coming before it, and as soon as he came I saw the angels, and they lifted the crown 2, 3 from its head. But the bird stood exhausted and with wings contracted. And beholding these things, I said, Lord, wherefore did they lift the crown from the head of the sun, and wherefore is 4 the bird so exhausted? And the angel said to me, The crown of the sun, when it has run through the day four angels take it, and bear it up to heaven, and renew it, because it and its rays have been defiled upon earth; moreover it is so renewed each day. And I Baruch said, Lord, and wherefore 5 are its beams defiled upon earth? And the angel said to me, Because it beholds the lawlessness and unrighteousness of men, namely fornications, adulteries, thefts, extortions, idolatries, drunkenness, murders, strife, jealousies, evil-speakings, murmurings, whisperings, divinations, and such like, which are not well-pleasing to God. On account of these things is it defiled, and therefore is it renewed. 6 But thou askest concerning the bird, how it is exhausted. Because by restraining the rays of the 7 sun through the fire and burning heat of the whole day, it is exhausted thereby. For, as we said before, unless his wings were screening the rays of the sun, no living, creature would be preserved. 9 1 And they having retired, the night also fell, and at the same time came the chariot of the 2 moon, along with the stars. And I Baruch said, Lord, show me it also, I beseech of thee, how 3 it goes forth, where it departs, and in what form it moves along. And the angel said, wait and thou shalt see it also shortly. And on the morrow I also saw it in the form of a woman, and sitting on a wheeled chariot. And there were before it oxen and lambs in the chariot, and a multitude of 4 angels in like manner. And I said, Lord, what are the oxen and the lambs? And he said to me, 5 They also are angels. And again I asked, Why is it that it at one time increases, but at another 6 time decreases? And (he said to me), Listen, O Baruch: This which thou seest had been written 7 by God beautiful as no other. And at the transgression of the first Adam, it was near to Sammael when he took the serpent as a garment. And it did not hide itself but increased, and God was 8 angry with it, and afflicted it, and shortened its days. And I said, And how does it not also shine always, but only in the night? And the angel said, Listen: as in the presence of a king, the courtiers cannot speak freely, so the moon and the stars cannot shine in the presence of the sun; for the stars are always suspended, but they are screened by the sun, and the moon, although it is uninjured, is consumed by the heat of the sun.

The Fourth Heaven 10 1 And when I had learnt all these things from the archangel, he took and led me into a fourth 2, 3 heaven. And I saw a monotonous plain, and in the middle of it a pool of water. And there were in it multitudes of birds of all kinds, but not like those here on earth. But I saw a crane as great as 4 great oxen; and all the birds were great beyond those in the world. And I asked the angel, What 5 is the plain, and what the pool, and what the multitudes of birds around it ? And the angel said, Listen, Baruch: The plain which contains in it the pool and other wonders is the place where the 6 souls of the righteous come, when they hold converse, living together in choirs. But the water is 7 that which the clouds receive, and rain upon the earth, and the fruits increase. And I said again to the angel of the Lord, But (what) are these birds? And he said to me, They are those which 8 continually sing praise to the Lord. And I said, Lord, and how do men say that the water which 9 descends in rain is from the sea? And the angel said, The water which descends in rain -this also is from the sea, and from the waters upon earth; but that which stimulates the fruits is (only) from 10 the latter source. Know therefore henceforth that from this source is what is called the dew of heaven.

The Fifth Heaven. 11 1, 2 And the angel took me and led me thence to a fifth heaven, And the gate was closed. And I said, Lord, is not this gate-way open that we may enter ? And the angel said to me, We cannot enter until Michael comes, who holds the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; but wait and thou shalt see 3 the gIory of God. And there was a great sound, as thunder. And I said, Lord, what is this sound? 4 And he said to me, Even now Michael, the commander of the angels, comes down to receive the 5 prayers of men. And behold a voice came, Let the gates be opened. And they opened them, and 6 there was a roar as of thunder. And Michael came, and the angel who was with me came face to 7 face with him and said, Hail, my commander, and that of all our order. And the commander Michael said, Hail thou also, our brother, and the interpreter of the revelations to those who pass through life 8 virtuously. And having saluted one another thus, they stood still. And I saw the commander Michael, holding an exceedingly great vessel; its depth was as great as the distance from heaven to 9 earth, and its breadth as great as the distance from north to south. And I said, Lord, what is that which Michael the archangel is holding? And he said to me, This is where the merits of the righteous enter, and such good works as they do, which are escorted before the heavenly God. 12 1 And as I was conversing with them, behold angels came bearing baskets full of flowers. And 2 they gave them to Michael. And I asked the angel, Lord, who are these, and what are the things 3 brought hither from beside them? And he said to me, These are angels (who) are over the 4, 5 righteous. And the archangel took the baskets, and cast them into the vessel. And the angel 6 said to me, These flowers are the merits of the righteous. And I saw other angels bearing baskets which were (neither) empty nor full. And they began to lament, and did not venture to draw near, 7 because they had not the prizes complete. And Michael cried and said, Come hither, also, ye 8 angels, bring what ye have brought. And Michael was exceedingly grieved, and the angel who was with me, because they did not fill the vessel. 13 1 And then came in like manner other angels weeping and bewailing, and saying with fear, Behold how we are overclouded, O Lord, for we were delivered to evil men, and we wish to depart from 2 them. And Michael said, Ye cannot depart from them, in order that .the enemy may not prevail to 3 the end; but say to me what ye ask. And they said, We pray thee, Michael our commander, transfer us from them, for we cannot abide with wicked and foolish men, for there is nothing good 4 in them, but every kind of unrighteousness and greed. For we do not behold them entering [into Church at all, nor among spiritual fathers, nor into any good work. But where there is murder,] there also are they in the midst, and where are fornications, adulteries, thefts, slanders, perjuries, jealousies, drunkenness, strife, envy, murmurings, whispering, idolatry, divination, and such like, 5 then are they workers of such works, and of others worse. Wherefore we entreat that we may depart from them. And Michael said to the angels, Wait till I learn from the Lord what shall come to pass. 14 1 And in that very hour Michael departed, and the doors were closed. And there was a sound as 2 thunder. And I asked the angel, What is the sound? And he said to me, Michael is even now presenting the merits of men to God. 15 1, 2 And in that very hour Michael descended, and the gate was opened; and he brought oil. And as for the angels which brought the baskets which were full, he filled them with oil, saying, Take it away, reward our friends an hundredfold, and those who have laboriously wrought good works. 3 For those who sowed virtuously, also reap virtuously. And he said also to those bringing the half-empty baskets, Come hither ye also; take away the reward according as ye brought, and 4 deliver it to the sons of men. [Then he said also to those who brought the full and to those who brought the half-empty baskets: Go and bless our friends, and say to them that thus saith the Lord, Ye are faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things; enter into the joy of your Lord.] 16 1 And turning he said also to those who brought nothing: Thus saith the Lord, Be not sad of a 2 countenance, and weep not, nor let the sons of men alone. But since they angered me in their works, go and make them envious and angry and provoked against a people that is no people, a 3 people that has no understanding. Further, besides these, send forth the caterpillar and the unwinged locust, and the mildew, and the common locust (and) hail with lightnings and anger, and 4 punish them severely with the sword and with death, and their children with demons. For they did not hearken to my voice, nor did they observe my commandments, nor do them, but were despisers of my commandments, and insolent towards the priests who proclaimed my words to them. 17 1, 2 And while he yet spake, the door was closed, and we withdrew. And the angel took me and 3 restored me to the place where I was at the beginning. And having come to myself, I gave glory 4 to God, who counted me worthy of such honor. Wherefore do ye also, brethren, who obtained such a revelation, yourselves also glorify God, so that He also may glorify you, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen

Second Baruch

From The Apocrypha and Pseudeipgrapha of the Old Testament by R. H. Charles, vol. II , Oxford Press

1 1 And it came to pass in the twenty-fifth year of Jeconiah, king of Judah, that the word of the Lord. 2 came to Baruch, the son of Neriah, and said to him: ‘Hast thou seen all that this people are doing to Me, that the evils which these two tribes which remained have done are greater than (those of) 3 the ten tribes which were carried away captive? For the former tribes were forced by their kings to commit sin, but these two of themselves have been forcing and compelling their kings to commit 4 sin. For this reason, behold I bring evil upon this city, and upon its inhabitants, and it shall be removed from before Me for a time, and I will scatter this people among the Gentiles that they may do good to the Gentiles. And My people shall be chastened, and the time shall come when they will seek for the prosperity of their times.

2 1 For I have said these things to thee that thou mayst bid Jeremiah, and all those that are like you, to retire from this city. 2 For your works are to this city as a firm pillar, And your prayers as a strong wall.’

3 1 And I said: ‘O Lord, my Lord, have I come into the world for this purpose that I might see the 2 evils of my mother? Not (so) my Lord. If I have found grace in Thy sight, first take my spirit 3 that I may go to my fathers and not behold the destruction of my mother. For two things vehemently constrain me: for I cannot resist Thee, and my soul, moreover, cannot behold the evils 4, 5 of my mother. But one thing I will say in Thy presence, O Lord. What, therefore, will there be after these things? for if Thou destroyest Thy city, and deliverest up Thy land to those that hate 6 us, how shall the name of Israel be again remembered? Or how shall one speak of Thy praises? 7 or to whom shall that which is in Thy law be explained? Or shall the world return to its nature (of), 8 aforetime and the age revert to primeval silence? And shall the multitude of souls be taken away, 9 and the nature of man not again be named? And where is all that which Thou didst say to Moses regarding us?’

4 1 And the Lord said unto me: ‘This city shall be delivered up for a time, And the people shall be chastened during a time, And the world will not be given over to oblivion. 2 [Dost thou think that this is that city of which I said: “On the palms of My hands have I graven 3 thee”? This building now built in your midst is not that which is revealed with Me, that which was prepared beforehand here from the time when I took counsel to make Paradise, and showed it to Adam before he sinned, but when he transgressed the commandment it was removed from him, as 4 also Paradise. And after these things I showed it to My servant Abraham by night among the portions of the victims. And again also I showed it to Moses on Mount Sinai when I showed to him 6 the likeness of the tabernacle and all its vessels. And now, behold, it is preserved with Me, as also 7 Paradise. Go. therefore, and do as I command thee.’]

5 1 And I answered and said: So then I am destined to grieve for Zion, For Thine enemies will come to this place and pollute Thy sanctuary, And lead Thine inheritance into captivity, And make themselves masters of those whom Thou hast loved. And they will depart again to the place of their idols, And will boast before them: And what wilt Thou do for Thy great name?’ 2 And the Lord said unto me: My name and My glory are unto all eternity; And My judgement shall maintain its right in its own time. 3 And thou shalt see with thine eyes That the enemy will not overthrow Zion, Nor shall they burn Jerusalem, But be the ministers of the Judge for the time. 4 But do thou go and do whatsoever I have said unto thee.’ 5 And I went and took Jeremiah, and Adu, and Seriah, and Jabish, and Gedaliah, and all the honourable men of the people, and I led them to the valley of Cedron, and I narrated to them all 6, 7 that had been said to me. And they lifted up their voice, and they all wept. And we sat there and fasted until the evening.

6 1 And it came to pass on the morrow that, lo! the army of the Chaldees surrounded the city, and at the time of the evening, I, Baruch, left the people, and I went forth and stood by the 2 oak. And I was grieving over Zion, and lamenting over the captivity which had come upon 3 the people. And lo! suddenly a strong spirit raised me, and bore me aloft over the wall of 4 Jerusalem. And I beheld, and lo! four angels standing at the four corners of the city, each of 5 them holding a torch of fire in his hands. And another angel began to descend from heaven, 6 and said unto them: ‘Hold your lamps, and do not light them till I tell you. For I am first sent to speak a word to the earth, and to place in it what the Lord the Most High has commanded me And I saw him descend into the Holy of holies, and take from thence the veil, and the holy ark, and the mercy-seat, and the two tables, and the holy raiment of the priests, and the altar of incense, and the forty-eight precious stones, wherewith the priest was adorned and all the holy 8 vessels of the tabernacle. And he spake to the earth with a loud voice: ‘Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the mighty God, And receive what I commit to thee, And guard them until the last times, So that, when thou art ordered, thou mayst restore them, So that strangers may not get possession of them. 9 For the time comes when Jerusalem also will be delivered for a time, Until it is said, that it is again restored for ever.’ 10 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.

7 1 And after these things I heard that angel saying unto those angels who held the lamps: Destroy, therefore, and overthrow its wall to its foundations, lest the enemy should boast and say: “We have overthrown the wall of Zion, And we have burnt the place of the mighty God.” 2 And ye have seized the place where I had been standing before.

8 1 Now the angels did as he had commanded them, and when they had broken up the corners of the walls, a voice was heard from the interior of the temple, after the wall had fallen, saying: 2 ‘Enter, ye enemies, And come, ye adversaries; For he who kept the house has forsaken (it).’ 3, 4 And I, Baruch, departed. And it came to pass after these things that the army of the Chaldees 5 entered and seized the house, and all that was around it. And they led the people away captive, and slew some of them, and bound Zedekiah the king, and sent him to the king of Babylon.

9 1 And I, Baruch, came, and Jeremiah, whose heart was found pure from sins, who had not been 2 captured in the seizure of the city. And we rent our garments, we wept, and mourned, and fasted seven days.

10 1, 2 And it came to pass after seven days, that the word of God came to me, and said unto me: ‘Tell 3 Jeremiah to go and support the captivity of the people unto Babylon, But do thou remain here amid the desolation of Zion, and I will show to thee after these days’ what will befall at the end of 4, 5 days.’ And I said to Jeremiah as the Lord commanded me. And he, indeed, departed with the people, but I, Baruch, returned and sat before the gates of the temple, and I lamented with the following lamentation over Zion and said: 6 ‘Blessed is he who was not born, Or he, who having been born, has died. 7 But as for us who live, woe unto us, Because we see the afflictions of Zion, And what has befallen Jerusalem. 8 I will call the Sirens from the sea, And ye Lilin, come ye from the desert, And ye Shedim and dragons from the forests: Awake and gird up your loins unto mourning, And take up with me the dirges, And make lamentation with me. 9 Ye husbandmen, sow not again; And, O earth, wherefore givest thou thy harvest fruits? Keep within thee the sweets of thy sustenance. 10 And thou, vine, why further dost thou give thy wine; For an offering will not again be made therefrom in Zion. Nor will the first-fruits again be offered. 11 And do ye, O heavens, withhold your dew, And open not the treasuries of rain: 12 And do thou, O sun, withhold the light of thy rays. And do thou, O moon, extinguish the multitude of thy light; For why should light rise again Where the light of Zion is darkened? 13 And you, ye bridegrooms, enter not in, And let not the brides adorn themselves with garlands And, ye women, pray not that ye may bear. 14 For the barren shall above all rejoice, And those who have no sons shall be glad, And those who have sons shall have anguish. 15 For why should they bear in pain, Only to bury in grief? 16 Or why, again, should mankind have sons? Or why should the seed of their kind again be named, Where this mother is desolate, And her sons are led into captivity? 17 From this time forward speak not of beauty, And discourse not of gracefulness. 18 Moreover, ye priests, take ye the keys of the sanctuary And cast them into the height of heaven, And give them to the Lord and say: “Guard Thy house Thyself. For lo! we are found false stewards.” 19 And you, ye virgins; who weave fine linen And silk with gold of Ophir, Take with haste all (these) things And cast (them) into the fire, That it may bear them to Him who made them, And the flame send them to Him who created them, Lest the enemy get possession of them.’

11 1 Moreover, I, Baruch, say this against thee, Babylon: If thou hadst prospered, And Zion had dwelt in her glory, Yet the grief to us had been great That thou shouldst be equal to Zion. 2 But now, lo! the grief is infinite, And the lamentation measureless, For lo! thou art prospered And Zion desolate. 3 Who will be judge regarding these things? Or to whom shall we complain regarding that which has befallen us? O Lord, how hast Thou borne (it)? 4 Our fathers went to rest without grief And lo! the righteous sleep in the earth in tranquillity; 5 For they knew not this anguish, Nor yet had they heard of that which had befallen us. 6 Would that thou hadst ears, O earth, And that thou hadst a heart, O dust. That ye might go and announce in Sheol, And say to the dead: 7 “Blessed are ye more than we who live.”

12 1 But I will say this as I think. And I will speak against thee, O land, which art prospering. 2 The noonday does not always burn. Nor do the rays of the sun constantly give light. 3 Do not expect [and hope] that thou wilt always be prosperous and rejoicing. And be not greatly up-lifted and boastful. 4 For assuredly in its own season shall the (divine) wrath awake against thee. Which now in long-suffering is held in as it were by reins. 5 And when I had said these things, I fasted seven days.

13 1 And it came to pass after these things, that I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion, and lo! a voice came from the height and said 2 unto me: ‘Stand upon thy feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.’ 3 Because thou hast been astonied at what has befallen Zion, thou shalt therefore be assuredly 4 preserved to the consummation of the times, that thou mayst be for a testimony. So that, if ever 5 those prosperous cities say: ‘Why hath the mighty God brought upon us this retribution?’ Say thou, to them, thou and those like thee who shall have seen this evil: ‘(This is the evil) and retribution which is coming upon you and upon your people in its (destined) time that the nations 6, 7 may be thoroughly smitten. And then they shall be in anguish. And if they say at that time: 8 For how long? Thou wilt say to them: Ye who have drunk the strained wine, Drink ye also of its dregs, The judgement of the Lofty One Who has no respect of persons.” 9 On this account he had aforetime no mercy on His own sons, But afflicted them as His enemies, because they sinned, 10 Then therefore were they chastened That they might be sanctified. 11 But now, ye peoples and nations, ye are guilty Because ye have always trodden down the earth, And used the creation unrighteously. 12 For I have always benefitted you. And ye have always been ungrateful for the beneficence

14 1 And I answered and said: ‘Lo! Thou hast shown me the method of the times, and that which shall be alter these things, and Thou hast said unto me, that the retribution, which has been spoken of by Thee, shall come upon 2 the nations. And now I know that those who have sinned are many, and they have lived in prosperity, and departed from the world, but that few nations will be left in those times, to whom those words shall be said which Thou didst 3 say. For what advantage is there in this, or what (evil), worse than what we have seen befall us, are we to expect to see? 4, 5 But again I will speak in Thy presence: What have they profited who had knowledge before Thee, and have not walked in vanity as the rest of the nations, and have not said to the dead: “Give 6 us life,” but always feared Thee, and have not left Thy ways? And lo! they have been carried off, 7 nor on their account hast Thou had mercy on Zion. And if others did evil, it was due to Zion, that on account of the works of those who wrought good works she should be forgiven, and 8 should not be overwhelmed on account of the works of those who wrought unrighteousness. But who, O Lord, my Lord, will comprehend Thy judgement, Or who will search out the profoundness of Thy way? Or who will think out the weight of Thy path? 9 Or who will be able to think out Thy incomprehensible counsel? Or who of those that are born has ever found The beginning or end of Thy wisdom? 10, 11 For we have all been made like a breath. For as the breath ascends involuntarily, and again dies, so it is with the nature of men, who depart not according to their own will, and know not 12 what will befall them in the end. For the righteous justly hope for the end, and without fear depart from this habitation, because they have with Thee a store of works preserved in treasuries. 13 On this account also these without fear leave this world, and trusting with joy they hope to 14 receive the world which Thou hast promised them. But as for us — woe to us, who also are 15 now shamefully entreated, and at that time look forward (only) to evils. But Thou knowest accurately what Thou hast done by means of Thy servants; for we are not able to understand 16 that which is good as Thou art, our Creator. But again I will speak in Thy presence, O LORD, 17 my Lord. When of old there was no world with its inhabitants, Thou didst devise and speak 18 with a word, and forthwith the works of creation stood before Thee. And Thou didst say that Thou wouldst make for Thy world man as the administrator of Thy works, that it might be known that he was by no means made on account of the world, but the world on account of him. 19 And now I see that as for the world which was made on account of us, lo! it abides, but we, on account of whom it was made, depart.’

15 1 And the Lord answered and said unto me: ‘Thou art rightly astonied regarding the departure of 2 man, but thou hast not judged well regarding the evils which befall those who sin. And as regards 3 what thou hast said, that the righteous are carried off and the impious are prospered, And as 4 regards what thou hast said “Man knows not Thy judgement” — On this account hear, and I will 5 speak to thee, and hearken, and I will cause thee to hear My words. Man would not rightly have understood My judgement, unless he had accepted the law, and I had instructed him in understanding. 6 But now, because he transgressed wittingly, yea, just on this ground that he wot (thereof), he shall be tormented. 7 And as regards what thou didst say touching the righteous, that on account of them has this 8 world come, so also again shall that, which is to come, come on their account. For this world is to them a strife and a labour with much trouble; and that accordingly which is to come, a crown with great glory.’

16 1 And I answered and said: ‘O LORD, my Lord, lo! the years of this time are few and evil, and who is able in his little time to acquire that which is measureless?’

17 1 And the Lord answered and said unto me: ‘With the Most High account is not taken of much time 2 nor of a few years. For what did it profit Adam that he lived nine hundred and thirty years, 3 and transgressed that which he was commanded? Therefore the multitude of time that he lived 4 did not profit him, but brought death and cut off the years of those who were born from him. Or wherein did Moses suffer loss in that he lived only one hundred and twenty years, and, inasmuch as he was subject to Him who formed him, brought the law to the seed of Jacob, and lighted a lamp for the nation of Israel?’

18 1 And I answered and said: ‘He that lighted has taken from the light, and there are but few that 2 have imitated him. But those many whom he has lighted have taken from the darkness of Adam and have not rejoiced in the light of the lamp.’

19 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Wherefore at that time he appointed for them a covenant and said: “Behold I have placed before you life and death,” And he called heaven and earth to witness against them. 2 For he knew that his time was but short, But that heaven and earth endure always. 3 But after his death they sinned and transgressed, Though they knew that they had the law reproving (them), And the light in which nothing could err, Also the spheres which testify, and Me. 4 Now regarding everything that is, it is I that judge, but do not thou take counsel in thy soul 5 regarding these things, nor afflict thyself because of those which have been. For now it is the consummation of time that should be considered, whether of business, or of prosperity, or of shame, 6 and not the beginning thereof. Because if a man be prospered in his beginnings and shamefully 7 entreated in his old age, he forgets all the prosperity that he had. And again, if a man is shamefully entreated in his beginnings, and at his end is prospered, he remembereth not again his evil 8 entreatment. And again hearken: though each one were prospered all that time all the time from the day on which death was decreed against those who transgress, and in his end was destroyed, in vain would have been everything.’

20 1 Therefore, behold! the days come, And the times shall hasten more than the former, And the seasons shall speed on more than those that are past, And the years shall pass more quickly than the present (years). 2 Therefore have I now taken away Zion, That I may the more speedily visit the world in its season. 3 Now therefore hold fast in thy heart everything that I command thee, And seal it in the recesses of thy mind. 4 And then I will show thee the judgement of My might, And My ways which are unsearchable. 5 Go therefore and sanctify thyself seven days, and eat no bread, nor drink water, nor speak to 6 anyone. And afterwards come to that place and I will reveal Myself to thee, and speak true things with thee, and I will give thee commandment regarding the method of the times; for they are coming and tarry not.’

21 1 And I went thence and sat in the valley of Cedron in a cave of the earth, and I sanctified my soul there, and I eat no bread, yet I was not hungry, and I drank no water, yet I thirsted not, and 2 I was there till the seventh day, as He had commanded me. And afterwards I came to that place 3 where He had spoken with me. And it came to pass at sunset that my soul took much thought, 4 and I began to speak in the presence of the Mighty One, and said: ‘O Thou that hast made the earth, hear me, that hast fixed the firmament by the word, and hast made firm the height of the heaven by the spirit, that hast called from the beginning of the world that which did not yet exist, and 5 they obey Thee. Thou that hast commanded the air by Thy nod, and hast seen those things which 6 are to be as those things which Thou art doing. Thou that rulest with great thought the hosts that stand before Thee: also the countless holy beings, which Thou didst make from the beginning, of 7 flame and fire, which stand around Thy throne Thou rulest with indignation. To Thee only 8 does this belong that Thou shouldst do forth with whatsoever Thou dost wish. Who causest the drops of rain to rain by number upon the earth, and alone knowest the consummation of the times 9 before they come; have respect unto my prayer. For Thou alone art able to sustain all who are, and those who have passed away, and those who are to be, those who sin, and those who are 10 righteous [as living (and) being past finding out]. For Thou alone dost live immortal and past 11 finding out, and knowest the number of mankind. And if in time many have sinned, yet others not a few have been righteous. 12 Thou knowest where Thou preservest the end of those who have sinned, or the consummation of 13 those who have been righteous. For if there were this life only, which belongs to all men, nothing could be more bitter than this, 14 For of what profit is strength that turns to sickness, Or fullness of food that turns to famine, Or beauty that turns to ugliness. 15, 16 For the nature of man is always changeable. For what we were formerly now we no longer are, 17 and what we now are we shall not afterwards remain. For if a consummation had not been prepared 18 for all, in vain would have been their beginning. But regarding everything that comes from Thee, do Thou inform me, and regarding everything about which I ask Thee, do Thou enlighten me. 19 How long will that which is corruptible remain, and how long will the time of mortals be prospered, and until what time will those who transgress in the world be polluted with much 20 wickedness? Command therefore in mercy and accomplish all that Thou saidst Thou wouldst 21 bring, that Thy might may be made known to those who think that Thy long-suffering is weakness. And show to those who know not, that everything that has befallen us and our city until now has been according to the long-suffering of Thy power, because on account of Thy name Thou hast called 22, 23 us a beloved people. Bring to an end therefore henceforth mortality. And reprove accordingly the angel of death, and let Thy glory appear, and let the might of Thy beauty be known, and let Sheol be sealed so that from this time forward it may not receive the dead, and let the treasuries of 24 souls restore those which are enclosed in them. For there have been many years like those that are desolate from the days of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and of all those who are like them, who 25 sleep in the earth, on whose account Thou didst say that Thou hadst created the world. And now 26 quickly show Thy glory, and do not defer what has been promised by Thee.’ And (when) I had completed the words of this prayer I was greatly weakened.

22 1 And it came to pass after these things that lo! the heavens were opened, and I saw, and 2 power was given to me, and a voice was heard from on high, and it said unto me: ‘Baruch, Baruch, 3 why art thou troubled? He who travels by a road but does not complete it, or who departs by sea 4 but does not arrive at the port, can he be comforted? Or he who promises to give a present to 5 another, but does not fulfill it, is it not robbery? Or he who sows the earth, but does not reap its 6 fruit in its season, does he not lose everything? Or he who plants a plant unless it grows till the 7 time suitable to it, does he who planted it expect to receive fruit from it? Or a woman who has 8 conceived, if she bring forth untimely, does she not assuredly slay her infant? Or he who builds a house, if he does not roof it and complete it, can it be called a house? Tell Me that first.’

23 1, And I answered and said: ‘Not so, O LORD, my Lord.’ And He answered and said unto me: Why therefore art thou troubled about that which thou knowest not, and why art thou ill at ease 3 about things in which thou art ignorant? For as thou hast not forgotten the people who now are 4 and those who have passed away, so I remember those who are appointed to come. Because when Adam sinned and death was decreed against those who should be born, then the multitude of those who should be born was numbered, and for that number a place was prepared where the living might 5 dwell and the dead might be guarded. Before therefore the number aforesaid is fulfilled, the creature will not live again [for My spirit is the creator of life], and Sheol will receive the dead. 6, 7 And again it is given to thee to hear what things are to come after these times. For truly My redemption has drawn nigh, and is not far distant as aforetime.

24 1 For behold! the days come and the books shall be opened in which are written the sins of all those who have sinned, and again also the treasuries in which the righteousness of all those who have 2 been righteous in creation is gathered. For it shall come to pass at that time that thou shalt see -and the many that are with thee -the long-suffering of the Most High, which has been throughout all generations, who has been long-suffering towards all who are born, (alike) those 3 who sin and (those who) are righteous.’ And I answered and said: ‘But, behold! O Lord, no one knows the number of those things which have passed nor yet of those things which are to come. 4 For I know indeed that which has befallen us, but what will happen to our enemies I know not, and when Thou wilt visit Thy works.’

25 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Thou too shalt be preserved till that time till that 2 sign which the Most High will work for the inhabitants of the earth in the end of days. This 3 therefore shall be the sign. When a stupor shall seize the inhabitants of the earth, and they 4 shall fall into many tribulations, and again when they shall fall into great torments. And it will come to pass when they say in their thoughts by reason of their much tribulation: “The Mighty One doth no longer remember the earth” yea, it will come to pass when they abandon hope, that the time will then awake.’

26 1 And I answered and said: ‘Will that tribulation which is to be continue a long time, and will that necessity embrace many years?’

27 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Into twelve parts is that time divided, and each one of 2 them is reserved for that which is appointed for it. In the first part there shall be the beginning 3, 4 of commotions. And in the second part (there shall be) slayings of the great ones. And in 5, 6 the third part the fall of many by death. And in the fourth part the sending of the sword. And 7 in the fifth part famine and the withholding of rain. And in the sixth part earthquakes and 8, 9 terrors. [Wanting .] And in the eighth part a multitude of spectres and attacks of the Shedim. 10, 11, 12 And in the ninth part the fall of fire. And in the tenth part rapine and much oppression, And in 13 the eleventh part wickedness and unchastity. And in the twelfth part confusion from the mingling 14 together of all those things aforesaid. For these parts of that time are reserved, and shall be 15 mingled one with another and minister one to another. For some shall leave out some of their own, and receive (in its stead) from others, and some complete their own and that of others, so that those may not understand who are upon the earth in those days that this is the consummation of the times.

28 1,2 ‘Nevertheless, whosoever understandeth shall then be wise. For the measure and reckoning of 3 that time are two parts a week of seven weeks.’ And I answered and said: ‘It is good for a man to 4 come and behold, but it is better that he should not come lest he fall. [But I will say this also: 5 Will he who is incorruptible despise those things which are corruptible, and whatever befalls in the case of those things which are corruptible, so that he might look only to those things which are not 6 corruptible?] But if, O Lord, those things shall assuredly come to pass which Thou hast foretold 7 to me, so do Thou show this also unto me if indeed I have found grace in Thy sight. Is it in one place or in one of the parts of the earth that those things are come to pass, or will the whole earth experience (them)?’

29 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Whatever will then befall (will befall) the whole earth; 2 therefore all who live will experience (them). For at that time I will protect only those who are 3 found in those self-same days in this land. And it shall come to pass when all is accomplished that 4 was to come to pass in those parts, that the Messiah shall then begin to be revealed. And Behemoth shall be revealed from his place and Leviathan shall ascend from the sea, those two great monsters which I created on the fifth day of creation, and shall have kept until that time; and then they shall 5 be for food for all that are left. The earth also shall yield its fruit ten thousandfold and on each (?) vine there shall be a thousand branches, and each branch shall produce a thousand clusters, and each 6 cluster produce a thousand grapes, and each grape produce a cor of wine. And those who have 7 hungered shall rejoice: moreover, also, they shall behold marvels every day. For winds shall go forth from before Me to bring every morning the fragrance of aromatic fruits, and at the close of the 8 day clouds distilling the dew of health. And it shall come to pass at that self-same time that the treasury of manna shall again descend from on high, and they will eat of it in those years, because these are they who have come to the consummation of time.

30 1 And it shall come to pass after these things, when the time of the advent of the Messiah is fulfilled, that He shall return in glory. 2 Then all who have fallen asleep in hope of Him shall rise again. And it shall come to pass at that time that the treasuries will be opened in which is preserved the number of the souls of the righteous, and they shall come forth, and a multitude of souls shall be seen together in one 3 assemblage of one thought, and the first shall rejoice and the last shall not be grieved. For they know that the time has come of which it is said, that it is the consummation of the times. 4 But the souls of the wicked, when they behold all these things, shall then waste away the more. 5 For they shall know that their torment has come and their perdition has arrived.’

31 1 And it came to pass after these things: that I went to the people and said unto them: ‘Assemble 2 unto me all your elders and I will speak words unto them.’ And they all assembled in the valley 3 of the Cedron. And I answered and said unto them: Hear, O Israel, and I will speak to thee, And give ear, O seed of Jacob, and I will instruct thee. 4 Forget not Zion, But hold in remembrance the anguish of Jerusalem. 5 For lo! the days come, When everything that is shall become the prey of corruption And be as though it had not been.

32 1 ‘But as for you, if ye prepare your hearts, so as to sow in them the fruits of the law, it shall protect 2 you in that time in which the Mighty One is to shake the whole creation. [Because after a 3 little time the building of Zion will be shaken in order that it may be built again. But that building will not remain, but will again after a time be rooted out, and will remain desolate until 4, 5 the time And afterwards it must be renewed in glory, and perfected for evermore.] Therefore we should not be distressed so much over the evil which has now come as over that which is 6 still to be. For there will be a greater trial than these two tribulations when the Mighty One will 7 renew His creation. And now do not draw near to me for a few days, nor seek me till I come to 8 you.’ And it came to pass when I had spoken to them all these words, that I, Baruch, went my way, 9 and when the people saw me setting out, they lifted up their voice and lamented and said: ‘Whither departest thou from us, Baruch, and forsakest us as a father who forsakes his orphan children, and

departs from them?

33 1 ‘Are these the commands which thy companion, Jeremiah the prophet, commanded thee, and 2 said unto thee: “Look to this people till I go and make ready the rest of the brethren in Babylon, 3 against whom has gone forth the sentence that they should be led into captivity”? And now if thou also forsakest us, it were good for us all to die before thee, and then that thou shouldst withdraw from us.’

34 And I answered and said unto the people: ‘Far be it from me to forsake you or to withdraw from you, but I will only go unto the Holy of Holies to inquire of the Mighty One concerning you and concerning Zion, if in some respect I should receive more illumination: and after these things I will return to you.’

35 1 And I, Baruch, went to the holy place, and sat down upon the ruins and wept, and said: 2 ‘O that mine eyes were springs, And mine eyelids a fount of tears. 3 For how shall I lament for Zion, And how shall I mourn for Jerusalem? 4 Because in that place where I am now prostrate, Of old the high priest offered holy sacrifices, And placed thereon an incense of fragrant odours. 5 But now our glorying has been made into dust, And the desire of our soul into sand.’

36 1, 2 And when I had said these things I fell asleep there, and I saw a vision in the night. And lo! a forest of trees planted on the plain, and lofty and rugged rocky mountains surrounded it, and that 3 forest occupied much space. And lo! over against it arose a vine, and from under it there went forth 4 a fountain peacefully. Now that fountain came to the forest and was (stirred) into great waves, and those waves submerged that forest, and suddenly they rooted out the greater part of that forest, and 5 overthrew all the mountains which were round about it. And the height of the forest began to be made low, and the top of the mountains was made low and that fountain prevailed greatly, so that it 6 left nothing of that great forest save one cedar only. Also when it had cast it down and had destroyed and rooted out the greater par t of that forest, so that nothing was left of it, nor could its place be recognized, then that vine began to come with the fountain in peace and great tranquillity, and it came to a place which was not far from that cedar, and they brought the cedar which had 7 been cast down to it. And I beheld and lo! that vine opened its mouth and spake and said to that cedar: ‘Art thou not that cedar which was left of the forest of wickedness, and by whose means 8 wickedness persisted, and was wrought all those years, and goodness never. And thou didst keep conquering that which was not thine, and to that which was thine thou didst never show compassion, and thou didst keep extending thy power over those who were far from thee, and those who drew nigh thee thou didst hold fast in the toils of thy wickedness, and thou didst uplift thyself always as 9, 10 one that could not be rooted out! But now thy time has sped and thine hour is come. Do thou also therefore depart O cedar, after the forest. which departed before thee, and become dust with it. 11 and let your ashes be mingled together, And now recline in anguish and rest in torment till thy last time come, in which thou wilt come again, and be tormented still more.’

37 And after these things I saw that cedar burning, and the vine glowing, itself and all around it, the plain full of unfading flowers. And I indeed awoke and arose.

38 1 And I prayed and said: ‘O LORD, my Lord, Thou dost always enlighten those who are led by 2, 3 understanding. Thy law is life, and Thy wisdom is right guidance. Make known to me therefore 4 the interpretation of this vision. For Thou knowest that my soul hath always walked in Thy law, and from my (earliest) days I departed not from Thy wisdom.’

39 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Baruch, this is the interpretation of the vision which thou 2 hast seen. As thou hast seen the great forest which lofty and rugged mountains surrounded, this is 3 the word. Behold! the days come, and this kingdom will be destroyed which once destroyed Zion, 4 and it will be subjected to that which comes after it. Moreover, that also again after a time will be destroyed, and another, a third, will arise, and that also will have dominion for its time, and will be 5 destroyed. And after these things a fourth kingdom will arise, whose power will be harsh and evil far beyond those which were before it, and it will rule many times as the forests on the plain, and it 6 will hold fast for times, and will exalt itself more than the cedars of Lebanon. And by it the truth will be hidden, and all those who are polluted with iniquity will flee to it, as evil beasts flee and 7 creep into the forest. And it will come to pass when the time of its consummation that it should fall has approached, then the principate of My Messiah will be revealed, which is like the fountain 8 and the vine, and when it is revealed it will root out the multitude of its host. And as touching that which thou hast seen, the lofty cedar, which was left of that forest, and the fact, that the vine spoke those words with it which thou didst hear, this is the word.

40 1 The last leader of that time will be left alive, when the multitude of his hosts will be put to the sword, and he will be bound, and they will take him up to Mount Zion, and My Messiah will convict 2 him of all his impieties, and will gather and set before him all the works of his hosts. And afterwards he will put him to death, and protect the rest of My people which shall be found in the place which 3 I have chosen. And his principate will stand for ever, until the world of corruption is at an end, 4 and until the times aforesaid are fulfilled. This is thy vision, and this is its interpretation.’

41 1 And I answered and said: ‘For whom and for how many shall these things be? or who will be 2 worthy to live at that time? For I will. speak before thee everything that I think, and I will ask of 3 Thee regarding those things which I meditate. For lo! I see many of Thy people who have with 4 drawn from Thy covenant, and cast from them the yoke of Thy law. But others again I have seen 5 who have forsaken their vanity, and fled for refuge beneath Thy wings. What therefore will be to 6 them? or how will the last time receive them? Or perhaps the time of these will assuredly be weighed, and as the beam inclines will they be judged accordingly?’

42 1, 2 And He answered and said unto me: ‘These things also will I show unto thee. As for what thou didst say — “To whom will these things be, and how many (will they be)?”- to those who have believed there shall be the good which was spoken of aforetime, and to those who despise there shall 3 be the contrary of these things. And as for what thou didst say regarding those who have drawn 4 near and those who have withdrawn this is the word. As for those who were before subject, and afterwards withdrew and mingled themselves with the seed of mingled peoples, the time of these was 5 the former, and was accounted as something exalted. And as for those who before knew not but afterwards knew life, and mingled (only) with the seed of the people which had separated itself the 6 time of these (is) the latter, and is accounted as something exalted. And time shall succeed to time and season to season, and one shall receive from another, and then with a view to the consummation shall everything be compared according to the measure of the times and the hours of the seasons. 7, 8 For corruption shall take those that belong to it, and life those that belong to it. And the dust shall be called, and there shall be said to it: “Give back that which is not thine, and raise up all that thou hast kept until its time.”

43 1 ‘But, do thou, Baruch, direct thy heart to that which has been said to thee, And understand those things which have been shown to thee; For there are many eternal consolations for thee. 2 For thou shalt depart from this place, And thou shalt pass from the regions which are now seen by thee, And thou shalt forget whatever is corruptible, And shalt not again recall those things which happen among mortals. 3 Go therefore and command thy people, and come to this place, and afterwards fast seven days, and then I will come to thee and speak with thee.’

44 1 And I, Baruch, went from thence, and came to my people, and I called my first-born son and [the Gedaliahs] my friends, and seven of the elders of the people, and I said unto them: Behold, I go unto my fathers According to the way of all the earth. 3 But withdraw ye not from the way of the law, But guard and admonish the people which remain; ‘Lest they withdraw from the commandments of the Mighty One, 4 For ye see that He whom we serve is just, And our Creator is no respecter of persons. 5 And see ye what hath befallen Zion, And what hath happened to Jerusalem. 6 For the judgement of the Mighty One shall (thereby) be made known, And His ways, which, though past finding out, are right. 7 For if ye endure and persevere in His fear, And do not forget His law, The times shall change over you for good. And ye shall see the consolation of Zion. 8, 9 Because whatever is now is nothing, But that which shall be is very great. For everything that is corruptible shall pass away, And everything that dies shall depart, And all the present time shall be forgotten, Nor shall there be any remembrance of the present time, which is defiled with evils. 10 For that which runs now runs unto vanity, And that which prospers shall quickly fall and be humiliated. 11 For that which is to be shall be the object of desire, And for that which comes afterwards shall we hope; For it is a time that passes not away, 12 And the hour comes which abides for ever. And the new world (comes) which does not turn to corruption those who depart to its blessedness, And has no mercy on those who depart to torment, And leads not to perdition those who live in it. 13 For these are they who shall inherit that time which has been spoken of, And theirs is the inheritance of the promised time. 14 These are they who have acquired for themselves treasures of wisdom, And with them are found stores of understanding, And from mercy have they not withdrawn, And the truth of the law have they preserved. 15 For to them shall be given the world to come, But the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire.’

45 2 ‘Do ye therefore so far as ye are able instruct the people, for that labour is ours. For if ye teach them, ye will quicken them.’

46 1 And my son and the elders of the people answered and said unto me: ‘Has the Mighty One humiliated us to such a degree As to take thee from us quickly? 2 And truly we shall be in darkness, And there shall be no light to the people who are left 3 For where again shall we seek the law, Or who will distinguish for us between death and life?’ 4 And I said unto them: ‘The throne of the Mighty One I cannot resist; Nevertheless, there shall not be wanting to Israel a wise man Nor a son of the law to the race of Jacob. 5 But only prepare ye your hearts, that ye may obey the law, And be subject to those who in fear are wise and understanding; And prepare your souls that ye may not depart from them. 6 For if ye do these things, Good tidings shall come unto you. [Which I before told you of; nor shall ye fall into the torment, of which I testified to you before.’ 7 But with regard to the word that I was to be taken I did not make (it) known to them or to my son.]

47 1 And when I had gone forth and dismissed them, I went thence and said unto them: ‘Behold! 2 I go to Hebron: for thither the Mighty One hath sent me.’ And I came to that place where the word had been spoken unto me, and I sat there, and fasted seven days.

48 1 And it came to pass after the seventh day, that I prayed before the Mighty One and said 2 ‘O my Lord, Thou summonest the advent of the times, And they stand before Thee; Thou causest the power of the ages to pass away, And they do not resist Thee; Thou arrangest the method of the seasons, And they obey Thee. 3 Thou alone knowest the duration of the generations, And Thou revealest not Thy mysteries to many. 4 Thou makest known the multitude of the fire, And Thou weighest the lightness of the wind. 5 Thou explorest the limit of the heights, And Thou scrutinizest the depths of the darkness. 6 Thou carest for the number which pass away that they may be preserved And Thou preparest an abode for those that are to be. 7 Thou rememberest the beginning which Thou hast made, And the destruction that is to be Thou forgettest not. 8 With nods of fear and indignation Thou commandest the flames, And they change into spirits, And with a word Thou quickenest that which was not, And with mighty power Thou holdest that which has not yet come. 9 Thou instructest created things in the understanding of Thee, And Thou makest wise the spheres so as to minister in their orders. 10 Armies innumerable stand before Thee And minister in their orders quietly at Thy nod. 11 Hear Thy servant And give ear to my petition. 12 For in a little time are we born, And in a little time do we return. 13 But with Thee hours are as a time, And days as generations. 14 Be not therefore wroth with man; for he is nothing 15 And take not account of our works; For what are we? For lo! by Thy gift do we come into the world, And we depart not of our own will. 16 For we said not to our parents, “Beget us,” Nor did we send to Sheol and say, “Receive us.” 17 What therefore is our strength that we should bear Thy wrath Or what are we that we should endure Thy judgement? 18 Protect us in Thy compassions, And in Thy mercy help us. 19 Behold the little ones that are subject unto Thee, And save all that draw nigh unto Thee: And destroy not the hope of our people, And cut not short ‘the times of our aid. 20 For this is the nation which Thou hast chosen, And these are the people, to whom Thou findest no equal. 21 But I will speak now before Thee, And I will say as my heart thinketh. 22 ‘In Thee do we trust, for lo! Thy law is with us, And we know that we shall not fall so long as we keep Thy statutes. 23 [To all time are we blessed at all events in this that we have not mingled with the Gentiles.] 24 For we are all one celebrated people, Who have received one law from One: And the law which is amongst us will aid us, And the surpassing wisdom which is in us will help us.’ 25, 26 And when I had prayed and said these things, I was greatly weakened. And He answered and said unto me: Thou hast prayed simply, O Baruch, And all thy words have been heard. 27 But My judgement exacts its own And My law exacts its rights.’ 28 For from thy words I will answer thee, And from thy prayer I will speak to thee. 29 For this is as follows: he that is corrupted is not at all; he has both wrought iniquity so far as he 30 could do anything, and has not remembered My goodness, nor accepted My long-suffering. Therefore 31 thou shalt surely be taken up, as I before told thee. For that time shall arise which brings affliction; for it shall come and pass by with quick vehemence, and it shall be turbulent coming in 32 the heat of indignation. And it shall come to pass in those days that all the inhabitants of the earth shall be moved one against another, because they know not that My judgement has drawn nigh. 33 For there shall not be found many wise at that time, And the intelligent shall be but a few: Moreover, even those who know shall most of all be silent. 34 And there shall be many rumours and tidings not a few, And the doings of phantasmata shall be manifest, And promises not a few be recounted. Some of them (shall prove) idle, And some of them shall be confirmed. 35 And honour shall be turned into shame, And strength humiliated into contempt, And probity destroyed, And beauty shall become ugliness. 36 And many shall say to many at that time: “Where hath the multitude of intelligence hidden itself, And whither hath the multitude of wisdom removed itself?” 37 And whilst they are meditating these things, Then envy shall arise in those who had not thought aught of themselves (?) And passion shall seize him that is peaceful, And many shall be stirred up in anger to injure many, And they shall rouse up armies in order to shed blood, And in the end they shall perish together with them. 38 And it shall come to pass at the self-same time, That a change of times shall manifestly appear to every man, Because in all those times they polluted themselves And they practised oppression, And walked every man in his own works, And remembered not the law of the Mighty One. 39 Therefore a fire shall consume their thoughts, And in flame shall the meditations of their reins be tried; For the Judge shall come and will not tarry. 40 Because each of the inhabitants of the earth knew when he was transgressing. But My Law they knew not by reason of their pride. 41 But many shall then assuredly weep, Yea, over the living more than over the dead.’ 42 And I answered and said: ‘O Adam, what hast thou done to all those who are born from thee? And what will be said to the first Eve who hearkened to the serpent? 43 For all this multitude are going to corruption, Nor is there any numbering of those whom the fire devours. 44, 45 But again I will speak in Thy presence. Thou, O LORD, my Lord, knowest what is in Thy 46 creature. For Thou didst of old command the dust to produce Adam, and Thou knowest the number of those who are born from him, and how far they have sinned before Thee, who have 47 existed and not confessed Thee as their Creator. And as regards all these their end shall convict them, and Thy law which they have transgressed shall requite them on Thy day.’ 48 [‘But now let us dismiss the wicked and inquire about the righteous. 49 And I will recount their blessedness And not be silent in celebrating their glory, which is reserved for them. 50 For assuredly as in a little time in this transitory world in which ye live, ye have endured much labour, So in that world to which there is no end, ye shall receive great light.’]

49 1 Nevertheless, I will again ask from Thee, O Mighty One, yea, I will ask mercy from Him who made all things. 2 “In what shape will those live who live in Thy day? Or how will the splendour of those who (are) after that time continue? 3 Will they then resume this form of the present, And put on these entrammelling members, Which are now involved in evils, And in which evils are consummated, Or wilt Thou perchance change these things which have been in the world

As also the world?” ‘

50 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Hear, Baruch, this word, And write in the remembrance of thy heart all that thou shalt learn. 2 For the earth shall then assuredly restore the dead, [Which it now receives, in order to preserve them]. It shall make no change in their form, But as it has received, so shall it restore them, And as I delivered them unto it, so also shall it raise them. 3 For then it will be necessary to show to the living that the dead have come to life again, and that 4 those who had departed have returned (again). And it shall come to pass, when they have severally recognized those whom they now know, then judgement shall grow strong, and those things which before were spoken of shall come.

51 1 And it shall come to pass, when that appointed day has gone by. that then shall the aspect of those 2 who are condemned be afterwards changed, and the glory of those who are justified. For the aspect of those who now act wickedly shall become worse than it is, as they shall suffer torment. 3 Also (as for) the glory of those who have now been justified in My law, who have had understanding in their life, and who have planted in their heart the root of wisdom, then their splendour shall be glorified in changes, and the form of their face shall be turned into the light of their beauty, that they may be able to acquire and receive the world which does not die, which is then promised to 4 them. For over this above all shall those who come then lament, that they rejected My law, and stopped 5 their ears that they might not hear wisdom or receive understanding. When therefore they see those, over whom they are now exalted, (but) who shall then be exalted and glorified more than they, they shall respectively be transformed, the latter into the splendour of angels, and the former shall yet 6 more waste away in wonder at the visions and in the beholding of the forms. For they shall first behold and afterwards depart to be tormented. 7 But those who have been saved by their works. And to whom the law has been now a hope, And understanding an expectation, And wisdom a confidence, Shall wonders appear in their time. 8 For they shall behold the world which is now invisible to them, And they shall behold the time which is now hidden from them: 9 And time shall no longer age them. 10 For in the heights of that world shall they dwell, And they shall be made like unto the angels, And be made equal to the stars, And they shall be changed into every form they desire, From beauty into loveliness, And from light into the splendour of glory. 11 For there shall be spread before them the extents of Paradise, and there shall be shown to them the beauty of the majesty of the living creatures which are beneath the throne, and all the armies of the angels, who [are now held fast by My word, lest they should appear, and] are held fast by a 12 command, that they may stand in their places till their advent comes. Moreover, there shall then be 13 excellency in the righteous surpassing that in the angels. For the first shall receive the last, those whom they were expecting, and the last those of whom they used to hear that they had passed away. 14 For they have been delivered from this world of tribulation, And laid down the burden of anguish. 15 For what then have men lost their life, And for what have those who were on the earth exchanged their soul? 16 For then they chose (not) for themselves this time, Which, beyond the reach of anguish, could not pass away: But they chose for themselves that time, Whose issues are full of lamentations and evils, And they denied the world which ages not those who come to it, And they rejected the time of glory, So that they shall not come to the honour of which I told thee before.’

52 1 And I answered and said: How can we forget those for whom woe is then reserved? 2 And why therefore do we again mourn for those who die? Or why do we weep for those who depart to Sheol? 3 Let lamentations be reserved for the beginning of that coming torment, And let tears be laid up for the advent of the destruction of that time. 4 [But even in the face of these things will I speaks 5 And as for the righteous, what will they do now? 6 Rejoice ye in the suffering which ye now suffer: For why do ye look for the decline of your enemies? 7 Make ready your soul for that which is reserved for you, And prepare your souls for the reward which is laid up for you.’]

53 1 And when I had said these things I fell asleep there, and I saw a vision, and lo! a cloud was ascending from a very great sea, and I kept gazing upon it, and lo! it was full of waters white and black, and there were many colours in those self-same waters, and as it were the likeness of great 2 lightning was seen at its summit. And I saw the cloud passing swiftly in quick courses, and it 3 covered all the earth. And it came to pass after these things that cloud began to pour 4 upon the earth the waters that were in it. And I saw that there was not one and the same likeness 5 in the waters which descended from it. For in the first beginning they were black and many for a time, and afterwards I saw that the waters became bright, but they were not many, and after these things again I saw black (waters), and after these things again bright, and again 6 black and again bright how this was done twelve times, but the black were always more numerous 7 than the bright. And it came to pass at the end of the cloud, that lo! it rained black waters, and they were darker than had been all those waters that were before, and fire was mingled 8 with them, and where those waters descended, they wrought devastation and destruction. And after these things I saw how that lightning which I had seen on the summit of the cloud, seized 9 hold of it and hurled it to the earth. Now that lightning shone exceedingly, so as to illuminate the whole earth, and it healed those regions where the last waters had descended and wrought 10, 11 devastation. And it took hold of the whole earth, and had dominion over it. And I saw after these things, and lo! twelve rivers were ascending from the sea, and they began to surround 12 that lightning and to become subject to it. And by reason of my fear I awoke.

54 1 And I besought the Mighty One, and said: Thou alone, O Lord, knowest of aforetime the deep things of the world, And the things which befall in their times Thou bringest about by Thy word, And against the works of the inhabitants of the earth Thou dost hasten the beginnings of the times, And the end of the seasons Thou alone knowest. 2 (Thou) for whom nothing is too hard, But who dost everything easily by a nod: 3 (Thou) to whom the depths come as the heights, And whose word the beginnings of the ages serve: 4 (Thou) who revealest to those who fear Thee what is prepared for them, That thenceforth they may be comforted. 5 Thou showest great acts to those who know not; Thou breakest up the enclosure of those who are ignorant, And lightest up what is dark, And revealest what is hidden to the pure, [Who in faith have submitted themselves to Thee and Thy law.] 6 Thou hast shown to Thy servant this vision; Reveal to me also its interpretation. 7 For I know that as regards those things wherein I besought Thee, I have received a response, And as regards what I besought, Thou didst reveal to me with what voice I should praise Thee, And from what members I should cause praises and hallelujahs to ascend to Thee. 8 For if my members were mouths, And the hairs of my head voices, Even so I could not give Thee the meed of praise, Nor laud thee as is befitting, Nor could I recount Thy praise, Nor tell the glory of Thy beauty. 9 For what am I amongst men, Or why am I reckoned amongst those who are more excellent than I, That I have heard all these marvelous things from the Most High, And numberless promises from Him who created me? 10 Blessed be my mother among those that bear, And praised among women be she that bare me. 11 For I will not be silent in praising the Mighty One, And with the voice of praise I will recount His marvellous deeds. 12 For who doeth like unto Thy marvellous deeds, O God, Or who comprehendeth Thy deep thought of life. 13 For with Thy counsel Thou dost govern all the creatures which Thy right hand has created, And Thou hast established every fountain of light beside Thee, And the treasures of wisdom beneath Thy throne hast Thou prepared. 14 And justly do they perish who have not loved Thy law, And the torment of judgement shall await those who have not submitted themselves to Thy power. 15 For though Adam first sinned And brought untimely death upon all, Yet of those who were born from him Each one of them has prepared for his own soul torment to come, And again each one of them has chosen for himself glories to come. 16 [For assuredly he who believeth will receive reward. 17 But now, as for you, ye wicked that now are, turn ye to destruction, because ye shall speedily be visited, in that formerly ye rejected the understanding of the Most High. 18 For His works have not taught you, Nor has the skill of His creation which is at all times persuaded you.] 19 Adam is therefore not the cause, save only of his own soul, But each of us has been the Adam of his own soul. 20 But do Thou, O Lord, expound to me regarding those things which Thou hast revealed to me, And inform me regarding that which I besought Thee. 21 For at the consummation of the world vengeance shall be taken upon those who have done wickedness according to their wickedness, And Thou wilt glorify the faithful according to their faithfulness. 22 For those who are amongst Thine own Thou rulest, And those who sin Thou blottest out from amongst Thine own.’

55 1 And it came to pass when I had finished speaking the words of this prayer, that I sat there under 2 a tree, that I might rest in the shade of the branches. And I wondered and was astonied, and pondered in my thoughts regarding the multitude of goodness which sinners who are upon the earth have rejected, and regarding the great torment which they have despised, though they knew that 3 they should be tormented because of the sin they had committed. And when I was pondering on these things and the like, lo! the angel Ramiel who presides over true visions was sent to me, and he said unto me: 4 ‘Why does thy heart trouble thee, Baruch, and why does thy thought disturb thee? 5 For if owing to the report which thou hast only heard of judgement thou art so moved, What (wilt thou be) when thou shalt see it manifestly with thine eyes? 6 And if with the expectation wherewith thou dost expect the day of the Mighty One thou art so overcome, What (wilt thou be) when thou shalt come to its advent? 7 And, if at the word of the announcement of the torment of those who have done foolishly thou art so wholly distraught, How much more when the event will reveal marvellous things? And if thou hast heard tidings of the good and evil things which are then coming and art grieved, What (wilt thou be) when thou shalt behold what the majesty will reveal, Which shall convict these and cause those to rejoice.’

56 1 Nevertheless, because thou hast besought the Most High to reveal to thee the interpretation 2 of the vision which thou hast seen, I have been sent to tell thee. And the Mighty One hath assuredly made known to thee the methods of the times that have passed, and of those that are destined to pass in His world from the beginning of its creation even unto its consummation, 3 of those things which (are) deceit and of those which (are) in truth. For as thou didst see a great cloud which ascended from the sea, and went and covered the earth, this is the duration of the world which the Mighty One made when he took counsel to make the world. 4 And it came to pass when the word had gone forth from His presence, that the duration of the world had come into being in a small degree, and was established according to the multitude of 5 the intelligence of Him who sent it. And as thou didst previously see on the summit of the cloud black waters which descended previously on the earth, this is the transgression wherewith Adam the first man transgressed. 6 For [since] when he transgressed Untimely death came into being, Grief was named And anguish was prepared, And pain was created, And trouble consummated, And disease began to be established, And Sheol kept demanding that it should be renewed in blood, And the begetting of children was brought about, And the passion of parents produced, And the greatness of humanity was humiliated, And goodness languished. 7, 8 What therefore can be blacker or darker than these things? This is the beginning of the black 9 waters which thou hast seen. And from these black (waters) again were black derived, and the 10 darkness of darkness was produced. For he became a danger to his own soul: even to the angels 11, 12 became he a danger. For, moreover, at that time when he was created, they enjoyed liberty. And 13 some of them descended, and mingled with the women. And then those who did so were tormented 14 in chains. But the rest of the multitude of the angels, of which there is (no) number, restrained 15 themselves. And those who dwelt on the earth perished together (with them) through the waters 16 of the deluge. These are the black first waters.

57 1 And after these (waters) thou didst see bright waters: this is the fount of Abraham, also his 2 generations and advent of his son, and of his son’s son, and of those like them. Because at that time the unwritten law was named amongst them, And the works of the commandments were then fulfilled, And belief in the coming judgement was then generated, And hope of the world that was to be renewed was then built up, And the promise of the life that should come hereafter was implanted. 3 These are the bright waters, which thou hast seen.

58 1 And the black third waters which thou hast seen, these are the mingling of all sins, which the nations afterwards wrought after the death of those righteous men, and the wickedness of the land of 2 Egypt, wherein they did wickedly in the service wherewith they made their sons to serve. Nevertheless, these also perished at last.

59 1 And the bright fourth waters which thou hast seen are the advent of Moses and Aaron and 2 Miriam and Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb and of all those like them. For at that time the lamp of the eternal law shone on all those who sat in darkness, which announced to them that believe the 3 promise of their reward, and to them that deny, the torment of fire which is reserved for them. But also the heavens at that time were shaken from their place, and those who were under the throne of 4 the Mighty One were perturbed, when He was taking Moses unto Himself For He showed him many admonitions together with the principles of the law and the consummation of’ the times, as also to thee, and likewise the pattern of Zion and its measures, in the pattern of which the 5 sanctuary of the present time was to be made. But then also He showed to him the measures of the fire, also the depths of the abyss, and the weight of the winds, and the number of the drops of 6 rain: And the suppression of anger, and the multitude of long-suffering, and the truth of judgement: 7, 8 And the root of wisdom, and the riches of understanding, and the fount of knowledge: And the height of the air, and the greatness of Paradise, and the consummation of the ages, and the beginning 9 of the day of judgement: And the number of the offerings, and the earths which have not yet come: 10 And the mouth of Gehenna, and the station of vengeance, and the place of faith, and the region of 11 hope: And the likeness of future torment, and the multitude of innumerable angels, and the flaming hosts, and the splendour of the lightning and the voice of the thunders, and the orders of the chiefs of the angels, and the treasuries of light, and the changes of the times, and the investigations of the 12 law. These are the bright fourth waters which thou hast seen.

60 1 ‘And the black fifth waters which thou hast seen raining are the works which the Amorites wrought, and the spells of their incantations which they wrought, and the wickedness of their 2 mysteries, and the mingling of their pollution. But even Israel was then polluted by sins in the days of the judges, though they saw many sip which were from Him who made them.

61 1 ‘And the bright sixth waters which thou didst see, this is the time in which David and Solomon were born. 2 And there was at that time the building of Zion, And the dedication of the sanctuary, And the shedding of much blood of the nations that sinned then, And many offerings which were offered then in the dedication of the sanctuary. 3 And peace and tranquillity existed at that time, 4 And wisdom was heard in the assembly: And the riches of understanding were magnified in the congregations, 5 And the holy festivals were fulfilled in blessedness and in much joy. 6 And the judgement of the rulers was then seen to be without guile, And the righteousness of the precepts of the Mighty One was accomplished with truth. 7 And the land [which] was then beloved by the Lord, And because its inhabitants sinned not, it was glorified beyond all lands, And the city Zion ruled then over all lands and regions. 8 These are the bright waters which thou hast seen.

62 1 ‘And the black seventh waters which thou bast seen, this is the perversion (brought about) by the 2 counsel of Jeroboam, who took counsel to make two calves of gold: And all the iniquities which 3 kings who were after him iniquitously wrought. And the curse of Jezebel and the worship of idols 4 which Israel practised at that time. And the withholding of rain, and the famines which occurred 5 until women eat the fruit of their wombs. And the time of their captivity which came upon the nine 6 tribes and a half, because they were in many sins. And Salmanasar king of Assyria came and led 7 them away captive. But regarding the Gentiles it were tedious to tell how they always wrought 8 impiety and wickedness, and never wrought righteousness. These are the black seventh waters which thou hast seen.

63 1 ‘And the bright eighth waters which thou hast seen, this is the rectitude and uprightness of 2 Hezekiah king of Judah and the grace (of God) which came upon him. For when Sennacherib was stirred up in order that he might perish, and his wrath troubled him in order that he might thereby 3 perish, for the multitude also of the nations which were with him . When, moreover, Hezekiah the king heard those things which the king of Assyria was devising, (i.e.) to come and seize him and destroy his people, the two and a half tribes which remained: nay, more he wished to overthrow Zion also: then Hezekiah trusted in his works, and had hope in his righteousness, and spake with 4 the Mighty One and said: “Behold, for lo! Sennacherib is prepared to destroy us, and he will be boastful and uplifted when he has destroyed Zion.” 5 And the Mighty One heard him, for Hezekiah was wise, And He had respect unto his prayer, because he was righteous. 6, 7 And thereupon the Mighty One commanded Ramiel His angel who speaks with thee. And I went forth and destroyed their multitude, the number of whose chiefs only was a hundred and 8 eighty-five thousand, and each one of them had an equal number (at his command). And at that time I burned their bodies within, but their raiment and arms I preserved outwardly, in order that the still more wonderful deeds of the Mighty One might appear, and that thereby His name might 9 be spoken of throughout the whole earth. And Zion was saved and Jerusalem delivered: Israel also 10 was freed from tribulation. And all those who were in the holy land rejoiced, and the name of the 11 Mighty One was glorified so that it was spoken of. These are the bright waters which thou hast seen.

64 1 ‘And the black ninth waters which thou hast seen, this is all the wickedness which was in the days 2 of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah. For he wrought much impiety, and he slew the righteous, and he wrested judgement. and he shed the blood of the innocent, and wedded women he violently polluted, and he overturned the altars, and destroyed their offerings, and drove forth their priests 3 lest they should minister in the sanctuary. And he made an image with five faces: four of them looked to the four winds, and the fifth on the summit of the image as an adversary of the zeal of the 4 Mighty One. And then wrath went forth from the presence of the Mighty One to the intent that 5 Zion should be rooted out, as also it befell in your days. But also against the two tribes and a half 6 went forth a decree that they should also be led away captive, as thou hast now seen. And to such a degree did the impiety of Manasseh increase, that it removed the praise of the Most High from 7 the sanctuary. On this account Manasseh was at that time named “the impious”, and finally his 8 abode was in the fire. For though his prayer was heard with the Most High, finally, when he was cast into the brazen horse and the brazen horse was melted, it served as a sign unto him for the 9 hour. For he had not lived perfectly, for he was not worthy but that thenceforward he might 10 know by whom finally he should be tormented. For he who is able to benefit is also able to torment.

65 1 Thus, moreover, did Manasseh act impiously, and thought that in his time the Mighty One would 2 not inquire into these things. These are the black ninth waters which thou hast seen.

66 1 ‘And the bright tenth waters which thou hast seen: this is the purity of the generations of Josiah king of Judah, who was the only one at the time who submitted himself to the Mighty One with all 2 his heart and with all his soul. And he cleansed the land from idols, and hallowed all the vessels which had been polluted, and restored the offerings to the altar, and raised the horn of the holy, and exalted the righteous, and honoured all that were wise in understanding, and brought back the priests to their ministry, and destroyed and removed the magicians and enchanters and necromancers from 3 the land. And not only did he slay the impious that were living, but they also took from the 4 sepulchres the bones of the dead and burned them with fire. [And the festivals and the sabbaths he established in their sanctity], and their polluted ones he burnt in the fire, and the lying prophets which deceived the people, these also he burnt in the fire, and the people who listened to them when 5 they were living, he cast them into the brook Cedron, and heaped stones upon them. And he was zealous with zeal for the Mighty One with all his soul, and he alone was firm in the law at that time, so that he left none that was uncircumcised, or that wrought impiety in all the land, all the days of 6 his life. Therefore he shall receive an eternal reward, and he shall be glorified with the Mighty One 7 beyond many at a later time. For on his account and on account of those who are like him were 8 the honourable glories, of which thou wast told before, created and prepared. These are the bright waters which thou hast seen.

67 1 ‘And the black eleventh waters which thou hast seen: this is the calamity which is now befalling Zion. 2 Dost thou think that there is no anguish to the angels in the presence of the Mighty One, That Zion was so delivered up, And that lo! the Gentiles boast in their hearts, And assemble before their idols and say, “She is trodden down who oft times trod down, And she has been reduced to servitude who reduced (others)”? 3 Dost thou think that in these things the Most High rejoices, Or that His name is glorified? 4 [But how will it serve towards His righteous judgement?] 5 Yet after these things shall the dispersed among the Gentiles be taken hold of by tribulation, And in shame shall they dwell in every place. 6 Because so far as Zion is delivered up And Jerusalem laid waste, Shall idols prosper in the cities of the Gentiles, And the vapour of the smoke of the incense of the righteousness which is by the law is extinguished in Zion, And in the region of Zion in every place lo! there is the smoke of impiety. 7 But the king of Babylon will arise who has now destroyed Zion, And he will boast over the people, And he will speak great things in his heart in the presence of the Most High. 8 But he also shall fall at last. These are the black waters.

68 1, 2 ‘ And the bright twelfth waters which thou hast seen: this is the word. For after these things a time will come when thy people shall fall into distress, so that they shall all run the risk of 3 perishing together. Nevertheless, they will be saved, and their enemies will fall in their presence. 4, 5 And they will have in (due) time much joy. And at that time after a little interval Zion will again be builded, and its offerings will again be restored, and the priests will return to their ministry, and 6, 7 also the Gentiles will come to glorify it. Nevertheless, not fully as in the beginning. But it will 8 come to pass after these things that there will be the fall of many nations. These are the bright waters which thou hast seen.

69 1 ‘For the last waters which thou hast seen which were darker than all that were before them, those 2 which were after the twelfth number, which were collected together, belong to the whole world. For 3 the Most High made division from the beginning, because He alone knows what will befall. For as to the enormities and the impieties which should be wrought before Him, He foresaw six kinds of 4 them. And of the good works of the righteous which should be accomplished before Him, He foresaw six kinds of them, beyond those which He should work at the consummation of the age. 5 On his account there were not black waters with black, nor bright with bright; for it is the consummation.

70 1 ‘Hear therefore the interpretation of the last black waters which are to come [after the black]: this 2 is the word. Behold! the days come, and it shall be when the time of the age has ripened, And the harvest of its evil and good seeds has come, That the Mighty One will bring upon the earth and its inhabitants and upon its rulers Perturbation of spirit and stupor of heart. 3 And they shall hate one another, And provoke one another to fight, And the mean shall rule over the honourable, And those of low degree shall be extolled above the famous. 4 And the many shall be delivered into the hands of the few, And those who were nothing shall rule over the strong, And the poor shall have abundance beyond the rich, And the impious shall exalt themselves above the heroic. 5 And the wise shall be silent, And the foolish shall speak, Neither shall the thought of men be then confirmed, Nor the counsel of the mighty, Nor shall the hope of those who hope be confirmed. 6 And when those things which were predicted have come to pass, Then shall confusion fall upon all men, And some of them shall fall in battle, And some of them shall perish in anguish, 7 And some of them shall be destroyed by their own. Then the Most High will reveal those peoples whom He has prepared before, And they shall come and make war with the leaders that shall then be left. 8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever gets safe out of the war shall die in the earthquake, And whosoever gets safe out of the earthquake shall be burned by the fire, And whosoever gets safe out of the fire shall be destroyed by famine. 9 [And it shall come to pass that whosoever of the victors and the vanquished gets safe out of and 10 escapes all these things aforesaid will be delivered into the hands of My servant Messiah.] For all the earth shall devour its inhabitants.

71 1 ‘And the holy land shall have mercy on its own, And it shall protect its inhabiters at that time. 2, 3 This is the vision which thou hast seen, and this is the interpretation. For I have come to tell thee these things, because thy prayer has been heard with the Most High.

72 1 ‘Hear now also regarding the bright lightning which is to come at the consummation after these 2 black (waters): this is the word. After the signs have come, of which thou wast told before, when the nations become turbulent, and the time of My Messiah is come, he shall both summon all the 3 nations, and some of them he shall spare, and some of them he shall slay. These things therefore 4 shall come upon the nations which are to be spared by Him. Every nation, which knows not Israel 5 and has not trodden down the seed of Jacob, shall indeed be spared. And this because some out of 6 every nation shall be subjected to thy people. But all those who have ruled over you, or have known you, shall be given up to the sword.

73 1 ‘And it shall come to pass, when He has brought low everything that is in the world, And has sat down in peace for the age on the throne of His kingdom, That joy shall then be revealed, And rest shall appear. 2 And then healing shall descend in dew, And disease shall withdraw, And anxiety and anguish and lamentation pass from amongst men, And gladness proceed through the whole earth. 3 And no one shall again die untimely, Nor shall any adversity suddenly befall. 4 And judgements, and revilings, and contentions, and revenges, And blood, and passions, and envy, and hatred, And whatsoever things are like these shall go into condemnation when they are removed. 5 For it is these very things which have filled this world with evils, And on account of these the life of man has been greatly troubled. 6 And wild beasts shall come from the forest and minister unto men, And asps and dragons shall come forth from their holes to submit themselves to a little child. 7 And women shall no longer then have pain when they bear, Nor shall they suffer torment when they yield the fruit of the womb.

74 1 And it shall come to pass in those days that the reapers shall not grow weary, Nor those that build be toil worn; For the works shall of themselves speedily advance Together with those who do them in much tranquillity. 2 For that time is the consummation of that which is corruptible, And the beginning of that which is not corruptible. 3 Therefore those things which were predicted shall belong to it: Therefore it is far away from evils, and near to those things which die not. 4 This is the bright lightning which came after the last dark waters.’

75 1 And I answered and said: Who can understand, O Lord, Thy goodness? For it is incomprehensible. 2 Or who can search into thy compassions, Which are infinite? 3 Or who can comprehend Thy intelligence? 4 Or who is able to recount the thoughts of Thy mind? 5 Or who of those who are born can hope to come to those things, Unless he is one to whom Thou art merciful and gracious? 6 Because, if assuredly Thou didst not have compassion on man, Those who are under Thy right hand, They could not come to those things, But those who are in the numbers named can be called. 7 But if, indeed, we who exist know wherefore we have come, And submit ourselves to Him who brought us out of Egypt, We shall come again and remember those things which have passed, And shall rejoice regarding that which has been. 8 But if now we know not wherefore we have come, And recognize not the principate of Him who brought us up out of Egypt, We shall come again and seek after those things which have been now, And be grieved with pain because of those things which have befallen.’

76 1 And He answered and said unto me: [‘Inasmuch as the revelation of this vision has been interpreted to thee as thou besoughtest], hear the word of the Most High that thou mayst know what 2 is to befall thee after these things. For thou shalt surely depart from this earth, nevertheless not 3 unto death, but thou shalt be preserved unto the consummation of the times. Go up therefore to the top of that mountain, and there shall pass before thee all the regions of that land, and the figure of the inhabited world, and the top(s) of the mountains, and the depth(s) of the valleys, and the depths of the seas, and the number of the rivers, that thou mayst see what thou art leaving, and 4 whither thou art going. Now this shall befall after forty days. Go now therefore during these days and instruct the people so far as thou art able, that they may learn so as not to die at the last time, but may learn in order that they may live at the last times.’

77 1 And I, Baruch, went thence and came to the people, and assembled them together from the 2 greatest to the least, and said unto them: ‘Hear, ye children of Israel, behold how many ye are who 3 remain of the twelve tribes of Israel. For to you and to your fathers the Lord gave a law more 4 excellent than to all peoples. And because your brethren transgressed the commandments of the Most High, He brought vengeance upon you and upon them, And He spared not the former, And the latter also He gave into captivity: And He left not a residue of them, 5 But behold! ye are here with me. 6 If, therefore, ye direct your ways aright, Ye also shall not depart as your brethren departed, But they shall come to you. 7 For He is merciful whom ye worship, And He is gracious in whom ye hope, And He is true, so that He shall do good and not evil. 8 Have ye not seen here what has befallen Zion? 9 Or do ye perchance think that the place had sinned, And that on this account it was overthrown? Or that the land had wrought foolishness, And that therefore it was delivered up? 10 And know ye not that on account of you who did sin, That which sinned not was overthrown, And, on account of those who wrought wickedly, That which wrought not foolishness was delivered up to (its) enemies?’ 11 And the whole people answered and said unto me: ‘So far as we can recall the good things which the Mighty One has done unto us, we do recall them; and those things which we do not remember 12 He in His mercy knows. Nevertheless, do this for us thy people: write also to our brethren in Babylon an epistle of doctrine and a scroll of hope, that thou mayst confirm them also before thou dost depart from us. 13 For the shepherds of Israel have perished, And the lamps which gave light are extinguished, And the fountains have withheld their stream whence we used to drink. 14 And we are left in the darkness, And amid the trees of the forest, And the thirst of the wilderness.’ 15 And I answered and said unto them: Shepherds and lamps and fountains come from the law: And though we depart, yet the law abideth. 16 If therefore ye have respect to the law, And are intent upon wisdom, A lamp will not be wanting, And a shepherd will not fail, And a fountain will not dry up. 17 Nevertheless, as ye said unto me, I will write also unto your brethren in Babylon, and I will send by means of men, and I will write in like manner to the nine tribes and a half, and send by means of 18 a bird.’ And it came to pass on the one and twentieth day in the eighth month that I, Baruch, came and sat down under the oak under the shadow of the branches, and no man was with me, but 19 I was alone. And I wrote these two epistles: one I sent by an eagle to the nine and a half tribes; 20 and the other I sent to those that were at Babylon by means of three men. And I called the eagle 21 and spake these words unto it: ‘The Most High hath made thee that thou shouldst be higher than 22 all birds. And now go and tarry not in (any) place, nor enter a nest, nor settle upon any tree, till thou hast passed over the breadth of the many waters of the river Euphrates, and hast gone to the 23 people that dwell there, and cast down to them this epistle. Remember, moreover, that, at the time of the deluge, Noah received from a dove the fruit of the olive, when he sent it forth from the ark. 24, 25 Yea, also the ravens ministered to Elijah, bearing him food, as they had been commanded. Solomon also, in the time of his kingdom, whithersoever he wished to send or seek for anything, 26 commanded a bird (to go thither), and it obeyed him as he commanded it. And now let it not weary thee, and turn not to the right hand nor the left, but fly and go by a direct way, that thou mayst preserve the command of the Mighty One, according as I said unto thee.’

78 1 These are the words of that epistle which Baruch the son of Neriah sent to the nine and a half 2 tribes, which were across the river Euphrates, in which these things were written. Thus saith Baruch 3 the son of Neriah to the brethren carried into captivity: ‘Mercy and peace.’ I bear in mind, my brethren, the love of Him who created us, who loved us from of old, and never hated us, but above 4 all educated us. And truly I know that behold all we the twelve tribes are bound by one bond, 5 inasmuch as we are born from one father. Wherefore I have been the more careful to leave you the words of this epistle before I die, that ye may be comforted regarding the evils which have come upon you, and that ye may be grieved also regarding the evil that has befallen your brethren; and again, also, that ye may justify His judgement which He has decreed against you that ye should be carried away captives for what ye have suffered is disproportioned to what ye have done in order 6 that, at the last times, ye may be found worthy of your fathers. Therefore, if ye consider that ye have now suffered those things for your good, that ye may not finally be condemned and tormented, then ye will receive eternal hope; if above all ye destroy from your heart vain error, on account of 7 which ye departed, hence. For if ye so do these things, He will continually remember you, He who always promised on our behalf to those who were more excellent than we, that He will never forget or forsake us, but with much mercy will gather together again those who were dispersed.

79 1 Now, my brethren, learn first what befell Zion: how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came 2 up against us. For we have sinned against Him who made us, and we have not kept the commandments 3 which he commanded us, yet he hath not chastened us as we deserved. For what befell you we also suffer in a pre-eminent degree, for it befell us also.

80 1 And now, my brethren, I make known unto you that when the enemy had surrounded the city, the angels of the Most High were sent, and they overthrew the fortifications of the strong wall, and 2 they destroyed the firm iron corners, which could not be rooted out. Nevertheless, they hid all 3 the vessels of the sanctuary, lest the enemy should get possession of them. And when they had done these things, they delivered thereupon to the enemy the overthrown wall, and the plundered house, and the burnt temple, and the people who were overcome because they were delivered up, lest the enemy should boast and say: ‘Thus by force have we been able to lay waste even the house of the 4 Most High in war.’ Your brethren also have they bound and led away to Babylon, and have caused 5, 6 them to dwell there. But we have been left here, being very few. This is the tribulation about 7 which I wrote to you. For assuredly I know that (the consolation of) the inhabitants of Zion consoleth you: so far as ye knew that it was prospered (your consolation) was greater than the tribulation which ye endured in having to depart from it.

81 1, 2 But regarding consolation, hear ye the word. For I was mourning regarding Zion, and I prayed for mercy from the Most High, and I said: 3 ‘How long will these things endure for us? And will these evils come upon us always?’ 4 And the Mighty One did according to the multitude of His mercies, And the Most High according to the greatness of His compassion, And He revealed unto me the word, that I might receive consolation, And He showed me visions that I should not again endure anguish, And He made known to me the mystery of the times. And the advent of the hours he showed me.

82 1 Therefore, my brethren, I have written to you, that ye may comfort yourselves regarding the 2 multitude of your tribulations. For know ye that our Maker will assuredly avenge us on all our enemies, according to all that they have done to us, also that the consummation which the Most High will make is very nigh, and His mercy that is coming, and the consummation of His judgement is by no means far off. 3 For lo! we see now the multitude of the prosperity of the Gentiles, Though they act impiously, But they shall be like a vapour: 4 And we behold the multitude of their power, Though they do wickedly, But they shall be made like unto a drop: 5 And we see the firmness of their might. Though they resist the Mighty One every hour, But they shall be accounted as spittle. 6 And we consider the glory of their greatness, Though they do not keep the statutes of the Most High, But as smoke shall they pass away. 7 And we meditate on the beauty of theirs gracefulness, Though they have to do with pollutions, But as grass that withers shall they fade away. 8 And we consider the strength of their cruelty, Though they remember not the end (thereof), But as a wave that passes shall they be broken. 9 And we remark the boastfulness of their might, Though they deny the beneficence of God, who gave (it) to them, But they shall pass away as a passing cloud.

83 1 [For the Most High will assuredly hasten His times, And He will assuredly bring on His hours. 2 And He will assuredly judge those who are in His world, And will visit in truth all things by means of all their hidden works. 3 And He will assuredly examine the secret thoughts, And that which is laid up in the secret chambers of all the members of man. And will make (them) manifest in the presence of all with reproof. 4 Let none therefore of these present things ascend into your hearts, but above all let us be expectant, 5 because that which is promised to us shall come. And let us not now look unto the delights 6 of the Gentiles in the present, but let us remember what has been promised to us in the end. For the ends of the times and of the seasons and whatsoever is with them shall assuredly pass by 7 together. The consummation, moreover, of the age shall then show the great might of its ruler, 8 when all things come to judgement. Do ye therefore prepare your hearts for that which before ye believed, lest ye come to be in bondage in both worlds, so that ye be led away captive here and be 9 tormented there. For that which exists now or which has passed away, or which is to come, in all these things, neither is the evil fully evil, nor again the good fully good. 10 For all healthinesses of this time are turning into diseases, 11 And all might of this time is turning into weakness, And all the force of this time is turning into impotence, 12 And every energy of youth is turning into old age and consummation. And every beauty of gracefulness of this time is turning faded and hateful, 13 And every proud dominion of the present is turning into humiliation and shame, 14 And every praise of the glory of this time is turning into the shame of silence, And every vain splendour and insolence of this time is turning into voiceless ruin. 15 And every delight and joy of this time is turning to worms and corruption, 16 And every clamour of the pride of this time is turning into dust and stillness. 17 And every possession of riches of this time is being turned into Sheol alone, 18 And all the rapine of passion of this time is turning into involuntary death, And every passion of the lusts of this time is turning into a judgement of torment. 19 And every artifice and craftiness of this time is turning into a proof of the truth, 20 And every sweetness of unguents of this time is turning into judgement and condemnation, 21 And every love of lying is turning to contumely through truth. 22 Since therefore all these things are done now, does anyone think that they will not be avenged; But the consummation of all things will come to the truth.]

84 1 Behold! I have therefore made known unto you (these things) whilst I live: for I have said (it) that ye should learn the things that are excellent; for the Mighty One hath commanded me to instruct you: and I will set before you some of the commandments of His judgement before I die. 2 Remember that formerly Moses assuredly called heaven and earth to witness against you and said: 3 ‘If ye transgress the law ye shall be dispersed, but if ye keep it ye shall be kept.’ And other 4 things also he used to say unto you when ye the twelve tribes were together in the desert. And after his death ye cast them away from you: on this account there came upon you what had been 5 predicted. And now Moses used to tell you before they befell you, and lo! they have befallen you: 6 for ye have forsaken the law. Lo! I also say unto you after ye have suffered, that if ye obey those things which have been said unto you, ye will receive from the Mighty One whatever has been laid 7 up and reserved for you. Moreover, let this epistle be for a testimony between me and you, that ye may remember the commandments of the Mighty One, and that also there may be to me a defence 8 in the presence of Him who sent me. And remember ye the law and Zion, and the holy land and 9 your brethren, and the covenant of your fathers, and forget not the festivals and the sabbaths. And deliver ye this epistle and the traditions of the law to your sons after you, as also your fathers 10 delivered (them) to you. And at all times make request perseveringly and pray diligently with your whole heart that the Mighty One may be reconciled to you, and that He may not reckon the 11 multitude of your sins, but remember the rectitude of your fathers. For if He judge us not according to the multitude of His mercies, woe unto all us who are born.

85 1 [Know ye, moreover, that In former times and in the generations of old our fathers had helpers, Righteous men and holy prophets: 2 Nay more, we were in our own land [And they helped us when we sinned], And they interceded for us with Him who made us, [Because they trusted in their works], And the Mighty One heard their prayer and forgave us. 3 But now the righteous have been gathered And the prophets have fallen asleep, And we also have gone forth from the land, And Zion has been taken from us, And we have nothing now save the Mighty One and His law. 4 If therefore we direct and dispose our hearts, We shall receive everything that we lost, And much better things than we lost by many times. 5 For what we have lost was subject to corruption, And what we shall receive shall not be corruptible. 6 [Moreover, also, I have written thus to our brethren to Babylon, that to them also I may attest these very things.] 7 And let all those things aforesaid be always before your eyes, Because we are still in the spirit and the power of our liberty. 8 Again, moreover, the Most High also is long-suffering towards us here, And He hath shown to us that which is to be, And hath not concealed from us what will befall in the end. 9 Before therefore judgement exact its own, And truth that which is its due, Let us prepare our soul That we may possess, and not be taken possession of, And that we may hope and not be put to shame, And that we may rest with our fathers, and not be tormented with our enemies. 10 For the youth of the world is past, And the strength of the creation already exhausted, And the advent of the times is very short, Yea, they have passed by; And the pitcher is near to the cistern, And the ship to the port, And the course of the journey to the city, And life to (its) consummation. 11 And again prepare your souls, so that when ye sail and ascend from the ship ye may have rest 12 and not be condemned when ye depart. For lo! when the Most High will bring to pass all these things, There shall not there be again [a place of repentance, nor] a limit to the times, Nor a duration for the hours, Nor a change of ways, Nor place for prayer, Nor sending of petitions, Nor receiving of knowledge, Nor giving of love, Nor place of repentance for the soul, Nor supplication for offences, Nor intercession of the fathers, Nor prayer of the prophets, Nor help of the righteous. 13 There there is the sentence of corruption, The way of fire, And the path which bringeth to Gehenna. 14 On this account there is one law by one, One age and an end for all who are in it. 15 Then He will preserve those whom He can forgive, And at the same time destroy those who are polluted with sins.]

86 1, 2 When therefore ye receive this my epistle, read it in your congregations with care. And meditate 3 thereon, above all on the days of your fasts. And bear me in mind by means of this epistle, as I also bear you in mind in it, and always. Fare ye well.

87 1 And it came to pass when I had ended all the words of this epistle, and had written it sedulously to its close, that I folded it, and sealed it carefully, and bound it to the neck of the eagle, and dismissed and sent it.

Aristobulus

Aristobulus was a 2nd c., BC, Jewish philosopher whose works are lost. A few quotations survive in Eusebius, which are given here. The passages from the Praeparation Evangelica were translated by E.H. Gifford (1903), and originally prepared for the web by Roger Pearse . The passage from Ecclesiastical History is taken from the CCEL edition of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. I have also referenced A. Y. Collins’ translation in James Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, pp. 831-842. Generally, the paragraph breaks are hers.

Eusebius, Praeparation Evangelica 8: 9.38-10.17

(9.38) But it is time to hear what Aristobulus, who had partaken of Aristotle’s philosophy in addition to that of his own country, declared concerning the passages in the Sacred Books which are currently understood to refer to limbs of God’s body. This is that very man who is mentioned in the beginning of the Second Book of Maccabees [2 Mac 1:10] and in his writing addressed to King Ptolemy he too explains this principle.

(10.1) When, however, we had said enough in answer to the questions put before us, you also, O king, did further demand, why by our law there are intimations given of hands, and arm, and face, and feet, and walking, in the case of the Divine Power: which things shall receive a becoming explanation, and will not at all contradict the opinions which we have previously expressed. (2) But I would entreat you to take the interpretations in a natural way, and to hold fast the fitting conception of God, and not to fall off into the idea of a fabulous anthropomorphic constitution. (3) For our lawgiver Moses, when he wishes to express his meaning in various ways, announces certain arrangements of nature and preparations for mighty deeds, by adopting phrases applicable to other things, I mean to things outward and visible. (4) Those therefore who have a good understanding admire his wisdom, and the divine inspiration in consequence of which he has been proclaimed a prophet; among whom are the aforesaid philosophers and many others, including poets, who have borrowed important suggestions from him, and are admired accordingly.(5) But to those who are devoid of power and intelligence, and only cling close to the letter, he does not appear to explain any grand idea. (6) I shall begin then to interpret each particular signification, as far as I may be able. But if I shall fail to hit upon the truth, and to persuade you, do not impute the inconsistency to the Lawgiver, but to my want of ability to distinguish clearly the thoughts in his mind. (7) First then the word “hands” evidently has, even in our own case, a more general meaning. For when you as a king send out forces, wishing to accomplish some purpose, we say, The king has a mighty hand, and the hearers’ thoughts are carried to the power which you possess. (8) Now this is what Moses also signifies in our Law, when he speaks thus : “God brought thee forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand”;9 and again: “I will put forth My hand,” saith God, “and will smite the Egyptians.” 10 Again in the account of the death of the cattle Moses says to Pharaoh : “Behold, the hand of the Lord shall be upon thy cattle, and upon all that are in the fields a great death.” 11 So that the “hands” are understood of the power of God: for indeed it is easy to perceive that the whole strength of men and their active powers are in their hands. (9) Wherefore our Lawgiver, in saying that the effects are God’s hands, has made the word a beautiful metaphor of majesty.

The constitution too of the world may well be called for its majesty God’s standing; (10) for God is over all, and all things are subject unto Him, and have received from Him their station, so that men may comprehend that they are immovable. Now my meaning is like this, that heaven has never become earth, and earth heaven, nor the sun become the shining moon, nor again the moon become the sun, nor rivers seas, nor seas rivers. (11) And again in the case of living beings there is the same principle. For man will never be beast, nor beast man. In the case of all the rest too the same rule exists, of plants and all other things: they are not interchangeable, but are subject to the same changes in themselves, and to decay. (12) In these ways then God may rightly be spoken of as standing, since all things are set under Him.

It is said too in the book of the Law that there was a descent of God upon the mountain, at the time when He was giving the Law, in order that all might behold the operation of God: for this is a manifest descent; and so any one wishing to guard safely the doctrine of God would interpret these circumstances as follows. (13) It is declared that the mountain burned with fire, as the Lawgiver says, because God had descended upon it, and that there were the voices of trumpets, and the fire blazing so that none could withstand it. (14) For while the whole multitude, not less than a thousand thousands, besides those of unfit age, were assembled around the mount, the circuit of it being not less than five days’ journey, in every part of the view around them all as they were encamped the fire was seen blazing. (15) So that the descent was not local; for God is everywhere. But whereas the power of fire is beyond all things marvellous because it consumes everything, he could not have shown it blazing irresistibly, yet consuming nothing, unless there were the efficacy given to it from God. (16) For though the places were all ablaze, the fire did not actually consume any of the things which grew upon that mountain: but the herbage of all remained untouched by fire, and the voices of trumpets were loudly heard together with the lightning-like flashing of the fire, though there were no such instruments present nor any that sounded them, but all things were done by divine arrangement. (17) So that it is plain that the divine descent took place for these reasons, that the spectators might have a manifest comprehension of the several circumstances, that neither the fire which, as I said before, burnt nothing, nor the voices of the trumpets were produced by human action or a supply of instruments, but that God without any aid was exhibiting His own all-pervading majesty.

Thus far Aristobulus.

Eusebius, Praeparation Evangelica 13: 12.1-16

And I will quote first the words of the Hebrew philosopher Aristobulus, which are as follows:

(12:1) IT is evident that Plato closely followed our legislation, and has carefully studied the several precepts contained in it. For others before Demetrius Phalereus, and prior to the supremacy of Alexander and the Persians, have translated both the narrative of the exodus of the Hebrews our fellow countrymen from Egypt, and the fame of all that had happened to them, and the conquest of the land, and the exposition of the whole Law; so that it is manifest that many things have been borrowed by the aforesaid philosopher, for he is very learned: as also Pythagoras transferred many of our precepts and inserted them in his own system of doctrines. (2) But the entire translation of all the contents of our law was made in the time of the king surnamed Philadelphus, thy ancestor, who brought greater zeal to the work, which was managed by Demetrius Phalereus.

(9) Then, after interposing some remarks, he further says:

For we must understand the voice of God not as words spoken, but as construction of works, just as Moses in the Law has spoken of the whole creation of the world as words of God. For he constantly says of each work, “And God said, and it was so.” (4) Now it seems to me that he has been very carefully followed in all by Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, who said that they heard the voice of God, when they were contemplating the arrangement of the universe so accurately made and indissolubly combined by God. Moreover, Orpheus, in verses taken from his writings in the Sacred Legend, thus sets forth the doctrine that all things are governed by divine power, and that they have had a beginning, and that God is over all. And this is what he says:

I speak to those who lawfully may hear:
Depart, and close the doors, all ye profane,
Who hate the ordinances of the just,
The law divine announced to all mankind.
But thou, Musaeus, child of the bright Moon,
Lend me thine ear; for I have truths to tell.
Let not the former fancies of thy mind
Amerce thee of the dear and blessed life.
Look to the word divine, keep close to that,
And guide thereby the deep thoughts of thine heart.
Walk wisely in the way, and look to none,
Save to the immortal Framer of the world:
For thus of Him an ancient story speaks:
One, perfect in Himself, all else by Him
Made perfect: ever present in His works,
By mortal eyes unseen, by mind alone Discerned.
It is not He that out of good
Makes evil to spring up for mortal men.
Both love and hatred wait upon His steps,
And war and pestilence, and sorrow and tears:
For there is none but He.    All other things
‘Twere easy to behold, could’st thou but first
Behold Himself here present upon earth.
The footsteps and the mighty hand of God
Whene’er I see, I’ll show them thee, my son:
But Him I cannot see, so dense a cloud
In tenfold darkness wraps our feeble sight.
Him in His power no mortal could behold,
Save one, a scion of Chaldaean race:
For he was skilled to mark the sun’s bright path,
And how in even circle round the earth
The starry sphere on its own axis turns,
And winds their chariot guide o’er sea and sky;
And showed where fire’s bright flame its strength displayed.
But God Himself, high above heaven unmoved,
Sits on His golden throne, and plants His feet
On the broad earth; His right hand He extends
O’er Ocean’s farthest bound;  the eternal hills
Tremble in their deep heart, nor can endure
His mighty power.    And still above the heavens
Alone He sits, and governs all on earth,
Himself first cause, and means, and end of all.
So men of old, so tells the Nile-born sage,
Taught by the twofold tablet of God’s law;
Nor otherwise dare I of Him to speak:
In heart and limbs I tremble at the thought,
How He from heaven all things in order rules.
Draw near in thought, my son; but guard thy tongue
With care, and store this doctrine in thine heart.

(6) Aratus also speaks of the same subject thus:

From Zeus begin the song, nor ever leave
His name unsung, whose godhead fills all streets,
All thronging marts of men, the boundless sea
And all its ports: whose aid all mortals need;
For we his offspring are; and kindly he
Reveals to man good omens of success,
Stirs him to labour by the hope of food,
Tells when the land best suits the grazing ox,
Or when the plough; when favouring seasons bid
Plant the young tree, and sow the various seed.

(7) It is clearly shown, I think, that all things are pervaded by the power of God: and this I have properly represented by taking away the name of Zeus which runs through the poems; for it is to God that their thought is sent up, and for that reason I have so expressed it. These quotations, therefore, which I have brought forward are not inappropriate to the questions before us. (8) For all the philosophers agree, that we ought to hold pious opinions concerning God, and to this especially our system gives excellent exhortation; and the whole constitution of our law is arranged with reference to piety, and justice, and temperance, and all things else that are truly good.

(9) To this, after an interval, he adds what follows:

With this it is closely connected, that God the Creator of the whole world, has also given us the seventh day as a rest, because for all men life is full of troubles: which day indeed might naturally be called the first birth of light, whereby all things are beheld. (10) The same thought might also be metaphorically applied in the case of wisdom, for from it all light proceeds. And it has been said by some who were of the Peripatetic School that wisdom is in place of a beacon-light, for by following it constantly men will be rendered free from trouble through their whole life. (11) But more clearly and more beautifully one of our forefathers, Solomon, said that it has existed before heaven and earth; which indeed agrees with what has been said above.But what is clearly stated by the Law, that God rested on the seventh day, means not, as some suppose, that God henceforth ceases to do anything, but it refers to the fact that, after He has brought the arrangement of His works to completion, He has arranged them thus for all time. (12) For it points out that in six days He made the heaven and the earth and all things that are therein, to distinguish the times, and predict the order in which one thing comes before another: for after arranging their order, He keeps them so, and makes no change. He has also plainly declared that the seventh day is ordained for us by the Law, to be a sign of that which is our seventh faculty, namely reason, whereby we have knowledge of things human and divine. (13) Also the whole world of living creatures, and of all plants that grow, revolves in sevens. And its name “Sabbath” is interpreted as meaning “rest.” Homer also and Hesiod declare, what they have borrowed from our books, that it is a holy day; Hesiod in the following words:

The first, the fourth, the seventh a holy day.

And again he says:

And on the seventh again the sun shines bright.

(14) Homer too speaks as follows:

And soon the seventh returned, a holy day.

And again:

It was the seventh day, and all was done.

Again:

And on the seventh dawn the baleful stream
Of Acheron we left.

(15) By which he means, that after the soul’s forgetfulness and vice have been left, the things it chose before are abandoned on the true seventh which is reason, and we receive the knowledge of truth, as we have said before.Linus too speaks thus:

All things are finished on the seventh dawn.

And again:

Good is the seventh day, and seventh birth.

And:

Among the prime, and perfect is the seventh.

And:

Seven orbs created in the starlit sky Shine in their courses through revolving years.

Such then are the statements of Aristobulus.

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 7: 32.16-18

(16) And this is not an opinion of our own; but it was known to the Jews of old, even before Christ, and was carefully observed by them. This may be learned from what is said by Philo, Josephus, and Musזus; and not only by them, but also by those yet more ancient, the two Agathobuli, surnamed ‘Masters,’ and the famous Aristobulus, who was chosen among the seventy interpreters of the sacred and divine Hebrew Scriptures by Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father, and who also dedicated his exegetical books on the law of Moses to the same kings. (17) These writers, explaining questions in regard to the Exodus, say that all alike should sacrifice the passover offerings after the vernal equinox, in the middle of the first month. But this occurs while the sun is passing through the first segment of the solar, or as some of them have styled it, the zodiacal circle.

Aristobulus adds that it is necessary for the feast of the passover, that not only the sun should pass through the equinoctial segment, but the moon also. (18) For as there are two equinoctial segments, the vernal and the autumnal, directly opposite each other, and as the day of the passover was appointed on the fourteenth of the month, beginning with the evening, the moon will hold a position diametrically opposite the sun, as may be seen in full moons; and the sun will be in the segment of the vernal equinox, and of necessity the moon in that of the autumnal.

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The Biblical Antiquities of Philo

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