Introduction

Tradition: in the texts of the Latin Bible, the Fourth Book of Esra has two additional chapters at the beginning and at the end; these are missing in the Oriental translations. Chapters 1 and 2 are a Christian Apocalypse which is introduced in the MSS before or after 4 Esra, and is known to some extent as the Fifth Book of Esra. Chapters 15 and 16 form an appendix: these chapters, in point of style, are prophecies filled with sayings of woe in the fashion of the OT, and, like the introductory chapters as a whole, they are available only in Latin.

1 Linguistic observations point to a Greek original2 and this is confirmed for chs. 15-16 by the discovery of a small Greek fragment of ch. 15, vv. 57-59, among the Oxyrhynchus papyri. The manuscript tradition is divided into two groups: a Frankish, represented by S, the Codex Sangermanensis of the year 822, and the Codex A Ambianensis, also from the 9th century, and a Spanish, represented by C Complutensis from the 9th-10th century and M Mazarinaeus, from the 11th-12th century, and in addition some other secondary witnesses among which the C. Legionensis L. has a sharply divergent text; according to Violet, this text is indebted to the modifying treatment of a writer of independent spirit. The group S A as a rule has a higher value than C M (NVL).

2. Contents: the prophecy of the two introductory chapters falls into two parts. The first turns against the Jewish people, the second is concerned with the Christians who must take their place. It is possible that in the first section material from a Jewish text has been used and has been worked over by a Christian hand (see 1.11; 1.24; 1.30 and especially 1.35-40) to provide an invective against the Jewish people. On the other hand, the second part, 2.10-48, which brings comforting promises to the Christians, is purely Christian, in spite of 2.33, 42, etc., which are decoration. The Sixth Book of Esra, comprising chs. 15 and 16, contains descriptions of the dissolution of the world which comes to its fulfilment in terrible wars and natural events by which Babylon, Asia, Egypt and Syria in particular are threatened, but which will admonish, strengthen and comfort the people of God who will have suffered the afflictions of persecution.

3. Time of composition: in 2.42-47 an innumerable company of Christian martyrs are crowned. This takes us beyond the 1st century. The young man of great stature has a parallel in the Gospel of Peter, in the Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas, and also in the Shepherd of Hermas. This feature points to the 2nd century, but, since the argument with Judaism still clearly possesses topical significance, we ought not to place the writing too late. We may adhere to a date around A.D. 200.3 It is different with the appendix, chs. 15-16. In this a persecution is assumed, stretching over the entire eastern half of the Roman empire, a persecution in which the Christians, driven from their homes, robbed of their goods and imprisoned, are compelled to eat flesh offered to idols. For this there is available the long space of time from about 120 to the end of the persecutions under Constantine. On the basis of some particular features which it has been thought possible to fix in time, the writing has been dated in the 3rd century. But a precise decision as to the time of writing is no more possible than is a fixing of the place of origin, although the western regions of the Orient have the greatest degree of probability.

4. Significance: the extent to which the apocalyptic material of 5th Esra attracted Christians in later times can be seen in addition to other references and reminiscences in the offical Roman Catholic liturgy in the fact that in a fragment of a Missal from the 11th century the passage 2.42-48 is communicated in complete text as the epistle for the Mass de communi plurimorum martyrum. Many separate points as well have special significance: the twelve angels with flowers 1.40, the people of God who come from the east, 1.38; the tree of life in Paradise, 2.12; the twelve fruit-trees in 2.18; the resurrection in 2.31 and the exceedingly tall son of God in 2.43 (on the growth-motif, cf. the material in E. Hammerschmidt, Studies in the Ethiopic Anaphoras, 1961, p. 98). On the other hand, 6th Esra provides threats of judgment, comfort and exhortation within the definite circumstances of a period of persecution. Everything is earth- bound here. Nevertheless this work was also deemed suitable for use in warning and exhortation, as is shown by the letter of the Anglo-Saxon writer Gildas (dated in the 7th or 6th century), in which the text of ch. 15.21-27 and 16.3f., 5-12 is reproduced

5. Literature: O.F. Fritzsche, Libri apocryphi Veteris Testamenti, Leipzig, 1871 (pp. 640ff.); R.L. Benaly, The Fourth Book of Ezra (with an introduction by M.R. James), Texts and Studies III 2, 1895, the above-mentioned Fragment of 4 Esra 15.57-59 in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part VII (ed. A. Hunt), 1910, 11ff.; older literature in E. Schürer, The Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ, ET, Div. II, vol. III, 1131. (German ed.4 1909, III 330f.; rev. English ed. 1986, III 1, 301ff.); in addition, M.J. Labourt, ‘Le cinquième livre d’Esdras’, Rev. Bibl. 17, 1909,412-434; D.de Bruyne, ‘Fragments d’une apocalypse perdue’, Rev Bénéd. 33,1921,97- 109, A. Oepike, ‘Ein bisher unbeachtetes Zitat aus dem 5. Buche Esra’, Coniect. Neotestament. XI, 1947, 179-195 (reprinted in ZNW 42, 1949, 158-172); O. Plöger, Article ‘Daa 5. and 6. Esrabuch’, in RGG II, 1958, cols. 699f; also the introduction to 4 Esra (cha. 3-14) by B. Noack in De Gammeltestamentlige Pseudepigrapher, Heft 1, 1953, 1-13. W. Schnoemeicher, art. ‘Esra’, RAC 6, 1966, cols. 604-606; Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, ed. R. Weber et. al., 1969, Moraldi 11, 1917ff. (Italian trans.); M.D. Brocke, ‘On the Jewish Origin of the “Improperia” (V Ezra 1,5-25), Immanuel 7, 1977, 44-51.

 

Sixth Esra

15:1. Behold, speak thou in the ears of my people words of prophecy which I will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord,
2. and let them be written on paper, for they are faithful and true.
3. Fear not the schemes (which are devised) against thee; let not the unbelief of the adversary perplex thee,
4. for he who is unbelieving will die in his unbelief.
5. Behold I will bring evils on the whole round earth, saith the Lord, sword, famine, death and destruction,
6. since wickedness has covered the whole earth, and their abominable works are completed.
7. Therefore, saith the Lord:
8. No more will I be silent on their wickedness which they outrageously commit, nor will I tolerate the unrighteousness they practice. Behold innocent and righteous blood cries out unto me, and the souls of the righteous cry unceasingly.
9. Terrible vengeance will I exact from them and all innocent blood will I visit upon them.
10. Behold my people are led like a flock to the slaughter. No longer will I let them dwell in the land of Egypt,
11. but I will bring them out with a strong hand and an upraised arm, and will visit Egypt with plagues as before, and destroy its entire land.
12. Let Egypt mourn and her foundations for the shock of the chastisement and punishment which the Lord will bring upon her.
13. Let the husbandmen mourn who till the soil, for their grain shall fail and their trees be destroyed by burning and hail and a terrible storm.
14. Woe to the world and all who dwell therein!
15. For the sword and its destruction draws near. And one nation shall rise up against another in battle with their swords in their hands.
16. For dissension shall break out among men: they shall rise up one against another, and in the consciousness of power they will not be concerned for their king and the leader of their rulers.
17. For a man shall desire to go into a city and he will not be able to do so.
18. For on account of their arrogance will the cities be brought into confusion, their houses will be destroyed, the men afraid.
19. No man shall show pity to his neighbors; they will break into their houses with the sword to plunder their goods by reason of hunger for bread and great tribulation.
20. Behold, saith the Lord, I call together all kings of the earth, to rouse those who come from the north and from the south, and from the east and from the west, that they may turn against one another and give back (in recompense) what they have given to the former.
21. As they have done till this present to my chosen, so will I do and recompense in their bosom. Thus, saith the Lord God:
22. My right hand will not spare the sinners, and my sword will not cease from those who shed innocent blood on the earth.
23. And a fire shall go forth from his wrath and consume the foundations of the earth, and sinners like kindled straw.
24. Woe to them that sin and keep not my commandments, saith the Lord.
25. I will not spare them. Away from me, rebellious sons! Defile not my sanctuary!
26. For the Lord knoweth all who trespass against him; therefore, hath he delivered them to death and destruction.
27. For now, hath evil come upon the whole round earth and ye must remain therein, for God will not deliver you, since you have trespassed against him.
28. Behold a vision, and it was terrible! And the appearance of it came from the East.
29. And the nations of the dragon of Arabia shall set forth in many chariots, and from the day of their setting forth, their hissing shall sound over the earth, so that all who hear them fear and tremble.
30. The raging Carmonians shall break forth in fury, like a boar from the wood; they shall come with great power and struggle with them in a conflict and shall waste a part of the land of the Assyrians.
31. And then shall the dragons, remembering their origin, have the upper hand, and if they shall turn to pursue them, snorting with great power,
32, then these latter shall be troubled and shall keep silent before their power and tum their feet to flight.
33. And from the land of the Assyrians shall he who lies in wait for them lay an ambush and shall destroy one of them. Then will fear and trembling fall on their hosts and powerlessness on their kings.
34. Behold-clouds from the east and from the north right to the south! And their appearance was exceedingly terrible, full of wrath and storm.
35. And they will dash against one another, and they shall pour a mighty storm over the earth. And the blood from the swords shall reach even to the belly of the horses,
36. to the thighs of a man, to the hocks of a camel. And great fear and trembling will be upon the earth.
37. All who see that wrath shall be terrified and fear shall take hold of them. And after that many clouds
38. from the south and from the north and another part from the west shall rise up.
39. But mighty winds will come from the east and shall shut it up and the clouds which he had allowed to rise in wrath; and the storm which arose from east and west to cause destruction will be damaged.
40. And there shall rise up great and strong clouds, full of wrath and storm, to destroy the whole earth and its inhabitants. They will pour out over every high and exalted one terrible storms,
41. fire, hail, flying swords and great streams of water, so that all fields and valleys are filled with the abundance of their waters.
42. And they will destroy cities and walls, mountains and hills, the trees of the wood, the hay of the meadows and their com.
43. And they will rush on their course even unto Babylon and destroy it.
44. They shall be gathered about it and shall encircle it and pour out all their storm and all their anger upon it till they rase it to the ground. Then will the dust and smoke rise to the heaven and all around will bewail it.
45. And those who survive will be the servants of those who have destroyed it.
46. And thou, Asia, who sharest in the splendour of Babylon and in the glory of her station,
47. woe to thee, thou wretch! For thou hast become like to her, thou hast decked thy daughters for works of obscenity that thou might be pleased and praised among thy lovers who always desire thee.
48. The hateful harlot hast thou copied in all her works and devices. Therefore saith God:
49. I will send evils upon thee, widowhood, poverty, famine, sword and pestilence, which will waste thy houses, will destroy and slay.
50. And the glory of thy power will fade like a flower, when the heat shall arise which is sent against thee.
51. Thou wilt become weak and miserable by blows and bruised by stripes, so that thou wilt not be able to receive thy mighty ones and lovers.
52. Would I have been jealous against thee, saith the Lord,
53. if thou hadst not on every occasion slain my chosen, exulting with clapping of hands, and laughing at their death, when thou wast drunken?
54. Deck out the beauty of thy countenance;
55. the reward of harlotry dost thou bear in the bosom of thy raiment; therefore, shalt thou receive recompense in thy bosom!
56. As thou doest to my chosen, saith the Lord, so will God do to thee and will cast thee down into suffering.
57. Thy children will die of hunger, thou wilt fall by the sword, thy cities will be destroyed, and all thy servants shall fall by the sword in the field.
58. And all who are in the mountains shall perish of hunger, they shall eat their own flesh and drink their own blood, because of hunger for bread and thirst for water. Unhappy one!
59. Miserable shalt thou become above all others, and suffering shall fall upon thee for recompense.
60. As they pass by. they will fall on the hated city and will destroy a portion of thy land and a portion of thy glory, when they return again from Babylon. And when thou art destroyed
61. and wasted, thou wilt be to them as straw, and they to thee as fire!
62. They will consume thee and thy cities, thy land and thy mountains, all thy woods and thy fruit trees will they bum with fire.
63. Thy children will be carried away captive, thy treasure will they take for booty and destroy the glory of thy splendor.

16:1. Woe to thee, Babylon and Asia! woe to thee, Egypt and Syria!
2. Gird yourselves with sackcloth and fabric of hair, and bewail your children, and lament, for your destruction is near.
3. The sword is sent against you!
4. Who is there that shall ward it off? The fire is sent against you,
5. and who is there that shall quench it? Sufferings are sent against you, and who is there that shall drive them away?
6. Can a man drive away the hungry lion in the wood, or quench the fire when the straw is kindled?
7. Can a man turn back the arrow which is shot by a strong archer?
8. God the Lord sends the evils and who can drive them away?
9. Fire shall go forth from his wrath and who is there that may quench it?
10. He shall send his lightning, and who will not be afraid? He shall thunder and who will not be alarmed?
11. The Lord shall threaten and who will not utterly dissolve before his face?
12. The earth and its foundations quake, and the sea rises up from the deep, its waves will be troubled and its fish, at the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.
13. For strong is his right hand which bends the bow! Sharp the arrows which are sent by him! They shall not turn back when he begins to send them upon the earth.
14. Behold, evils are sent forth and shall not return till they come upon the earth.
15. Fire has been kindled and will not be quenched till it consumes the foundations of the earth.
16. As the arrow, shot by the mighty archer, turns not back, so will the evils not turn back which are sent on the earth.
17. Woe is me! woe is me! who will deliver me in these days?
18. The beginning of sorrows (comes) – and many groan; the beginning of famine-and many will perish; the beginning of wars and powers are alarmed; the beginning of evils-and all will tremble.
19. What will they do (then) when the suffering (itself) comes?
20. Behold, hunger and plagues, confusion and affliction, are sent as scourges to bring amendment.
21. But in all this, they will not turn from their wickedness, nor ever remember the scourges. Behold corn will be cheap in the earth, so that they will believe that peace has been granted them.
22. But then will evils spring forth on the earth, sword, famine and great confusion.
23. Most of the inhabitants of the earth will die of hunger, and the sword will destroy the others who have survived the famine.
24. The dead will lie on the streets like dung, and no one will be there to lament (?) them. For the earth will be left desolate and its cities will be cast down.
25. There will be no one left to till the soil and sow seeds in it.
26. The trees will yield their fruit, but who will harvest it?
27. The grapes will ripen, but who will tread them? For there will be deep desolation everywhere.
28. For a man will passionately desire to see another man, and to hear his voice.
29. For of a city there shall be ten left surviving, and of a hamlet two who had hidden themselves in thick woods and in the clefts of the rocks.
30. As three or four olives remain on the several trees in an olive-garden,
31. and as in a vineyard, after the harvesting, some berries are left by those who carefully search through the yard,
32. so in these days, three or four will be left by those who search their houses with the sword.
33. And the land will be left desolate, and its fields will be for briers; its paths and its ways let thorns grow up, for no flock of sheep will pass through any more.
34. The young women will weep because they have no fiancés; the women will weep because they have no husbands; their daughters will weep, because they are robbed of their helpers.
35. The fiancés will be destroyed in the war and the husbands will be destroyed by famine.
36. But hear this and understand it, ye servants of the Lord.
37. Behold, a word of the Lord (it is); receive it! Do not doubt what the Lord has said.
38. Behold, evils come and are not long time in coming!
39. As a woman who is pregnant with child in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draws near, for two or three hours before feels woeful pains in her body, and when the child leaves her body, there is not a moment of delay
40. so shall the evil not tarry to come upon the earth. and the world will suffer misery and sorrows will encompass it.
41. Hear the word, O ye my people! Prepare yourselves for the struggle, and in the evils behave yourselves as strangers on the earth.
42. He that selleth, let him be as one in flight; he that buyeth as he who is about to lose;
43. he that dealeth as he who has no more profit; he that builds as he who will not inhabit;
44. he that soweth as he that will not reap; likewise he that prunes (his vines) as he that will not gather the harvest;
45. they that marry as those who will not beget children; and they that marry not as those who are widowed.
46. Hence they that work, work in vain.
47. Strangers will harvest their fruits and they will deprive them of their property, destroy their houses and take their children into captivity. Therefore those who marry should know that they will bring forth their children in captivity and famine.
48. Those who traffic in business do it as those who plunder. For the more they adorn their cities and houses and their possessions and their persons,
49. the more will I be angry with them because of their sins, saith the Lord.
50. For as a beautiful and noble woman hates a harlot,
51. so shall righteousness hate iniquity when she adorns herself, and accuses her to her face, when he comes that defends her, seeking out every sin on the earth.
52. Therefore, be not like to them and their works!
53. For behold, a moment, and iniquity will be destroyed from the earth and righteousness will reign among us.
54. Let not the sinner say that he has not sinned, nor the unrighteous man that he has acted righteously; for coals of fire will burn on the head of him who says, ‘I have not sinned, before God and his glory! Behold the Lord knoweth all the works of men,
55. their imaginations, their aspirations, their thoughts and their hearts.
56. (He) who said, “Let the earth be made and it was made, ‘let the heaven be made and it was made,
57. through whose word the stars were established, who knoweth the number of the stars –
58. who searches the deeps and their treasures who hath measured the sea and its contents –
59. who has shut up the world in the midst of the waters and hath hung the earth over the waters by his word –
60. who has stretched out the heaven like a chamber and founded it upon the waters –
61. who has made in the desert springs of water and pools on the peaks of the mountains, to send forth rivers from on high to water the earth –
62. who has formed man and given him a heart in the midst of the body, and has poured into him breath and life and understanding,
63. even the breath of Almighty God who made all things and has sought out the hidden things in hidden places:
64. surely he knoweth our imaginations and aspirations and what you think in your hearts! Woe to the sinners and to those who would hide their sins.
65. For the Lord will certainly search out all your works and openly put you all to shame.
66. And you will be put to confusion when your sins are brought before the eyes of men and your iniquities will rise up as accusers on that day.
67. What will ye do? How will you hide your sins before God and his angels?
68. Behold, God is the judge! Fear him! Cease from your sins and forget your iniquities to do them now forever, so God will lead you forth and deliver you from all tribulation.
69. For behold, the wrath of a great multitude will burn against you and they will carry away captive some of you and make you eat food that is offered to idols.
70. And those who are led astray by them will be ridiculed, reproached and mistreated.
71. For there shall be in adjoining cities a great rebellion against those who fear God.
72. For men will suffer want and, through their need, will be like madmen, sparing none, that they may plunder and destroy those who fear God.
73. For they shall destroy and plunder their goods and banish them from their homes.
74. Then shall the tried quality of my elect come to the light, like gold which is tried by fire.
75. Hear, my elect, saith the Lord! Behold, the days of tribulation are near, and I will deliver you from them.
76. Fear not and flinch not; for God is your leader.
77. And you who observe my commandments and precepts, saith the Lord God, let not your sins gain the upper hand over you, nor your iniquities lord it over you.
78. Woe to them that are bound fast by their sins and over-run by their iniquities, like as a field, to which no one goes, is fast bound with bushes, and its con overgrown with thorns: it is rooted out and thrown into the fire, that it may be utterly consumed.

 

Notes

1. The fact that such texts are also to be found in the Armenian versions of the Bible (cf. M.Ε. Stone, The Apocryphal Literature in the Armenian Tradition [The Israel Acad. of Sciences and Humanities-Proceedings IV, 4), Jerusalem 1969, [6]64), is not in conflict with the above statement, since the Armenian versions concerned go back to Latin sources.
2. Following Labourt (see Lit.), J. Danielou on the contrary pleads for a Latin original for 5th Esra (Studies in the History of Religions [Supplement 21 to Numen), 1972, 162-171). His argument however presents no new proofs, but concentrates on the noting of certain analogies which are supposed to link this document with other Latin works from the end of the 2nd century (e.g. Passio Perpetuae and the adv. Judaeos of ps.-Cyprian)
3. G.N. Stanton recently argues (JTS 28, 1977, 67-83) for an origin as early as the middle of the 2nd century in a Jewish-Christian milieu for 5th Ears. The arguments for this he draws from the supposed exclusive influence which-within the NT-the Gospel of Matthew has exercised upon this document, and from the typically Jewish-Christian features of the community in which 5th Esra came into being.

References

1. No Biblical citations and references are given for the following section (1.4-2.9), for the text is nothing but a mosaic of innumerable OT passages.
2. Lk 16:9
3. Rev. 22:2
4. Cf. Mt. 7:7 and par
5. Cf. Is. 26:19.
6. Exod. 3:8, etc.
7. Enoch 24
8. Cf. Is. 1:17; 58:6f.; Jer. 7:51. James 1:27: Tob. 1:17.
9. Cf. Heb. 4:9.
10. Cf. Jn. 17:12: also 10:28.
11. Jer. 3:12.
12. 1 Thess. 2:12.
13. Cf. Rev. 7:4f7; Lk 14:15.
14. Cf. Rev. 6:11; 7:9.
15. Cf. ibid.
16. Cf. Hermas, Sim. IX 6.1
17. Cf. Rev. 7:131
18. Rev. 7:9.