2 Esdras 11: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

In a dream the narrator sees an eagle with twelve feathered wings and three heads rise from the sea and rule over all the earth. The wings rule one after another and then vanish, small feathers rise and vanish, and the middle head joins with the two others and eats the two feathers that meant to rule; then the middle head vanishes and the right head devours the left. A lion comes out of the forest and speaks to the eagle with a man's voice, saying the Most High declares it the last of four beasts, listing the harm it has done, and telling it to appear no more so that the earth may be refreshed.

Claim by Claim

1. 11:1
   • The speaker saw a dream.
   • An eagle came up from the sea.
   • The eagle had twelve feathered wings.
   • The eagle had three heads.
2. 11:2
   • The eagle spread her wings over all the earth.
   • All the winds of the sky blew on her.
   • A gathering together took place toward her; the King James does not name what was gathered, and the Latin has clouds.
3. 11:3
   • Out of the eagle's feathers other opposing feathers grew.
   • Those feathers became little and small.
4. 11:4
   • The eagle's heads were at rest.
   • The head in the middle was greater than the other heads.
   • The middle head rested along with the rest.
5. 11:5
   • The eagle flew with her feathers.
   • The eagle reigned over the earth.
   • The eagle reigned over those who dwelt on the earth.
6. 11:6
   • All things under heaven were subject to the eagle.
   • No one spoke against her.
   • Not one creature on earth spoke against her.
7. 11:7
   • The eagle rose upon her talons.
   • The eagle spoke to her feathers.
8. 11:8
   • The eagle told them not to watch all at the same time.
   • The eagle told each of them to sleep in his own place.
   • The eagle told them to watch in turn.
9. 11:9
   • The eagle said the heads were to be kept for last.
10. 11:10
    • The voice did not come out of the eagle's heads.
    • The voice came from the middle of her body.
11. 11:11
    • The speaker counted the eagle's opposing feathers.
    • There were eight of them.
12. 11:12
    • On the right side one feather arose.
    • That feather reigned over all the earth.
13. 11:13
    • While that feather reigned, its end came.
    • Its place appeared no more.
    • The next feather stood up and reigned.
    • That next feather held rule a long time.
14. 11:14
    • While that feather reigned, its end also came.
    • Its end came as the first one's had.
    • It appeared no more.
15. 11:15
    • A voice came to it and spoke.
16. 11:16
    • The voice told it to hear, addressing it as having borne rule over the earth so long.
    • The voice said it was speaking to it before it began to appear no more.
17. 11:17
    • The voice said no one after it would attain to its length of time.
    • The voice said no one after it would attain even to half of its time.
18. 11:18
    • The third feather arose.
    • The third reigned as the ones before it had.
    • The third also appeared no more.
19. 11:19
    • It went the same way with all the remaining feathers one after another.
    • Each one reigned in turn.
    • Each one then appeared no more.
20. 11:20
    • In the course of time the feathers that followed stood up on the right side.
    • They stood up so that they might rule also.
    • Some of them ruled.
    • After a while those appeared no more.
21. 11:21
    • Some of them were set up but did not rule.
22. 11:22
    • After this the twelve feathers appeared no more.
    • The two little feathers appeared no more.
23. 11:23
    • Nothing was left on the eagle's body except three heads that rested and six little wings.
24. 11:24
    • Two little feathers divided themselves off from the six.
    • Those two remained under the head that was on the right side.
    • The other four stayed in their place.
25. 11:25
    • The feathers that were under the wing intended to set themselves up.
    • They intended to take the rule.
26. 11:26
    • One of them was set up.
    • Shortly it appeared no more.
27. 11:27
    • A second one was gone sooner than the first.
28. 11:28
    • The two that remained also intended within themselves to reign.
29. 11:29
    • While they were so intending, one of the heads that were at rest awoke.
    • The head that awoke was the one in the middle.
    • That head was greater than the two other heads.
30. 11:30
    • The two other heads were joined with it.
31. 11:31
    • The head turned together with those that were with it.
    • It ate up the two feathers under the wing that had intended to reign.
32. 11:32
    • This head put the whole earth in fear.
    • This head ruled over all those who dwelt on the earth with much oppression.
    • This head had greater governance of the world than all the wings that had been before.
33. 11:33
    • After this the head that was in the middle suddenly appeared no more.
    • It vanished as the wings had.
34. 11:34
    • The two heads remained.
    • The two heads likewise ruled over the earth.
    • The two heads ruled over those who dwelt on the earth.
35. 11:35
    • The head on the right side devoured the head on the left side.
36. 11:36
    • The speaker heard a voice.
    • The voice told him to look before him.
    • The voice told him to consider what he saw.
37. 11:37
    • Something appeared like a lion roused out of the forest and roaring.
    • The lion sent out a man's voice to the eagle.
    • The lion spoke.
38. 11:38
    • The lion told the eagle to hear.
    • The lion said he would speak with her.
    • The lion said the Highest would speak to her.
39. 11:39
    • The lion asked whether she was the one remaining of the four beasts.
    • The Highest made those four beasts reign in his world.
    • He made them reign so that the end of their times might come through them.
40. 11:40
    • The fourth beast came.
    • The fourth beast overcame all the beasts that had gone before.
    • The fourth beast held power over the world with great fearfulness.
    • It held the whole compass of the earth with much wicked oppression.
    • It dwelt on the earth a long time with deceit.
41. 11:41
    • The eagle did not judge the earth with truth.
42. 11:42
    • The eagle afflicted the meek.
    • The eagle hurt the peaceable.
    • The eagle loved liars.
    • The eagle destroyed the dwellings of those who brought forth fruit.
    • The eagle cast down the walls of those who did her no harm.
43. 11:43
    • The eagle's wrongful dealing has come up to the Highest.
    • The eagle's pride has come up to the Mighty.
44. 11:44
    • The Highest has looked upon the proud times.
    • Those times are ended.
    • His abominations are fulfilled.
45. 11:45
    • The eagle is commanded to appear no more.
    • Her horrible wings are to appear no more.
    • Her wicked feathers are to appear no more.
    • Her malicious heads are to appear no more.
    • Her hurtful claws are to appear no more.
    • Her whole vain body is to appear no more.
46. 11:46
    • The purpose is that all the earth may be refreshed.
    • The purpose is that the earth may return, delivered from the eagle's violence.
    • The purpose is that the earth may hope for the judgment and mercy of him who made her.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

11:1

This book survives complete only in Latin and in translations made from it, so where the King James is obscure the note points to what the Latin says. An eagle coming up out of the sea deliberately picks up Daniel 7, where four beasts rise from the sea one after another and the fourth is the most frightening; chapter 12 gives a point by point interpretation of the eagle, its wings and its heads. The eagle was also the emblem carried at the head of a Roman legion. The Latin opens the verse "on the second night," marking this as a fresh vision.

11:2

The King James "and were gathered together" never says what was gathered. The Latin has the clouds gathering against her, which is what the rendering follows.

11:3

"Contrary" in 1611 means facing or set opposite, not hostile: these feathers grow out over against the first set. One Latin word covers both a wing and the long feather of a wing, which is why the King James keeps sliding between "wings" and "feathers" for what are the same things.

11:4

"The residue" simply means the rest, the ones left over. It implies nothing about their being inferior.

11:7

Talons are the sharp, curved claws of a bird that hunts. An eagle uses them to grab and hold its prey.

11:8

"Watch by course" means take turns at keeping watch, in a fixed rotation, the way sentries do.

11:12

In the dream, a wing rising up and ruling means one ruler taking the throne. When a wing is "seen no more," that ruler's turn is over.

11:13

"Had a great time" in the King James means its reign lasted a long while. The phrase has nothing to do with enjoyment.

11:16

"Borne rule" means held power, governed.

11:17

"Attain unto thy time" means match the length of your reign.

11:20

"In process of time" is an older way of saying as time went on.

11:21

Some rulers were named or chosen but never actually got to rule. The dream shows them as wings that are set up but never fly.

11:24

The "little wings," also called the feathers under the wing, translate a Latin term for the smaller feathers lying beneath the main ones. In the scheme the vision is counting out they stand for lesser and shorter lived rulers than the twelve.

11:27

"Sooner away" means it vanished more quickly than the one before.

11:31

Eating something up, in a dream like this, means destroying it completely. The same picture comes back in verse 35.

11:32

"Bare rule" is the past tense of bear rule, that is, it governed. The King James "put the whole earth in fear" and the rendering "took hold of the whole earth" reflect a genuine split in the Latin manuscripts: some have the head holding the earth in its grip or possession, others have it terrifying the earth.

11:36

"I head a voice" is a printer's error for "I heard a voice" that survives in many printings of the King James Apocrypha.

11:37

"Chased out of the wood" means roused or driven out of the forest. Chapter 12 explains this lion as the anointed king from David's line; the lion had long been the emblem of the tribe of Judah, the tribe David came from.

11:38

"The Most High" is a title for God. It means the one who is above everything and everyone else.

11:39

The four beasts are the four kingdoms of Daniel 7, which come up out of the sea one after another. The eagle is being addressed as the last survivor of that set.

11:40

The speech talks about the fourth beast in the third person here and then turns and addresses the eagle directly as "thou" in the next verse. The two are the same creature.

11:41

In this older idiom, to judge a land means to govern it, not merely to decide court cases.

11:42

The Latin carries a further line here that the King James does not: "you have hated those who speak the truth."

11:43

"The Highest" and "the Mighty" are both titles for God: the Most High and the Mighty One.

11:44

This verse is obscure in the Latin and the manuscripts differ. The King James read it as the proud one's "abominations" being now complete; others read it as his allotted ages being finished, that is, his time having run out.

11:45

"Vain" in 1611 means empty or worthless, not conceited.

11:46

"Return" here means be restored to what it was, not travel back somewhere. The earth is spoken of as "she" throughout the speech, as a wronged party who can now look for justice.