2 Esdras 3

In the thirtieth year after the city was destroyed, I was in Babylon. I lay on my bed, troubled, and my thoughts rose up in my heart.

1In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:

NoteThe city is Jerusalem, destroyed by the Babylonian army in 587 BC, so "the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city" sets the scene around 557 BC, among the Judeans deported to Babylon. In the Greek and Latin copies the speaker names himself at this point as Salathiel, also called Esdras; Esdras is the Latin form of the name Ezra. "My thoughts came up over my heart" is a Hebrew way of saying that thoughts welled up in him and would not let him rest.

2For I saw Zion lying in ruins, and I saw the riches of the people who lived in Babylon.

2For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon.

NoteZion was first the name of one hill in Jerusalem and came to stand for the whole city and its people. Readers in the author's own day would also have heard "Babylon" as a covered name for Rome, the empire that destroyed Jerusalem a second time in AD 70; the book places its complaint in the older exile in order to speak about the newer one.

3My spirit was deeply shaken, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the Most High. I said:

3And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,

4"O Lord, you who rule over all, you spoke at the beginning, when you formed the earth. You did it by yourself alone, and you gave a command to the dust,

4O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,

NoteKJV "commandedst the people" reflects one reading of the text. Most Latin copies read that God commanded the dust, and the dust then yielded Adam's body, which is why the rendering has "a command to the dust."

5and you gave Adam a body without a soul, and that body was the work of your own hands. You breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living being in your presence.

5And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee.

NoteThe wording retraces Genesis 2:7, where God shapes a man out of the ground and the shaped body becomes alive only when God breathes into it. "Body without soul" means a formed body that is not yet breathing or living.

6You led him into the garden, which your own right hand had planted before the earth ever appeared.

6And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.

NoteKJV "paradise" comes through Greek from a Persian word for a walled park or pleasure garden; the Greek Bible uses it for the garden of Eden. "Thy right hand" is a standard way of saying God's own hand and power, the right hand being the working, stronger one.

7You gave him a command, to love your way. He broke it, and at once you appointed death for him and for the people who would come from him. From him came nations, tribes, peoples, and families beyond counting.

7And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.

NoteThe command in view is the one in Genesis 2:17, forbidding the fruit of a single tree. "His generations" means the line of people descended from him.

8Every people followed its own will. They did ungodly things in front of you, and they treated your commands as worthless.

8And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.

NoteIn 1611 "wonderful" meant astonishing, causing wonder, with no suggestion of admirable; here the astonishing deeds are bad ones. Other copies of the text read "ungodly things," which the rendering follows.

9And again, as time went on, you brought the flood on those who lived in the world, and you destroyed them.

9And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.

10The same thing happened to each of them. Just as death came to Adam, so the flood came to these.

10And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.

11Even so, you left one of them alive, Noah, with his household, and from him came all righteous men.

11Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men.

NoteIn Genesis the household saved in the ark is eight people: Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives.

12Then, when the people who lived on the earth began to grow in number, and had many children, and became a great people, they began once more to be more ungodly than the first ones.

12And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.

13Now when they were living so wickedly in front of you, you chose for yourself one man out of them all, and his name was Abraham.

13Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

14You loved him, and to him alone you showed what you wanted done.

14Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:

NoteKJV "shewedst thy will" follows one reading. Other copies say that God showed Abraham the end of the times, secretly, by night, an allusion to the night vision of Genesis 15.

15You made a covenant with him that would last forever, promising him that you would never abandon his descendants.

15And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.

NoteA covenant is a binding agreement with set terms and obligations, the ordinary word for a treaty between kings or a contract between people. The one meant here is the promise to Abraham of land and descendants in Genesis 15 and 17. KJV "seed" means offspring, the whole line of descendants.

16You gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, you chose him for yourself and set Esau aside, and so Jacob became a great crowd of people.

16And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude.

NoteEsau was the elder of the twins, so by custom the family position and the larger share of the inheritance were his. KJV "put by" means set aside or passed over; the stories in Genesis 25 and 27 turn on the reversal of the usual order between the two brothers.

17And when you led his descendants out of Egypt, you brought them up to Mount Sinai.

17And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

NoteThe reference is to the escape from Egypt told in Exodus, and to Mount Sinai in the desert of the Sinai peninsula, where Exodus places the giving of the law.

18You bent the heavens down, you made the earth stand firm, you moved the whole world, you made the deep waters tremble, and you troubled the people of that age.

18And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age.

Note"Bowing the heavens" is a set image from the Psalms, for example Psalm 18:9, where God bends the sky down like a curtain in order to come down himself. KJV "didst set fast the earth," that is, made it firm, follows one reading; most Latin copies have God shaking the earth, which fits the other verbs of upheaval around it.

19Your glory passed through four gates: fire, earthquake, wind, and cold. This was so that you might give the law to Jacob's descendants, and careful attention to it to the people descended from Israel.

19And thy glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob, and diligence unto the generation of Israel.

NoteThe four gates are the phenomena that accompany the appearance at Sinai in Exodus 19:16 to 18: fire, a quaking mountain, wind and, in some copies here, ice rather than cold. KJV "diligence unto the generation of Israel" is awkward; other copies read "the commandment," the sense being the law itself given to Israel's descendants.

20And yet you did not take the wicked heart away from them, so that your law might bear fruit in them.

20And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.

Note"A wicked heart" translates a fixed phrase in this book, the Latin cor malignum. It names an inborn bent toward wrong that a person carries from birth, close to what Jewish writers of the period called the evil inclination. The heart, in this way of speaking, is the seat of thought and decision rather than of feeling.

21For the first Adam, carrying a wicked heart, broke your command and was defeated. So are all the people who are born from him.

21For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.

22In this way the sickness was made permanent. The law was in the heart of the people, and so was the evil of the root, so the good went away and the evil stayed.

22Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still.

NoteKJV "infirmity" means sickness or weakness, here treated as a permanent condition rather than a passing illness. "The root" means the source or origin, the flaw inherited from the first man. KJV "abode still" means remained in place.

23So the times went by and the years came to an end. Then you raised up for yourself a servant named David.

23So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:

24You commanded him to build a city for your name, and to offer incense and offerings to you in it.

24Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.

NoteIn the Hebrew Bible David captures Jerusalem and gathers materials, and his son Solomon builds the temple; this book credits the command to David directly. Incense was fragrant resin burned on an altar so that its smoke rose; KJV "oblations" means gifts presented to God, chiefly animals and grain. Some copies read "burnt offerings" instead of incense.

25After this had gone on for many years, the people who lived in the city abandoned you,

25When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee,

26and in everything they did exactly what Adam and all his descendants had done, for they too had a wicked heart.

26And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:

27And so you handed your city over into the hands of your enemies.

27And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.

NoteThe handing over is the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the walls were breached, the temple burned and the leading families deported.

28Are the deeds of the people who live in Babylon any better, then, that they should rule over Zion?

28Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

29For when I came there and had seen wicked acts beyond counting, my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, and my heart gave way.

29For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

30For I have seen how you put up with them while they sin, and how you have spared people who do wicked things, and have destroyed your own people, and have kept your enemies safe, and have not made this known.

30For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it.

NoteKJV "hast not signified it" means has given no sign and offered no explanation. In the Latin the sentence runs on into the next verse: you have not shown anyone how your way is to be understood.

31I cannot see how this way of yours is to be left behind. Are the people of Babylon better, then, than the people of Zion?

31I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

NoteKJV "I do not remember how this way may be left" is obscure, and the Latin behind it is damaged or corrupt at this point. The sense is roughly that the speaker cannot see how God's way of running the world is to be grasped. Translations differ here, and the rendering keeps the difficulty rather than smoothing it away.

32Or is there any other people that knows you except Israel? Or what family of people has trusted your covenants as Jacob did?

32Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?

33And yet their reward is nowhere to be seen, and their hard work bears no fruit. For I have traveled here and there among the nations, and I see that riches pour in on them, and they give no thought to your commands.

33And yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon thy commandments.

NoteKJV "the heathen" simply translates the ordinary word for the other nations, the peoples who are not Israel. It carries no suggestion of savagery or of being uncivilized. "Their labour hath no fruit" means their hard work produces no return.

34So weigh our wrongdoing now in the scales, and weigh also the wrongdoing of those who live in the world, and then your name will be found nowhere except in Israel.

34Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and their’s also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel.

NoteA balance was a beam with a pan hanging from each end, used for weighing goods and coin, and it was the standard image for judgment, one side set against the other to see which sinks. The closing clause differs across the copies: KJV has "so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel," while the Latin more often reads that it will then be seen which way the scale tips.

35Or when was there ever a time when the people who live on the earth had not sinned in your sight? Or what people has kept your commands so well?

35Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments?

36You will find that Israel by name has kept your rules, but the nations have not."

36Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.

NoteThe point turns on individuals against nations. KJV "Israel by name" follows one reading; the Latin more often runs, you will find men here and there, name by name, who have kept your rules, but you will not find a whole nation that has.