¹He answered me: “The Most High made this world for the sake of many but the future world for the sake of few.

²But I will tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as when you ask the earth and it tells you that it provides much clay to make earthenware, but little dust from which gold comes to be, so the present world also works.

³Many indeed are created, but few will be saved.”

⁴I replied: “Therefore, take delight in understanding, my soul, and drink your fill of knowledge.[#8.4 Syr and other versions; Lat dismiss; #8.4 Syr and other versions; Lat let the soul feed on what it knows]

⁵You came into the world unwillingly, and against your will you depart, and you are given but a little while to live.[#8.5 Versions lack; #8.5 Versions; Lat misread the Gk.]

⁶Lord above us—if you will permit your servants to pray before you—give us seed for the heart and cultivation for the understanding that there may be fruit from which every mortal who bears the form of a human being may live.

⁷You alone exist, and we are your handiwork, as you have said.

⁸Because you give life to the body that is now fashioned in the womb and give it members, your creation is preserved in fire and water. For nine months the womb you have fashioned endures what is created in it.

⁹But both the container and its contents will be conserved by your care. And when the womb at last gives forth what is created in it,

¹⁰you have commanded that from the members themselves; that is, from the breasts, milk (the fruit of the breasts) should be provided.

¹¹By this means, that which is fashioned may be nourished for a time, and afterward you will dispose of this person in your mercy.

¹²You nourished him with your justice, tutored him in your Law, and reproved him in your wisdom.[#8.12 Syr; Lat intelligence]

¹³You will cause him to die as your creation and give him life as your work.

¹⁴If, therefore, you will destroy with a simple command one who was fashioned at your command with so much labor, why was he made?

¹⁵Now I will surely speak: You know best about the sum total of humanity, but what about your people who grieve me,

¹⁶and about your inheritance because of which I lament, and about Israel, on whose account I am sad, and about the seed of Jacob because of which I am disturbed?

¹⁷Therefore, I will pray before you for myself and for them, because I see the defects of we who live on earth,

¹⁸but I have heard of the swiftness of the judgment that is to come.

¹⁹Therefore, hear my voice and consider my words, and I will speak before you.”

²⁰The beginning of the words of Ezra’s prayer before he was taken up. He said:[#8.20 Lat text has two forms for 8:30-38, with minor differences between them.]

³⁷He answered me: “You have said some things correctly, and according to your words it will be done.

³⁸Indeed, I won’t think about the formation of sinners or their death or judgment or damnation,

³⁹but I will rejoice over the creation of the righteous, their journey also, and their deliverance and receipt of a reward.

⁴⁰As I’ve said, then so it is.

⁴¹Just as a farmer sows many seeds on the land, but in time not all seeds that are sown will be saved nor will all the planted things take root, so also not all of those who are sown in the world will be saved.”

⁴²I answered: “If I have found favor with you, let me speak,

⁴³because the farmer’s seed doesn’t grow up, perhaps because it didn’t receive your rain in season; or if it was spoiled by abundance of rain, it perishes.

⁴⁴But human beings, who are shaped by your hands and named in your image, because they are made in your likeness, for whom you created all things—have you compared them to a farmer’s seeds?

⁴⁵No, Lord above us, but spare your people and have mercy on your inheritance, for you have mercy on your own creation.”

⁴⁶He answered me: “The present things are for those who now are, and the future things for the future.

⁴⁷You are a long way from loving my creation more than I do. But you have often associated yourself with the wicked. Never do so!

⁴⁸But even in this respect the Most High will admire you,

⁴⁹because you have humbled yourself, as befits you, and didn’t count yourself among the righteous so that you may be glorified the more.

⁵⁰Many miseries will afflict those who inhabit the world in the last times because they will walk in great pride.

⁵¹But think of yourself and ask about the glory of those like you.

⁵²For you, paradise is opened, the tree of life is planted, the future time is prepared, abundance is made ready, the city is built, rest is appointed, goodness is perfected, and wisdom is perfected in advance.

⁵³The root of evil is sealed off from you, weakness is abolished from you, and death is hidden; the netherworld and decay have fled into oblivion.[#8.53 Versions lack; #8.53 Lat infernum]

⁵⁴Sorrows have passed, and the treasure of immortality is displayed to the end.

⁵⁵Therefore, don’t continue to ask about the great many who perish.

⁵⁶They also received freedom, but they despised the Most High, spoke ill of his Law, and abandoned his ways.

⁵⁷Moreover, they also trampled his righteous ones.

⁵⁸They said in their heart that there is no God, even though they knew that they would have to die.

⁵⁹Just as the things that are predicted will receive you, so also the thirst and torment that are prepared will receive them. The Most High didn’t intend for human beings to be destroyed,

⁶⁰but those who were themselves created defiled the name of their creator and were ungrateful to him who prepared life for them.

⁶¹Therefore, my judgment draws close,

⁶²which I haven’t disclosed to all, except to you and to a few like you.”

⁶³I answered, “Look now, Lord, you have shown me a multitude of signs that you are about to perform in the last times, but you haven’t shown me when they will take place.”