1 It is necessary to go on boasting. Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows) 4 was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak. 5 On behalf of such an individual I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses.

Finally, when angels of destruction, resentful of his presence in heaven, sought to burn Moses with the breath of their mouths, God spread something of His own splendor about Moses and told him to explain to the ministering angels why he was in heaven. His reply was accepted, and the angel of death even taught Moses how to stand between the dead and the living. God then opened the seven firmaments and showed Moses the Sanctuary on high and the four colors He had used for the Tabernacle. He opened the portals of the seven firmaments and appeared over them and over Israel in His full glory. When Israel heard I am the Lord thy God (Exod. 20:2), their souls at once departed from them. But God made descend the dew which will quicken the souls of the righteous at the resurrection, and thus revived the children of Israel.