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4 Ezra

2 Esdras

About this book
Chapter 9

1 He answered me, “Measure diligently within yourself. When you see that a certain part of the signs are past, which have been told you beforehand, 2 then you will understand that it is the very time in which the Most High will visit the world which was made by him. 3 When earthquakes, tumult of peoples, plans of nations, wavering of leaders, and confusion of princes are seen in the world, 4 then you will understand that the Most High spoke of these things from the days that were of old, from the beginning. 5 For just as with everything that is made in the world, the beginning is evident and the end manifest, 6 so also are the times of the Most High: the beginnings are manifest in wonders and mighty works, and the end in effects and signs. 7 Everyone who will be saved, and will be able to escape by his works, or by faith by which they have believed, 8 will be preserved from the said perils, and will see my salvation in my land and within my borders, which I have sanctified for myself from the beginning. 9 Then those who now have abused my ways will be amazed. Those who have cast them away despitefully will live in torments. 10 For as many as in their life have received benefits, and yet have not known me, 11 and as many as have scorned my law, while they still had liberty and when an opportunity to repent was open to them, didn’t understand, but despised it, 12 must know it in torment after death. 13 Therefore don’t be curious any longer how the ungodly will be punished, but inquire how the righteous will be saved, those who the world belongs to, and for whom the world was created.” 14 I answered, 15 “I have said before, and now speak, and will say it again hereafter, that there are more of those who perish than of those who will be saved, 16 like a wave is greater than a drop.” 17 He answered me, “Just as the field is, so also the seed. As the flowers are, so are the colors. As the work is, so also is the judgment on it. As is the farmer, so also is his threshing floor. For there was a time in the world 18 when I was preparing for those who now live, before the world was made for them to dwell in. Then no one spoke against me, 19 for no one existed. But now those who are created in this world that is prepared, both with a table that doesn’t fail and a law which is unsearchable, are corrupted in their ways. 20 So I considered my world, and behold, it was destroyed, and my earth, and behold, it was in peril, because of the plans that had come into it. 21 I saw and spared them, but not greatly, and saved myself a grape out of a cluster, and a plant out of a great forest. 22 Let the multitude perish then, which were born in vain. Let my grape be saved, and my plant, for I have made them perfect with great labor. 23 Nevertheless, if you will wait seven more days—however don’t fast in them, 24 but go into a field of flowers, where no house is built, and eat only of the flowers of the field, and you shall taste no flesh, and shall drink no wine, but shall eat flowers only— 25 and pray to the Most High continually, then I will come and talk with you.”

Fourth Revelation: The Mourning Woman and Zion

26 So I went my way, just as he commanded me, into the field which is called Ardat. There I sat among the flowers, and ate of the herbs of the field, and this food satisfied me. 27 It came to pass after seven days that I lay on the grass, and my heart was troubled again, like before. 28 My mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Lord Most High, and said, 29 “O Lord, you showed yourself among us, to our fathers in the wilderness, when they went out of Egypt, and when they came into the wilderness, where no man treads and that bears no fruit.⁠ 30 You said, ‘Hear me, O Israel. Heed my words, O seed of Jacob. 31 For behold, I sow my law in you, and it will bring forth fruit in you, and you will be glorified in it forever.’ 32 But our fathers, who received the law, didn’t keep it, and didn’t observe the statutes. The fruit of the law didn’t perish, for it couldn’t, because it was yours. 33 Yet those who received it perished, because they didn’t keep the thing that was sown in them. 34 Behold, it is a custom that when the ground has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel food or drink, and when it comes to pass that that which is sown, or that which is launched, 35 or the things which have been received, should come to an end, these come to an end, but the receptacles remain. Yet with us, it doesn’t happen that way. 36 For we who have received the law will perish by sin, along with our heart which received it. 37 Notwithstanding the law doesn’t perish, but remains in its honor.”

The Mourning Woman

38 When I spoke these things in my heart, I looked around me with my eyes, and on my right side I saw a woman, and behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved in mind. Her clothes were torn, and she had ashes on her head. 39 Then I let go of the thoughts with which I was occupied, and turned myself to her, 40 and said to her, “Why are you weeping? Why are you grieved in your mind?” 41 She said to me, “Leave me alone, my Lord, that I may weep for myself and add to my sorrow, for I am very troubled in my mind, and brought very low.” 42 I said to her, “What ails you? Tell me.” 43 She said to me, “I, your servant, was barren and had no child, though I had a husband thirty years. 44 Every hour and every day these thirty years I made my prayer to the Most High day and night. 45 It came to pass after thirty years that God heard me, your handmaid, and saw my low estate, and considered my trouble, and gave me a son. I rejoiced in him greatly, I and my husband, and all my neighbors. We gave great honor to the Mighty One. 46 I nourished him with great care. 47 So when he grew up, and I came to take him a wife, I made him a feast day.

Texts in conversation

Compare 4 Ezra 9:31 and Sifre Deuteronomy 345

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

4 Ezra and Rabbinic tradition in Sifre Deuteronomy similarly interpret the giving of the Torah at Sinai as a unique event directed to Israel, portraying it as something only intended for them to observe.

Passages

4 Ezra 9:31

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · 2 Esdras
26 So I went my way, just as he commanded me, into the field which is called Ardat. There I sat among the flowers, and ate of the herbs of the field, and this food satisfied me. 27 It came to pass after seven days that I lay on the grass, and my heart was troubled again, like before. 28 My mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Lord Most High, and said, 29 “O Lord, you showed yourself among us, to our fathers in the wilderness, when they went out of Egypt, and when they came into the wilderness, where no man treads and that bears no fruit. 30 You said, ‘Hear me, O Israel. Heed my words, O seed of Jacob. 31 For behold, I sow my law in you, and it will bring forth fruit in you, and you will be glorified in it forever.’ 32 But our fathers, who received the law, didn’t keep it, and didn’t observe the statutes. The fruit of the law didn’t perish, for it couldn’t, because it was yours. 33 Yet those who received it perished, because they didn’t keep the thing that was sown in them.
70–132 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4 Ezra

Sifre Deuteronomy 345

Rabbinic · Halakhic Midrash
(Devarim 33:4) "Torah was commanded lanu by Moses": This command is only "lanu," only for our sake. Similarly, (I Kings 8:20) "And I have built the house for the name of the L-rd, the G-d of Israel" — What is the purpose of this house? (Ibid. 21) "And I have built there a place for the ark" — This command is only lanu, only for our sake. Variantly: "Torah was commanded to us by Moses": It is not from Moses alone that we hold the Torah; for our fathers, too, acquired it, viz. (Devarim, Ibid.) "the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." This tells me (only) of an inheritance for the sons of kings. Whence do I derive the same for the sons of non-kings? From (Devarim. 29:9) "You are standing this day, all of you, etc." Variantly: Do not read it "morashah" ("inheritance"), but me'orasah" ("betrothed"), the Torah being betrothed to Israel, and (it is forbidden) to the gentiiles as (is) a married woman. Similarly, (Mishlei 6:27-29) "Will a man draw forth fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? Will a man walk on coals and his feet not be scorched? So, he who comes to his friend's wife. No one who touches her shall go clean." Thus "the betrothed of the congregation of Jacob."
200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sifre Deuteronomy

References

"... 4 Ezra clearly views the Sinai event as a special experience of Israel alone (9:26-37) [compare] Sifre to Deuteronomy 345 (redacted mid-3rd century) ..."
Wally V. Cirafesi, John within Judaism: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel (Leiden: Brill, 2022), 66.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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4 Ezra 9:31 and Sifre Deuteronomy 345

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