The Ascent to Heaven

1 And the sun went down, and look, there was smoke like that of a furnace. And the angels who had the portions of the sacrifice went up from the top of the smoking furnace.⁠a 2 And the Angel took me with his right hand and set me on the right wing of the pigeon, and seated himself on the left wing of the turtledove,⁠b which (birds) had neither been slaughtered nor divided. 3 And he carried me to the edge of the flaming fire 4 [and we went up as if carried by many winds to the heaven which was fixed on the surface. 5 And I saw in the air] at the height we had reached, a strong light that was impossible to describe, 6 and look, in this light there was a fiercely burning fire, and many people who looked like men, 7 all (constantly) changing in appearance and form, running and being transformed,⁠c and worshiping and crying out words whose sounds I did not recognize.⁠d