A Fragment About a Burial
1 … when he dies, we will bury him like everyone else. 2 When he dies, we will carry him out, playing the lyre before him and singing psalms and songs over his body.
Zephaniah's Journey with the Angel
1 Then I went with the angel of the Lord, and he led me over my whole city. No one was in front of my eyes. 2 Then I saw two men walking together on a road, and I watched them as they talked. 3 I also saw two women grinding together at a mill, and I watched them as they talked. 4 And I saw two on their bed … 5 And I saw the whole inhabited world below, like a drop of water hanging from a bucket as it comes up from a well. 6 I said to the angel of the Lord, "Is there no darkness or night in this place?" 7 He answered me, "No. For in the place where the righteous and the holy ones are, there is no darkness; they are always in the light." 8 And I saw all the souls of people who are being punished. 9 I groaned to the Lord Almighty, "God, if you stay with the holy ones, you will also be patient with the world and with these souls who are in this punishment."
1 The angel of the Lord answered me, "Come, I will show you the … of righteousness." 2 Then he led me onto Mount Seir and showed me three men, with two angels walking beside them, rejoicing and shouting for joy over them. 3 I said to the angel, "Who are these?" 4 He answered me, "These are the three sons of Joatham the priest, who did not keep their father's commandment or carry out the statutes of the Lord." 5 Then I saw two more angels weeping over the three sons of Joatham the priest. 6 I said to the angel, "Who are these?" He answered, "These are the angels of the Lord Almighty, who write down all the good deeds of the righteous in their scrolls while they sit at the gate of heaven. 7 And I take the scrolls from them and bring them before the Lord Almighty, so that he may write their name in the Book of the Living. 8 But the angels of the accuser, who is on the earth, also write down all the sins of people in their scrolls. 9 They too sit at the gate of heaven, and they report the sins to the accuser, so that he may write them in his scroll and accuse the people when they come down here out of the world."
1 I went on with the angel of the Lord, looked ahead, and saw a place there. 2 Thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of angels were passing through it. 3 Their faces were like a panther's, and their tusks stuck out of their mouths like wild boars'. 4 Their eyes were bloodshot, their hair was loose like women's hair, and they had burning whips in their hands. 5 When I saw them, I was afraid and said to the angel who was walking with me, "Who are these?" 6 He answered me, "These are the servants of all creation, who come to the souls of the ungodly, carry them off, and lay them down here. 7 For three days they hover around with them in the air before they take them and throw them into eternal punishment." 8 I said, "Please, lord, do not give them permission to come near me." 9 The angel answered, "Do not be afraid. I will not let them come near you, because you are pure before the Lord. I will not let them come near you, because the Lord Almighty has sent me to you, because you are pure before him." 10 Then he signalled to them, and they drew back and moved away from me.
1 I went on with the angel of God, looked ahead, and saw gates. 2 When I came near them, I found that they were bronze gates. 3 The angel touched them, and they opened before him. I went in with him and found that its whole street was like the street of a beautiful city, and I walked down the middle of it. 4 Then the angel of the Lord changed his form beside me in that place. 5 I looked at them and found that they were bronze gates, with bronze locks and iron bars. 6 My mouth was shut there. I looked ahead and saw bronze gates throwing out fire for about fifty stadia.
Judgment in Hades
1 Again I turned back and saw a great sea. 2 I thought it was a sea of water, but I found that it was a whole sea of fire, like mud that throws out much fire, and its waves glowed with sulphur and pitch. 3 They began to come toward me. 4 I thought that the Lord Almighty had come to visit me. 5 When I saw it, I threw myself on my face before him to worship him. 6 I was very afraid and began to beg him to rescue me from this distress. 7 I groaned and said, "Eloi, Lord, Adonai Sabaoth, I beg you to rescue me from this distress that has come upon me." 8 At that hour I stood up and saw a great angel in front of me. His hair was loose like a lion's, his teeth stuck out of his mouth like a bear's, his hair was loose like women's hair, and his body was like a serpent's, and he wanted to swallow me. 9 When I saw him, I was so afraid of him that every part of my body trembled, and I threw myself on my face. 10 I could not stand, and I began to pray before the Lord Almighty: "You will rescue me from this distress, you who rescued Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. You rescued Susanna from the hand of the wicked elders. You rescued the three holy men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, from the blazing, fiery furnace. I beg you to rescue me too from this distress."
Eremiel Refuses Worship
11 Then I got up and stood, and I saw a great angel standing in front of me. His face shone like the rays of the sun in its glory, and his face was like the face of one filled with his glory. 12 He wore what looked like a golden belt around his chest, and his feet were like brass glowing in the fire. 13 When I saw him, I was glad, because I thought that the Lord Almighty had come to visit me. 14 I threw myself on my face and worshipped him. 15 He said to me, "Take care! Do not worship me. I am not the Lord Almighty; I am the great angel Eremiel, who is over the abyss and the underworld below, in whose hand all the souls have been shut up since the end of the Flood that came upon the earth, until this day." 16 Then I asked the angel, "What is this place I have come to?" He said to me, "This is the underworld." 17 Then I asked him, "Who is the great angel standing there, the one I saw?" He answered, "This is the one who accuses people before the Lord."
1 Then I looked and saw him with a scroll in his hand, and he began to open it. 2 When he had spread it out, I read it in my own language, and I found written down by him all the sins I had committed, from my childhood until today. 3 They were all written on that scroll of mine, without a single false word among them. 4 If I had failed to visit a sick person or a widow, I found it written against me as a fault on my scroll. 5 If I had not visited an orphan, I found it written against me as a fault on my scroll. 6 If there was a day when I had not fasted, or had not prayed at the time of prayer, I found it written against me as a fault on my scroll. 7 And if there was a day when I had not turned to the children of Israel, I found it written against me as a fault on my scroll, 8 so that I threw myself on my face and began to pray before the Lord Almighty: "May your mercy reach me, and may you wipe my scroll clean, because your mercy is in every place and fills every place." 9 Then I got up and stood, and I saw a great angel in front of me, who said to me, "Be victorious and strong, for you are strong and have overcome the accuser, and you have come up out of the underworld and the abyss. Now you will cross over at the crossing place." 10 Again he brought another scroll, written by hand, 11 and began to unroll it. I read it and found that it was written in my own language …
1 They took my hand and lifted me into that boat, 2 and thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of angels began to sing before me. 3 I too put on an angel's robe, and I saw all those angels praying. 4 I too began to pray together with them, and I understood their language, which they spoke with me. 5 So now, my sons, this is the contest in which the good and the evil are weighed on a scale.
1 Then a great angel came out with a golden trumpet in his hand, and he began to blow it three times over my head, saying, "Be victorious, you who have won! Be strong, you who have been strong! For you have overcome the accuser and escaped the abyss and the underworld. 2 Now you will cross over at the crossing place, for your name has been written in the Book of the Living." 3 I wanted to greet him with a kiss, but I could not, because his glory was so great. 4 Then he ran to all the righteous: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, Elijah and David. 5 He talked with them as a friend talks with friends, while they talked with one another.
The Fate of the Wicked
1 Then the great angel with the golden trumpet in his hand came to me and blew it up toward heaven. 2 Heaven opened from sunrise to sunset, from north to south. 3 I saw the sea that I had seen down in the underworld; its waves rose up to the clouds. 4 I saw all the souls sunk in it. I also saw some whose hands were tied to their necks, and who were chained hand and foot. 5 I said, "Who are these?" He answered me, "These are the ones who bribe, and who give people gold and silver until they lead their souls astray." 6 I also saw others wrapped in mats of fire. 7 I said, "Who are these?" He answered me, "These are the ones who lend money at interest and take interest on the interest." 8 I also saw blind people crying out, and I was amazed when I had seen all these works of God. 9 I said, "Who are these?" He answered me, "These are the catechumens, who heard the word of God but did not become complete in the work they heard." 10 I said to him, "Can they not repent, then?" He answered, "They can." 11 I said, "Until what day?" He answered me, "Until the day when the Lord will judge." 12 I also saw others who still had their hair, 13 and I said, "Is there hair and a body here, then?" 14 He answered, "Yes. The Lord gives them a body and hair in whatever way he pleases."
1 I also saw many others, whom he brought out, 2 looking at all these punishments. They began to cry out and pray before the Lord Almighty, saying, "We beg you on behalf of these who are in all these punishments, that you have mercy on them all." 3 When I had seen them all, I said to the angel who was talking with me, "Who are these?" 4 He answered me, "These who are pleading with the Lord are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 5 At a set hour every day they come out with the great angel. He blows one trumpet blast up to heaven and another to the earth. 6 All the righteous hear the sound and come running, pleading every day with the Lord Almighty for these who are down below in all these punishments."
1 Again the great angel comes out with the golden trumpet in his hand, and he blows it down toward the earth. 2 It is heard from the regions of sunrise to the regions of sunset, and from the south to the north. 3 Again he blows it up toward heaven, and its sound is heard. 4 I said, "Lord, why have you not let me come near them all until now?" 5 He answered me, "I have no authority to show them to you until the Lord Almighty rises in his anger to destroy the earth and the heavens. 6 They will see it and tremble, and all of them will cry out, saying, 'All flesh that belongs to you, we will give all of it to you on the day of the Lord.' 7 Who will be able to stand before him when he rises in his anger, so that the earth shakes? 8 All the trees that grow on the earth will be torn up by their roots and fall, and all the high towers too, and the birds that fly will fall …"
The Fifth Heaven, quoted by Clement of Alexandria
1 And the Spirit took me and brought me up to the fifth heaven, and I saw angels called Lords. Their crown was set on them in the Holy Spirit, and each of them had a throne seven times brighter than the light of the rising sun. They lived in temples of salvation and sang hymns to the indescribable Most High God.
A Fragment About a Soul in Torment
1 I saw a soul that five thousand angels were tormenting and guarding. 2 They took it to the east and carried it to the west, and they beat its …, and each of them gave it a hundred lashes with whips every day. 3 I was afraid and threw myself on my face, so that my knees trembled. 4 Then the angel took my hand and said to me, "Be strong, so that you may win, and be mighty, so that you may overcome the accuser and come up out of the underworld." 5 When I had got up, I said, "Who is this that is being tormented?" 6 He answered me, "This is a soul that was found in its sins, and before it came to repent, death came upon it and it was taken out of its body." 7 Truly, I, Zephaniah, saw this in a vision. 8 And the angel of the Lord went on with me, and I saw a great, wide place, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of angels on the left and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands on the right. Each one was different in kind. 9 Their hair was loose like women's hair, and their teeth were like the teeth of …