IV Esdras (1st Century A.D.)

a. "The Day of Judgment is decisive, and displays unto all the seal of truth. None shall pray for another on that Day, neither shall one lay a burden on another; for then every one shall bear his own righteousness or unrighteousness. And I anwered and said: How is it that we now find that Elias prayed for those who recieved the rain, and for the dead, that he might live? And he answered me and said: The present age is not the End; the glory of God abides not therein continuously: therefore have the strong prayed for the weak. But the Day of Judgment shall be the end of this age and the beginning of the eternal age that is to come."

b. "Concerning the signs of the end: Behold, the days come when the inhabitants of the earth shall be seized with great panic, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land be barren of faith. And iniquity shall be increased above that which thou thyself now seest or that thou hast heard of long ago. And the land that thou seest now to bear rule shall be a pathless waste; and men shall see it forsaken: if the Most High grant thee to live, thou shalt see it after the third (period) in confusion. Then shall the sun suddenly shine forth by night and the moon by day ; and blood shall trickle forth from wood, and the stone utter its voice: The peoples shall be in commotion, the movements (?) (of the stars) shall change, and one whom the dwellers upon earth do not look for shall wield sovereignty, and the birds shall take to general flight, and the sea shall cast forth its fish. And one whom the many do not know will make his voice heard by night ; and all shall hear his voice. And the earth o'er wide regions shall open, and fire burst forth for a long period : The wild beasts shall desert their haunts, and women bear monsters. (And one-year old children shall speak with their voices ; pregnant women shall bring forth untimely births at three or four months, and these shall live and dance. And suddenly shall the sown places appear unsown, and the full storehouse shall suddenly be found empty.) Salt waters shall be found in the sweet; friends shall attack one another suddenly. Then shall intelligence hide itself, and wisdom withdraw to its chamber — by many shall be sought and not found. And unrighteousness and incontinency shall be multiplied upon the earth. One land shall also ask another and say: Is Righteousness — that doeth the right — passed through thee? And it shall answer, No. And it shall be in that time men shall hope and not obtain, shall labour and not prosper" (5 : 1-12) .

c. "Behold the days come, and it shall be, when I am about to draw nigh to visit the dwellers upon earth, and when I require from the doers of iniquity (the penalty of) their iniquity; (and when the humiliation of Sion shall be complete,) and when the Age which is about to pass away shall be sealed then (will I show these signs)" (6: 18-20).

d. "Measure (the matter) carefully in thy mind, and when thou seest that a certain part of the predicted signs are past, then shalt thou understand that it is the very time when the Most High is about to visit the world which he has made. When in the world there shall appear quakings of places, tumult of peoples, scheming of nations, confusion of leaders, disquietude of princes, then shalt thou understand that it is of these things the Most High has spoken since the days that were aforetime from the beginning. For just as with respect to all that has happened in the world the beginning is obscure ( ?) but the end (issue) manifest, so also are the times of the Most High: the beginnings are (visible) in portents and secret signs, and the end in effects and marvels"

e. "In the last days thereof the Most High will raise up three kings ; and they shall change many things therein, and shall exercise lordship over the earth and over the dwellers therein with much oppression, above all those that were before them. Therefore are they called the heads of the eagle: for these are they that shall bring to a head his wickedness, and consummate his last end. And whereas thou didst see that the great head disappeared — one of them shall die upon his bead, but yet with pain. But as for the two who remain the sword shall devour them. For the sword of the one shall devour him that was with him; nevertheless this one also shall fall by the sword in the last days. And whereas thou didst see two under-wings passing over to the head that is upon the right side ; this is the interpretation: These are they whom the Most High hath kept for his (i.e. the eagle's) end; and their rule shall be short and full of uproar, as thou hast seen. And as for the lion whom thou didst see roused from the wood and roaring, and speaking to the eagle and reproving him for his unrighteousness and all his deeds, as thou hast heard: This is the Messiah whom the Most High hath kept unto the end (of the days, who shall spring from the seed of David, and shall come and speak) unto them; he shall reprove them for their ungodliness, rebuke them for their unrighteousness, reproach them to their faces with their treacheries. For at the first he shall set them alive for judgment; and when he hath rebuked them he shall destroy them" (12: 23-33). f . "These are the interpretations of the vision : Whereas thou didst see a Man coming up from the heart of the Sea : this is he whom the Most High is keeping many ages (and) through whom he will deliver his creation and the same shall order the survivors. And whereas thou didst see that out of his mouth there came wind, and fire, and storm; and whereas he held neither spear, nor any warlike weapon, but destroyed the assault of that multitude which had come to fight against him — this is the interpretation: (Behold, the days come when the Most High is about to deliver them that are upon earth. And there shall come astonishment of mind upon the dwellers on earth: and they shall plan to war one against another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom. And it shall be when these things shall come to pass, and the signs shall happen which I showed thee before, then shall my Son be revealed whom thou didst see as a Man ascending). It shall be, when all the nations hear His voice, every man shall leave his own land and the warfare which they have one against another; and an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou didst see, desiring to come and to fight against him. But he shall stand upon the summit of Mount Sion. (And Sion shall come and shall be made manifest to all men, prepared and builded, even as thou didst see the mountain cut without hands. But he, my Son, shall reprove the nations that are come for their ungodliness — which things (i.e., the rebukes) are like unto a storm — ; and shall reproach them to their face with their evil thoughts and with the tortures with which they are destined to be tortured — which are compared unto a flame — ; and then shall he destroy them without labour by the Law which is compared unto fire" (13:25-38).

g. "For still worse evils than those which thou hast seen happen shall yet take place. For the weaker the world grows through age, so much the more shall evils increase upon the dwellers on earth. Truth shall withdraw further off, and falsehood be right at hand: for already the Eagle is hastening to come whom thou sawest in vision" (14: 15-17).