The ''Vision of Ezra'' is an ancient

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

l text purportedly written by the biblical

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe ('' sofer'') and priest ('' kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρ ...

. The earliest surviving manuscripts, composed in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, date to the 11th century AD, although textual peculiarities strongly suggest that the text was originally written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. Like the ''

Greek Apocalypse of Ezra The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra, also known as The Word and Revelation of Esdras, is a pseudepigraphal work written in the name of the biblical scribe Ezra. It survived in only two Greek copies and is dated between the 2nd century and the 9th century ...

'', the work is clearly Christian, and features several apostles being seen in

heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

. However, the text is significantly shorter than the Apocalypse. The text survives in seven Latin manuscripts which date from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. They are:

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

3838 fols. 59^a-61^a (12th century);

Heiligenkreuz Heiligenkreuz, which means 'Holy Cross' in German, may refer to: In Austria: *Heiligenkreuz, Lower Austria, a municipality in Lower Austria **Heiligenkreuz Abbey in this municipality *Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitztal, a municipality in Burgenland * Hei ...

, Codex 11, fols. 273^b-73^a; Bibliothek des Priestseminars in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, MS AI/6 (Hs 1, 11th century);

Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg (; frequently abbreviated as Kloburg by locals) is a town in Tulln District in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It has a population of about 27,500. The Klosterneuburg Monastery, which was established in 1114 and soon after gi ...

, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 714, fols. 139^ba-41^ba (12th century);

Lilienfeld Lilienfeld () is a city in Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), Austria, south of St. Pölten, noted as the site of Lilienfeld Abbey. It is also the site of a regional hospital Landesklinikum Voralpen Lilienfeld. The city is located in the valley ...

, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 145, fols. 70^aa-70^bb (13th century);

Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city of Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery ...

, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 310.F.8, fols. 208^b-9^b (13th dentury);

, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 134 Klein-Maria-Zell, fols. 109^ab-10^aa (13th century).J. R. Muelller and G. A. Robbins, ''Vision of Ezra (Fourth to Seventh Century A.D.). A New Translation and Introduction'', in James H. Charlesworth (1985), ''The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha'', Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2). Here cited vol. 1 p. 582. The text has a strong dependence on

2 Esdras 2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and . It ...

, an earlier Apocalypse, and portrays God as answering the prayer of Ezra to have

courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, ...

by sending him seven

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

s to show him

. In the Latin ''Vision of Esdras'', Ezra walks down three floors or 72 steps and is shown

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

. When arriving in hell, a soul approaches Esdras and says your coming here has granted us some respite. From there he is taken to the fourth underworld where the sinners are shown hanging by their eyelashes. The righteous he sees in heaven are portrayed as passing through a vast scene of flames and fire-breathing lions, unharmed. The wicked are also seen to be in heaven, but are quickly ripped apart by vicious dogs, and burnt in the fire. Ezra is told by a nearby angel that the crimes of the wicked were that "they denied the Lord, and sinned with women on the Lord’s Day". Comparable

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

verses can be found in : ''that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels'', and in Jesus' reference to the immortal worm in : ''in hell, the worms that eat them do not die''.

References

External links

Vision of Ezra
at earlyjewishwritings.com Old Testament pseudepigrapha {{Christian-book-stub