Chapter 14 _{25 And come hither, and I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out, till the things be performed which thou shalt begin to write.26 And when thou hast done, some things shalt thou publish, and some things shalt thou shew secretly to the wise: to morrow this hour shalt thou begin to write.27 Then went I forth, as he commanded, and gathered all the people together, and said,28 Hear these words, O Israel.29 Our fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt, from whence they were delivered:30 And received the law of life, which they kept not, which ye also have transgressed after them.31 Then was the land, even the land of Sion, parted among you by lot: but your fathers, and ye yourselves, have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Highest commanded you.32 And forasmuch as he is a righteous judge, he took from you in time the thing that he had given you.33 And now are ye here, and your brethren among you.34 Therefore if so be that ye will subdue your own understanding, and reform your hearts, ye shall be kept alive and after death ye shall obtain mercy.35 For after death shall the judgment come, when we shall live again: and then shall the names of the righteous be manifest, and the works of the ungodly shall be declared.36 Let no man therefore come unto me now, nor seek after me these forty days.37 So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went into the field, and remained there.38 And the next day, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, open thy mouth, and drink that I give thee to drink.39 Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, he reached me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the colour of it was like fire.40 And I took it, and drank: and when I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit strengthened my memory:41 And my mouth was opened, and shut no more.42 The Highest gave understanding unto the five men, and they wrote the wonderful visions of the night that were told, which they knew not: and they sat forty days, and they wrote in the day, and at night they ate bread.43 As for me. I spake in the day, and I held not my tongue by night.44 In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books.45 And it came to pass, when the forty days were filled, that the Highest spake, saying, The first that thou hast written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it:46 But keep the seventy last, that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people:47 For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.}