Excerpt from The Apocalypse of Ezra: II Esdras III-XIV, Translated From the Syriac d104, With Brief Annotations The object of this series of translations is primarily to furnish students with short, cheap, and handy text-books, which, it is hoped, will facilitate the study of the particular texts in class under competent teachers. But it is also hoped that the volumes will be acceptable to the general reader who may be interested in the subjects with which they deal. It has been thought advisable, as a general rule, to restrict the notes and comments to a small compass; more especially as, in most cases, excellent works of a more elaborate character are available. Indeed, it is much to be desired that these translations may have the effect of inducing readers to study the larger works. Our principal aim, in a word, is to make some difficult texts, important for the study of Christian origins, more generally accessible in faithful and scholarly translations. In most cases these texts are not available in a cheap and handy form. In one or two cases texts have been included of books which are available in the official Apocrypha; but in every such case reasons exist for putting forth these texts in a new translation, with an Introduction, in this series. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

THE preparation of this volume has proved an exacting, though absorbingly interesting, task; and it is with feelings of genuine thankfulness that the Editor is able to bring his labours to an issue. Though the Ezra-Apocalypse occupies a definite place in our Bible, being embodied in the 2 Esdras of our official Apocrypha, it is yet one of the least known books of Scripture. No commentary worthy of the book has hitherto appeared in England or America; and even in Germany, till comparatively recent years, it has hardly attracted the attention it deserves. Doubtless this widespread neglect is partly due to the fact that the book never formed part of the Latin Bible proper-being relegated to an Appendix in the Vulgate-and so never secured a place in the £ of the Church. And yet 4 Ezra is of supreme value in helping to elucidate that fascinating but (to some extent) baffling phase of Judaism which immediately preceded the triumph of the Rabbinism of the Talmud. From this point of view it deserves the close attention and study of serious students of the New Testament. It is full of parallels both in thought and expression with the New Testament writings; an abundance of these has been pointed out in the notes of the commentary which follows." In particular, our book will be found to possess a special interest for the student of the problems of eschatology, and especially of the eschatological questions that arise in connection with the New Testament. The historical background and conditions are in both cases largely the same.