Common English Bible

2 Esdras 13:36-47 Common English Bible (CEB)

36. Zion will come and will appear to all, built and ready, as you saw a mountain carved without hands.

37. My Son himself will indict the assembled nations for their impious deeds—these things were indicated by the storm. He will scold them for their evil plans and reveal the torments with which they are about to be tortured. These things correspond to the flame.

38. He will destroy them without effort by the Law, which was indicated by the fire.

39. "As to the fact that you saw him collecting to himself another peaceful multitude,

40. these are the ten tribes that were taken captive from their land in the days of King Hoshea, whom King Shalmaneser of the Assyrians took across the river as a captive. They were taken into another land,

41. but they made this plan for themselves: They would leave the multitude of the nations and go into a more remote region, where the human race had never lived.

42. There they would be able to observe their customs, which they hadn’t kept in their own region.

43. They went in through the narrow passages of the Euphrates River.

44. Then the Most High gave them signs and stopped the flow of the river until they had passed.

45. They made a long journey through that region for a year and a half, and that region is called Arzareth.

46. They lived there until the last time, and now they begin again to return.

47. The Most High will once again stop the flow of the river so that they can cross. These people make up the multitude gathered in peace,