2 Esdras 1
How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.
King James Version
1The second book of the prophet Esdras, the son of Saraias, the son of Azarias, the son of Helchias, the son of Sadamias, the sou of Sadoc, the son of Achitob,
The second book of Esdras — the prophet, the forth-telling faculty — son of Saraias, son of Azarias, son of Helchias, son of Sadamias, son of Sadoc, son of Achitob: the order of states, each begetting the next, by which the priestly line is traced.
2The son of Achias, the son of Phinees, the son of Heli, the son of Amarias, the son of Aziei, the son of Marimoth, the son of And he spake unto the of Borith, the son of Abisei, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar,
The son of Achias, the son of Phinees, the son of Heli, the son of Amarias, the son of Aziei, the son of Marimoth, the son of Borith, the son of Abisei, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar: the order of states continues, every name kept exact and unglossed where no meaning is given.
3The son of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi; which was captive in the land of the Medes, in the reign of Artexerxes king of the Persians.
The son of Aaron — the speaking priest-faculty — of the tribe of Levi, the joining faculty; who was captive in the land of the Medes, in the reign of Artexerxes king — the ruling state — of the Persians: consciousness held in captivity, away from its own land, under a foreign rule.
4And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
And the Word — the divine Idea expressing itself — of the indwelling LORD came unto me, saying,
5Go thy way, and shew my people their sinful deeds, and their children their wickedness which they have done against me; that they may tell their children’s children:
Go thy way, and shew my people their deeds done in error, and their children the wickedness — the twistedness away from the divine order — which they have done against me; that they may tell their children's children:
6Because the sins of their fathers are increased in them: for they have forgotten me, and have offered unto strange gods.
Because the errors of their fathers are increased in them: for they have forgotten me, and have offered — yielded themselves — unto strange gods, formed images of lesser goods worshipped in the Source's place.
7Am not I even he that brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage? but they have provoked me unto wrath, and despised my counsels.
Am not I even he that brought them out of the land of Egypt — the material sense-realm, the narrow straits — from the house of bondage? But they have provoked me unto wrath, and despised my counsels — my articulated order.
8Pull thou off then the hair of thy head, and cast all evil upon them, for they have not been obedient unto my law, but it is a rebellious people.
Pull thou off then the hair of thy head — the outward sign of mourning and renunciation — and cast all evil upon them, for they have not been obedient unto my law, the written order of the divine life, but it is a rebellious people, a state resisting its own order.
9How long shall I forbear them, into whom I have done so much good?
How long shall I forbear them, into whom I have done so much good? — the Source questioning how long a state may refuse the good poured into it.
10Many kings have I destroyed for their sakes; Pharaoh with his servants and all his power have I smitten down.
Many kings — ruling states — have I destroyed for their sakes; Pharaoh — the enthroned sense-mind of the material world — with his servants and all his power have I smitten down.
11All the nations have I destroyed before them, and in the east I have scattered the people of two provinces, even of Tyrus and Sidon, and have slain all their enemies.
All the nations — the outer states — have I destroyed before them, and in the east I have scattered the people of two provinces, even of Tyrus and Sidon, and have slain all their enemies: every opposing state dissolved before the chosen faculty.
12Speak thou therefore unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord,
Speak thou therefore unto them, saying, Thus saith the indwelling LORD,
13I led you through the sea and in the beginning gave you a large and safe passage; I gave you Moses for a leader, and Aaron for a priest.
I led you through the sea — the great subconscious — and in the beginning, the first principle, gave you a large and safe passage; I gave you Moses — the deliverer-lawgiver faculty — for a leader, and Aaron — the speaking priest-faculty — for a priest, the mediating faculty.
14I gave you light in a pillar of fire, and great wonders have I done among you; yet have ye forgotten me, saith the Lord.
I gave you light — divine understanding — in a pillar of fire, and great wonders — works in the outer signifying a greater work in the inner — have I done among you; yet have ye forgotten me, saith the indwelling LORD.
15Thus saith the Almighty Lord, The quails were as a token to you; I gave you tents for your safeguard: nevertheless ye murmured there,
Thus saith the Almighty Lord: The quails were as a token — a sign — to you; I gave you tents — temporary shelter-states — for your safeguard: nevertheless ye murmured there,
16And triumphed not in my name for the destruction of your enemies, but ever to this day do ye yet murmur.
And triumphed not in my name for the destruction of your enemies, but ever to this day do ye yet murmur: gratitude did not follow deliverance; the complaining sense-state persisted.
17Where are the benefits that I have done for you? when ye were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness, did ye not cry unto me,
Where are the benefits that I have done for you? When ye were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness — the untended waste-state where the house is tested and formed — did ye not cry unto me,
18Saying, Why hast thou brought us into this wilderness to kill us? it had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness.
Saying, Why hast thou brought us into this wilderness to kill us? It had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness: the faculties preferring known bondage in Egypt, the sense-realm, to the testing that leads to freedom.
19Then had I pity upon your mournings, and gave you manna to eat; so ye did eat angels’ bread.
Then had I pity upon your mournings, and gave you manna to eat — the daily bread of heaven, truth supplied day by day — so ye did eat angels' bread, the nourishment of divine ideas.
20When ye were thirsty, did I not cleave the rock, and waters flowed out to your fill? for the heat I covered you with the leaves of the trees.
When ye were thirsty, did I not cleave the rock, and waters — unformed thoughts made living truth — flowed out to your fill? For the heat I covered you with the leaves of the trees.
21I divided among you a fruitful land, I cast out the Canaanites, the Pherezites, and the Philistines, before you: what shall I yet do more for you? saith the Lord.
I divided among you a fruitful land — the promised consciousness — I cast out the Canaanites, the Pherezites, and the Philistines, before you: what shall I yet do more for you? saith the indwelling LORD.
22Thus saith the Almighty Lord, When ye were in the wilderness, in the river of the Amorites, being athirst, and blaspheming my name,
Thus saith the Almighty Lord: When ye were in the wilderness, in the river — the current of life and thought — of the Amorites, being athirst, and blaspheming my name,
23I gave you not fire for your blasphemies, but cast a tree in the water, and made the river sweet.
I gave you not fire for your blasphemies — truth's consuming judgment was withheld — but cast a tree into the water, and made the river sweet: the bitter current healed by the yielded life cast into it.
24What shall I do unto thee, O Jacob? thou, Juda, wouldest not obey me: I will turn me to other nations, and unto those will I give my name, that they may keep my statutes.
What shall I do unto thee, O Jacob — the striving intellect? Thou, Juda — Praise — wouldest not obey me: I will turn me to other nations, and unto those will I give my name, that they may keep my statutes, my articulations of the law.
25Seeing ye have forsaken me, I will forsake you also; when ye desire me to be gracious unto you, I shall have no mercy upon you.
Seeing ye have forsaken me, I will forsake you also; when ye desire me to be gracious unto you, I shall have no mercy upon you: a state that turns from the Source experiences the Source as turned from it — the consequence of its own turning, not a change in God.
26Whensoever ye shall call upon me, I will not hear you: for ye have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit manslaughter.
Whensoever ye shall call upon me, I will not hear you: for ye have defiled your hands with blood — the life-stream misused — and your feet are swift to commit manslaughter: the faculties given to life turned swiftly to destroying it.
27Ye have not as it were forsaken me, but your own selves, saith the Lord.
Ye have not as it were forsaken me, but your own selves, saith the indwelling LORD: to forsake the Source is to forsake one's own true self and good.
28Thus saith the Almighty Lord, Have I not prayed you as a father his sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her young babes,
Thus saith the Almighty Lord: Have I not prayed you as a father his sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her young babes — the Source entreating its own offspring as the nearest affections entreat,
29That ye would be my people, and I should be your God; that ye would be my children, and I should be your father?
That ye would be my people, and I should be your God — the Divine Mind; that ye would be my children, and I should be your father? The covenant desired: a law of relationship between God and the soul.
30I gathered you together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings: but now, what shall I do unto you? I will cast you out from my face.
I gathered you together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings: but now, what shall I do unto you? I will cast you out from my face — from my presence, the surface of awareness where I meet the mind.
31When ye offer unto me, I will turn my face from you: for your solemn feastdays, your new moons, and your circumcisions, have I forsaken.
When ye offer unto me, I will turn my face from you: for your solemn feastdays, your new moons, and your circumcisions — the cutting away of sense-excess kept only as outward form — have I forsaken: form without the yielded heart is refused.
32I sent unto you my servants the prophets, whom ye have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require of your hands, saith the Lord.
I sent unto you my servants the prophets — the forth-telling faculties — whom ye have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood — whose life wholly given — I will require of your hands, saith the indwelling LORD.
33Thus saith the Almighty Lord, Your house is desolate, I will cast you out as the wind doth stubble.
Thus saith the Almighty Lord: Your house is desolate, I will cast you out as the wind — the Breath in motion — doth stubble: a state emptied of the Presence is scattered like chaff.
34And your children shall not be fruitful; for they have despised my commandment, and done the thing that is an evil before me.
And your children shall not be fruitful; for they have despised my commandment — a specific articulation of the law — and done the thing that is an evil before me: fruitlessness follows a state that despises its own order.
35Your houses will I give to a people that shall come; which not having heard of me yet shall believe me; to whom I have shewed no signs, yet they shall do that I have commanded them.
Your houses will I give to a people that shall come; which not having heard of me yet shall believe me; to whom I have shewed no signs, yet they shall do that I have commanded them: the dwelling-places of consciousness pass to a coming state that obeys without having seen.
36They have seen no prophets, yet they shall call their sins to remembrance, and acknowledge them.
They have seen no prophets — no forth-telling faculties — yet they shall call their sins, their errors, to remembrance, and acknowledge them: repentance, the turning of the mind, arising without outward prompting.
37I take to witness the grace of the people to come, whose little ones rejoice in gladness: and though they have not seen me with bodily eyes, yet in spirit they believe the thing that I say.
I take to witness the grace — the unmerited inflow of divine life and favour — of the people to come, whose little ones rejoice in gladness: and though they have not seen me with bodily eyes, yet in spirit they believe the thing that I say.
38And now, brother, behold what glory; and see the people that come from the east:
And now, brother, behold what glory — the manifested weight of the Presence; and see the people that come from the east, from the dawning:
39Unto whom I will give for leaders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Oseas, Amos, and Micheas, Joel, Abdias, and Jonas,
Unto whom I will give for leaders, Abraham — Faith itself — Isaac — the joy-child of promise — and Jacob — the striving intellect — Oseas, Amos, and Micheas, Joel, Abdias, and Jonas,
40Nahum, and Abacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zachary, and Malachy, which is called also an angel of the Lord.
Nahum, and Abacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zachary, and Malachy, which is called also an angel of the Lord — a divine idea ministering between higher and lower consciousness: the forth-telling faculties given as guides to the coming people, every name kept exact.
Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.