2 Esdras 3

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

1In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:

In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city — Jerusalem, the centre of spiritual consciousness, laid waste — I was in Babylon, confusion enthroned as an empire, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:

2For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon.

For I saw the desolation of Sion — Zion, the love-height — and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon, confusion enthroned: the ordered height empty, the confused state flourishing.

3And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,

And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High — the Source under His title of height — and said,

4O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,

O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning — the first principle — when thou didst plant the earth, the outer realm, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,

5And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee.

And gavest a body unto Adam — the Complete Man in his first state — without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, the Breath of God, and he was made living before thee.

6And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.

And thou leadest him into paradise — the delight-state, Eden, consciousness at rest in God — which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.

7And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.

And unto him thou gavest commandment — an articulation of the law — to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number: the order of states unfolding from the first transgression.

8And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.

And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments: each state following its own ruling thought, apart from the divine order.

9And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.

And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood — the inundation of error that washes the old earth of consciousness clean — upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.

10And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.

And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these: the same consequence, in the same measure, to each order of states.

11Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men.

Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah — Rest — with his household, of whom came all righteous men: the still point of consciousness that rests in God, preserved through the flood, from whom right-ordered states proceed.

12And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.

And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first: multiplication without order deepening the disorder.

13Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham — Faith itself, the exalted father-mind.

14Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:

Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will: to Faith alone the divine will is made plain.

15And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.

And madest an everlasting covenant with him — a law of relationship written into consciousness, of lasting duration — promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed, his word-ideas and their offspring.

16And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude.

And unto him thou gavest Isaac — the joy-child of promise — and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob — the striving intellect — and Esau — the outer bodily man. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude.

17And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt — the material sense-realm — thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai, the exalted state where the law is given into form.

18And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age.

And bowing the heavens — the inner realm — thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths — the subconscious deep — to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age: the giving of the order shaking every level of consciousness.

19And thy glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob, and diligence unto the generation of Israel.

And thy glory — the manifested weight of the Presence — went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob, and diligence unto the generation of Israel, the spiritual man.

20And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.

And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart — a heart-state twisted away from the order — that thy law might bring forth fruit in them: the law set beside the twisted heart, that its fruit might expose and heal it.

21For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.

For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him: the first state, carrying the twisted heart, fell — and every state born of it carries the same root.

22Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still.

Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still: order and disorder dwelling together in the heart, the good receding where the root is not removed.

23So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:

So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David — Love enthroned, the shepherd-heart become king:

24Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.

Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein: Love commanded to establish the centre of consciousness and to yield offerings there.

25When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee,

When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee: even the city built by Love, inhabited by states that turn away,

26And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:

And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart: the same twisted root repeating in every order of states.

27And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.

And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies: a state is given over to the disorder it chose — God does not author the evil; the city falls into the hands its own heart prepared.

28Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon — confusion enthroned — that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion, the love-height?

29For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me: the seer overwhelmed by disorder on every side.

30For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it.

For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it: the appearance that error is spared and the chosen state destroyed, with no sign given.

31I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion? — the question pressed again: is confusion better ordered than the love-height?

32Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?

Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? Or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob — the striving intellect become Israel, the spiritual man?

33And yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon thy commandments.

And yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen — the outer nations — and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon thy commandments.

34Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and theirs also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel.

Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and theirs also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel: let the states be weighed justly, and the name is found only where the order is kept.

35Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments?

Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? Or what people have so kept thy commandments? — no state is without error; the question is which state keeps returning to the order.

36Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.

Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen: the spiritual man, by name and nature, holds the precepts the outer nations do not.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.