THE FIRST VISION
Ezra's Prayer of Complaint
1 Thirty years after the fall of Jerusalem, I, Shealtiel (also known as Ezra), was in Babylon. I was lying on my bed, troubled and disturbed, 2 as I thought about the ruins of Jerusalem and the prosperity of those who lived in Babylon. 3 I was deeply disturbed and began to express my fears to God Most High. 4 “O Lord and Master,” I said, “you, and you alone, spoke the word at the beginning of creation and formed the world. At your command the dust 5 produced the lifeless body of Adam. Then with your hands you shaped it, you breathed into it the breath of life, and he began to live. 6 You brought him into the Garden of Eden, which you yourself had planted before the earth was made. 7 You gave him just one commandment, but he disobeyed it, and you immediately made him and his descendants subject to death.
“From Adam were born more nations, tribes, clans, and families than can be counted. 8 All the nations did whatever they wished; they sinned against you and rejected your commands. But you did nothing to stop them. 9 Then again, after a while, you brought on the flood and destroyed the world's population. 10 They all suffered the same fate: as death had come to Adam, so now death came to a whole generation in the flood. 11 But you spared one man, Noah, with his family and all his righteous descendants.
12 “The number of people living on earth began to increase, and the number of families, tribes, and nations grew. They too fell into sin and were worse than the generations before them. 13 But then you chose Abraham. 14 You loved him, and to him alone in the dead of night, you secretly disclosed how the world would end. 15 You made an everlasting covenant with him and promised him that you would never abandon his descendants. You gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. 16 You chose Jacob, and his descendants became a great nation, but you rejected Esau.
17 “You rescued the descendants of Jacob from Egypt and led them to Mount Sinai. 18 There you bent down the skies, shook the earth, moved the world, made the waters beneath the earth tremble, and brought disorder to the universe. 19 The dazzling light of your presence passed through the four gates of fire, earthquake, wind, and frost, in order to give the Law and its commandments to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel. 20 Yet you did not remove their evil impulse, but let your Law guide their lives. 21 The first man, Adam, weighed down with an evil impulse, sinned and was defeated, and the same was true of all of his descendants. 22 So the disease became permanent, and although the Law was in the hearts of the people, so also was the root of evil! That is why what was good passed away, while what was evil continued.
23 “Many years later you sent your servant David 24 and told him to build a city which would bear your name and in which sacrifices would be offered to you. 25 This was done for many years, but then the inhabitants of the city disobeyed you 26 and sinned just like Adam and all his descendants, because they had the same evil impulse. 27 So you handed over your own city to your enemies.
28 “I said to myself, ‘Perhaps Babylon has been allowed to conquer Jerusalem because the people who live there are better than we are.’ 29 But when I got to Babylon, I saw more sins than I could count, and now for thirty years I have seen many sinners here. So I was perplexed 30 when I saw how you tolerate sinners and do not punish them, how you protect your enemies and yet destroy your own people. 31 You haven't given the faintest hint as to how these ways of yours can be changed. Surely Babylon is no better than Jerusalem. 32 No other nation, except Israel, has ever known you or accepted your covenants. 33 But Israel was never rewarded, and never profited from its labor. I have traveled widely in the other nations, and I have seen how prosperous they are, although they don't keep your commands. 34 Now then, Lord, if you would just weigh our sins on the scales against those of the rest of the world, it would be perfectly clear that their sins are heavier. 35 There has never been a time when the people of the world did not sin against you; but has any other nation kept your commands as well as Israel has? 36 You may find individuals who have, but you won't find a nation that has done so.”
1 In 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:
2 For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon.
3 And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,
4 O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,
5 And 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.
6 And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.
7 And 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.
8 And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.
9 And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.
10 And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.
11 Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men.
12 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.
13 Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.
14 Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:
15 And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.
16 And 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.
17 And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.
18 And 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.
19 And 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.
20 And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.
21 For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.
22 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.
23 So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:
24 Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.
25 When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee,
26 And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:
27 And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.
28 Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?
29 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.
30 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.
31 I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?
32 Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?
33 And 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.
34 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.
35 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?
36 Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.