Second Baruch

And I answered and said, "No, Lord, my Lord."

And he answered and said to me:

"Why then are you troubled about what you do not know,

and why are you hasty about what you do not understand?

For just as you have not forgotten the human beings who

now exist and those who have passed away,

so I remember those

who are appointed and those who are to come.

For when Adam sinned and death was decreed upon those who are born,

then the multitude of those who were to be born was numbered,

and for that number a place was prepared where those who

live should dwell and where those who die should be preserved.

Unless,

therefore, the number that was previously stated is fulfilled, creation will not live.

For my spirit creates life, and Sheol

receives

the dead.

And furthermore, you must hear what

is destined

to come after these times.

For truly, my salvation is near to come,

and it is not far off as in the past."