Second Baruch

And it will happen after

When has passed

that appointed day,

then afterwards shall be changed

the appearance

of those who are condemned,

and also the glory of those who are justified.

For the appearance of those who now

act wickedly

shall be made worse than it is,

so that they may endure torment.

Also the glory of those who are now justified by my Law,

those who had understanding in their life,

and those who planted the root of wisdom in their heart,

then their splendor shall be glorified in transformations,

and the appearance of their face shall be turned into the light of their beauty,

so that they may be able to acquire and receive the world that does not die,

which is then promised

to them.

For on this account

especially

shall mourn

those who come at that time,

because they despised my Law

and stopped their ears so that they might not hear wisdom,

and might not receive understanding.

When therefore they see those over whom they are now exalted,

that they are then exalted and glorified more than they,

and both the one and the other are transformed:

these into the splendor of angels,

and those into startling apparitions,

and into the sight of terrible forms they shall especially waste away.

For first they shall see,

and afterwards they go to be tormented.

But those who have been saved by their works, and those for whom

the Law has now been

a hope,

and understanding

an expectation,

and wisdom a faith, wonders shall appear to them in their time.

For they shall see that world which is not seen

by them

now,

and they shall see the time which is now hidden from them.

And time shall no longer age them.

For in the heights of that world they shall dwell,

and they shall be made like the angels,

and be made equal to the stars,

and they shall be changed into every

form

that they desire, from beauty into loveliness,

and from light to the splendor of glory.

For the breadths of Paradise will be spread out before them,

and the beauty of the majesty of the living creatures beneath the throne will be shown to them,

and all the hosts of the angels, who are held back now by my word,

lest they appear,

and are restrained

by the commandment

that they should stand in their places until their arrival comes.

And then excellence will belong to the righteous more than to the angels.

They will receive,

for the first will receive the last,

those whom they were expecting,

and the last, those of whom they had heard that they had passed away.

For they have been delivered from this world of affliction,

and they have laid down from themselves the burden of distress.

For what, then, have human beings lost their lives,

and for what have those who were on the earth exchanged their souls?

For then they chose for themselves the time

this,

which cannot pass without distress;

and they chose for themselves the time

that,

whose outcomes are sighs

and evils

full.

And they denied the world that does not grow old for those who come to it, and rejected the time

and glory,

so that they will not come to the honor of which I previously spoke to you."