Second Baruch

And it came to pass that when

I had finished

speaking the words of this prayer,

I sat there beneath a tree to rest in the shadow of its branches.

And I was marveling and astonished, and pondering in my thoughts

concerning

the multitude of goodness which the sinners on earth had rejected from themselves,

and concerning the torment,

so great, which they despised

regarding it,

though they knew that they would be tormented because they were sinning.

And while I was thinking these and similar things,

behold, there was sent to me Ramiel the angel,

he who is set over the visions

of truth, and he said to me:

“Why is it troubling

your heart, Baruch,

and why does your thought agitate you?

For if at a report

which you heard

only concerning the judgment,

you were thus

shaken,

what (will it be) when you see it with your eyes openly?

And if from the expectation with which you await the day of the Mighty One

you are so shaken,

what (will it be) when you reach its arrival?

And if at the word of the report of the torment of those

who have sinned you are so greatly terrified,

how much more when

that event

will reveal

wonders?

And if the names of the good and evil things that are coming

you then heard and were grieved,

what (will it be) when you see what the greatness reveals, which rebukes these

and these

gladdens?