chapter vii., which is omitted in all the above editions, originated

through the excision of a leaf in this MS. A splendid edition of this version based on MSS. containing the missing fragment, which have been subsequently discovered, has been published by Bensly-James, op. cit. This edition has taken account of all the important MSS. known, save one at Leon in Spain.

_Syriac Version._--This version, found in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, was translated into Latin by Ceriani, _Monumenta sacra et profana_, II. ii. pp. 99-124 (1866). Two years later this scholar edited the Syriac text, op. cit. V. i. pp. 4-111, and in 1883 reproduced the MS. by photo-lithography (_Translatio Syra Peshitto V.T._ II. iv. pp. 553-572). Hilgenfeld incorporated Ceriani's Latin translation in his _Messias Judaeorum_. This translation needs revision and correction.

_Ethiopic Version._--First edited and translated by Laurence, _Primi Ezrae libri versio Aethiopica_ (1820). Laurence's Latin translation was corrected by Praetorius and reprinted in Hilgenfeld's _Messias Judaeorum_. In 1894 Dillmann's text based on ten MSS. was published--_V.T. Aeth. libri apocryphi_, v. 153-193.

_Arabic Versions._--The First Arabic version was translated from a MS. in the Bodleian Library into English by Ockley (in Whiston's Primitive Christianity, vol. iv. 1711). This was done into Latin and corrected by Steiner for Hilgenfeld's _Mess. Jud._ The Second Arabic version, which is independent of the first, has been edited from a Vatican MS. and translated into Latin by Gildemeister, 1877.

_Armenian Version._--First printed in the Armenian Bible (1805). Translated into Latin by Petermann for Hilgenfeld's Mess. Jud.; next with Armenian text and English translation by Issaverdens in the _Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament_, pp. 488 sqq. (Venice, 1901).

_Georgian Version._--According to F.C. Conybeare an accurate Georgian version made from the Greek exists in an 11th-century MS. at Jerusalem.

_Relation of the above Versions._--These versions stand in the order of worth as follows: Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic. The remaining versions are paraphrastic and less accurate, and are guilty of additions and omissions. All the versions, save the Second Arabic one, go back to the same Greek version. The Second Arabic version presupposes a second Greek version.

_Modern Versions._--All the English versions are now antiquated, except those in the Variorum Apocrypha and the Revised Version of the Apocrypha, and even these are far from satisfactory. Similarly, all the German versions are behindhand, except the excellent version of Gunkel in _Apok. u. Pseud._ ii. 252-401, which, however, needs occasional correction.

_Contents._--The book (iii.-xiv.) consists of seven visions or parts, like the apocalypse of Baruch. They are: (1) iii. 1-v. 19; (2) v. 20-vi. 34; (3) vi. 35-ix. 25; (4) ix. 26-x. 60; (5) xi. 1-xii. 51; (6) xiii.; (7) xiv. These deal with (1) religious problems and speculations and (2) eschatological questions. The first three are devoted to the discussion of religious problems affecting in the main the individual. The presuppositions underlying these are in many cases the same as those in the Pauline Epistles. The next three visions are principally concerned with eschatological problems which relate to the nation. The seventh vision is a fragment of the Ezra Saga recounting the rewriting of the Scriptures, which had been destroyed. This has no organic connexion with what precedes.

_First Vision._ iii.-v. 19.--"In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I Salathiel (the same is Ezra) was in Babylon and lay troubled upon my bed." In a long prayer Ezra asks how the desolation of Sion and the prosperity of Babylon can be in keeping with the justice of God. The angel Uriel answers that God's ways are unsearchable and past man's understanding. When Ezra asks when the end will be and what are the signs of it, the angel answers that the end is at hand and enumerates the signs of it.

_Second Vision._ v. 14-vi. 34.--Phaltiel, chief of the people, reproaches Ezra for forsaking his flock. Ezra fasts, and in his prayer asks why God had given up his people into the hands of the heathen. Uriel replies: "Lovest thou that people better than He that made them?" Man cannot find out God's judgment. The end is at hand; its signs are recounted.

_Third Vision._ vi. 35-ix. 25.--Ezra recounts the works of creation, and asks why Israel does not possess the world since the world was made for Israel. The answer is that the present state is a necessary stage to the coming one. Then follows an account of the Messianic age and the resurrection: the punishment of the wicked and the blessings of the righteous. There can be no intercession for the departed. Few will be saved--only as it were a grape out of a cluster or a plant out of a forest.

_Fourth Vision._ ix. 26-x. 60.--Ezra eats of herbs in the field of Ardat, and sees in a vision a woman mourning for her only son. Ezra reminds her of the greater desolation of Sion. Suddenly she is transfigured and vanishes, and in her place appears a city. The woman, Uriel explains, represents Sion.

_Fifth Vision._ xi. i-xii. 39.--Vision of an eagle with three heads, twelve wings and eight winglets, which is rebuked by a lion and destroyed. The eagle is the fourth kingdom seen by Daniel, and the lion is the Messiah.

_Sixth Vision._ xiii.--Vision of a man (i.e. the Messiah) arising from the sea, who destroys his enemies who assemble against him, and gathers to him another multitude, i.e. the lost Ten Tribes.

_Seventh Vision._ xiv.--Ezra is told of his approaching translation. He asks for the restoration of the Law, and is enabled by God to dictate in forty days ninety-four books (the twenty-four canonical books of the Old Testament that were lost, and seventy secret books for the wise among the people).

Ezra's translation is found in the Canon only in the Oriental Versions. In the Latin it was omitted when xv.-xvi. were added.

_Integrity._--According to Gunkel (_Apok. u. Pseud._ ii. 335-352) the whole book is the work of one writer. Thus down to vii. 16 he deals with the problem of the origin of suffering in the world, and from vii. 17 to