2 Esdras 7:102-115

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

No Intercession for the Ungodly

¹⁰² I answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, show further to me, your servant, whether on the day of judgment the righteous will be able to intercede for the ungodly or to entreat the Most High for them^(A)— ¹⁰³ fathers for sons or sons for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for their kindred, or friends for those who are most dear.”

¹⁰⁴ He answered me and said, “Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you this also. The day of judgment is decisive^[a] and displays to all the seal of truth. Just as now a father does not send his son, or a son his father, or a master his servant, or a friend his dearest friend, to be ill^[b] or sleep or eat or be healed in his place,^{(B) 105} so no one shall ever pray for another on that day, neither shall anyone lay a burden on another,^[c] for then all shall bear their own righteousness and unrighteousness.”^(C)

¹⁰⁶ I answered and said, “How, then, do we find that first Abraham prayed for the people of Sodom, and Moses for our ancestors who sinned in the desert,^{(D) 107} and Joshua after him for Israel in the days of Achan,^{(E) 108} and Samuel in the days of Saul,^[d] and David for the plague, and Solomon for those at the dedication,^{(F) 109} and Elijah for those who received the rain and for the one who was dead, that he might live,^{(G) 110} and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many others prayed for many?^{(H) 111} So if now, when corruption has increased and unrighteousness has multiplied, the righteous have prayed for the ungodly, why will it not be so then as well?”

¹¹² He answered me and said, “This present world is not the end; the glory of God^[e] does not^[f] remain in it; therefore those who were strong prayed for the weak. ¹¹³ But the day of judgment will be the end of this age and the beginning^[g] of the immortal age to come, in which corruption has passed away,^{(I) 114} sinful indulgence has come to an end, unbelief has been cut off, and righteousness has increased, and truth has appeared.^{(J) 115} Therefore no one will then be able to have mercy on someone who has been condemned in the judgment or to harm^[h] someone who is victorious.”^(K)