in the hour of necessity, even of them that have not believed that they had the Lord for their helper and have not trusted in him.[1]
12 And I looked into the height and beheld other angels whose faces shone like the sun, and their loins were girt with golden girdles, holding palms in their hands, and the sign of God, clad in raiment whereon was written the name of the Son of God, full of all gentleness and mercy. And I asked the angel and said: Who are these, Lord, that are of so great beauty and compassion? And the angel answered and said unto me: These are the angels of righteousness that are sent to bring the souls of the righteous in the hour of necessity, even them that have believed that they had the Lord for their helper. And I said unto him: Do the righteous and the sinners of necessity meet [witnesses] when they are dead?[2] And the angel answered and said unto me: The way whereby all pass unto God is one: but the righteous having an holy helper with them are not troubled when they go to appear in the presence of God.
13 And I said unto the angel: I would see the souls of the righteous and of the sinners as they depart out of the world. And the angel answered and said unto me: Look down upon the earth. And I looked down from heaven upon the earth and beheld the whole world, and it was as nothing in my sight; and I saw the children of men as though they were nought, and failing utterly;[3] and I marvelled, and said unto the angel: Is this the greatness of men? And the angel answered and said unto me: This it is, and these are they that do hurt from morning until evening. And I looked, and saw a great cloud of fire spread over the whole world, and said unto the angel: What is this, Lord? And he said to me: This is the unrighteousness that is mingled +by the princes of sinners† (Gr. mingled with the destruction of sinners; Syr. mingled with the prayers of the sons of men).
- ↑ Apocalypse of Zephaniah (Steindorff's 'anonymous Apocalypse'): I went with the angel of the Lord and looked before me and saw a place through which passed thousand thousands and myriads of myriads of angels, whose faces were as of panthers, and their teeth stuck forth out of their mouth, and their eyes were bloodshot, and their hair loose like women's hair, and burning scourges were in their hands. (I feared and asked: Who are these? The angel answered:) These are the ministers of the whole creation, which come unto the souls of the ungodly and take them and lay them down here: they fly three days with them in the air before they take them and cast them into their everlasting torment.
- ↑ Probably the sense was: Must the righteous meet the sinners, or their dreadful angels?
- ↑ Apocalypse of Zephaniah: I saw the whole earth . . . beneath, like a drop of water (upon a bucket) that cometh up out of the well. Our fragmentary text of the Apocalypse apparently begins with a description of the death of a righteous man.
