THE DREAM-VISIONS
The First Dream
-Vision on the Deluge.
Chapter 83
1 And now my son Mathusala, I have shewn thee every sight which I saw before thee.
2 I will relate two visions which I saw before I took a wife,and one of them is not like the other. The first was when I learned a book, the other before I took thy mother. I saw a powerful vision,
3 And by reason of that besought the Lord.
When I rested in the house of my grandfather Malaleel, I saw in a vision heaven purified, and taken away. I fell on the earth,
4 and when I fell, I saw the earth swallowed up in a great abyss, and mountains suspended over mountains. Hills were sinking upon hills, lofty trees were cut off from their roots, and were thrown, and sunk in the abyss.
5 Therefore the word fell down in my mouth. I raised a cry, and said, “The earth is destroyed!”
6 And when I had called my grandfather Malaleel, he raised me up, and said to me, “Wherefore criest thou so, my son, and wherefore lamentest thou in this manner?”
7 And I related to him all the vision which I had seen. He said to me, “It is ponderous what thou sayest, my son. And the vision of thy dream is powerful concerning every secret sin of the earth, for it shall be plunged into the abyss, and sink below into a great destruction.
8 “Now my son rise up, and beseech the Lord of Glory, (for thou art faithful) that a remnant may remain on the earth, and that he will not destroy it all!
9 My son all this evil upon the earth is caused by heaven, for there shall be a great destruction upon the earth.”
10 Then I arose, prayed, and entreated, and wrote down my prayer for the generation of the world, and I have shewed all to thee Mathusala, my son.
11 And I went out below, and saw the heaven and the sun going forth from the east, and every star, and the whole earth, and all which he has known from the beginning. I praised the Lord of Judgment, and magnified Him, because He has sent forth the sun from the windows of the east, that ascending and rising in the face of heaven, it might spring up, and go the way which for it had been appointed.
Chapter 84
1 I lifted np my hands in righteousness, and praised the Holy and the Great One. I spake with the breath of my mouth, and with a tongue of flesh, which God has made for all the children of flesh, the men, that with it they may speak, and He gave them breath, a mouth, and a tongue, that with them they might speak.
2 “Praised be You, Oh Lord the King,Great and powerful in Your greatness,Lord of all the creatures of heaven,King of Kings,Whose kingdom, whose dominion, and whose majesty, remain through all eternity.Your dominion is from generation to generation,And all the heavens are Your throne forever,And all the earth your footstool for ever and ever.
3 For You have made them, and over all You reign,And to You no work is difficult,For with You wisdom remains, and is always before Your throne,And before Your presence,You know all things, You see and hear them,And nothing can be concealed from You,For You understand all things.
4 “And now the angels of Your heavens have offendedAnd on the flesh of men Your wrath shall remain,Until the day of the great judgment.
5 And now Oh God, Lord, and Mighty King,I supplicate and pray you to grant me my petition,That you will leave to me a remnant of posterity upon the earth,And that you will not destroy all the flesh of men,And that you will not leave the earth destitute,And that destruction may not be forever.
6 “And now my Lord, destroy from the earth the flesh which has offended You,But from the flesh of righteousness and integrity, establish you a plant of seed for ever.Oh Lord, hide not your face from the prayer of Your servant!”