Apocalypse of Elijah

Apocalypse of Elijah

The Word Given to the Son of Man

The word of YHWH came to me, saying: Son of man, speak to this people. Why do you add sin to sin, and stir up the anger of the Lord God who made you? Do not love the world, nor the things that belong to the world, for the pride of the world and its ruin belong to the adversary.

Remember the Lord of glory, the maker of all things. He had compassion on you, to rescue you from the captivity of this age. Many times the adversary desired to keep the sun from rising over the earth and to keep the earth from giving its fruit. He desired to consume human beings like fire in dry straw, and to swallow them like water.

Because of this, the God of glory showed mercy. He sent his Son into the world to free us from captivity. When he came, he did not announce himself first to angel, archangel, or ruling power. He came in the likeness of a human being, so that he might rescue us from the bondage of flesh and make you children to him, and he a Father to you.

Remember what he has prepared for those who obey his voice: thrones and crowns in heaven. The Lord says concerning those who belong to him: I will write my name upon their foreheads, and I will set a seal on their right hands. They will not hunger, nor will they thirst. The son of lawlessness will not overpower them. The powers will not hold them back. They will walk with the angels into my city.

But sinners will be put to shame. They will not pass beyond the powers. The powers of death will seize them and rule over them, because the angels do not answer to them. They have made themselves strangers to the dwelling places of God.

The Pure Fast

Hear, wise ones of the earth, concerning the deceivers who will multiply in the last times. They will establish teachings that do not belong to God. They will set aside the law of God. Their belly will become their god, and they will say, The fast does not exist, and God did not appoint it. In this way they estrange themselves from the covenant of God and rob themselves of the glorious promises. Do not let them mislead you.

Remember that, from the time when he made the heavens, the Lord appointed the fast as help for humanity, because passions and shifting desires fight against you, and because the evil one seeks to inflame you. The fast that the Lord appointed is a pure fast.

Let the one who fasts be pure. If a person fasts while remaining impure, full of envy, quarrel, or anger, that person provokes the Lord and grieves the angels. Such a one injures his own soul and gathers wrath against himself for the day of wrath.

The fast that God made is pure: with a pure heart and pure hands. It releases sin. It heals sickness. It drives away unclean powers. It rises to the throne of God like ointment and fragrance, bringing release from sin through pure prayer.

Who among you, skilled in his work, goes out into the field without a tool in his hand? Who goes to war without armor? If such a one is found, will he not be killed because he despised the service of the king? In the same way, no one can enter the holy place while divided in heart. The one who is double-minded in prayer is darkness to himself, and even the angels do not trust him. Be single-hearted in the Lord at all times, so that you may discern every moment.

The Kings of Assyria and Egypt

Concerning the kings of Assyria, and the shaking of heaven and earth and the things beneath the earth: Thus says the Lord, Those who belong to me will not be overcome, and they will not fear in the battle.

When you see a king rising in the north, called the king of Assyria and the king of injustice, he will increase wars and disturbances against Egypt. The land will groan together. Your children will be seized. Many in those days will desire death, but death will flee from them.

A king called the king of peace will rise in the west. He will run upon the sea like a roaring lion. He will kill the king of injustice and take vengeance on Egypt with war and much bloodshed. He will proclaim peace in Egypt and offer empty gifts. He will speak as if honoring the one name of God. He will honor the holy places and give gifts to the house of God, but he will move through the cities of Egypt in deception.

He will count the holy places. He will weigh the idols of the nations and count their wealth. He will appoint priests for them. He will command that the wise ones and the great ones of the people be seized and brought to the city by the sea, saying, There is one language. [Text damaged]

The Signs of That King

I will tell you his signs, so that you may know him. He has two sons, one at his right hand and one at his left. The one at his right will take on a demonic appearance and will fight against the name of God.

Four kings will come from that king. In his thirtieth year he will go up to Memphis and build a temple there. In that day his own son will rise against him and kill him, and the whole land will be shaken.

Then he will issue a decree through the whole land, and the priests of the land and all the holy ones will be seized. He will say: Repay twofold every gift and every good thing that my father gave you. He will shut the holy places, take their houses, and carry away their sons. He will command sacrifices, abominations, and bitter evils to be done in the land. The priests of the land will tear their garments.

Woe to you, rulers of Egypt, in those days, for your day has passed. The violence done to the poor will turn back on you, and your children will be taken as plunder. The cities of Egypt will groan. The voice of seller and buyer will not be heard in their markets. Dust will cover the marketplaces. Those who are in Egypt will weep together. They will desire death, but death will flee and leave them.

They will climb upon rocks and leap down, saying, Fall upon us. Yet they will not die. A double affliction will multiply over the whole land.

In those days the king will command that nursing women be seized and brought to him in chains. They will be forced to nurse serpents, and blood will be drawn from their breasts for poison. Because of the distress of the cities, boys twelve years and under will be seized and taught to shoot arrows. The midwife of the land will grieve. The woman who has given birth will lift her eyes to heaven and say, Why did I sit upon the birth-stool to bring a son into the earth? The barren woman and the young woman without child will rejoice, saying, It is our time to rejoice, because we have no child upon the earth; our children are in heaven.

The Persians, Jerusalem, and the Coming Destroyer

In those days three kings will arise among the Persians. They will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt and bring them to Jerusalem, and they will dwell there. When you hear that there is security in Jerusalem, tear your garments, priests of the land, for the son of destruction will soon come.

In those days the lawless one will appear in the holy places. The kings of the Persians will hasten to fight against the kings of Assyria. Four kings will fight against three. They will remain there three years, until they remove the wealth of the temple in that place.

Blood will flow from [Kos/Aus; reading uncertain] to Memphis. The river of Egypt will become blood, and for three days they will not be able to drink from it. Woe to Egypt and to those who dwell in it.

In those days a king will arise in the city called the City of the Sun, and the whole land will be shaken. In the sixth year, the Persian kings will set an ambush in Memphis. They will kill the Assyrian king. The Persians will take vengeance on the land. They will command that the lawless and the nations be killed, and that the holy places of the saints be rebuilt. They will give double gifts to the house of God and will say, The name of God is one.

The remnant who survived the afflictions will say, The Lord has sent us a righteous king so that the land may not become a desert. He will command that no royal matter be presented for three years and six months. The land will be full of good things and abundant peace. Those who are alive will go to those who are dead, saying, Rise up and remain with us in this rest.

The Son of Lawlessness

In the fourth year of that king, the son of lawlessness will appear, saying, I am the Anointed One. But he is not. Do not believe him.

When the true Anointed One comes, he will come with the sign that is his own. He will come like a flock of doves, with a crown of doves around him. He will walk upon the vaults of heaven, and the sign of the cross will go before him. The whole world will behold him, like the sun shining from the east to the west. This is the way the Anointed One will come, with all his angels around him.

But the son of lawlessness will stand in the holy place. He will say to the sun, Fall, and it will fall. He will say, Be dark, and it will become dark. He will say, Shine, and it will shine. He will say to the moon, Become blood, and it will do so. He will walk upon sea and rivers as upon dry land.

He will make the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and the blind see. He will cleanse those with skin disease, heal the sick, and cast out unclean powers. He will multiply signs and wonders before everyone. He will perform the works that the Anointed One performed, except one thing only: he will not raise the dead. By this you will know that he is the son of lawlessness, because he has no power to give life.

I will tell you his signs, so that you may recognize him. He is [description damaged] a thin-legged young man, with a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head. His eyebrows reach toward his ears. On the front of his hands there is a leprous bare place. He will change himself before those who see him. At one time he will become a child; at another time he will become old. He will transform himself in every sign, but the sign of his head he will not be able to change. By this you will know that he is the son of lawlessness.

Tabitha, Elijah, and Enoch

The young woman whose name is Tabitha will hear that the shameless one has shown himself in the holy places. She will put on her linen garment and go quickly to Judea. She will rebuke him as far as Jerusalem, saying: O shameless one, O son of lawlessness, enemy of all the holy ones.

The shameless one will become angry with the young woman. He will pursue her to the region of the setting sun. In the evening he will drink her blood and cast her upon the temple. Yet she will become healing for the people. At dawn she will rise alive and rebuke him, saying: Shameless one, you have no power over my soul or over my body, for I live in the Lord always. Even my blood, which you cast upon the temple, has become healing for the people.

When Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has appeared in the holy places, they will come down and fight against him. They will say: Are you not ashamed? You are always estranged. You have been an enemy to those in heaven and have acted against those on earth. You have been hostile to the thrones and to the angels. You fell from heaven like the morning stars. You were changed, and your nature became darkened. Are you not ashamed, standing against God? You are the devil.

The shameless one will hear and become angry. He will fight them in the marketplace of the great city. For seven days he will fight them and kill them. They will lie dead in the marketplace for three and a half days while all the people look on.

On the fourth day they will rise and rebuke him, saying: Shameless one, son of lawlessness, are you not ashamed? You deceive the people of God, though you did not suffer for them. Do you not know that we live in the Lord? We will lay aside the flesh for the spirit, and we will kill you, for you will not be able to speak in that day. We are strong in the Lord always, but you are always hostile to God.

The Persecution of the Holy Ones

The shameless one will hear and become angry, and he will fight against them. The whole city will surround them. In that day they will cry out toward heaven, shining while all the people and the whole world see them. The son of lawlessness will not prevail over them. Then he will become angry with the land and seek to sin against the people.

He will pursue all the holy ones. The holy ones and the priests of the land will be brought back bound. He will kill and destroy them. Their eyes will be burned with iron. Their nails will be torn off one by one. Vinegar and bitter substances will be poured into their nostrils.

Those who are unable to endure the tortures of that king will take gold and flee over the crossings toward the desert places. They will lie down like those who sleep. The Lord will receive their spirits and their souls to himself. Their flesh will remain untouched by wild beasts until the last day of the great judgment. They will rise and receive a place of rest, but not the same place in the kingdom of the Anointed One as those who endured.

Those who endured will receive greater favor. They will triumph over the son of lawlessness. They will see the dissolution of heaven and earth. They will receive thrones of glory and crowns.

Sixty righteous ones prepared for that hour will hear. They will put on the breastplate of God and hurry to Jerusalem to fight with the shameless one. They will say to him: Every power that the prophets performed from the beginning, you have performed; but you could not raise the dead, because you have no power to give life. By this we knew that you are the son of lawlessness.

He will hear and become angry. He will command that altars be kindled. The righteous ones will be bound, lifted up, and burned.

The Coming of the Anointed One and the Gathering of His Own

In that day the heart of many will be turned away from the shameless one. They will flee from him, saying: This is not the Anointed One. The Anointed One does not kill the righteous. He does not hunt people down to destroy them. He persuades by truth, not by slaughter.

Then the Anointed One will have compassion on those who are his. He will send from heaven sixty-four thousand angels, each having six wings. Their voices will move heaven and earth as they praise and glorify God.

Those on whose foreheads the name of the Anointed One is written, and on whose right hands the seal is set, both small and great, will be taken up on the angels' wings and lifted away from wrath. Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light before them and will lead them into the holy land. They will be allowed to eat from the tree of life and to wear white garments. The angels will watch over them. They will not hunger or thirst, and the son of lawlessness will not overpower them.

The Disturbance of Earth and the Cry of the Deceived

In that day the earth will be shaken. The sun will grow dark. Peace will be removed from the earth and from beneath heaven. Trees will be uprooted. Wild animals and domestic animals will die in confusion. Birds will fall dead upon the ground. The earth will dry up, and the waters of the sea will fail.

The sinners will groan upon the earth, saying: What have you done to us, son of lawlessness? You said, I am the Anointed One, but you are the devil. You cannot save yourself; how then can you save us? You worked empty signs before us and made us strangers to the Anointed One who created us. Woe to us, for we listened to you.

They will say: We are dying in famine and affliction. Where is the path of a righteous one, that we may worship? Where is the one who will teach us, that we may appeal to him? Now we are destroyed in wrath, because we disobeyed God. We went down into the depths of the sea and found no water. We dug in the riverbeds and found no water.

Then the shameless one will lament, saying: Woe to me, for my time has passed, though I said my time would not pass. My years have become months. My days have passed like dust. Now I will perish together with you. He will say: Run to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them. Bring up the holy ones, for because of them the earth gives fruit, because of them the sun shines upon the earth, and because of them the dew comes upon the ground.

The sinners will weep, saying: You made us enemies of God. If you have power, rise and pursue them. Then he will spread his fiery wings and fly after the holy ones. He will fight them again. The angels will hear, come down, and fight him with many swords.

The True Judgment

In that day the Lord will hear and command heaven and earth in great wrath, and they will send forth fire. Fire will spread over the earth [measure preserved: seventy-two cubits] and will consume sinners and devils like straw. Then a true judgment will take place.

In that day the mountains and the earth will speak. The roads will speak to one another, saying: Have you heard today the sound of a person walking to the judgment of the Son of God? The sins of each one will stand against that person in the place where they were committed, whether by day or by night.

The righteous will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and handed them over to death in their torments. The sinners will see the place of the righteous. Then grace will be given. In those days, what the righteous have often asked will be granted to them.

In that day the Lord will judge heaven and earth. He will judge those who transgressed in heaven and those who transgressed on earth. He will judge the shepherds of the people. He will ask them concerning the flock of sheep, and the flock will be handed over to him without deadly deceit.

The End of the Son of Lawlessness

After these things Elijah and Enoch will come down. They will lay aside the flesh of the world and receive the flesh of the spirit. They will pursue the son of lawlessness and kill him, and he will not be able to speak.

In that day he will melt before them like ice melted by fire. He will perish like a serpent without breath. They will say to him: Your time has passed. Now you and those who believed you will perish. They will be cast into the depth of the abyss, and it will be shut over them.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

In that day the Anointed One, the King, will come from heaven with all his holy ones. He will burn the earth, because sinners had prevailed over it. He will create a new heaven and a new earth. No deadly devil will exist in them.

He will reign with his holy ones, ascending and descending. They will always be with the angels, and they will be with the Anointed One for a thousand years.