The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible with Apocrypha, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [This statement is required by the publisher]

75I answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, show this also to your servant: whether after death, as soon as everyone of us yields up the soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when you will renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?"

76He answered me and said, "I will show you that also, but do not include yourself with those who have shown scorn, or number yourself among those who are tormented. ⁷⁷For you have a treasure of works stored up with the Most High, but it will not be shown to you until the last times. ⁷⁸Now concerning death, the teaching is: When the decisive decree has gone out from the Most High that a person shall die, as the spirit leaves the body to return again to him who gave it, first of all it adores the glory of the Most High. ⁷⁹If it is one of those who have shown scorn and have not kept the way of the Most High, who have despised his law and hated those who fear God-⁸⁰such spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall immediately wander about in torments, always grieving and sad, in seven ways. ⁸¹The first way, because they have scorned the law of the Most High. ⁸²The second way, because they cannot now make a good repentance so that they may live. ⁸³The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of the Most High. ⁸⁴The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for themselves in the last days. ⁸⁵The fifth way, they shall see how the habitations of the others are guarded by angels in profound quiet. ⁸⁶The sixth way, they shall see how some of them will cross over into torments. ⁸⁷The seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have been mentioned, because they shall utterly waste away in confusion and be consumed with shame, and shall wither with fear at seeing the glory of the Most High in whose presence they sinned while they were alive, and in whose presence they are to be judged in the last times.

88"Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. ⁸⁹During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the Most High, and withstood danger every hour so that they might keep the law of the Lawgiver perfectly. ⁹⁰Therefore this is the teaching concerning them: ⁹¹First of all, they shall see with great joy the glory of him who receives them, for they shall have rest in seven orders. ⁹²The first order, because they have striven with great effort to overcome the evil thought that was formed with them, so that it might not lead them astray from life into death. ⁹³The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the ungodly wander and the punishment that awaits them. ⁹⁴The third order, they see the witness that he who formed them bears concerning them, that throughout their life they kept the law with which they were entrusted. ⁹⁵The fourth order, they understand the rest that they now enjoy, being gathered into their chambers and guarded by angels in profound quiet, and the glory waiting for them in the last days. ⁹⁶The fifth order, they rejoice that they have now escaped what is corruptible and shall inherit what is to come; and besides they see the straits and toil from which they have been delivered, and the spacious liberty that they are to receive and enjoy in immortality. ⁹⁷The sixth order, when it is shown them how their face is to shine like the sun, and how they are to be made like the light of the stars, being incorruptible from then on. ⁹⁸The seventh order, which is greater than all that have been mentioned, because they shall rejoice with boldness, and shall be confident without confusion, and shall be glad without fear, for they press forward to see the face of him whom they served in life and from whom they are to receive their reward when glorified. ⁹⁹This is the order of the souls of the righteous, as henceforth is announced; and the previously mentioned are the ways of torment that those who would not give heed shall suffer hereafter."

100Then I answered and said, "Will time therefore be given to the souls, after they have been separated from the bodies, to see what you have described to me?"

101He said to me, "They shall have freedom for seven days, so that during these seven days they may see the things of which you have been told, and afterwards they shall be gathered in their habitations."

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