Second Book of Esdras, also called Fourth Book of Ezra or Ezra Apocalypse, abbreviation II Esdras, apocryphal work printed in the Vulgate and many later Roman Catholic bibles as an appendix to the New Testament. The central portion of the work (chapters 3–14), consisting of seven visions revealed to the seer Salathiel-Ezra, was written in Aramaic by an unknown Jew around ad 100.  The author, deeply concerned over the future of Jews deprived of the Temple of Jerusalem, challenges God to explain why the righteous suffer at the hands of sinners. The answers are similar to those in the Book of Job: the actions of God are inscrutable, human understanding is finite and limited.

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