2 Esdras 7:75
Then I said, "Sir may I ask you, please, to explain to me what happens when we die, when
each of us must give back his soul? Will we be kept at rest until the time when you begin
to make your new creation, or will our torment begin immediately?"
2 Esdras 7:78
But to answer your question about death:
When God Most High has pronounced the final decree that a person shall die, the soul
leaves the body to return to the one who gave it. Immediately it praises the glory of God
Most High.
2 Esdras 7:79
Let me explain first about people who had no use for the ways of God Most High and hated
those who worshiped him.
There is no place where their souls can go for rest; they must wander around forever in
torment, grief, and sorrow. Their torment will progress in seven stages.
2 Esdras 7:81-87
First, they ignore the Law of God Most High.
Second, they can no longer make a sincere repentance and obtain life.
Third, they see the reward stored up for those who put their faith in the covenants of
God Most High.
Fourth, they think about the torment that has been stored up for them in the last days.
Fifth, they see angels guarding the homes of other souls in complete silence.
Sixth, they recognized that they must soon be tormented.
Seventh and worst of all, when they see the glory of God Most High, they are sick with
remorse and shame. They cringe in fear, because while they were living they sinned
against him. And now they are about to come before him to be judged on the last day.
2 Esdras 7:88"
Now let me explain about those who followed the ways of God Most High and what will
happen when the time comes for them to leave their mortal bodies.
2 Esdras 7:90-91
This is what they will receive. They will rejoice when they see the great glory of God.
He will receive them, and they will enter their rest in seven stages of joy.
2 Esdras 7:92-98
The First joy is to have struggled hard and won the victory over the evil impulse which
was formed in them, but which did not succeed in leading them from life into death.
The Second is to see the endless wandering of the souls of the wicked and the punishment
that is waiting for them.
The Third is to know what a good report their Maker has given about them, that during
their lifetime they kept the Law that was entrusted to them.
The Fourth is to appreciate the rest that they are to enjoy in the places where they have
been brought together, guarded by angels, in complete silence, and with the glory that is
waiting for them at the last day.
The Fifth is to rejoice that they have now escaped the corrupt world and that they will
receive the future life as their possession.
They can see both the narrow, troubled world from which they have been freed and the
spacious world they will receive and enjoy forever.
The Sixth is to be shown how their faces will shine like the sun and how they are to be
like the light of the stars that never die.
The Seventh joy, and best of all, is when they rush to meet God face-to-face, with
perfect trust and happiness, without any fear or shame.
They served him during their lifetime and now they will receive from him their reward in
glory.
2 Esdras 7:100
Then I asked, "When the souls of the righteous are separated from their bodies, will they
be given time to see what you have told me about?"
2 Esdras 7:101"
They will be free for seven days." he answered, "and during that time they will be able
to see the things I have told you about. After that they will be brought together with
the other souls in their homes."
