Early Jewish Writings | Early Christian Writings

Vision of Ezra

Fourth to Seventh Century A.D.

Online Text for Vision of Ezra

• Not available.

Online Resources for Vision of Ezra

• Not available.

Offline Resources for Vision of Ezra

• The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume One

Information on Vision of Ezra

James Charlesworth writes: "This work, like the Apocalypse of Ezra and the Apocalypse of Sedrach, is dependent upon 4 Ezra. A.-M. Denis thinks that the Vision of Ezra, the Apocalypse of Ezra, and the Apocalypse of Sedrach are three recensions of the same work (no. 24, p. 93). As with the Revelation of Ezra, no critical research has been published regarding the date, provenance, and original language of the Vision of Ezra." (The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, p. 119)

J. R. Mueller and G. A. Robbins write: "There are no historical allusions in the Vision of Ezra that would yield an approximate date for the work. Given the numerous allusions to the New Testament, especially the Herod episode (vss. 37-39), the earliest possible date would be the late first century A.D. That a medieval work, the Vision of Alberich, is literarily dependent both on the shorter (MS V) and the longer versions of the Vision (MSS H and L), which would mean that they had to be available prior to A.D. 1111, the latest possible date would be the early twelfth century (even earlier if the eleventh-century date of MS L is accurate). The upper limit may be reduced slightly to allow time for the original to circulate in translation before being interpolated. This seems especially applicable here, as the Latin translations witness to both a longer and a shorter tradition. The lower limit may be raised for two reasons: (1) the Vision lacks many features of classical intertestamental apocalyptic works such as 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch; its features are derivative, not originative; (2) the Vision shares features, such as the 'hanging' punishments and the journey through the underworld, with many New Testament apocrypha. While no literary dependence need be postulated, the Vision certainly shares the Zeitgeist, 'ethos,' of their era, the third and fourth centuries A.D. For these reasons, the Greek original of the Vision of Ezra, whose Latin translations assured it an important role in later medieval literature, should probably be dated from A.D. 350-600." (The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1, p. 583)

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