37
Ezra sees a man seated upon a fiery throne, with counselors around him serving amid the fire.
38
The messengers identify him as Herod, remembered in the Christian layer as the king connected with the slaughter of male infants in Beit-Lechem of Yehudah.
39
Ezra asks that judgment be made rightly.
40
He sees bound ishim whose eyes are pierced with thorns by messengers of punishment.
41
They are identified as those who deliberately directed the wandering onto alien or destructive paths.
42
Ezra pleads again for mercy.
43
He sees virgins bearing crushing iron weights around their necks, moving as though near death.
44
The surviving recension says they broke sexual faithfulness before marriage.
45
He sees a multitude of old ishim lying down while molten iron and lead are poured over them.
46
The Christian recension identifies them as teachers of Torah/Law who confused baptismal teaching with the Law and taught with words without living what they taught.
47
Ezra again asks mercy for the sinners.