If you own a King James Bible with the Apocrypha, 2 Esdras is in it. Almost nobody reads it, and it may be the most emotionally honest apocalypse ever written.
What it is
The core of the book, usually called 4 Ezra, was written by a Jewish author around 100 AD, a generation after the Romans burned the Temple. It is set after the earlier destruction by Babylon, with the scribe Ezra as narrator, which fooled nobody at the time and was not meant to.
Ezra is not interested in the end of the world. He wants to know why Israel suffers while Babylon prospers. He puts the question to the angel Uriel, and he will not let it go.
The arguments
The first three visions are arguments, and Ezra holds his own. He asks why God gave people an evil heart and a law they cannot keep. He asks why so few are saved. Uriel answers with riddles: weigh me the weight of fire, measure the wind, bring back a day that has passed.
Ezra is not comforted, and the author does not pretend he is. Then the visions turn. A grieving woman transforms into a city. An eagle with too many wings represents Rome. A man rises from the sea.
The missing verses
For centuries, most Latin copies lacked about 70 verses in chapter 7, because someone had cut a leaf out of an important early manuscript. The missing passage covers the fate of the dead and contains a flat statement against praying for them, which would not have helped its popularity. In 1875, Robert Bensly published it from a recovered Latin copy. That means English Bibles from before then, including the 1611 King James, skip from verse 35 to what is now verse 106.
The 70 secret books
Chapter 14 is the part that gets shared. Ezra, inspired, dictates for forty days to five scribes, and they produce 94 books. (The 1611 King James prints a garbled number here, but modern editions agree on 94.) God tells him to publish 24 of them for everyone. The other 70 go only to the wise.
The 24 are usually taken to be the Hebrew Bible. So here is a book, itself left out of most Bibles, telling you that the Bible is the public edition. For anyone reading the deleted scenes, it is hard to beat.
Why it fell away
Christian scribes kept it for centuries, adding chapters at both ends. Jerome did not count it as canon, and the Council of Trent placed it outside in 1546, though it was printed in an appendix to the official Latin Bible. Protestants kept it in the Apocrypha until Bible societies stopped funding those pages in 1826.
Where to start
Read chapters 3-5, then chapter 14. The grief is real, and it does not resolve quickly.
To see how the lists tightened, read the best books on how the Bible was formed.
Common questions
Is 2 Esdras in the Bible?
It depends on the Bible. It was printed in the Apocrypha of the 1611 King James Version and appears in NRSV Bibles with Apocrypha. It is not part of the Catholic or most Protestant canons. Some Orthodox churches include it, often under other names.
What is the difference between 2 Esdras and 4 Ezra?
4 Ezra is the original Jewish apocalypse, chapters 3-14 of 2 Esdras. Christian writers later added chapters 1-2 and 15-16. The numbering varies between traditions, which confuses almost everyone.
What are the 70 secret books in 2 Esdras?
In chapter 14, Ezra dictates 94 books in 40 days. God tells him to publish 24, usually taken as the Hebrew Bible, and to keep the other 70 for the wise. It is a text that argues there is more scripture than you were given.