Ezra says: "As the Lord has commanded me, I gathered the people together and said, 'Hear these words, O Israel. Our ancestors were freed from Egypt, received the law of life, which they did not keep, and you haven't kept it either. Since the Lord is a righteous judge, he took from you what you had been given. So here you are, facing the need to do what you already know that you should do. If you rule over your minds and discipline your hearts, you shall be kept alive, and after death, you shall obtain mercy. For after death, the judgment will come. The names of the righteous will be made manifest and the deeds of the ungodly shall be disclosed. But, for now, do not disturb me for forty days.'"
Ezra continues, "I took the five men to the field, as the Lord had commanded. A voice called, saying 'Ezra, open your mouth and drink what give you.' The cup was full of something like water but its color was like fire. When I had drunk it, my heart poured forth with understanding and wisdom increased in my heart. Moreover, the Most High gave understanding to the five men who then took turns writing what was dictated, using characters that they did not know.
"For forty days, they wrote during the daytime and ate at night. But I spoke in the daytime and was not silent at night. So during the forty days, 94 books were written. Then the Most High spoke to me, 'Make public the 24 books you wrote first be read to both the worthy and the unworthy, but keep the 70 that were written last. They are to be given to the wise, for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the tree of knowledge.' I did what I was told."
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