1I passed on from there to another place, where I saw on the west a great and high mountain, a strong rock, and four pleasant places.
2Internally it was deep, spacious, and very smooth, as smooth as it had been rolled over, it was both deep and dark to behold.
3Then Raphael, one of the holy angels who were with me, answered and said, These are the pleasant places where the spirits, the souls of the dead will be gathered, for them they were prepared, and here will be gathered all the souls of the sons of men.
4They shall occupy these places in which they dwell until the day of judgment, and until their ap pointed time.
5Their appointed time will be long, even until the great judgment. And I saw the spirits of the sons of men who were dead, and their voices reached to heaven while they accused.
6Then I asked of Raphael, an angel who was with me, and said, Whose spirit is that, the voice of which reaches to heaven and accuses?
7He answered and said, This is the spirit of Abel, who was slain by Cain his brother, and he will accuse him, until his seed be destroyed from the surface of the earth,
8Until his seed perish from the seed of the human generation.
9Therefore at that time I enquired concerning him, and concerning the general judgment, and said, Wherefore is one divided from another? he answered, Three divisions have been made between the souls of the dead, and thus the spirits of the righteous have been divided,
10Namely, by a gulf, by water, and by light above it;
11And in the same manner also sinners shall be divided when they die, and shall be buried in the earth, they whom judgment has not overtaken in their lifetime.
12Here their souls shall be divided, moreover their suffering is great until the time of the great judgment, the punishment and the torment of those who forever execrate, whose souls are punished and bound there for ever.
13And so it has been from the beginning of the world, thus a division has there existed between the souls of those who bring forth complaints, and of those who watch for their destruction, to murder them in the day of sinners.
14A receptacle of this sort has been made for the souls of ungodly men and of sinners, of those who have committed crimes, and joined with the impious, to whom they are like; but their souls shall not be destroyed in the day of judgment, nor shall they arise from this place. Then I praised God,
15And said, Praised be my Lord, the Lord of glory and of righteousness, who reigns over all for ever and ever.