Below is an excerpt from the Goodspeed Apocrypha, from the second book of Esdras (or, 4 Ezra), chapter seven verses 75-105. Known as "The Missing Fragment" it was not entirely unknown in the West, Professor Johann Gildemeister, in 1865, discovered that a leaf had been excised from the Codex Sangermanensis, a Vulgate manuscript (now in Paris) from the Benedictine monastery of St. Germain des Pres. The conclusion was that all manuscripts of [Second Esdras] which do not contain the missing text were ultimately derived from the Codex Sangermanensis, after it had been mutilated (indicating that the leaf had been cut out very early in the volume's history, perhaps within a very few decades of its writing in AD 822).

  These "missing verses" were not available in print until Robert L. Bensly published the Latin text from the Codex Colbertinus in 1875. After Bensly's death in 1893, Cambridge published his critical edition of the whole Latin text of Esdras (or, 4 Ezra) in 1895, restoring the lost verses; it is this Latin text that was used in the Stuttgart edition of the Latin Vulgate. Bensly's text was also the basis for the translation which was included in the English Revised Version of the Bible and the Apocrypha (which the translation below is directly based upon).

  It is theorized that the missing page (or Leaf) was cut out from the Codex Sangermanensis by a monk at the Benedictine monastery because of its very discouraging account of the hideous fate awaiting most people and its statement that the prayers of others on their behalf would be unavailing. Since the discovery of the excised text in the Codex Ambianensis at Amiens, several other ancient Vulgate manuscripts which do include the missing text of Esdras (or, 4 Ezra), have come to light, versions of Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, Armenian and Spanish provenance. Thus confirming the restoration of the text in II Esdras (or, 4 Ezra) to be whole.

  Only Verses 75–105 of the missing fragment are shown in this excerpt. The complete book of II Esdras (including the entirety of the missing fragment, verses 36–105) may be found in the printed version of the Goodspeed Apocrypha. Students; support this work and keep it in print by purchasing your copy of the Goodspeed Apocrypha at your favorite Bible Book Store.

75	  Then I answered and said,
	  "If I have found favor in your sight, Sovereign, show this
	also to your slave; whether after death as soon as each one
	of us gives up his soul, we shall be faithfully kept at rest until
	those times come when you begin to renew the creation, or
	shall be tortured at once."
76	  And  he answered me and said,
	  "I will show you that also; but you must not associate
	with those who have shown scorn, or count yourself among
77	those who are tortured. For you have a treasure of works
	laid up with the Most High, but it will not be shown to you
78	until the last times. For about death, the teaching is: When
	the final sentence goes forth from the Most High that a man
	is to die, when the soul departs from the body to return
	again to him who gave it, first of all it prays to the glory of
79	the Most High; if it was one of those who scorned and did
	not observe the way of the Most High, and of those who
	have despised his law, and of those who hate those who fear
80	God, such spirits shall not enter dwellings but wander about
	thenceforth in torment, always grieving and sad, in seven
81	ways: The first way is that they have scorned the Law of
82	the Most High. The second way is that they can no longer
83	make a good repentance, so that they may live. The third
	way is that they will see the reward destined for those who
84	have believed the agreements of the Most High. The fourth
	way is that they will consider the torment destined for them
85	in the last days. The fifth way is that they will see that the
	dwelling-places of the others are guarded by angels in profound
86	silence. The sixth way is that they will see that some
	of them will pass over to be tormented henceforth. The
87	seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have
	been mentioned, is that they will waste away in shame and
	be consumed in disgrace, and wither with fear, at seeing the
	glory of the Most High before whom they sinned while they
	lived, and before whom they are destined to be judged in
	the last times.
88	  "But of those who have observed the ways of the Most
	High, this is the order, when they shall be separated
89	from this fragile jar. In the time when they lived in it,
	they carefully served the Most High, though they were
	in danger every hour, so as to keep the Law of the Law-giver
90	perfectly. Therefore this is the teaching about them:
91	First of all, they see with great rapture the glory of him who
92	takes them up, for they will rest in seven orders. The first
	order is that they have striven with much toil to conquer the
	wicked thought that was formed with them, so that it should
93	not lead them away from life to death. The second order
	is that they see the labyrinth in which the souls of the
94	ungodly wander, and the punishment that awaits them. The
	third order is that they see the testimony that he who
	formed them has borne to them, because when they were
	alive they faithfully observed the Law which was given
95	them. The fourth order is that they understand the rest
	which they now enjoy, gathered in their chambers, in great
	quietness, watched over by angels, and the glory that awaits
96	them in the last days. The fifth order is that they exult that
	they have now escaped what is corruptible and will possess
	the future as their inheritance, and besides perceive the
	narrowness and toilsomeness from which they have been freed
	and the spaciousness they are destined to receive and enjoy
97	in immortality. The sixth order is that it is shown to them
	how their face is destined to shine like the sun, and how they
	are to be made like the light of the stars, and be incorruptible
98	thenceforth. The seventh order, which is greater than all
	those that have been mentioned, is that they will exult boldly,
	and that they will trust confidently, and rejoice fearlessly,
	for they hasten to see the face of him whom they served in
	life, and from whom they are to receive their reward when
99	they are glorified. These are the orders of the souls of the
	upright, as henceforth proclaimed, and the above ways of
	torture are those which those who would not give heed will
	henceforth suffer."
100	  And I answered and said,
	  "Then will time be given the souls after they are separated
	from the bodies, to see what you have told me of?"
101	  And he said to me,
	  "They have freedom for seven days, to see on the seven
	days the things you have been told, and afterward they will
	be gathered in their dwellings."
102	  And I answered and said,
	  "If  I have found favor in your sight, show me, your slave,
	further, whether  on the Day of Judgment the upright will
	be able to intercede for the ungodly, or to beseech the Most
103	High on their behalf, fathers for sons, or sons for parents,
	brothers for brothers, relatives for their kinsmen, and friends
	for those who are most dear to them."
104	  And he answered me and said,
	  "Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you
	this also. The Day of Judgment is final and shows to all the
	stamp of truth. Just as now a father cannot send his son
	or a son his father or a master his slave or a friend his dearest
105	friend to be sick for him, or sleep or eat or be cured, so no
	one can pray for another then, or lay a burden on another,
	for they must all bear everyone his own iniquity or
	uprightness then."