136:4.4

Then opened I my mouth, and behold, a full cup was handed to me. It was full of something like water, but its color was like fire. I took it, and drank. When I had drunk it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my chest, for my spirit retained its memory. My mouth was opened, and shut no more. The Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote by course the things that were told them, in characters which they didn’t know, and they sat forty days. Now they wrote in the day-time, and at night they ate bread. As for me, I spoke in the day, and by night I didn’t hold my tongue. So in forty days, ninety-four books were written.

It came to pass, when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Most High spoke to me, saying, “The first books that you have written, publish openly, and let the worthy and unworthy read them; but keep the last seventy, that you may deliver them to those who are wise among your people; for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.”

It came to pass after this, that I wept again, and fasted seven days in like manner, that I might fulfill the three weeks which he told me. On the eighth night, my heart was troubled within me again, and I began to speak in the presence of the Most High. For my spirit was greatly aroused, and my soul was in distress. I said, “O Lord, truly you spoke at the beginning of the creation, on the first day, and said this: ‘Let heaven and earth be made,’ and your word perfected the work. Then the spirit was hovering, and darkness and silence were on every side. The sound of man’s voice was not yet there. Then you commanded a ray of light to be brought out of your treasuries, that your works might then appear.