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Some literary relationship (its precise nature is debated) is apparent between IV Ezra and a later text known as II Baruch, or the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, composed most likely around 135 CE at the end of the Second Revolt against Rome. Predictions of a glorious future for Israel in a Messianic age following her humiliation at the hands of the Gentiles are here set forth as part of a programme determined by God, who will judge the wicked and Israel’s oppressors, and create for His people prosperity and peace (Harnisch 1969; Nir 2003). It is noteworthy that we possess no Jewish source in our period later than II Baruch which deals with future hopes and Messianic expectations in such detail. There is little doubt that hopes for the future fuelled the Second Revolt against Rome, which broke out on 132 CE under the leadership of Simeon ben Kosiba, whose followers called him Bar Kokhba (the Son of the Star) with reference to the messianic prophecy recorded in Numb 24:17. Between 1950 and 1965, documents in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek relating to this revolt came to light: they were discovered in caves located in Nahal Hever (or in the case of some documents possibly in Nahal Se’elim) in the Judaean desert. Whilst these documents, sometimes referred to as the Bar Kokhba Letters, tell us little about the causes and overall progress of the revolt (these still remain matters of considerable debate), they indicate that Bar Kokhba was known to his supporters as “Prince of Israel”; that some non-Jews had joined the revolt (thus supporting some classical accounts of the revolt, indicating that it was no minor affair); and that the Jews were remarkably well-organized militarily, a fact corroborated by archaeological evidence from the same geographical area as the literary discoveries and from other sites (Eck 1999; Yadin e.a. 2002; Zissu e.a. 2011). Also at Nehal Hever were found documents belonging to a Jewish lady, Babatha (“the Babatha archive”), which date from the period c. 93–132 CE and are remarkably informative about the legal systems, both Jewish and Roman in use during this period (Oudshoorn 2007; see also ssss1).