2 Esdras 3

1In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:

2For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon.

3And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,

4O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,

5And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee.

6And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.

7And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.

8And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.

9And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.

10And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.

11Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men.

12And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.

13Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

14Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:

15And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.

16And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude.

17And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

18And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age.

19And thy glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob, and diligence unto the generation of Israel.

20And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.

21For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.

22Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still.

23So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:

24Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.

25When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee,

26And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:

27And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.

28Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

29For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

30For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it.

31I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

32Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?

33And yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon thy commandments.

34Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and theirs also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel.

35Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments?

36Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.