2 Esdras
3:1 In 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:
3:2 For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at
Babylon.
3:3 And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of
fear to the most High, and said,
3:4 O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst
plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,
3:5 And 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.
3:6 And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted,
before ever the earth came forward.
3:7 And 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.
3:8 And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things
before thee, and despised thy commandments.
3:9 And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that
dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.
3:10 And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was
the flood to these.
3:11 Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household,
of whom came all righteous men.
3:12 And 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.
3:13 Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a
man from among them, whose name was Abraham.
3:14 Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:
3:15 And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou
wouldest never forsake his seed.
3:16 And 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.
3:17 And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou
broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.
3:18 And 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.
3:19 And 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.
3:20 And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law
might bring forth fruit in them.
3:21 For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was
overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.
3:22 Thus 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.
3:23 So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then
didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:
3:24 Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer
incense and oblations unto thee therein.
3:25 When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook
thee,
3:26 And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for
they also had a wicked heart:
3:27 And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.
3:28 Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should
therefore have the dominion over Sion?
3:29 For 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.
3:30 For 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.
3:31 I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon
better than they of Sion?
3:32 Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what
generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?
3:33 And 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.
3:34 Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and their's also
that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in
Israel.
3:35 Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in
thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments?
3:36 Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the
heathen.
