II Esdras - Chapter 3

2Esdr 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:

2Esdr 3:2
For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that
dwelt at Babylon.

2Esdr 3:3
And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words
full of fear to the most High, and said,

2Esdr 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,

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 3:6
And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had
planted, before ever the earth came forward.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 3:8
And every people walked after their own will, and did
wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.

2Esdr 3:9
And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon
those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.

2Esdr 3:10
And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to
Adam, so was the flood to these.

2Esdr 3:11
Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his
household, of whom came all righteous men.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 3:13
Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst
choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

2Esdr 3:14
Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:

2Esdr 3:15
And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him
that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 3:17
And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of
Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 3:20
And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that
thy law might bring forth fruit in them.

2Esdr 3:21
For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and
was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 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:

2Esdr 3:24
Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to
offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.

2Esdr 3:25
When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the
city forsook thee,

2Esdr 3:26
And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations
had done: for they also had a wicked heart:

2Esdr 3:27
And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine
enemies.

2Esdr 3:28
Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that
they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 3:31
I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of
Babylon better than they of Sion?

2Esdr 3:32
Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel?
or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 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.

2Esdr 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?

2Esdr 3:36
Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts;
but not the heathen.