2 Esdr 4:38
Then answered I and said, O Lord that bearest rule, even we
all are full of impiety.

2 Esdr 4:39
And for our sakes peradventure it is that the floors of the
righteous are not filled, because of the sins of them that dwell
upon the earth.

2 Esdr 4:40
So he answered me, and said, Go thy way to a woman with
child, and ask of her when she hath fulfilled her nine months,
if her womb may keep the birth any longer within her.

2 Esdr 4:41
Then said I, No, Lord, that can she not. And he said unto me,
In the grave the chambers of souls are like the womb of a woman:

2 Esdr 4:42
For like as a woman that travaileth maketh haste to escape
the necessity of the travail: even so do these places haste to
deliver those things that are committed unto them.

2 Esdr 4:43
From the beginning, look, what thou desirest to see, it shall
be shewed thee.

2 Esdr 4:44
Then answered I and said, If I have found favour in thy sight,
and if it be possible, and if I be meet therefore,

2 Esdr 4:45
Shew me then whether there be more to come than is past, or
more past than is to come.

2 Esdr 4:46
What is past I know, but what is for to come I know not.

2 Esdr 4:47
And he said unto me, Stand up upon the right side, and I shall
expound the similitude unto thee.

2 Esdr 4:48
So I stood, and saw, and, behold, an hot burning oven passed
by before me: and it happened that when the flame was gone by I
looked, and, behold, the smoke remained still.

2 Esdr 4:49
After this there passed by before me a watery cloud, and sent
down much rain with a storm; and when the stormy rain was past,
the drops remained still.

2 Esdr 4:50
Then said he unto me, Consider with thyself; as the rain is
more than the drops, and as the fire is greater than the smoke;
but the drops and the smoke remain behind: so the quantity which
is past did more exceed.

2 Esdr 4:51
Then I prayed, and said, May I live, thinkest thou, until
that time? or what shall happen in those days?

2 Esdr 4:52
He answered me, and said, As for the tokens whereof thou
askest me, I may tell thee of them in part: but as touching thy
life, I am not sent to shew thee; for I do not know it.

2 Esdr 5:1
Nevertheless as coming the tokens, behold, the days shall
come, that they which dwell upon earth shall be taken in a great
number, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall
be barren of faith.

2 Esdr 5:2
But iniquity shall be increased above that which