2 Esdr 5:20
And so I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, like as
Uriel the angel commanded me.

2 Esdr 5:21
And after seven days so it was, that the thoughts of my heart
were very grievous unto me again,

2 Esdr 5:22
And my soul recovered the spirit of understanding, and I
began to talk with the most High again,

2 Esdr 5:23
And said, O Lord that bearest rule, of every wood of the
earth, and of all the trees thereof, thou hast chosen thee one
only vine:

2 Esdr 5:24
And of all lands of the whole world thou hast chosen thee one
pit: and of all the flowers thereof one lily:

2 Esdr 5:25
And of all the depths of the sea thou hast filled thee one
river: and of all builded cities thou hast hallowed Sion unto
thyself:

2 Esdr 5:26
And of all the fowls that are created thou hast named thee
one dove: and of all the cattle that are made thou hast provided
thee one sheep:

2 Esdr 5:27
And among all the multitudes of people thou hast gotten thee
one people: and unto this people, whom thou lovedst, thou gavest
a law that is approved of all.

2 Esdr 5:28
And now, O Lord, why hast thou given this one people over
unto many? and upon the one root hast thou prepared others, and
why hast thou scattered thy only one people among many?

2 Esdr 5:29
And they which did gainsay thy promises, and believed not thy
covenants, have trodden them down.

2 Esdr 5:30
If thou didst so much hate thy people, yet shouldest thou
punish them with thine own hands.

2 Esdr 5:31
Now when I had spoken these words, the angel that came to me
the night afore was sent unto me,

2 Esdr 5:32
And said unto me, Hear me, and I will instruct thee; hearken
to the thing that I say, and I shall tell thee more.

2 Esdr 5:33
And I said, Speak on, my Lord. Then said he unto me, Thou art
sore troubled in mind for Israel's sake: lovest thou that people
better than he that made them?

2 Esdr 5:34
And I said, No, Lord: but of very grief have I spoken: for my
reins pain me every hour, while I labour to comprehend the way
of the most High, and to seek out part of his judgment.

2 Esdr 5:35
And he said unto me, Thou canst not. And I said, Wherefore,
Lord? whereunto was I born then? or why was not my mother's womb
then my grave, that I might not have seen the travail of Jacob,
and the wearisome toil of the stock of Israel?

2 Esdr 5:36
And he said unto me, Number me the things that are not yet
come, gather me together the dross that are sca