42
He answered me, and said, This present life is not the end
where much glory doth abide; therefore have they prayed for the
weak.

2 Esdr 7:43
But the day of doom shall be the end of this time, and the
beginning of the immortality for to come, wherein corruption is
past,

2 Esdr 7:44
Intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off,
righteousness is grown, and truth is sprung up.

2 Esdr 7:45
Then shall no man be able to save him that is destroyed, nor
to oppress him that hath gotten the victory.

2 Esdr 7:46
I answered then and said, This is my first and last saying,
that it had been better not to have given the earth unto Adam:
or else, when it was given him, to have restrained him from
sinning.

2 Esdr 7:47
For what profit is it for men now in this present time to
live in heaviness, and after death to look for punishment?

2 Esdr 7:48
O thou Adam, what hast thou done? for though it was thou that
sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee.

2 Esdr 7:49
For what profit is it unto us, if there be promised us an
immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?

2 Esdr 7:50
And that there is promised us an everlasting hope, whereas
ourselves being most wicked are made vain?

2 Esdr 7:51
And that there are laid up for us dwellings of health and
safety, whereas we have lived wickedly?

2 Esdr 7:52
And that the glory of the most High is kept to defend them
which have led a wary life, whereas we have walked in the most
wicked ways of all?

2 Esdr 7:53
And that there should be shewed a paradise, whose fruit
endureth for ever, wherein is security and medicine, since we
shall not enter into it?

2 Esdr 7:54
(For we have walked in unpleasant places.)

2 Esdr 7:55
And that the faces of them which have used abstinence shall
shine above the stars, whereas our faces shall be blacker than
darkness?

2 Esdr 7:56
For while we lived and committed iniquity, we considered not
that we should begin to suffer for it after death.

2 Esdr 7:57
Then answered he me, and said, This is the condition of the
battle, which man that is born upon the earth shall fight;

2 Esdr 7:58
That, if he be overcome, he shall suffer as thou hast said:
but if he get the victory, he shall receive the thing that I
say.

2 Esdr 7:59
For this is the life whereof Moses spake unto the people
while he lived, saying, Choose thee life, that thou mayest live.

2 Esdr 7:60
Nevertheless they belie