2 Esdras 3:22

22 Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the hearts of the people along with the evil root; but what was good departed, and the evil remained.

2 Esdras 3:22 In-Context

20 "Yet you did not take away their evil heart from them, so that your law might produce fruit in them.
21 For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him.
22 Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the hearts of the people along with the evil root; but what was good departed, and the evil remained.
23 So the times passed and the years were completed, and you raised up for yourself a servant, named David.
24 You commanded him to build a city for your name, and there to offer you oblations from what is yours.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.