2 Esdras 10:1-10

1 "On the wedding night when my son entered the bedroom, he dropped dead.
2 So we put out all the wedding lamps, and all my neighbors came to comfort me. I remained in control of myself until the evening of the second day,
3 when they all left. That night I got up and came out to this field, as you see.
4 I have decided never to return to that town. I am going to stay here in constant mourning, neither eating nor drinking anything until I die."
5 When she told me this, I put aside my own thoughts and spoke sharply to her:
6 "You are the most foolish woman I ever met. Don't you see what our people are suffering? Don't you know all that has happened to us?
7 Jerusalem, the mother of us all, is overcome with grief and shame. You ought to be mourning for her 1
8 and sharing the grief and sorrow of all of us. But you are mourning for that one son of yours.
9 Ask the earth; let her tell you that she is the one who ought to be mourning for the vast multitudes of people that she has brought to birth.
10 All of us who are living came originally from her, and there are more to come. Almost all of us go straight to destruction - the vast multitude of earth's children are lost.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 10.7Galatians 4.26.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.