2 Esdras 2:1-7

1 "Thus says the Lord: I brought this people out of bondage, and I gave them commandments through my servants the prophets; but they would not listen to them, and made my counsels void.
2 The mother who bore them says to them, "Go, my children, because I am a widow and forsaken.
3 I brought you up with gladness; but with mourning and sorrow I have lost you, because you have sinned before the Lord God and have done what is evil in my sight.
4 But now what can I do for you? For I am a widow and forsaken. Go, my children, and ask for mercy from the Lord.'
5 Now I call upon you, father, as a witness in addition to the mother of the children, because they would not keep my covenant,
6 so that you may bring confusion on them and bring their mother to ruin, so that they may have no offspring.
7 Let them be scattered among the nations; let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have despised my covenant.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Other ancient authorities read [They begat for themselves a mother who]
  • [b]. Other ancient authorities read [in his sight]
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.