39
As for me, I am unwise: how may I then speak of these things whereof thou askest me?
40
Then said he unto me, Like as thou canst do none of these things that I have spoken of, even so canst thou not find out my judgment, or in the end the love that I have promised unto my people.
41
And I said, Behold, O Lord, yet art thou nigh unto them that be reserved till the end: and what shall they do that have been before me, or we that be now, or they that shall come after us?
42
And he said unto me, I will liken my judgment unto a ring: like as there is no slackness of the last, even so there is no swiftness of the first.
43
So I answered and said, Couldest thou not make those that have been made, and be now, and that are for to come, at once; that thou mightest shew thy judgment the sooner?
44
Then answered he me, and said, The creature may not haste above the maker; neither may the world hold them at once that shall be created therein.
45
And I said, As thou hast said unto thy servant, that thou, which givest life to all, hast given life at once to the creature that thou hast created, and the creature bare it: even so it might now also bear them that now be present at once.
46
And he said unto me, Ask the womb of a woman, and say unto her, If thou bringest forth children, why dost thou it not together, but one after another? pray her therefore to bring forth ten children at once.
47
And I said, She cannot: but must do it by distance of time.
48
Then said he unto me, Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those that be sown in it in their times.
49
For like as a young child may not bring forth the things that belong to the aged, even so have I disposed the world which I created.