2 Esdras 4:22

22 Then I answered and said, "I beseech you, my lord, why have I been endowed with the power of understanding?

2 Esdras 4:22 In-Context

20 He answered me and said, "You have judged rightly, but why have you not judged so in your own case?
21 For as the land is assigned to the forest and the sea to its waves, so also those who dwell upon earth can understand only what is on the earth, and he who is above the heavens can understand what is above the height of the heavens."
22 Then I answered and said, "I beseech you, my lord, why have I been endowed with the power of understanding?
23 For I did not wish to inquire about the ways above, but about those things which we daily experience: why Israel has been given over to the Gentiles as a reproach; why the people whom you loved has been given over to godless tribes, and the law of our fathers has been made of no effect and the written covenants no longer exist;
24 and why we pass from the world like locusts, and our life is like a mist, and we are not worthy to obtain mercy.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.