2 Esdras 5:42

42 He said to me, "I will compare my judgment to a crown. Just as there is no delay for those who come last, so there is no rushing for those who come before."

2 Esdras 5:42 In-Context

40 He said to me: "As you can't do one of these things that were mentioned, so you can't comprehend my judgment or the goal of the love I have promised to my people."

41 I said: "Look, Lord, you've made promises concerning these who are alive at the end, but what will those who are before us do, or we, or those who come after us?"

42 He said to me, "I will compare my judgment to a crown. Just as there is no delay for those who come last, so there is no rushing for those who come before."

43 I replied, "Couldn't you have created all at once those who have been and those who are and those who will be so that you might show your judgment more quickly?"

44 He replied to me, "The creation can't run ahead of its creator, nor can the world sustain all at one time those who are created in it."

Footnotes

• [a] Lat, Syr; some versions circle