2 Esdras 8:41-44

41 "For just as the farmer sows many seeds in the ground and plants a multitude of seedlings, and yet not all that have been sown will come up in due season, and not all that were planted will take root; so also those who have been sown in the world will not all be saved."
42 I answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, let me speak.
43 If the farmer's seed does not come up, because it has not received your rain in due season, or if it has been ruined by too much rain, it perishes.
44 But people, who have been formed by your hands and are called your own image because they are made like you, and for whose sake you have formed all things—have you also made them like the farmer's seed?

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Syr Ethiop [will live]; Lat [will be saved]
  • [b]. Cn: Compare Syr Arab 1 Arm Georg 2: Meaning of Lat uncertain
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.