2 Esdras 4:25-35

25 But what will he do for his name that is invoked over us? It is about these things that I have asked."
26 He answered me and said, "If you are alive, you will see, and if you live long, you will often marvel, because the age is hurrying swiftly to its end.
27 It will not be able to bring the things that have been promised to the righteous in their appointed times, because this age is full of sadness and infirmities.
28 For the evil about which you ask me has been sown, but the harvest of it has not yet come.
29 If therefore that which has been sown is not reaped, and if the place where the evil has been sown does not pass away, the field where the good has been sown will not come.
30 For a grain of evil seed was sown in Adam's heart from the beginning, and how much ungodliness it has produced until now—and will produce until the time of threshing comes!
31 Consider now for yourself how much fruit of ungodliness a grain of evil seed has produced.
32 When heads of grain without number are sown, how great a threshing floor they will fill!"
33 Then I answered and said, "How long? When will these things be? Why are our years few and evil?"
34 He answered me and said, "Do not be in a greater hurry than the Most High. You, indeed, are in a hurry for yourself, but the Highest is in a hurry on behalf of many.
35 Did not the souls of the righteous in their chambers ask about these matters, saying, "How long are we to remain here? And when will the harvest of our reward come?'

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Ethiop adds [holy]
  • [b]. Syr: Lat [live]
  • [c]. Syr Ethiop: Meaning of Lat uncertain
  • [d]. Syr Ethiop: Meaning of Lat uncertain
  • [e]. Syr Ethiop Arab Arm: Meaning of Lat uncertain
  • [f]. Syr Ethiop Arab 2 Georg: Lat [How long do I hope thus?]
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.