2 Esdras 5:11-21

11 One country shall ask its neighbor, "Has righteousness, or anyone who does right, passed through you?' And it will answer, "No.'
12 At that time people shall hope but not obtain; they shall labor, but their ways shall not prosper.
13 These are the signs that I am permitted to tell you, and if you pray again, and weep as you do now, and fast for seven days, you shall hear yet greater things than these."
14 Then I woke up, and my body shuddered violently, and my soul was so troubled that it fainted.
15 But the angel who had come and talked with me held me and strengthened me and set me on my feet.
16 Now on the second night Phaltiel, a chief of the people, came to me and said, "Where have you been? And why is your face sad?
17 Or do you not know that Israel has been entrusted to you in the land of their exile?
18 Rise therefore and eat some bread, and do not forsake us, like a shepherd who leaves the flock in the power of savage wolves."
19 Then I said to him, "Go away from me and do not come near me for seven days; then you may come to me." He heard what I said and left me.
20 So I fasted seven days, mourning and weeping, as the angel Uriel had commanded me.
21 After seven days the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again.
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.