1
And when I had made an end of speaking these words, there was sent unto me the angel which had been sent unto me the nights afore:
2
And he said unto me, Up, Esdras, and hear the words that I am come to tell thee.
3
And I said, Speak on, my God. Then said he unto me, The sea is set in a wide place, that it might be deep and great.
4
But put the case the entrance were narrow, and like a river;
5
Who then could go into the sea to look upon it, and to rule it? if he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad?
6
There is also another thing; A city is builded, and set upon a broad field, and is full of all good things:
7
The entrance thereof is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, like as if there were a fire on the right hand, and on the left a deep water:
8
And one only path between them both, even between the fire and the water, so small that there could but one man go there at once.
9
If this city now were given unto a man for an inheritance, if he never shall pass the danger set before it, how shall he receive this inheritance?
10
And I said, It is so, Lord. Then said he unto me, Even so also is Israel's portion.