2 Esdras 7:1-7

1 When I had finished speaking, the same angel that had been sent to me on the earlier nights appeared again.

2 He said, "Stand up, Ezra, and listen to what I have come to tell you."

3 "Go ahead, sir," I said. He continued, "Picture in your mind a broad, immense sea spreading over a vast area,

4 but with an entrance no wider than a river.

5 No one who wishes to enter that sea, whether to visit it or control it, can reach its broad expanse of water without passing through the narrow entrance.

6 Or take another example: Picture a city built on a plain. The city is full of all kinds of good things,

7 but the entrance to it is narrow and steep, with fire on one side and deep water on the other.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some ancient translations] broad; [Latin] deep.