2 Esdras 9:9-19

9 Then those who have now abused my ways shall be amazed, and those who have rejected them with contempt shall live in torments.
10 For as many as did not acknowledge me in their lifetime, though they received my benefits,
11 and as many as scorned my law while they still had freedom, and did not understand but despised it while an opportunity of repentance was still open to them,
12 these must in torment acknowledge it after death.
13 Therefore, do not continue to be curious about how the ungodly will be punished; but inquire how the righteous will be saved, those to whom the age belongs and for whose sake the age was made."
14 I answered and said,
15 "I said before, and I say now, and will say it again: there are more who perish than those who will be saved,
16 as a wave is greater than a drop of water."
17 He answered me and said, "As is the field, so is the seed; and as are the flowers, so are the colors; and as is the work, so is the product; and as is the farmer, so is the threshing floor.
18 For there was a time in this age when I was preparing for those who now exist, before the world was made for them to live in, and no one opposed me then, for no one existed;
19 but now those who have been created in this world, which is supplied both with an unfailing table and an inexhaustible pasture, have become corrupt in their ways.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Or [me]
  • [b]. Or [me]
  • [c]. Syr: Lat [saved, and whose is the age and for whose sake the age was made and when]
  • [d]. Cn: Lat [law]
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.