46
He said to me, "Ask a woman's womb, and say to it, `If you bear ten children, why one after another?' Request it therefore to produce ten at one time."
47
I said, "Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time."
48
He said to me, "Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it.
49
For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so have I organized the world which I created."
50
Then I inquired and said, "Since thou hast now given me the opportunity, let me speak before thee. Is our mother, of whom thou hast told me, still young? Or is she now approaching old age?"
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.