2 Esdras 7:5

5 If any one, then, wishes to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can he come to the broad part unless he passes through the narrow part?

2 Esdras 7:5 In-Context

3 I said, "Speak, my lord." And he said to me, "There is a sea set in a wide expanse so that it is broad and vast,

4 but it has an entrance set in a narrow place, so that it is like a river.

5 If any one, then, wishes to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can he come to the broad part unless he passes through the narrow part?

6 Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things;

7 but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left;