2 Esdras 9:13-23

13 Therefore, do not continue to be curious as to 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 dwell 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.

20 So I considered my world, and behold, it was lost, and my earth, and behold, it was in peril because of the devices of those who had come into it.

21 And I saw and spared some with great difficulty, and saved for myself one grape out of a cluster, and one plant out of a great forest.

22 So let the multitude perish which has been born in vain, but let my grape and my plant be saved, because with much labor I have perfected them.

23 But if you will let seven days more pass -- do not fast during them, however;