2 Esdras 4:12

12 Then said I unto him, "It were better that we were not at all than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer and not to know why."

2 Esdras 4:12 In-Context

10 He said moreover unto me, "Thine own things, and such as have grown up with thee, canst thou not know;

11 how should thy vessel then be able to comprehend the way of the Highest, and the world, being now outwardly corrupted, to understand the corruption that is evident in my sight?"

12 Then said I unto him, "It were better that we were not at all than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer and not to know why."

13 He answered me and said, "I went into a forest in a plain, and the trees took counsel

14 and said, `Come, let us go and make war against the sea, that it may depart away before us, and that we may make us more woods.'