2 Esdras 4:38

38 Then answered I and said, "O Lord who bearest rule, even we all are full of impiety.

2 Esdras 4:38 In-Context

36 And unto these things Jeremiel the archangel gave them answer and said, `Even when the number of seeds is filled in you, for He hath weighed the world in the balance.

37 By measure hath He measured the times, and by number hath He numbered the times; and He doth not move nor stir them until the said measure be fulfilled.'"

38 Then answered I and said, "O Lord who bearest rule, even we all are full of impiety.

39 And for our sakes perhaps it is that the floors of the righteous are not filled, because of the sins of those who dwell upon the earth."

40 So he answered me and said, "Go thy way to a woman with child, and ask of her if, when she hath fulfilled her nine months, her womb may keep the birth any longer within her."