2 Esdras 5:33-35

Revised Standard Version

³³ And I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Are you greatly disturbed in mind over Israel?^[a] Or do you love him more than his Maker does?”

³⁴ And I said, “No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out part of his judgment.”

³⁵ And he said to me, “You cannot.” And I said, “Why not, my lord? Why then was I born? Or why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, that I might not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?”