2 Esdras 5:43-45

Revised Standard Version

⁴³ Then I answered and said, “Couldst thou not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, that thou mightest show thy judgment the sooner?”

⁴⁴ He replied to me and said, “The creation cannot make more haste than the Creator, neither can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.”

⁴⁵ And I said, “How hast thou said to thy servant that thou^[a] wilt certainly give life at one time to thy creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time^[b] and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.”