2 Esdras 4:49-51

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

⁴⁹ And after this a cloud full of water passed before me and poured down a heavy and violent rain, and when the violent rainstorm had passed, drops still remained in the cloud.^[a]

⁵⁰ He said to me, ‘Consider it for yourself; for just as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the quantity that passed was far greater; but drops and smoke remained.’

⁵¹ Then I prayed and said, ‘Do you think that I shall live until those days? Or who will be alive in those days?’