2 Esdras 5:35-37

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

³⁵ 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, so that I would not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?’

³⁶ He said to me, ‘Count up for me those who have not yet come, and gather for me the scattered raindrops, and make the withered flowers bloom again for me; ³⁷ open for me the closed chambers, and bring out for me the winds shut up in them, or show me the picture of a voice; and then I will explain to you the travail that you ask to understand.’^[a]