2 Esdras 5:35-37

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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?”^(A)

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;^{(B) 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 see.”^(C)