2 Esdras 8:2-4

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

² But I tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides a large amount of clay from which earthenware is made, but only a little dust from which gold comes, so is the course of the present world. ³ Many have been created, but only a few shall be saved.’

Ezra Again Appeals to God’s Mercy

⁴ I answered and said, ‘Then drink your fill of understanding,^[a] O my soul, and drink wisdom, O my heart.