2Esdras:3

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* In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon , and lay troubled upon my bed , and my thoughts came up over my heart : * For I saw the desolation of Sion , and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon . * And my spirit was sore moved , so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High , and said , * O Lord , who bearest rule , thou spakest at the beginning , when thou didst plant the earth , and that thyself alone , and commandedst the people , * And gavest a body unto Adam without soul , which was the workmanship of thine hands , and didst breathe into him the breath of life , and he was made living before thee . * And thou leadest him into paradise , which thy right hand had planted , before ever the earth came forward . * And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way : which he transgressed , and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations , of whom came nations , tribes , people , and kindreds , out of number . * And every people walked after their own will , and did wonderful things before thee , and despised thy commandments . * And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world , and destroyedst them . * And it came to pass in every of them , that as death was to Adam , so was the flood to these . * Nevertheless one of them thou leftest , namely , Noah with his household , of whom came all righteous men . * And it happened , that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply , and had gotten them many children , and were a great people , they began again to be more ungodly than the first . * Now when they lived so wickedly before thee , thou didst choose thee a man from among them , whose name was Abraham . * Him thou lovedst , and unto him only thou shewedst thy will : * And madest an everlasting covenant with him , promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed . * And unto him thou gavest Isaac , and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau . As for Jacob , thou didst choose him to thee , and put by Esau : and so Jacob became a great multitude . * And it came to pass , that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt , thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai . * And bowing the heavens , thou didst set fast the earth , movedst the whole world , and madest the depths to tremble , and troubledst the men of that age . * And thy glory went through four gates , of fire , and of earthquake , and of wind , and of cold ; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob , and diligence unto the generation of Israel . * And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart , that thy law might bring forth fruit in them . * For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed , and was overcome ; and so be all they that are born of him . * Thus infirmity was made permanent ; and the law (also ) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root ; so that the good departed away , and the evil abode still . * So the times passed away , and the years were brought to an end : then didst thou raise thee up a servant , called David : * Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name , and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein . * When this was done many years , then they that inhabited the city forsook thee , * And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done : for they also had a wicked heart : * And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies . * Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon , that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion ? * For when I came thither , and had seen impieties without number , then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year , so that my heart failed me . * For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning , and hast spared wicked doers : and hast destroyed thy people , and hast preserved thine enemies , and hast not signified it . * I do not remember how this way may be left : Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion ? * Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel ? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob ? * And yet their reward appeareth not , and their labour hath no fruit : for I have gone here and there through the heathen , and I see that they flow in wealth , and think not upon thy commandments . * Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance , and their 's also that dwell the world ; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel . * Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight ? or what people have so kept thy commandments ? * Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts ; but not the heathen .

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