2 Baruch 14

1Then I answered and said, “Behold, you have shown me the course of the times, and what is to happen after these things, and you have told me that the retribution which was spoken of by you will come upon the nations.

2And now I know that many have sinned and lived, and only a few will remain in those times to whom these words may be spoken.

3For what profit is there in this, or what is worse than these things that we have seen, that we should desire to wait to see?

4But I will speak before you: What more have those who knew you and did not walk in vanity like the rest of the nations gained?

5who did not seek the vanity of the dead, but desired you, and did not turn their hearts to what is small and passing,

6and for whom were good works sought, and for whom were the prophets given?

7Or who, O Lord, knows your judgment? Or who can search out the depth of your way?

8Or who can learn your judgment, or search out the depth of your way, or calculate the weight of your path, or comprehend your counsel which cannot be grasped?

9Or who among mortals can find the beginning and the end of your wisdom?

10For we have all become like a breath.

11For as a breath rises without intention and vanishes, so is the nature of men: they do not go by their own will, and they do not know what will happen to them in the end.

12But the righteous may rightly hope for the end, and they depart from this dwelling without fear, because they have with you a store of works kept in treasuries.

13Therefore they leave this world without fear, and with trust and gladness they wait to receive the world that you promised them …