2 Esdras 3

1In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city, I was in Babylon—I, Salathiel, who am also Ezra—and as I lay on my bed, I was troubled, and my thoughts came up upon my heart,

2because I saw the desolation of Zion and the abundance of those who lived in Babylon.

3And my spirit was greatly stirred, and I began to speak fearful words to the Most High,

4And I said, “O Lord who rules, did you not speak from the beginning, when you formed the earth—and this you did alone—and commanded the dust

5And you gave Adam a dead body? Yet he too was the work of your hands, and you breathed into him the spirit of life, and he became alive before you.

6And you brought him into paradise, which your right hand had planted before the earth came into being.

7And to him you gave your command; but he transgressed it, and at once you appointed death for him and for his descendants, and from him were born nations and tribes, peoples and clans, without number.

8And each nation walked according to its own will, and acted impiously before you and despised you, and you did not hinder them.

9Again, in time, you brought the flood upon the inhabitants of the world, and destroyed them.

10And one fate came upon them all: as death came to Adam, so the flood came to these also.

11But you left one of them, Noah with his household; from him came all the righteous.

12And it happened that when those who lived on the earth began to multiply, they multiplied children and peoples and many nations, and they began again to act impiously, more than those before them.

13And it happened, when they were committing iniquity before you, you chose for yourself one from among them,

14whose name was Abraham. And you loved him, and revealed to him

15And you established with him an everlasting covenant, and said that you would never forsake his seed.

16him, and you gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. And you set apart Jacob for yourself, but Esau you separated, and Jacob became

17in a great multitude. And it happened, when you led the seed out

18you bent down the heavens, established the earth, and moved the world,

19and made the depths tremble and troubled the age. And your glory passed through the four gates—fire and earthquake and wind and frost—that you might give the law to the seed of Jacob, and your commandment to the generation of Israel.

20Yet you did not take away from them the evil heart, so that your law might bear fruit in them.

21For the first Adam, bearing an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome; and so also did all who were born from him.

22Thus weakness became permanent, and the law was in the heart of the people with the evil root; and what was good departed, and what was evil remained.

23evil. And the times passed and the years came to an end, and

24And you told him to build a city for your name, and in it to offer to you offerings from what is yours.

25And this happened for many years. And those who lived in the city forsook it,

26doing in all things as Adam and all his generations did; for they too had an evil heart.

27And you gave your city into the hands of your enemies.

28Then I said in my heart, ‘Do those who live in Babylon act better, and is that why Zion is ruled?’

29But when I came here and saw impieties beyond number, my soul saw many sinners in this thirtieth year, and my heart overflowed.

30For I saw how you endure those who sin and have spared those who act impiously, but have destroyed your people and preserved your enemies, and have not made it clear

31nothing to anyone about how this way should be abandoned. Does Babylon do better than Zion?

32Or has any other nation known you besides Israel? Or what tribes have believed the covenants like this Jacob?

33Yet their reward has not appeared, nor has their labor borne fruit. For I have passed through the nations and seen them prospering, though they do not remember your commandments.

34Now therefore weigh our iniquities in the balance, and those of the inhabitants of the world; and it will be found at what point it inclines.

35Or when have those who dwell on the earth not sinned in your sight? Or what nation has so kept your commandments?

36Men indeed, by name, you may find who have kept your commandments, but nations you will not find.