2Esdr 3:1 

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: 

2Esdr 3:2 

For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that 

dwelt at Babylon. 

2Esdr 3:3 

And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words 

full of fear to the most High, and said, 

2Esdr 3:4 

O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when 

thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and 

commandedst the people, 

2Esdr 3:5 

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. 

2Esdr 3:6 

And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had 

planted, before ever the earth came forward. 

2Esdr 3:7 

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. 

2Esdr 3:8 

And every people walked after their own will, and did 

wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments. 

2Esdr 3:9 

And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon 

those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them. 

2Esdr 3:10 

And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to 

Adam, so was the flood to these. 

2Esdr 3:11 

Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his 

household, of whom came all righteous men. 

2Esdr 3:12 

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. 

2Esdr 3:13 

Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst 

choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham. 

2Esdr 3:14 

Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will: 

2Esdr 3:15 

And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him 

that thou wouldest never forsake his seed. 

2Esdr 3:16 

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. 

2Esdr 3:17 

And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of 

Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai. 

2Esdr 3:18 

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. 

2Esdr 3:19 

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. 

2Esdr 3:20 

And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that 

thy law might bring forth fruit in them. 

2Esdr 3:21 

For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and 

was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him. 

2Esdr 3:22 

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. 

2Esdr 3:23 

So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an 

end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David: 

2Esdr 3:24 

Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to 

offer incense and oblations unto thee therein. 

2Esdr 3:25 

When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the 

city forsook thee, 

2Esdr 3:26 

And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations 

had done: for they also had a wicked heart: 

2Esdr 3:27 

And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine 

enemies. 

2Esdr 3:28 

Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that 

they should therefore have the dominion over Sion? 

2Esdr 3:29 

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. 

2Esdr 3:30 

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. 

2Esdr 3:31 

I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of 

Babylon better than they of Sion? 

2Esdr 3:32 

Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? 

or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob? 

2Esdr 3:33 

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. 

2Esdr 3:34 

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. 

2Esdr 3:35 

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? 

2Esdr 3:36 

Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; 

but not the heathen.