2 Esdras 2:1-3

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

God’s Judgement on Israel

2 ‘Thus says the Lord: I brought this people out of bondage, and I gave them commandments through my servants the prophets; but they would not listen to them, and made my counsels void. ² The mother who bore them^[a] says to them, “Go, my children, because I am a widow and forsaken. ³ I brought you up with gladness; but with mourning and sorrow I have lost you, because you have sinned before the Lord God and have done what is evil in my sight.^[b]