2 Esdras 10:9-11

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁹ Now ask the earth, and she will tell you that it is she who ought to mourn over so many who have come into being upon her.^{(A) 10} From the beginning all have been born of her, and others will come, and, behold, almost all walk to perdition, and a multitude of them will come to doom.^{(B) 11} Who, then, ought to mourn the more: she who lost so great a multitude or you who are grieving for one alone?