2 Esdras 3:2-4

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

² because I saw the desolation of Zion and the wealth of those who lived in Babylon. ³ My spirit was greatly agitated, and I began to speak anxious words to the Most High, and said, ⁴ ‘O sovereign Lord, did you not speak at the beginning when you planted^[a] the earth—and that without help—and commanded the dust^[b]