2 Esdras 4:39-41

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³⁹ It is perhaps on account of us that the time of threshing is delayed for the righteous—on account of the sins of those who inhabit the earth.”

⁴⁰ He answered me and said, “Go and ask a pregnant woman whether, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the fetus within her any longer.”

⁴¹ And I said, “No, lord, it cannot.”

He said to me, “In Hades the chambers of the souls are like the womb.^(A)