2 Esdras 5:33-35
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
33 Then I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “Are you greatly disturbed in mind over Israel? Or do you love him more than his Maker does?”(A)
34 I said, “No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken, for every hour I suffer agonies of heart while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out some part of his judgment.”(B)
35 He said to me, “You cannot.” And I said, “Why not, my lord? Why, then, was I born? Or why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, so that I would not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?”(C)
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