2 Esdras 5:44-46

Revised Standard Version

⁴⁴ He replied to me and said, “The creation cannot make more haste than the Creator, neither can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.”

⁴⁵ And I said, “How hast thou said to thy servant that thou^[a] wilt certainly give life at one time to thy creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time^[b] and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.”

⁴⁶ He said to me, “Ask a woman’s womb, and say to it, ‘If you bear ten^[c] children, why one after another?’ Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.”