2 Esdras 5:51-53

Common English Bible

⁵¹ He responded to me: “Ask one who gives birth, and she will tell you. Say to her, ⁵² ‘Why are those you have borne now not like those whom you bore before, but are smaller in stature?’ ⁵³ She herself will tell you, ‘Those who are born in youth’s vigor are different from those who are born in the time of old age, when the womb is failing.’