2 Esdras 7:116-118

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Lamentation over the Fate of Most People

¹¹⁶ I answered and said, “This is my first and last comment: it would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam or else, when it had produced him, had restrained him from sinning.^{(A) 117} For what good is it to all that they live in sorrow now and expect punishment after death?^{(B) 118} O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone but ours also who are your descendants.^(C)