2 Esdras 7:58-60

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

⁵⁸ I said, ‘O sovereign Lord, what is plentiful is of less worth, for what is more rare is more precious.’

⁵⁹ He answered me and said, ‘Consider within yourself^[a] what you have thought, for the person who has what is hard to get rejoices more than the person who has what is plentiful. ⁶⁰ So also will be the judgement^[b] that I have promised; for I will rejoice over the few who shall be saved, because it is they who have made my glory prevail now, and through them my name has now been honoured.