2 Esdras 8:4-6

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Ezra Again Appeals to God’s Mercy

⁴ I answered and said, “Then drink your fill of^[a] understanding, O my soul, and drink wisdom, O my heart. ⁵ For not of your own will did you come into the world,^[b] and against your will you depart, for you have been given only a short time to live.^{(A) 6} O Lord above us, grant to your servant that we may pray before you, and give us a seed for our heart and cultivation of our understanding so that fruit may be produced, by which every mortal who bears the likeness^[c] of a human may be able to live.^(B)