2 Esdras 8:4-6

Revised Standard Version

Ezra Again Appeals to God’s Mercy

⁴ I answered and said, “Then drink your fill of understanding, O my soul, and drink wisdom, O my heart!^{[a] 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. ⁶ O Lord who art over us, grant to thy servant that we may pray before thee, and give us 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 being may be able to live.