2 Esdras 9:21-23

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

²¹ And I saw and spared some^[a] with great difficulty, and saved for myself one grape out of a cluster, and one plant out of a great forest.^{[b] 22} So let the multitude perish that has been born in vain, but let my grape and my plant be saved, because with much labour I have perfected them.

²³ ‘Now, if you will let seven days more pass—do not, however, fast during them,