2 Esdras 2:3-5

Revised Standard Version

³ I brought you up with gladness; but with mourning and sorrow I have lost you, because you have sinned before the Lord God and have done what is evil in my sight. ⁴ But now what can I do for you? For I am a widow and forsaken. Go, my children, and ask for mercy from the Lord.’ ⁵ I call upon you, father, as a witness in addition to the mother of the children, because they would not keep my covenant,