2 Esdras 2:4-17

1. 4 But what shall I now do unto you? I am a widow and forsaken: go your way, O my children, and ask mercy of the Lord.

2. 5 As for me, O father, I call upon thee for a witness over the mother of these children, which would not keep my covenant,

3. 6 That thou bring them to confusion, and their mother to a spoil, that there may be no offspring of them.

4. 7 Let them be scattered abroad among the heathen, let their names be put out of the earth: for they have despised my covenant.

5. 8 Woe be unto thee, Assur, thou that hidest the unrighteous in thee! O thou wicked people, remember what I did unto Sodom and Gomorrha;

6. 9 Whose land lieth in clods of pitch and heaps of ashes: even so also will I do unto them that hear me not, saith the Almighty Lord.

7. 10 Thus saith the Lord unto Esdras, Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given unto Israel.

8. 11 Their glory also will I take unto me, and give these the everlasting tabernacles, which I had prepared for them.

9. 12 They shall have the tree of life for an ointment of sweet savour; they shall neither labour, nor be weary.

10. 13 Go, and ye shall receive: pray for few days unto you, that they may be shortened: the kingdom is already prepared for you: watch.

11. 14 Take heaven and earth to witness; for I have broken the evil in pieces, and created the good: for I live, saith the Lord.

12. 15 Mother, embrace thy children, and bring them up with gladness, make their feet as fast as a pillar: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord.

13. 16 And those that be dead will I raise up again from their places, and bring them out of the graves: for I have known my name in Israel.

14. 17 Fear not, thou mother of the children: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord.

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