2 Esdras 3:1-18
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1 In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:
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2 For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon.
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3 And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,
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4 O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,
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5 And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee.
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6 And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.
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7 And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.
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8 And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.
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9 And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them.
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10 And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.
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11 Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men.
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12 And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.
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13 Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.
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14 Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:
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15 And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.
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16 And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude.
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17 And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.
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18 And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age.