2 Esdras 7:36-47
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36 Then said I, Abraham prayed first for the Sodomites, and Moses for the fathers that sinned in the wilderness:
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37 And Jesus after him for Israel in the time of Achan:
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38 And Samuel and David for the destruction: and Solomon for them that should come to the sanctuary:
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39 And Helias for those that received rain; and for the dead, that he might live:
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40 And Ezechias for the people in the time of Sennacherib: and many for many.
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41 Even so now, seeing corruption is grown up, and wickedness increased, and the righteous have prayed for the ungodly: wherefore shall it not be so now also?
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42 He answered me, and said, This present life is not the end where much glory doth abide; therefore have they prayed for the weak.
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43 But the day of doom shall be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortality for to come, wherein corruption is past,
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44 Intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off, righteousness is grown, and truth is sprung up.
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45 Then shall no man be able to save him that is destroyed, nor to oppress him that hath gotten the victory.
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46 I answered then and said, This is my first and last saying, that it had been better not to have given the earth unto Adam: or else, when it was given him, to have restrained him from sinning.
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47 For what profit is it for men now in this present time to live in heaviness, and after death to look for punishment?