Common English Bible

2 Esdras 5:33-36 Common English Bible (CEB)

33. I said, "Speak, my Lord."He said to me, "Are you really more deeply disturbed over Israel, or do you love him more than the one who made him does?"

34. I said: "No, Lord, but I spoke in grief. My heart torments me every hour while I try to make sense of the Most High’s ways and investigate his decisions."

35. He said to me, "You can’t."And I said: "Why, Lord? Or else why was I born, and why did my mother’s womb not become my tomb so that I might not see the toil of Jacob and the exhaustion of the line of Israel?"

36. He said to me: "Count for me those who haven’t yet been born, gather for me the scattered raindrops, make the withered flowers bloom again for me,