2 Esdr 9:20 So I considered the world, and, behold, there was peril because of the devices that were come into it.

2 Esdr 9:21 And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept me a grape of the cl.u.s.ter, and a plant of a great people.

2 Esdr 9:22 Let the mult.i.tude perish then, which was born in vain; and let my grape be kept, and my plant; for with great labour have I made it perfect.

2 Esdr 9:23 Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more, (but thou shalt not fast in them,

2 Esdr 9:24 But go into a field of flowers, where no house is builded, and eat only the flowers of the field; taste no flesh, drink no wine, but eat flowers only;)

2 Esdr 9:25 And pray unto the Highest continually, then will I come and talk with thee.

2 Esdr 9:26 So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath, like as he commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and did eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same satisfied me.

2 Esdr 9:27 After seven days I sat upon the gra.s.s, and my heart was vexed within me, like as before:

2 Esdr 9:28 And I opened my mouth, and began to talk before the most High, and said,

2 Esdr 9:29 O Lord, thou that shewest thyself unto us, thou wast shewed unto our fathers in the wilderness, in a place where no man treadeth, in a barren place, when they came out of Egypt.

2 Esdr 9:30 And thou spakest saying, Hear me, O Israel; and mark my words, thou seed of Jacob.

2 Esdr 9:31 For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you, and ye shall be honoured in it for ever.

2 Esdr 9:32 But our fathers, which received the law, kept it not, and observed not thy ordinances: and though the fruit of thy law did not perish, neither could it, for it was thine;

2 Esdr 9:33 Yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.

2 Esdr 9:34 And, lo, it is a custom, when the ground hath received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, that, that being perished wherein it was sown or cast into,

2 Esdr 9:35 That thing also which was sown, or cast therein, or received, doth perish, and remaineth not with us: but with us it hath not happened so.

2 Esdr 9:36 For we that have received the law perish by sin, and our heart also which received it

2 Esdr 9:37 Notwithstanding the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his force.

2 Esdr 9:38 And when I spake these things in my heart, I looked back with mine eyes, and upon the right side I saw a woman, and, behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved in heart, and her clothes were rent, and she had ashes upon her head.

2 Esdr 9:39 Then let I my thoughts go that I was in, and turned me unto her,

2 Esdr 9:40 And said unto her, Wherefore weepest thou? why art thou so grieved in thy mind?

2 Esdr 9:41 And she said unto me, Sir, let me alone, that I may bewail myself, and add unto my sorrow, for I am sore vexed in my mind, and brought very low.

2 Esdr 9:42 And I said unto her, What aileth thee? tell me.

2 Esdr 9:43 She said unto me, I thy servant have been barren, and had no child, though I had an husband thirty years,

2 Esdr 9:44 And those thirty years I did nothing else day and night, and every hour, but make my, prayer to the Highest.

2 Esdr 9:45 After thirty years G.o.d heard me thine handmaid, looked upon my misery, considered my trouble, and gave me a son: and I was very glad of him, so was my husband also, and all my neighbours: and we gave great honour unto the Almighty.

2 Esdr 9:46 And I nourished him with great travail.

2 Esdr 9:47 So when he grew up, and came to the time that he should have a wife, I made a feast.

2 Esdr 10:1 And it so came to pa.s.s, that when my son was entered into his wedding chamber, he fell down, and died.

2 Esdr 10:2 Then we all overthrew the lights, and all my neighbours rose up to comfort me: so I took my rest unto the second day at night.

2 Esdr 10:3 And it came to pa.s.s, when they had all left off to comfort me, to the end I might be quiet; then rose I up by night and fled, and came hither into this field, as thou seest.

2 Esdr 10:4 And I do now purpose not to return into the city, but here to stay, and neither to eat nor drink, but continually to mourn and to fast until I die.

2 Esdr 10:5 Then left I the meditations wherein I was, and spake to her in anger, saying,

2 Esdr 10:6 Thou foolish woman above all other, seest thou not our mourning, and what happeneth unto us?

2 Esdr 10:7 How that Sion our mother is full of all heaviness, and much humbled, mourning very sore?

2 Esdr 10:8 And now, seeing we all mourn and are sad, for we are all in heaviness, art thou grieved for one son?

2 Esdr 10:9 For ask the earth, and she shall tell thee, that it is she which ought to mourn for the fall of so many that grow upon her.

2 Esdr 10:10 For out of her came all at the first, and out of her shall all others come, and, behold, they walk almost all into destruction, and a mult.i.tude of them is utterly rooted out.

2 Esdr 10:11 Who then should make more mourning than she, that hath lost so great a mult.i.tude; and not thou, which art sorry but for one?

2 Esdr 10:12 But if thou sayest unto me, My lamentation is not like the earth's, because I have lost the fruit of my womb, which I brought forth with pains, and bare with sorrows;

2 Esdr 10:13 But the earth not so: for the mult.i.tude present in it according to the course of the earth is gone, as it came:

2 Esdr 10:14 Then say I unto thee, Like as thou hast brought forth with labour; even so the earth also hath given her fruit, namely, man, ever since the beginning unto him that made her.

2 Esdr 10:15 Now therefore keep thy sorrow to thyself, and bear with a good courage that which hath befallen thee.

2 Esdr 10:16 For if thou shalt acknowledge the determination of G.o.d to be just, thou shalt both receive thy son in time, and shalt be commended among women.

2 Esdr 10:17 Go thy way then into the city to thine husband.

2 Esdr 10:18 And she said unto me, That will I not do: I will not go into the city, but here will I die.

2 Esdr 10:19 So I proceeded to speak further unto her, and said,

2 Esdr 10:20 Do not so, but be counselled by me: for how many are the adversities of Sion? be comforted in regard of the sorrow of Jerusalem.

2 Esdr 10:21 For thou seest that our sanctuary is laid waste, our altar broken down, our temple destroyed;

2 Esdr 10:22 Our psaltery is laid on the ground, our song is put to silence, our rejoicing is at an end, the light of our candlestick is put out, the ark of our covenant is spoiled, our holy things are defiled, and the name that is called upon us is almost profaned: our children are put to shame, our priests are burnt, our Levites are gone into captivity, our virgins are defiled, and our wives ravished; our righteous men carried away, our little ones destroyed, our young men are brought in bondage, and our strong men are become weak;