2 Esdras 7:125-127

Common English Bible

¹²⁵ What good is it that the faces of those who practiced abstinence will shine brighter than stars when our faces are blacker than darkness? ¹²⁶ While we were alive and doing evil, we didn’t think about what we would suffer after death.”

¹²⁷ He answered: “These are the rules for the contest in which everyone born on earth takes part: