2 Esdras 2:15-24

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Exhortation to Good Works

¹⁵ “Mother, embrace your children; bring them up with gladness, as does a dove; strengthen their feet, because I have chosen you, says the Lord.^{(A) 16} And I will raise up the dead from their places and bring them out from their tombs, because I recognize my name in them.^{(B) 17} Do not fear, mother of children, for I have chosen you, says the Lord. ¹⁸ I will send you help: my servants Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to their counsel I have consecrated and prepared for you twelve trees loaded with various fruits^{(C) 19} and the same number of springs flowing with milk and honey and seven mighty mountains on which roses and lilies grow; by these I will fill your children with joy.^(D)

²⁰ “Guard the rights of the widow, secure justice for the ward, give to the needy, defend the orphan, clothe the naked,^{(E) 21} care for the injured and the weak, do not ridicule the lame, protect the maimed, and let the blind have a vision of my splendor. ²² Protect the old and the young within your walls.^{[a] 23} When you find any who are dead, commit them to the grave and mark it,^[b] and I will give you the first place in my resurrection.^{(F) 24} Pause and be quiet, my people, because your rest will come.^(G)