2 Esdras 4:50-52

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

⁵⁰ He said to me, ‘Consider it for yourself; for just as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the quantity that passed was far greater; but drops and smoke remained.’

⁵¹ Then I prayed and said, ‘Do you think that I shall live until those days? Or who will be alive in those days?’

⁵² He answered me and said, ‘Concerning the signs about which you ask me, I can tell you in part; but I was not sent to tell you concerning your life, for I do not know.