2 Esdras 6:55-7:16

Revised Standard Version

Why Do God’s People Suffer?

⁵⁵ “All this I have spoken before thee, O Lord, because thou hast said that it was for us that thou didst create this world.^{[a] 56} As for the other nations which have descended from Adam, thou hast said that they are nothing, and that they are like spittle, and thou hast compared their abundance to a drop from a bucket. ⁵⁷ And now, O Lord, behold, these nations, which are reputed as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. ⁵⁸ But we thy people, whom thou hast called thy first-born, only begotten, zealous for thee,^[b] and most dear, have been given into their hands. ⁵⁹ If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance? How long will this be so?”

Response to Ezra’s Questions

7 When I had finished speaking these words, the angel who had been sent to me on the former nights was sent to me again, ² and he said to me, “Rise, Ezra, and listen to the words that I have come to speak to you.”

³ I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said to me, “There is a sea set in a wide expanse so that it is broad^[c] and vast, ⁴ but it has an entrance set in a narrow place, so that it is like a river. ⁵ If any one, then, wishes to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can he come to the broad part unless he passes through the narrow part? ⁶ Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things; ⁷ but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left; ⁸ and there is only one path lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that only one man can walk upon that path. ⁹ If now that city is given to a man for an inheritance, how will the heir receive his inheritance unless he passes through the danger set before him?”

¹⁰ I said, “He cannot, lord.” And he said to me, “So also is Israel’s portion. ¹¹ For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged. ¹² And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships. ¹³ But the entrances of the greater world are broad and safe, and really yield the fruit of immortality. ¹⁴ Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and vain experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them. ¹⁵ But now why are you disturbed, seeing that you are to perish? And why are you moved, seeing that you are mortal? ¹⁶ And why have you not considered in your mind what is to come, rather than what is now present?”