2 Esdras 7:45-61

Revised Standard Version

Only a Few Will Be Saved

⁴⁵ I answered and said, “O sovereign Lord, I said then and I say now:^[a] Blessed are those who are alive and keep thy commandments! ⁴⁶ But what of those for whom I prayed? For who among the living is there that has not sinned, or who among men that has not transgressed thy covenant? ⁴⁷ And now I see that the world to come will bring delight to few, but torments to many. ⁴⁸ For an evil heart has grown up in us, which has alienated us from God,^[b] and has brought us into corruption and the ways of death, and has shown us the paths of perdition and removed us far from life—and that not just a few of us but almost all who have been created!”

⁴⁹ He answered me and said, “Listen to me, Ezra,^[c] and I will instruct you, and will admonish you yet again. ⁵⁰ For this reason the Most High has made not one world but two. ⁵¹ For whereas you have said that the righteous are not many but few, while the ungodly abound, hear the explanation for this.

⁵² “If you have just a few precious stones, will you add to them lead and clay?”^[d]

⁵³ I said, “Lord, how could that be?”

⁵⁴ And he said to me, “Not only that, but ask the earth and she will tell you; defer to her, and she will declare it to you. ⁵⁵ Say to her, ‘You produce gold and silver and brass, and also iron and lead and clay; ⁵⁶ but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than brass, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.’ ⁵⁷ Judge therefore which things are precious and desirable, those that are abundant or those that are rare?”

⁵⁸ I said, “O sovereign Lord, what is plentiful is of less worth, for what is more rare is more precious.”

⁵⁹ He answered me and said, “Weigh within yourself^[e] what you have thought, for he who has what is hard to get rejoices more than he who has what is plentiful. ⁶⁰ So also will be the judgment^[f] which I have promised; for I will rejoice over the few who shall be saved, because it is they who have made my glory to prevail now, and through them my name has now been honored. ⁶¹ And I will not grieve over the multitude of those who perish; for it is they who are now like a mist, and are similar to a flame and smoke—they are set on fire and burn hotly, and are extinguished.”