2 Esdras 5:47
King James VersionSource notes
“And I said, She cannot: but must do it by distance of time.”
Context
44Then answered he me, and said, The creature may not haste above the maker; neither may the world hold them at once that shall be created therein.
45And I said, As thou hast said unto thy servant, that thou, which givest life to all, hast given life at once to the creature that thou hast created, and the creature bare it: even so it might now also bear them that now be present at once.
46And he said unto me, Ask the womb of a woman, and say unto her, If thou bringest forth children, why dost thou it not together, but one after another? pray her therefore to bring forth ten children at once.
47And I said, She cannot: but must do it by distance of time.
48Then said he unto me, Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those that be sown in it in their times.
49For like as a young child may not bring forth the things that belong to the aged, even so have I disposed the world which I created.
50And I asked, and said, Seeing thou hast now given me the way, I will proceed to speak before thee: for our mother, of whom thou hast told me that she is young, draweth now nigh unto age.