2 Esdras 8:6
King James VersionSource notes
“O Lord, if thou suffer not thy servant, that we may pray before thee, and thou give us seed unto our heart, and culture to our understanding, that there may come fruit of it; how shall each man live that is corrupt, who beareth the place of a man?”
Context
3There be many created, but few shall be saved.
4So answered I and said, Swallow then down, O my soul, understanding, and devour wisdom.
5For thou hast agreed to give ear, and art willing to prophesy: for thou hast no longer space than only to live.
6O Lord, if thou suffer not thy servant, that we may pray before thee, and thou give us seed unto our heart, and culture to our understanding, that there may come fruit of it; how shall each man live that is corrupt, who beareth the place of a man?
7For thou art alone, and we all one workmanship of thine hands, like as thou hast said.
8For when the body is fashioned now in the mother’s womb, and thou givest it members, thy creature is preserved in fire and water, and nine months doth thy workmanship endure thy creature which is created in her.
9But that which keepeth and is kept shall both be preserved: and when the time cometh, the womb preserved delivereth up the things that grew in it.