2 Esdras 3 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021(NRSVUE)

2 Esdras 3Ezra’s Prayer of Complaint

1 the earth—and that without help—and commanded the dust

5 the earth and moved the world and caused the depths to tremble and troubled the times.

19 And my heart failed me

30 Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Zion?

32Or has another nation known you besides Israel? Or what tribes have so believed the covenants as these tribes of Jacob?

33Yet their reward has not appeared, and their labor has borne no fruit. For I have traveled widely among the nations and have seen that they abound in wealth, though they are unmindful of your commandments.

34Job 31.6; Dan 5.27; Rev 6.5Now therefore weigh in a balance our iniquities and those of the inhabitants of the world, and it will be found which way the arrow of the scale tips.

35When have the inhabitants of the earth not sinned in your sight? Or what nation has kept your commandments so well?

36Acts 10.35You may indeed find individuals who have kept your commandments, but nations you will not find.”