2 Esdras 8:3-6 Good News Bible Anglicised (GNBDC)

3. many have been created, but only a few will be saved.”

4. I said to myself, “I must search for wisdom and try to understand.

5. I was brought into this world without my consent, and I will leave it against my will. God has given me only a few short years as my span of life.”

6. Then I prayed, “O Lord above, permit me, your humble servant, to offer this prayer: Sow a seed within us, and let it grow until it produces new hearts and minds, so that sinful humanity may have life.

2 Esdras 8