2 Esdras 8:14-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁴ If then you will suddenly and quickly^[a] destroy what with so great labor was fashioned by your command, to what purpose was it made?^{(A) 15} And now I will speak out: About all humankind you know best, but I will speak about your people, for whom I am grieved, ¹⁶ and about your inheritance, for whom I lament, and about Israel, for whom I am sad, and about the seed of Jacob, for whom I am troubled.