14 If, therefore, you will destroy with a simple command one who was fashioned at your command with so much labor, why was he made?
15 Now I will surely speak: You know best about the sum total of humanity, but what about your people who grieve me,
16 and about your inheritance because of which I lament, and about Israel, on whose account I am sad, and about the seed of Jacob because of which I am disturbed?
17 Therefore, I will pray before you for myself and for them, because I see the defects of we who live on earth,
18 but I have heard of the swiftness of the judgment that is to come.
19 Therefore, hear my voice and consider my words, and I will speak before you."
20 The beginning of the words of Ezra’s prayer before he was taken up. He said:Lord, you live in eternity. The highest heavens are yours, and your upper chambers are in the air.