2 Esdras 9:13-17 World English Bible (WEB)

13. And therefore be you no longer curious how the ungodly shall be punished; but inquire how the righteous shall be saved, they whose the world is, and for whom the world was created.

14. And I answered and said,

15. I have said before, and now do speak, and will speak it also hereafter, that there be more of them which perish, than of the which will be saved:

16. like as a wave is greater than a drop.

17. And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so also the seed; and as the flowers be, such are the colors also; and such as the work is, such also is the judgement thereon; and as is the husbandman, so is his threshing floor also. For there was a time in the world,

2 Esdras 9