When I finished speaking these words, the angel who had come to me in the previous nights was sent to me.
2And he said to me: Rise, Esdras, and hear the words I have come to tell you.
3And I said: Speak, my God. And he said to me: The sea is placed in a wide place, to be deep and immeasurable.
4But suppose the entrance were narrow and like a river.
5Who could go down to the sea to see it or to dominate it? If he did not pass through the strait, how could he reach the wide sea?
6Or: A city was built and placed on a plain, and it is full of all good things.
7But the entrance to it is narrow and placed on a precipice, with fire on the right and deep water on the left.
8And there is only one path between the two, only for one man to walk.
9If the city was given as an inheritance to a man, how could the heir receive his inheritance if he did not pass through the danger before him?
10And I said: So it is, Lord. And he said to me: So is the portion of Israel.