17 Then I answered and said, "O sovereign Lord, you have ordained in your law that the righteous shall inherit these things, but that the ungodly shall perish. 18 The righteous, therefore, can endure difficult circumstances while hoping for easier ones; but those who have done wickedly have suffered the difficult circumstances and will never see the easier ones."
19
He said to me, "You are not a better judge than the Lord, 1 or wiser than the Most High!
20
Let many perish who are now living, rather than that the law of God that is set before them be disregarded!
21
For the Lord 2 strictly commanded those who came into the world, when they came, what they should do to live, and what they should observe to avoid punishment.
22
Nevertheless they were not obedient, and spoke against him;
they devised for themselves vain thoughts,
23
and proposed to themselves wicked frauds;
they even declared that the Most High does not exist,
and they ignored his ways.
24
They scorned his law,
and denied his covenants;
they have been unfaithful to his statutes,
and have not performed his works.
25
That is the reason, Ezra, that empty things are for the empty, and full things are for the full.