1. Thirty years after the fall of Jerusalem, I, Shealtiel (also known as Ezra), was in Babylon. I was lying on my bed, troubled and disturbed,
2. as I thought about the ruins of Jerusalem and the prosperity of those who lived in Babylon.
3. I was deeply disturbed and began to express my fears to God Most High.
4. “O Lord and Master,” I said, “you, and you alone, spoke the word at the beginning of creation and formed the world. At your command the dust
5. produced the lifeless body of Adam. Then with your hands you shaped it, you breathed into it the breath of life, and he began to live.
6. You brought him into the Garden of Eden, which you yourself had planted before the earth was made.
7. You gave him just one commandment, but he disobeyed it, and you immediately made him and his descendants subject to death.“From Adam were born more nations, tribes, clans, and families than can be counted.
8. All the nations did whatever they wished; they sinned against you and rejected your commands. But you did nothing to stop them.