2 Esdras 9:17–18

17 And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so is also the seed; as the flowers be, such are the colours also; such as the workman is, such also is the work; and as the husbandman is himself, so is his husbandry also: * for it was the time of the world. 18 And now when. I prepared the world, which was not yet made, even for them to dwell in that now live, no man spake against me.