2 Esdras 8:1–3

1 He answered me and said, “The Most High made this world for the sake of many, but the world to come for the sake of few. 2 But I tell you a parable, Ezra. Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides very much clay from which earthenware is made, but only a little dust from which gold comes; so is the course of the present world. 3 Many have been created, but few shall be saved.”