40
He answered me and said, "Go and ask a pregnant woman whether, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the fetus within her any longer."
38
Then I answered and said, "But, O sovereign Lord, all of us also are full of ungodliness.
39
It is perhaps on account of us that the time of threshing is delayed for the righteous—on account of the sins of those who inhabit the earth."
40
He answered me and said, "Go and ask a pregnant woman whether, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the fetus within her any longer."
41
And I said, "No, lord, it cannot." He said to me, "In Hades the chambers of the souls are like the womb.
42
For just as a woman who is in labor makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these places hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.