Old Testament readings use the Septuagint , the Scripture the apostles quoted. Masoretic numbering shown for reference.Learn why
KJV

2 Esdras 4:12

Then said I unto him, It were better that we were not at all, than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer, and not to know wherefore.

Parallel Translations

WEBView canonical →
and said to him, “It would have been better if we weren’t here at all, than that we should come here and live in the midst of ungodliness, and suffer, and not know why.”
World English Bible
GNV1560View canonical →
Then said I vnto him, It were better that we were not at all, then that we shulde liue in wickednes, and to suffer, and not to knowe wherefore.
Geneva Bible (1560) Apocrypha