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| [1]In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart: |
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| [2]For I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon. |
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| [3]And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said, |
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| [4]O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people, |
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| [5]And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee. |
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| [6]And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward. |
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| [7]And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number. |
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| [8]And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments. |
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| [9]And again in process of time thou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them. |
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| [10]And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these. |
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| [11]Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, Noah with his household, of whom came all righteous men. |
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| [12]And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many children, and were a great people, they began again to be more ungodly than the first. |
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| [13]Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham. |
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| [14]Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will: |
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| [15]And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed. |
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| [16]And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude. |
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| [17]And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai. |
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| [18]And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age. |
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| [19]And thy glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that thou mightest give the law unto the seed of Jacob, and diligence unto the generation of Israel. |
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| [20]And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them. |
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| [21]For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him. |
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| [22]Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still. |
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| [23]So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David: |
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| [24]Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein. |
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| [25]When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee, |
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| [26]And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart: |
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| [27]And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies. |
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| [28]Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion? |
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| [29]For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me. |
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| [30]For I have seen how thou sufferest them sinning, and hast spared wicked doers: and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thine enemies, and hast not signified it. |
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| [31]I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion? |
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| [32]Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob? |
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| [33]And yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon thy commandments. |
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| [34]Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and their's also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel. |
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| [35]Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people have so kept thy commandments? |
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| [36]Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen. |
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