IN the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babel, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:
For I saw the desolation of Tsiyon, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babel.
And my ruach was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to El Elyon, and said,
O Yahuah Adonai, you spoke at the beginning, when you did plant the earth, and that by yourself alone, and commanded the people,
And gave a body unto A'dam without soul, which was the workmanship of your hands, and did breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before you.
And you led him into paradise, which your right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward.
And unto him you gave commandment to love your way: which he transgressed, and immediately you appointed death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.
And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before you, and despised your commandments.
And again in process of time you brought the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyed them.
And it came to pass in everyone of them, that as death was to A'dam, so was the flood to these.
Nevertheless one of them you left, namely, Noach with his household, of whom came all righteous men.
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 wicked than the first.
Now when they lived so wickedly before you, you did choose you a man from among them, whose name was Avraham.
Him you loved, and unto him only you showed your will:
And made an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that you would never forsake his seed.
And unto him you gave Yitschaq, and unto Yitschaq also you gave Ya`aqov and Esau. As for Ya`aqov, you did choose him to you, and put by Esau: and so Ya`aqov became a great multitude.
And it came to pass, that when you led his seed out of Mitsrayim, you brought them up to the Mount Ciynai.
And bowing the heavens, you did set fast the earth, moved the whole world, and made the depths to tremble, and troubled the men of that age.
And your glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that you might give the Torah unto the seed of Ya`aqov, and diligence unto the generation of Yashar'el.
And yet took you not away from them a wicked heart, that your Torah might bring forth fruit in them.
For the first A'dam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.
Thus infirmity was made permanent; and the Torah also in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so that the good departed away, and the evil abode still.
So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then did you raise up a servant, called David:
Whom you commanded to build a city unto your name, and to offer incense and oblations unto you therein.
When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook you,
And in all things did even as A'dam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:
And so you gave your city over into the hands of your enemies.
Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babel, that they should therefore have the dominion over Tsiyon?
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.
For I have seen how you suffer them sinning, and have spared wicked doers: and have destroyed your people, and have preserved your enemies, and have not signified it.
I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babel better than they of Tsiyon?
Or is there any other people that knows you beside Yashar'el? or what generation has so believed your covenants as Ya`aqov?
And yet their reward appears not, and their labor has no fruit: for I have gone here and there through the heathen, and I see that they flow in wealth, and think not upon your commandments.
Weigh therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and their's also that dwell the world; and so shall your name nowhere be found but in Yashar'el.
Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in your sight? or what people have so kept your commandments?
You shall find that Yashar'el by name has kept your precepts; but not the heathen.