III. In the thirtieth year after athe ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and bmy thoughts came up over my heart: 2 for I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of them that dwelt at Babylon. 3 And my spirit was sore moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the most High, and said,

4 O Lord, bbwho bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that cthyself alone, and commandedst the people, 5 and dgavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and ddidst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee. 6 And ethou leddest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward. 7 And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately fthou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number. 8 And gevery people walked after their own will, and hdid wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments. 9 And again in process of time ithou broughtest the flood upon those that dwelt in the world, and destroyedst them. 10 And it came to pass in every of them, that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these. 11 Nevertheless one of them thou leftest, namely, kNoah with his household, of whom came all righteous men. 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. 13 Now when they lived so wickedly before thee, lthou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was mAbraham. 14 nHim thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will: 15 and omadest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed. 16 And punto him thou gavest Isaac, and qunto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, rthou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so sJacob became a great multitude. 17 And it came to pass, that when thou leddest his seed out of Egypt, tthou broughtest them up to the mount Sina. 18 And ubowing the heavens, wthou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and xmadest the depths to tremble, and ytroubledst the men of that age. 19 And zthy 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. 20 And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them. 21 For athe first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him. 22 Thus infirmity was made permanent; and bthe law also in the heart of the people with cthe malignity of the root; bso that the good departed away, and the evil abode still. 23 So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then ddidst thou raise thee up a servant, called David: 24 ewhom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein. 25 When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee, 26 and in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart: 27 and so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies. 28 fAre their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion? 29 For when I came thither, and had seen impieties without number, then my soul saw many evildoers in gthis thirtieth year, so that hmy heart failed me. 30 For iI 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. 31 I do not * remember how this way may be left: fAre they then of Babylon better than they of Sion? 32 Or is there any other people that knoweth thee besides Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob? 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. 34 Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and theirs also that dwell in the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel. 35 Or when was it that they which dwell upon the earth have not sinned in thy sight? or what people hath so kept thy commandments? 36 Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.