1IN the thirtieth yeare of the ruine of the citie, I was in Babylon, and I lay in my chamber trubled, and my cogitations came vp vpon my hart:stylus2for I saw the desolation of Sion, and the abundance of them that dwelt in Babylon.stylus3And my spirit was shaken, and I began to speake feareful wordes to the Highest,stylus4and sayd: O Lord dominatour, thou speaking hast spoken from the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that alone, and didst command the people,stylus5and gauest a bodie to Adam without a soule, and it was the workemanship of thy handes, and thou didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made liuing before thee.stylus6And thou leddest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before the earth aduentured.stylus7And to him thou gauest the commandement to loue thy way: and he transgressed it: and forthwith thou didst appoint death to him, and to his generations, and there were borne of him nations and tribes, peoples and kinreds, of whom there is no number.stylus8And euerie nation walked in their owne wil, and did meruelous thinges before thee, and despised thy commandments.stylus9And againe in time thou broughtest the floud vpon the inhabitantes of the world, and destroyedst them.stylus10And man was made in one case: as death was to Adam so the floud to these.stylus11But thou leaftest one of these, Noe with his house, of him are al the iust.stylus12And it came to passe when they that dwelt vpon earth began to be multiplied, and children were multiplied, and peoples and manie nations, and they began againe to doe impietie more then the former.stylus13And it came to passe when they did iniquity before thee, thou didst choose thee a man of these, whose name was Abraham.stylus14Him thou louedst, and to him onlie thou shewedst thy wil:stylus15and madest an euerlasting couenant with him, and saidst to him, that thou wouldest neuer forsake his seede.stylus16And thou gauest him Isaac, and to Isaac thou gauest Iacob and Esau.stylus17and thou didst choose to thee Iacob, but Esau thou didst separate: and Iacob was made a great multitude.stylus18And it came to passe when thou leddest out his seede of AEgypt, thou broughtest them to the mount Sina.stylus19And thou bowedst the heauens, and fastenedst the earth, and mouedst the round world, and madest the depthes to tremble, and trubledst the world.stylus20And thy glorie passed through foure gates of fire, and of earthquake, and of winde, and of cold: that thou mightest geue a law to the seede of Iacob, and diligence to the generation of Israel.stylus21And thou tookest not away from them the wicked hart, that thy law might bring forth fruite in them.stylus22For the first Adam hauing a wicked hart transgressed, and was ouercome: but also al that were borne of him.stylus23And there was made a permanent infirmitie and the law in the hart of the people with the wickednes of the roote, and the good departed, and the euil remayned.stylus24And times passed, & yeares ended: and thou raysedst vp to thee a seruant, named Dauid,stylus25and commandest him to build a citie to thy name, & in it to offer thee incense and oblations.stylus26And this was done manie yeares: and they that inhabited the citie, forfooke thee,stylus27in al thinges doing as Adam did, and al his generations: for they also vsed a wicked hart.stylus28And thou gauest thy citie into the handes of thine enemies.stylus29Why, doing am I better then they that inhabite Babylon, for which cause thou hast forsaken Sion?stylus30And it came to passe when I was come hither, I saw impieties, wherof there is no number: & my soule saw manie sinners in this thirtieth yeare: and my hart failed,stylus31because I saw how thou toleratest them sinning, & sparedst the impious doers: and hast destroyed thy people, & hast preserued thine enimies,stylus32and hastnot signified to any man how this way should be forsaken. Doe they of Babylon better thinges, then they of Sion?stylus33Or is there other nation that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generations haue beleued thy testamentes, as Iacob?stylus34And their reward hath not appeared, nor their labour fructified. For passing I haue passed through among the nations, and I haue seene them abound, and not mindeful of thy commandementes.stylus35Now therfore weigh in the balance our iniquities, and theirs that dwel in the world: and thy name shal not be found but in Israel.stylus36Or when haue they not sinned in thy sight, that inhabite the earth? or what nation hath so obserued thy ccommandmentes?stylus37These in dede by names thou shalt finde to haue kept thy mandats, but the nations thou shalt not finde.stylus
