13. But don’t be curious any longer about how the wicked will be tortured. Instead, inquire how and when the righteous, to whom the world belongs and because of whom the world exists, will be saved."
14. I answered,
15. "I said before and now will say again that those who perish are more numerous than those who are saved,
16. just as a wave is greater than a drop."
17. He answered me: "As the field is, so is the seed; and as the flowers, so also the colors; as the labor, so also the product; and as the farmer, so the threshing floor.
18. There was a time in this world—when I was preparing for those who now are, before the world in which they would dwell was made for them—no one opposed me, because no one existed yet.
19. Now, however, those who have been created in this world—a world furnished with both an inexhaustible table and an endless pasture—have become corrupt in their habits.
20. I considered the earth—and, observe, it was ruined. I considered my world, and, observe, it was in danger because of the intrigues of those who had come into it.
21. I saw and spared them with great difficulty; I saved for myself one grape out of a cluster and one plant out of a great forest.
22. Therefore, let the multitude that was born without purpose perish, and let my grape and my plant be preserved, because I perfected these with much effort.
23. But let seven more days pass. Don’t fast during this time,
24. but go into a field of flowers, where no house is built, and eat only of the flowers of the field. Don’t taste meat, and don’t drink wine, but eat only flowers.