16. And to him you gave Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau. And you did set apart Jacob for yourself, but did put by Esau: and Jacob became a great multitude.
17. And it came to pass, that when you led his seed out of Egypt, you brought them up to the mount Sinai.
18. You bowed the heavens also, and did shake the earth, and movedst the whole world, and made the depths to tremble, and troubled the course of that age.
19. And your glory went through four gates, of fire, and of earthquake, and of wind, and of cold; that you might give the law to the seed of Jacob, and the commandment to the generation of Israel.
20. And yet took you not away from them their wicked heart, that your law might bring forth fruit in them.
21. For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and not he only, but all they also that are born of him.
22. Thus disease was made permanent; and the law was in the heart of the people along with the wickedness of the root; so the good departed away, and that which was wicked abode still.
23. So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then did you raise you up a servant, called David,
24. whom you commanded to build a city to your name, and to offer oblations to you therein of your own.
25. When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city did evil,
26. in all things doing even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also bare a wicked heart:
27. and so you gave your city over into the hands of your enemies.
28. And I said then in mine heart, are their deeds any better that inhabit Babylon? and has she therefore dominion over Sion?
29. For it came to pass when I came hither, that I saw also impieties without number, and my soul saw many evil-doers in this thirties year, so that my heart failed me.
30. For I have seen how you suffer them sinning, and have spared the ungodly doers, and have destroyed your people, and have preserved your enemies; and you have not signified
31. to any how your way may be comprehended. Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Sion?
32. Or is there any other nation that knows you beside Israel? or what tribes have so believed your covenants as these tribes of Jacob?
33. And yet their reward appears not, and their labor has no fruit: for I have gone hither and there through the nations, and I see that they abound in wealth, and think not upon your commandments.