Chapter 03 - Esdras despair

1 In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my 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, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people,

5 And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee.

6 And thou leadest 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 thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number.

8 And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments.

9 And again in process (of time) thou 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, Noah (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, thou didst choose thee a man from among them, whose name was Abraham.

14 Him thou lovedst, and unto him only thou shewedst thy will:

15 And madest an everlasting covenant with him, promising him that thou wouldest never forsake his seed.

16 And unto him thou gavest Isaac, and unto Isaac also thou gavest Jacob and Esau. As for Jacob, thou didst choose him to thee, and put by Esau: and so Jacob became a great multitude.

17 And it came to pass, that when thou leadest his seed out of Egypt, thou broughtest them up to the mount Sinai.

18 And bowing the heavens, thou didst set fast the earth, movedst the whole world, and madest the depths to tremble, and troubledst the men of that age.

19 And thy 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 the 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 the law (also) in the heart of the people with the malignity of the root; so 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 didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:

24 Whom 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 Are 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 this thirtieth year, so that my heart failed me.

30 For I 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: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

32 Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside 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 their's also that dwell 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 have so kept thy commandments?

36 Thou shalt find that Israel by name hath kept thy precepts; but not the heathen.

Chapter 4