Page:KJV 1772 Oxford Edition, vol. 2.djvu/29

Apocrypha. 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.

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

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.

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.

And yet tookest thou not away from them a wicked heart, that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.

For the first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed, and was overcome; and so be all they that are born of him.

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.

So the times passed away, and the years were brought to an end: then didst thou raise thee up a servant, called David:

Whom thou commandedst to build a city unto thy name, and to offer incense and oblations unto thee therein.

When this was done many years, then they that inhabited the city forsook thee,

And in all things did even as Adam and all his generations had done: for they also had a wicked heart:

And so thou gavest thy city over into the hands of thine enemies.

Are their deeds then any better that inhabit Babylon, that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion?

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.

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.

I do not remember how this way may be left: Are they then of Babylon better than they of Sion?

Or is there any other people that knoweth thee beside Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenants as Jacob?

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.

Weigh thou therefore our wickedness now in the balance, and theirs also that dwell the world; and so shall thy name no where be found but in Israel.

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?

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

And the angel that was sent unto me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an answer,

And said, Thy heart hath gone to far in this world, and thinkest thou to comprehend the way of the most High?

Then said I, Yea, my lord. And he answered me, and said, I am sent to shew thee three ways, and to set forth three similitudes before thee:

Whereof if thou canst declare me one, I will shew thee also the way that thou desirest to see, and I shall shew thee from whence the wicked heart cometh.

And I said, Tell on, my lord. Then said he unto me, Go thy way, weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past.

Then answered I and said, What man is able to do that, that thou shouldest ask such things of me?

And he said unto me, If I should ask thee how great dwellings are in the midst of the sea, or how many springs are in the beginning of the deep, or how many springs are above the firmament, or which are the outgoings of paradise:

Peradventure thou wouldest say unto me, I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into hell, neither did I ever climb up into heaven.

Nevertheless now have I asked thee but only of the fire and wind, and of the day wherethrough thou hast passed, and of things from which thou canst not be separated, and yet canst thou give me no answer of them.

He said moreover unto me, Thine own things, and such as are grown up with thee, canst thou not know;