25
This was done for many years; but the inhabitants of the city transgressed,
26
in everything doing as Adam and all his descendants had done, for they also had the evil heart.
27
So thou didst deliver the city into the hands of thy enemies.
28
"Then I said in my heart, Are the deeds of those who inhabit Babylon any better? Is that why she has gained dominion over Zion?
29
For when I came here I saw ungodly deeds without number, and my soul has seen many sinners during these thirty years. And my heart failed me,
30
for I have seen how thou dost endure those who sin, and hast spared those who act wickedly, and hast destroyed thy people, and hast preserved thy enemies,
31
and hast not shown to any one how thy way may be comprehended. Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Zion?
32
Or has another nation known thee besides Israel? Or what tribes have so believed thy covenants as these tribes of Jacob?
33
Yet their reward has not appeared and their labor has borne no fruit. For I have traveled widely among the nations and have seen that they abound in wealth, though they are unmindful of thy commandments.
34
Now therefore weigh in a balance our iniquities and those of the inhabitants of the world; and so it will be found which way the turn of the scale will incline.
35
When have the inhabitants of the earth not sinned in thy sight? Or what nation has kept thy commandments so well?