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I replied and said, "O earth, what have you brought forth, if the mind is made out of the dust like the other created things! I answered and said, "I know, O Lord, that the Most High is now called merciful, because he has mercy on those who have not yet come into the world;
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For it would have been better if the dust itself had not been born, so that the mind might not have been made from it. and gracious, because he is gracious to those who turn in repentance to his law;
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But now the mind grows with us, and therefore we are tormented, because we perish and know it. and patient, because he shows patience toward those who have sinned, since they are his own works;
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Let the human race lament, but let the beasts of the field be glad; let all who have been born lament, but let the four-footed beasts and the flocks rejoice! and bountiful, because he would rather give than take away;
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For it is much better with them than with us; for they do not look for a judgment, nor do they know of any torment or salvation promised to them after death. and abundant in compassion, because he makes his compassions abound more and more to those now living and to those who are gone and to those yet to come,
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For what does it profit us that we shall be preserved alive but cruelly tormented? for if he did not make them abound, the world with those who inhabit it would not have life;
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For all who have been born are involved in iniquities, and are full of sins and burdened with transgressions. and he is called giver, because if he did not give out of his goodness so that those who have committed iniquities might be relieved of them, not one ten-thousandth of mankind could have life;
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And if we were not to come into judgment after death, perhaps it would have been better for us." and judge, because if he did not pardon those who were created by his word and blot out the multitude of their sins,
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He answered me and said, "When the Most High made the world and Adam and all who have come from him, he first prepared the judgment and the things that pertain to the judgment. there would probably be left only very few of the innumerable multitude."
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And now understand from your own words, for you have said that the mind grows with us.
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For this reason, therefore, those who dwell on earth shall be tormented, because though they had understanding they committed iniquity, and though they received the commandments they did not keep them, and though they obtained the law they dealt unfaithfully with what they received.