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Then I answered and said, "Let me speak in thy presence, Lord.
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For behold, I will go, as thou hast commanded me, and I will reprove the people who are now living; but who will warn those who will be born hereafter? For the world lies in darkness, and its inhabitants are without light.
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For thy law has been burned, and so no one knows the things which have been done or will be done by thee.
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If then I have found favor before thee, send the Holy Spirit into me, and I will write everything that has happened in the world from the beginning, the things which were written in thy law, that men may be able to find the path, and that those who wish to live in the last days may live."
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He answered me and said, "Go and gather the people, and tell them not to seek you for forty days.
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But prepare for yourself many writing tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ethanus, and Asiel -- these five, because they are trained to write rapidly;
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and you shall come here, and I will light in your heart the lamp of understanding, which shall not be put out until what you are about to write is finished.
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And when you have finished, some things you shall make public, and some you shall deliver in secret to the wise; tomorrow at this hour you shall begin to write."
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Then I went as he commanded me, and I gathered all the people together, and said,
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"Hear these words, O Israel
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At first our fathers dwelt as aliens in Egypt, and they were delivered from there,