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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;
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for I saw the desolation of Zion, and the wealth of those who dwelt at Babylon.
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And my spirit was sorely moved, so that I began to speak words full of fear to the Most High, and said,
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"O Lord, who bearest rule, Thou spokest at the beginning when Thou didst plant the earth; and that Thyself alone; and commanded the people,
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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.
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And Thou leddest him into Paradise which Thy right hand had planted before ever the earth came forward.
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And unto him Thou gavest commandment to love Thy way, which he transgressed; and immediately Thou appointed death in him and in his generations, from whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindred without number.
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And every people walked after their own will, and did dreadful things before Thee and despised Thy commandments.
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And again, in process of time, Thou broughtest the flood upon those who dwelt in the world, and destroyed them.
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And it came to pass with every one of them that as death was to Adam, so was the flood to these.
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Nevertheless one of them Thou leftest, namely, Noah, with his household, of whom came all righteous men.