19
And thy glory passed through the four gates of fire and earthquake and wind and ice, to give the law to the descendants of Jacob, and thy commandment to the posterity of Israel.
20
"Yet thou didst not take away from them their evil heart, so that thy law might bring forth fruit in them.
21
For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him.
22
Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the people's heart along with the evil root, but what was good departed, and the evil remained.
23
So the times passed and the years were completed, and thou didst raise up for thyself a servant, named David.
24
And thou didst command him to build a city for thy name, and in it to offer thee oblations from what is thine.
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,