32
and said unto me, "Hear me, and I will instruct thee; hearken to the thing that I say, and I shall tell thee more."
33
And I said, "Speak on, my lord." Then said he unto me, "Thou art sorely troubled in mind for Israel's sake; lovest thou that people better than He that made them?"
34
And I said, "No, lord; but from very grief have I spoken, for my reins pain me every hour while I labor to comprehend the way of the Most High, and to seek out part of His judgment."
35
And he said unto me, "Thou canst not." And I said, "Why, lord? Whereunto was I born then? Or why was not my mother's womb then my grave, that I might not have seen the travail of Jacob and the wearisome toil of the stock of Israel?"
36
And he said unto me, "Number me the things that have not yet come, gather me together the dross that are scattered abroad, make me the flowers green again that are withered,
37
open me the places that are closed and bring me forth the winds that in them are shut up, show me the image of a voice; and then I will declare to thee the thing that thou laborest to know."
38
And I said, "O Lord who bearest rule, who may know these things but He that hath not His dwelling with men?
39
As for me, I am unwise; how may I then speak of these things whereof Thou askest me?"
40
Then said He unto me, "As thou canst do none of these things that I have spoken of, even so canst thou not find out My judgment, or in the end the love that I have promised unto My people."
41
And I said, "Behold, O Lord, yet art Thou nigh unto those who are reserved till the end; and what shall they do who have been before me, or we who are now, or those who shall come after us?"
42
And He said unto me, "I will liken My judgment unto a ring: as there is no slackness of the last, even so there is no swiftness of the first."