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Then the third, that is Zerubbabel, who had spoken of women and truth, began to speak:
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Gentlemen, is not the king great, and are not men many, and is not wine strong? Who then is their master, or who is their lord? Is it not women?
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Women gave birth to the king and to every people that rules over sea and land.
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From women they came; and women brought up the very men who plant the vineyards from which comes wine.
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Women make men's clothes; they bring men glory; men cannot exist without women.
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If men gather gold and silver or any other beautiful thing, and then see a woman lovely in appearance and beauty,
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they let all those things go, and gape at her, and with open mouths stare at her, and all prefer her to gold or silver or any other beautiful thing.
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A man leaves his own father, who brought him up, and his own country, and cleaves to his wife.
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With his wife he ends his days, with no thought of his father or his mother or his country.
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Hence you must realize that women rule over you! "Do you not labor and toil, and bring everything and give it to women?
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A man takes his sword, and goes out to travel and rob and steal and to sail the sea and rivers;
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he faces lions, and he walks in darkness, and when he steals and robs and plunders, he brings it back to the woman he loves.
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A man loves his wife more than his father or his mother.
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Many men have lost their minds because of women, and have become slaves because of them.
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Many have perished, or stumbled, or sinned, because of women.
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And now do you not believe me? "Is not the king great in his power? Do not all lands fear to touch him?
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Yet I have seen him with Apame, the king's concubine, the daughter of the illustrious Bartacus; she would sit at the king's right hand
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and take the crown from the king's head and put it on her own, and slap the king with her left hand.
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At this the king would gaze at her with mouth agape. If she smiles at him, he laughs; if she loses her temper with him, he flatters her, that she may be reconciled to him.
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Gentlemen, why are not women strong, since they do such things?"
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Then the king and the nobles looked at one another; and he began to speak about truth:
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"Gentlemen, are not women strong? The earth is vast, and heaven is high, and the sun is swift in its course, for it makes the circuit of the heavens and returns to its place in one day.
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Is he not great who does these things? But truth is great, and stronger than all things.
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The whole earth calls upon truth, and heaven blesses her. All God's works quake and tremble, and with him there is nothing unrighteous.
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Wine is unrighteous, the king is unrighteous, women are unrighteous, all the sons of men are unrighteous, all their works are unrighteous, and all such things. There is no truth in them and in their unrighteousness they will perish.
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But truth endures and is strong for ever, and lives and prevails for ever and ever.
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With her there is no partiality or preference, but she does what is righteous instead of anything that is unrighteous or wicked. All men approve her deeds,
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and there is nothing unrighteous in her judgment. To her belongs the strength and the kingship and the power and the majesty of all the ages. Blessed be the God of truth!"
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He ceased speaking; then all the people shouted, and said, "Great is truth, and strongest of all!"
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Then the king said to him, "Ask what you wish, even beyond what is written, and we will give it to you, for you have been found to be the wisest. And you shall sit next to me, and be called my kinsman."
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Then he said to the king, "Remember the vow which you made to build Jerusalem, in the day when you became king,