3
Many have been created, but few shall be saved."
4
I answered and said, "Then drink your fill of understanding, O my soul, and drink wisdom, O my heart!
5
For not of your own will did you come into the world, and against your will you depart, for you have been given only a short time to live.
6
O Lord who are over us, grant to thy servant that we may pray before thee, and give us seed for our heart and cultivation of our understanding so that fruit may be produced, by which every mortal who bears the likeness of a human being may be able to live.
7
For thou alone dost exist, and we are a work of thy hands, as thou hast declared.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.