18
For there was a time in this age when I was preparing for those who now exist, before the world was made for them to dwell in, and no one opposed me then, for no one existed;
19
but now those who have been created in this world which is supplied both with an unfailing table and an inexhaustible pasture, have become corrupt in their ways.
20
So I considered my world, and behold, it was lost, and my earth, and behold, it was in peril because of the devices of those who had come into it.
21
And I saw and spared some with great difficulty, and saved for myself one grape out of a cluster, and one plant out of a great forest.
22
So let the multitude perish which has been born in vain, but let my grape and my plant be saved, because with much labor I have perfected them.
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.