1   In the thirtieth year after the fall of Jerusalem, I, Salathiel (who am also Ezra), was in Babylon. As I lay on my bed I was troubled; 2   my mind was filled with perplexity, as I considered the desolation of Zion and the prosperity of those who lived in Babylon. 3   My spirit was deeply disturbed; and I uttered my fears to the Most High. 4   ‘My Lord, my Master,’ I said, ‘was it not you, and you alone,

The mystery of human destiny who in the beginning spoke the word that formed the world? You commanded the dust, and Adam appeared. 5   His body was lifeless; but yours were the hands that had moulded it, and into it you breathed the breath of life. 6   So you made him a living person. You led him into paradise, which you yourself had planted before the earth came into being. 7   You gave him your one commandment to obey; he disobeyed it, and thereupon you made him subject to death, him and his descendants.

‘From him were born nations and tribes, peoples and families, too numerous to count. 8   Each nation went its own way, sinning against you and scorning you; and you did not stop them. 9   But then again, in due time, you brought the flood upon the inhabitants of the earth and destroyed them. 10   The same doom came upon all: death upon Adam, and the flood upon that generation. 11   One man you spared—Noah, with his household, and all his righteous descendants.

12   ‘The population of the earth increased; families and peoples multiplied, nation upon nation. But then once again they began to sin, more wickedly than those before them. 13   When they sinned, you chose for yourself one of them, whose name was Abraham; 14   him you loved, and to him alone, secretly, at dead of night, you showed how the world would end. 15   You made an everlasting covenant with him and promised never to abandon his descendants. 16   You gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau; of these you chose Jacob for yourself and rejected Esau; and Jacob grew to be a great nation.

17   ‘You rescued his descendants from Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai. 18   There you bent the sky, shook ^note the earth, moved the round world, made the depths shudder, and turned creation upside down. 19   Your glory passed through the four gates of fire and earthquake, wind and frost; and you gave the commandments of the law to the Israelites, the race of Jacob. 20   But you did not take away their wicked heart and enable your law to bear fruit in them. 21   For the first man, Adam, was burdened with a wicked heart; he sinned and was overcome, and not only he but all his descendants. 22   So the weakness became inveterate. Although your law was in your people's hearts, a rooted wickedness was there too; so that the good came to nothing, and what was bad persisted.

23   ‘Years went by, and when the time came you raised up a servant

The mystery of human destiny for yourself, whose name was David. 24   You told him to build the city that bears your name and there offer to you in sacrifice what was already your own. 25   This was done for many years; until the inhabitants of the city went astray, behaving just like Adam and all his line; 26    for they had the same wicked heart. 27   And so you gave your own city over to your enemies.

28   ‘I said to myself: “Perhaps those in Babylon lead better lives, and that is why they have conquered Zion.” 29   But when I arrived here, I saw more wickedness than I could reckon, and these thirty years I have seen many evil-doers with my own eyes. 30   My heart sank, because I saw how you tolerate sinners and spare the godless; how you have destroyed your own people, but protected your enemies. You 31   have given no hint whatever to anyone how to understand your ways. ^note 32   Is Babylon more virtuous than Zion? Has any nation except Israel ever known you? What tribes have put their trust in your covenants as the tribes of Jacob have? 33   But they have seen no reward, no fruit for their pains. I have travelled up and down among the nations, and have seen how they prosper, heedless though they are of your commandments. 34   So weigh our sins in the balance against the sins of the rest of the world; and it will be clear which way the scale tips. 35   Has there ever been a time when the inhabitants of the earth did not sin against you? Has any nation ever kept your commandments like Israel? 36   You may find one man here, one there; but nowhere a whole nation.’

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