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Therefore by creatures like these they were rightly punished, and by a multitude of beasts they were tormented.
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Instead of this punishment, You dealt well with Your People, and prepared for them food of a strange desire— quail for their appetite.
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So that those enemies, desiring food, might lose even the necessary appetite because of the hideous things sent among them, while Your People, after suffering want for a short time, might partake of strange nourishment.
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For upon those oppressors it was necessary that unavoidable want should come, but to these it was only to be shown how their enemies were being tormented.
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For even when the fierce rage of beasts came upon Your People, and they were perishing from the bites of twisting serpents, Your wrath did not remain to the end.
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But for correction they were troubled for a short time, having a sign of salvation to remind them of the commandment of Your Torah.
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For the one who turned toward it was not saved because of the thing that was seen, but because of You, the Savior of all.
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And by this You persuaded our enemies that You are the One who delivers from every evil.
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For the bites of locusts and flies killed them, and no healing was found for their being, because they deserved to be punished by such things.
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But not even the teeth of venomous serpents overcame Your sons, for Your compassion came to their aid and healed them.
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They were bitten so that they might remember Your words, and were quickly healed lest they fall into deep forgetfulness and become separated from Your goodness.
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For neither herb nor plaster healed them, but Your Word, Yahuah, which heals all.
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For You have authority over life and death, and You bring down to the gates of Sheol and bring up again.
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An Adam indeed may kill through his wickedness, but he cannot return the ruach once it has gone forth, nor release the being received by Sheol.
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But it is impossible to escape Your hand.
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For the wicked who refused to know You were struck by the strength of Your arm, being pursued by strange rains, hail, and relentless storms, and consumed by fire.
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For what was most astonishing: in water, which extinguishes all things, the fire became even stronger, for creation itself fights for the righteous.
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At one time the flame was restrained so that it would not burn the creatures sent against the wicked, that they might see and understand that they were being pursued by the Judgment of Elohim.
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And at another time, even in the midst of water, it burned beyond the power of fire, so that it might destroy the produce of an unrighteous land.
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But instead of these things, You fed Your People with the food of messengers and gave them bread from heaven without labor, prepared to supply every delight and suited to every taste.
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For Your substance showed Your sweetness toward Your sons, and serving the desire of the one who received it, it changed according to whatever each one desired.
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Snow and ice endured fire without melting, so that they might know that the fruits of the enemies were destroyed by fire burning in the hail and flashing through the rain.
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Yet this same fire, so that the righteous might be nourished, forgot even its own power.
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For creation, serving You who made it, strains itself for punishment against the wicked, but is made gentle for the benefit of those who trust in You.
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Therefore even then, being transformed into all things, it served Your all-nourishing gift according to the desire of those who had need,
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so that Your sons whom You loved, Yahuah, might learn that it is not the generations of fruits that nourish Adam, but Your Word preserves those who trust in You.
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For what was not destroyed by fire melted simply when warmed by a brief ray of the sun,
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so that it might be known that one must rise before the sun to give You thanks and meet You at the rising of the light.
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For the hope of the ungrateful shall melt like winter frost and flow away like useless water.