Section 67
And now I will tell you how he died. His days were sixty [years], when a sickness attacked him. And his days were not as the days of Daviyd his father, but they were twenty [years] shorter than his, because he was under the sway of women and worshipped idols. And the Malak of death came and smote him [in] the foot, and he wept and said, “ O Yahuah Elohim of Yisra'el, I am conquered by the terrestrial Torah, for there is no one free from blemish before you, O Yahuah, and there is no one righteous and wise before you, O Yahuah. For you do scrutinize and try the heart. Nothing is hidden from you. you lookest upon the hidden things [as if they were] revealed, and you searchest out the heart. Have mercy upon me, Yahuah. you examinest the heart of man and do try the reins. Have mercy upon me, Yahuah. you hearest both the whisper and the thunderclap. Have mercy upon me, Yahuah. And if you hast mercy upon the righteous who have not transgressed your Mitswot, what is there wonderful in your mercy? Have mercy upon me, Yahuah. But if you shouldest show mercy upon me, a sinner, your mercy would be a marvellous and gracious thing. Have mercy upon me, Yahuah. And although I have sinned remember Avraham, and Yitsḥaq, and Ya'aqov, my fathers who did not transgress your Mitswah. Have mercy upon me, Yahuah, for you are merciful and forgiving; for the sake of Daviyd your servant have mercy upon me, Yahuah. O Master of the world, and of kings and governors, have mercy upon me, Yahuah. O you who makest fools to be wise, and the wise to be fools, have mercy upon me, Yahuah. O Turner of sinners and Rewarder of the righteous, have mercy upon me, Yahuah.” And as he spoke these words tears streamed down his face, and he searched for his napkin. And the Malak of Elohim went down to him and said to him, “ Hearken you to what I shall say to you, for the sake of which Elohim has sent me. From being a wise man you hast turned thyself into a fool, and from being a rich man you hast turned thyself into a poor man, and from being a king you hast turned thyself into a man of no account, through transgressing the Mitswah of Elohim. And the beginning of your evil was the taking of many wives by you, for through this you did transgress His Torah, and His decree, and the ordinance of Elohim which Mosheh wrote and gave to you, to Yisra'el, that you should not marry wives from alien peoples but only from your kinsfolk and the house of your fathers, that your seed might be pure and qodesh and that Elohim might dwell with you. But you did hold lightly the Torah of Elohim, thinking that you wast wiser than Elohim, and that you wouldst get very many male children. But the foolishness of Elohim is wiser than the wisdom of men, and He has only given you three sons: the one who carried off your glory into an alien land, and made the habitation of Elohim to be in Ethiopia; the one who is lame of foot, who shall sit upon your throne for the people of Yisra'el, the son of the kin of your kin from Tarbana, of the house of Yehudah; and the one who is the son of a Greek woman, a handmaiden, who in the last days shall destroy Reḥav'am and all your kin of Yisra'el; and this land shall be his because he believeth in Him that shall come, the Deliverer. And the tribe of Reḥav'am, and those who are left of Yisra'el, shall crucify Him that shall come, the Redeemer, and the memory of you shall be blotted out from the earth. For they shall think out a plan which they shall not be able to establish, and He will be wroth with them and blot out the memorial of them. “ And as for you, Yoseph, the son of Ya'aqov, shall be a symbol of you. For his brethren sold him into the land of Mitsrayim from Syria, the country of Laba (Laban), and on his going down into the land of Mitsrayim there arose a famine in Syria and in all the world. And through his going down he called his kinsfolk and delivered them from famine and gave them a habitation in the land of Mitsrayim, the name of which is Geshen (Goshen). For he himself was King under Pharaoh, King of Mitsrayim. Similarly the Deliverer Who shall come from your seed shall set you free by His coming, and shall bring you out of Sheol, where until the Deliverer comes you shall suffer pain, together with your fathers; and He will bring you forth. For from your seed shall come forth a Deliverer Who shall deliver you, you and those who were before you, and those who shall [come] after you, from Adam to His coming in the kin of your kin, and He shall make you to go forth from Sheol as Yoseph brought out his kinsfolk from the famine, that is to say the first Sheol in the land of famine, so also shall the Deliverer bring out of Sheol you who are His kinsfolk. And as afterwards the Egyptians made [the kinsmen of Yoseph] slaves, so also have the devils made you slaves through the error of idols. “ And as Mosheh brought his kinsmen out of the servitude [of Mitsrayim], so shall the Deliverer bring you out of the servitude of Sheol. And as Mosheh wrought ten miracles and punishments (or, plagues) before Pharaoh the King, so the Deliverer Who shall come from your seed shall work ten miracles for life before your people. And as Mosheh, after he had wrought the miracles, smote the sea and made the people to pass over as it were on dry land, so the Deliverer Who shall come shall overthrow the walls of Sheol and bring you out. And as Mosheh drowned Pharaoh with the Egyptians in the Sea of Eritrea, so also shall the Deliverer drown Satan and his devils in Sheol; for the sea is to be interpreted by Sheol, and Pharaoh by Satan, and his hosts of Egyptians by devils. And as Mosheh fed them [with] manna in the desert without toil, so shall the Deliverer feed you with the food of the Garden (i.e. Paradise) for ever, after He has brought you out from Sheol. And as Mosheh made them to dwell in the desert for forty years, without their apparel becoming worn out, or the soles of their feet becoming torn, so the Deliverer shall make you to dwell without toil after the Resurrection. And as Yehoshua brought them into the Land of Promise, so shall the Deliverer bring you into the Garden of Delight. And as Yehoshua slew the seven Kings of Kena'an, so shall the Deliverer slay the seven heads of ’Iblis. And as Yehoshua destroyed the people of Kena'an, so shall the Deliverer destroy sinners and shut them up in the fortress of Sheol. And as you hast built the house of Elohim, so shall assemblies be built upon the tops of the mountains.”