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I departed from there and sat in a cave of the earth in the wadi of Qidron. I set my being apart there. I ate no bread and was not hungry; I drank no water and was not thirsty. I remained there until the seventh day, as He commanded me.
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Afterward I came to the place where He had spoken with me.
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At the setting of the sun, many thoughts seized my being. I began to speak before the Mighty One and said:
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O You who made the earth, hear me; You who fixed the expanse by the Word and established the heights of the heavens by ruach; You who from the beginning called into being what had not yet come to be, and they obey You.
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You who commanded the air by Your sign and beheld things appointed as though they had already passed;
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You who guide with great counsel the hosts standing before You, and govern the innumerable set-apart living ones You made from the world of flame and fire, who surround Your throne;
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You alone possess the power to do at the first moment everything You desire.
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You cause the numbered drops of rain to fall upon the earth, and You alone know the completion of the times before they come. Look upon my petition.
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You alone can sustain all who stand, who pass away, and who are coming—| those who sin and those justified—as the Living One who cannot be searched.
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For You alone live, neither dying nor being searched, and You know the number of the sons of adam.
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Though many have sinned through much time, others, not a few, have acted righteously.
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You know where You preserve the end of those who sinned and the completion of those who acted righteously.
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If the life here were the only life for everyone, nothing would be more bitter than this.
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For what profit is strength that turns to weakness, nourishment that satisfies and turns to hunger, or beauty that becomes hateful?
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At every season the nature of the sons of adam changes.
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We are nothing as we once were; and as we are now, afterward we shall not remain.
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If an end were not appointed for all, our beginning would have been emptiness.
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But make known to me all that comes from You, and illumine me concerning what I ask of You.
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Until when shall corruption remain? Until when shall the time of mortals prosper? Until what time shall those passing through the world defile themselves with great wickedness?
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Therefore command in compassion and establish everything You said You would bring, that Your power may be known to those who suppose Your long-suffering is weakness.
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Show those who do not know and who have seen what befell us and our city until now that this is the long-suffering of Your rule, for You called us by Your Name, a beloved people.
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From now on all nature is mortal.
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Therefore rebuke the messenger of death. Let Your praise appear and the greatness of Your beauty be known. Let Sheol be sealed so that from now on it receives no dead, and let the storehouses release the beings confined in them.
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For the years have been many, as those emptied away since the days of Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov, and of all who resemble them and sleep in the earth—those for whose sake You said You created the world.
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Now show Your praise quickly, and do not delay what You have purposed.
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When I finished the words of this prayer, I was greatly weakened.