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Wisdom prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.
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They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness and pitched their tents in places where there was no road.
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They stood against their enemies and defended themselves against their adversaries.
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They thirsted and called upon You, and water was given to them from a flinty rock, and relief from thirst from hard stone.
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For by the things through which their enemies were punished, by those same things they themselves, when in need, were benefited.
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Instead of a fountain of an ever-flowing river troubled with blood,
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as a rebuke for the decree that slew infants, You gave them abundant water unexpectedly,
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showing through their thirst how You had punished their enemies.
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For when they were tested, though disciplined in compassion, they understood how the wicked, being judged in wrath, were tormented.
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For these You tested as a father giving warning, but those You examined as a severe king condemning them.
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Whether absent or present, they were afflicted alike.
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For a double grief seized them, and groaning at the remembrance of things past.
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For when they heard that through their own punishments the others had received benefit, they perceived the hand of Yahuah.
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For the one whom they once rejected and cast out in mockery, him at the end of what happened they admired, having thirsted in a manner unlike the righteous.
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But because of the foolish and wicked thoughts of their crookedness, by which they were deceived into worshiping irrational creeping things and worthless beasts, You sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures for punishment,
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that they might know that by whatever an ish sins, by that same thing he is punished.
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For Your all-powerful hand, which created the world out of formless matter, was not unable to send against them a multitude of bears or fierce lions,
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or newly created unknown beasts full of rage, breathing out fiery vapor, or sending forth foul smoke, or flashing terrible sparks from their eyes,
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whose very appearance could destroy them, even before their blows struck them down.
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And even without these, they could have fallen with a single breath, pursued by Judgment and scattered by the breath of Your Power. But You arranged all things by measure, number, and weight.
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For great strength is always Yours, and who can resist the might of Your arm?
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For the whole world before You is like a grain that tips the scales, and like a drop of morning dew falling upon the earth.
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But You show compassion to all, because You are able to do all things, and You overlook the sins of Adam so that they may repent.
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For You love all the things that exist, and You abhor nothing that You made. For if You had hated anything, You would not have formed it.
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And how could anything remain unless You willed it? Or how could anything be preserved unless it had been called by You?
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But You spare all things, because they are Yours, O Master, Lover of life.