Chapter III
Text | Commentary |
1And I said, O Lord, my lord, have I come into the world for no other purpose than to see the evils of my mother? Surely not, my lord. 2If I have won thy favour, take my life away first, so that I may join my fathers and not witness my mother's destruction. 3I am caught in a dilemma: I cannot resist thee; and yet I cannot bear to watch the ruin 1 Lit. ‘to see the evils’. of my mother. 4But one thing I will ask of thee, 2 Lit. ‘I will say before thee’. O Lord. 5What is to happen after this? For if thou destroyest thy city and dost deliver up thy land to those that hate us, how will the name of Israel again be remembered? 6How will anyone proclaim thy praises? 7To whom will what is in thy law be explained? Is the universe 3 Text ‘ornament’, doubtless through a misunderstanding of the Gk. κόσμος. to return to its original state and the world to revert to primeval silence? 8Is the human race 4 Lit. ‘the multitude of souls’. to be destroyed and mankind to be blotted out? 5 Lit. ‘and the nature of man not again be named’. 9And what is to become of all thou didst say to Moses about us?