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33 Then I said, ‘Speak, my lord.’ And he said to me, ‘Are you greatly disturbed in mind over Israel? Or do you love him more than his Maker does?’

34 I said, ‘No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out some part of his judgement.’

35 He said to me, ‘You cannot.’ And I said, ‘Why not, my lord? Why then was I born? Or why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, so that I would not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?’

36 He said to me, ‘Count up for me those who have not yet come, and gather for me the scattered raindrops, and make the withered flowers bloom again for me; ³⁷open for me the closed chambers, and bring out for me the winds shut up in them, or show me the picture of a voice; and then I will explain to you the travail that you ask to understand.’^*

38 I said, ‘O sovereign Lord, who is able to know these things except him whose dwelling is not with mortals? ³⁹As for me, I am without wisdom, and how can I speak concerning the things that you have asked me?’

40 He said to me, ‘Just as you cannot do one of the things that were mentioned, so you cannot discover my judgement, or the goal of the love that I have promised to my people.’

Why Successive Generations Have Been Created

41 I said, ‘Yet, O Lord, you have charge of those who are alive at the end, but what will those do who lived before me, or we, ourselves, or those who come after us?’

42 He said to me, ‘I shall liken my judgement to a circle;^* just as for those who are last there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.’

43 Then I answered and said, ‘Could you not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, so that you might show your judgement the sooner?’

44 He replied to me and said, ‘The creation cannot move faster than the Creator, nor can the world hold at one time those who have been created in it.’

45 I said, ‘How have you said to your servant that you^* will certainly give life at one time to your creation? If therefore all creatures will live at one time^* and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time.’

46 He said to me, ‘Ask a woman’s womb, and say to it, “If you bear ten^* children, why one after another?” Request it therefore to produce ten at one time.’

47 I said, ‘Of course it cannot, but only each in its own time.’

48 He said to me, ‘Even so I have given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. ⁴⁹For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so I have made the same rule for the world that I created.’

When and How Will the End Come?

50 Then I inquired and said, ‘Since you have now given me the opportunity, let me speak before you. Is our mother, of whom you have told me, still young? Or is she now approaching old age?’

51 He replied to me, ‘Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you. ⁵²Say to her, “Why are those whom you have borne recently not like those whom you bore before, but smaller in stature?” ⁵³And she herself will answer you, “Those born in the strength of youth are different from those born during the time of old age, when the womb is failing.” ⁵⁴Therefore you also should consider that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those who were before you, ⁵⁵and those who come after you will be smaller than you, as born of a creation that already is ageing and passing the strength of youth.’

56 I said, ‘I implore you, O Lord, if I have found favour in your sight, show your servant through whom you will visit your creation.’