¹And I went there and sat in the valley of Kidron in a cave of the earth, and I sanctified my soul there, and I ate no bread, yet I was not hungry, and I drank no water, yet I thirsted not, and I was there till the seventh day, as He had commanded me.

²And afterwards I came to that place where He had spoken with me.

³And it came to pass at sunset that my soul took much thought, and I began to speak in the presence of the Mighty One, and said:

⁴'O you that have made the earth, hear me, that have fixed the firmament by the word, and have made firm the height of the heaven by the spirit, that have called from the beginning of the world that which did not yet exist, and they obey you.

⁵You that have commanded the air by Thy nod, and have seen those things which are to be as those things which thou art doing.

⁶You that rule with great thought the hosts that stand before thee: also the countless holy beings, which you did make from the beginning, of flame and fire, which stand around Thy throne you rule with indignation.

⁷To you only does this belong that you should do forthwith whatsoever thou dost wish.

⁸Who causes the drops of rain to rain by number upon the earth, and alone knoweth the consummation of the times before they come; have respect unto my prayer.

⁹For you alone are able to sustain all who are, and those who have passed away, and those who are to be, those who sin, and those who are to righteous [as living (and) being past finding out].

¹⁰For you alone do live immortal and past finding out, and know the number of mankind.

¹¹And if in time many have sinned, yet others not a few have been righteous.

¹²You know where you preserve the end of those who have sinned, or the consummation of those who have been righteous.

¹³For if there were this life only, which belongs to all men, nothing could be more bitter than this.

¹⁴For of what profit is strength that turns to sickness, Or fullness of food that turns to famine, Or beauty that turns to ugliness.

¹⁵For the nature of man is always changeable.

¹⁶For what we were formerly now we no longer are and what we now are we shall not afterwards remain.

¹⁷For if a consummation had not been prepared for all, in vain would have been their beginning.

¹⁸But regarding everything that cometh from thou dost you inform me, and regarding everything about which I ask you, dost thou enlighten me.

¹⁹How long will that which is corruptible remain, and how long will the time of mortals be prospered, and till what time will those who transgress in the world be polluted with much wickedness?

²⁰Command therefore in mercy and accomplish all that you saidst you wouldst bring, that Thy might may be made known to those who think that Thy long-suffering is weakness.

²¹And show to those who know not, that everything that hath befallen us and our city till now has been according to the long-suffering of Thy power, because on account of Thy name thou hast called us a beloved people.

²²Bring to an end therefore henceforth mortality.

²³And reprove accordingly the angel of death, and let Thy glory appear, and let the might of Thy beauty be known, and let Sheol be sealed so that from this time forward it may not receive the dead, and let the treasuries of souls restore those which are enclosed in them.

²⁴For there have been many years like those that are desolate from the days of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and of all those who are like them, who sleep in the earth, on whose account you did say that thou hadst created the world.

²⁵And now quickly show Thy glory, and do not defer what has been promised by you.'

²⁶And (when) I had completed the words of this prayer I was greatly weakened. Time needed for its Accomplishment: Things must be judged in the Light of their Consummation (22). Till all Souls are born the End cannot come (23).