Chapter 9
1Whether it be what is in Heaven or what is on Earth, whether it be subtle or stout—everything and all His wealth exists established in His Order.
2There is nothing that has departed from the Law and Order of the Lord, who created all the world. Even the track of a vulture that flies in Heaven—He commands it toward the destination He desires.
3He commands the path of the earth-snake that lives in a cave toward where He desires, and the path of a boat on the sea. Apart from the Lord alone, there is none who knows its path.
4And apart from the Lord alone, there is none who knows the path where a soul goes when it is separated from its flesh, whether it be a righteous or a sinful soul.
5Who knows where it will turn—whether it turns in the wilderness or upon a mountain? Or whether it flies like a bird, or is like the dew of Heaven that alights upon a mountain...
6...or whether it is like the deep wind, or like lightning that straightens its own path...
7...or whether it is like stars that shine in the deep, or like sand on a seashore piled in the deep...
8...or whether it is like a foundation stone firmed up on the edge of the deep sea, or like a tree that gives beautiful fruit, growing by a water spout...
9...or whether it is like the reed that the heat of the Sun burns, which the wind lifts and takes to another place where it did not grow, and whose trace is not found?
10Or whether it is like misty vapor whose trace is not found? Who knows the Work of the Lord? Who are His counselors? With whom did He consult?
11Since the Thoughts of the Lord are hidden from people, who can examine and know His Work?
12As He created Earth upon Water and firmed her up without stakes, there are none who can know the Lord’s Counsel or His Wisdom. He created Heaven in His perfect Wisdom, firmed it up in the winds, and stretched forth a lofty cosmos like a tent.
13He commanded the clouds to rain upon the Earth, grew the grass, and grew fruits without number to be food for people, so that we might believe in the Lord and be joyful in unity.
14The Lord is the One who gives the children of Adam joy, fatness, and satisfaction. The Lord gives so that they might be satisfied and praise Him who gave them fruit from the Earth...
15...and who dressed them in beautiful robes, giving them all love and plenty—the joy and happiness given to those who fulfill the Lord's Will.
16He gives love and honor in the house He prepared and in the Kingdom of Heaven to those fathers who keep the Lord’s Law.
17He gives love and honor in the place He prepared and in the Kingdom of Heaven to the fathers who lived firmly in His Worship and His Law, and who did not depart from it. He made them famous and raised them up to keep His Order and Law. I have seen what the Lord does for His friends in this world by weakening their enemies and keeping their bodies safe.
18I have seen that He gives them all they ask of Him and fulfills their desires. Do not depart from the Lord, but fulfill His Will.
19Do not depart from His Command and His Law, lest He be angry with you and destroy you at once—lest He be angry and whip you in the tribulation where you lived formerly. Do not depart from the Order of your fathers, lest your dwelling be in Gehenna, where there is no exit for eternity.
20Keep the Law of your Creator when your soul is separated from your flesh, so that He might do a good work for you when you stand before Him.
21For the Kingdoms of Earth and Heaven are His; Kingdom and capability are His; and kindness and pardon are only His.
22As He makes rich and poor, as He makes wretched and honors—keep the Lord's Law.
23And David spoke because of Him, saying: "Man seems vain, and his time passes like a shadow."
24He spoke of Him, saying: "But Lord, You live forever, and the invocation of Your Name is for all generations."
25And again he said: "Your Kingdom is the Kingdom of all the world, and Your Rulership is for all generations." You returned a kingdom to David, taking it from Saul.
26But there is none who can appoint You; there is none who can dismiss You. You see all, yet there is none who can see You.
27Your Kingdom won't perish forever, for all generations. There is none who will rule Him, but He rules all. He sees all, but none see Him.
28As He created man in His Features and His example so that they might praise Him and know His Worship in straight reasoning without doubt, He examines and knows what the kidneys produce and what a mind thinks.
29Yet they bow to stone, to wood, and to silver and gold worked by a person's hand.
30They sacrifice sacrifices to them until the smoke of their sacrifice reaches Heaven, so that their sins remain firm before the Lord; yet they refused to worship the Lord who created them. He shall accuse them because of all the sins they committed in worshipping those idols.
31They learned to bow to idols and all improper, stained work—fortune-telling by stars, sorcery, idol worship, evil desires, and all the work the Lord does not love. They did not keep the Lord's Command which they had learned.
32Since they did not love to worship the Lord—though they could have saved their bodies from sin and iniquity through His servants the Angels and the wealth they praise before the Lord—they do all this while lacking good works.
33When they all arise together from the graves where they were buried and where their bodies perished, their souls shall stand empty before the Lord. But the souls of kind persons lived in the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for them.
34But the souls of sinners shall live in Gehenna. When the graves are opened, those who are dead shall arise, and souls shall return to the flesh from which they were formerly separated.
35Just as they were born in their nakedness from their mother’s belly, they shall stand in their nakedness before the Lord. The sins they committed from their infancy until that time shall be revealed.
36They shall receive the punishment for their sins upon their bodies; whether their sins were few or many, they shall receive hardship according to their sins.