| 1 | In those days, when He shall cast the calamity of fire upon you, whither will you fly, and where will you be safe? |
| 2 | And when He sends forth his word against you, are you not spared, and terrified? |
| 3 | All the luminaries are agitated with great fear; and all the earth is spared, while it trembles, and suffers anxiety. |
| 4 | All the angels fulfill the commands received by them, and are desirous of being concealed from the presence of the great Glory; while the children of the earth are alarmed and troubled. |
| 5 | But you, sinners, are for ever accursed; to you there shall be no peace. |
| 6 | Fear not, souls of the righteous; but wait with patient hope for the day of your death in righteousness. Grieve not, because your souls descend in great trouble, with groaning, lamentation, and sorrow, to the receptacle of the dead. In your lifetime your bodies have not received a recompense in proportion to your goodness, but in the period of your existence have sinners existed; in the period of execration and of punishment. |
| 7 | And when you die, sinners say concerning you, As we die, the righteous die. What profit have they in their works? Behold, like us, they expire in sorrow and in darkness. What advantage have they over us? |
| 8 | Henceforward are we equal. |
| 9 | What will be within their grasp, and what before their eyes for ever? |
| 10 | For behold they are dead; and never will they again perceive the light. |
| 11 | I say unto you, sinners, You have been satisfied with meat and drink, with human plunder and rapine, with sin, with the acquisition of wealth and with the sight of good days. |
| 12 | Have you not marked the righteous, how their end is in peace? |
| 13 | For no oppression is found in them even to the day of their death. |
| 14 | They perish, and are as if they were not, while their souls descend in trouble to the receptacle of the dead. |
| 15 | But now I swear to you, righteous, by the greatness of his splendour and his glory; by his illustrious kingdom and by his majesty, to you I swear, that I comprehend this mystery; that I have read the tablet of heaven, have seen the writing of the holy ones, and have discovered what is written and impressed on it concerning you. |
| 16 | I have seen that all goodness, joy, and glory has been prepared for you, and been written down for the spirits of them who die eminently righteous and good. To you it shall be given in return for your troubles; and your portion of happiness shall far exceed the portion of the living. |
| 17 | The spirits of you who die in righteousness shall exist and rejoice. |
| 18 | Their spirits shall exult; and their remembrance shall be before the face of the Mighty One from generation to generation. Nor shall they now fear disgrace. |
| 19 | Woe to you, sinners, when you die in your sins; and they, who are like you, say respecting you, Blessed are these sinners. |
| 20 | They have lived out their whole period; and now they die in happiness and in wealth. Distress and slaughter they knew not while alive; in honour they die; nor ever in their lifetime did judgment overtake them. |
| 21 | But has it not been shown to them, that, when to the receptacle of the dead their souls shall be made to descend, their evil deeds shall become their greatest torment? Into darkness, into the snare, and into the flame, which shall burn to the great judgment, shall their spirits enter; and the great judgment shall take effect for ever and for ever. |
| 22 | Woe to you; for to you there shall be no peace. Neither can you say to the righteous, and to the good who are alive, In the days of our trouble have we been afflicted; every manner of trouble have we seen, and many evil things have suffered. |
| 23 | Our spirits have been consumed, lessened, and diminished. |
| 24 | We have perished; nor has there been a possibility of help for us in word or in deed: we have found none, but have been tormented and destroyed. |
| 25 | We have not expected to live day after day. |
| 26 | We hoped indeed to have been the head; |
| 27 | But we have become the tail. We have been afflicted, when we have exerted ourselves; but we have been devoured by sinners and the ungodly; their yoke has been heavy upon us. |
| 28 | Those have exercised dominion over us who detest and who goad us; and to those who hate us have we humbled our neck; but they have shown no compassion towards us. |
| 29 | We have been desirous of escaping from them, that we might fly away and be at rest; but we have found no place to which we could fly, and be secure from them. |
| 30 | We have sought an asylum with princes in our distress, and have cried out to those who were devouring us; but our cry has not been regarded, nor have they been disposed to hear our voice; |
| 31 | But rather to assist those who plunder and devour us; those who diminish us, and hide their oppression; who remove not their yoke from us, but devour, enervate, and slay us; who conceal our slaughter, nor remember that they have lifted up their hands against us. |
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Chapter - 40