1. Now, my son Mathusala, all these things I speak unto thee, and write
for thee. To thee I have revealed all, and have given thee books of
everything.
2. Preserve, my son Mathusala, the books written by thy father;[186]
that thou mayest transmit them to future generations.
3. Wisdom have I given to thee, to thy children, and thy posterity, that
they may transmit to their children, for generations for ever, this
wisdom in their thoughts; and that those who comprehend _it_ may not
slumber, but hear with their ears; that they may learn this wisdom, and
be deemed worthy of eating _this_ wholesome food.
4. Blessed are all the righteous; blessed all who walk in _the paths of_
righteousness; in whom no crime _is found_, as in sinners, when all
their days are numbered.
5. With respect to the progress of the sun in heaven, it enters and goes
out of _each_ gate for thirty days, with the leaders of the thousand
classes of the stars; with four which are added, and appertain to the
four quarters of the year, which conduct them, and accompany them at
four periods.
6. Respecting these, men greatly err, and do not compute them in the
computation of every age; for they greatly err respecting them; nor do
men know accurately that they are in the computation of the year. But
indeed these are marked down[187] for ever; one in the first gate, one
in the third, one in the fourth, and one in the sixth: