92. I saw, too, that he forsook the house of their fathers, and their
tower; giving them all into the power of lions to tear and devour them;
into the power of every beast.
93. Then I began to cry out with all my might, imploring the Lord of the
sheep, and showing him how the sheep were devoured by all the beasts of
prey.
94. But he looked on in silence, rejoicing that they were devoured,
swallowed up, and carried off; and leaving them in the power of every
beast for food. He called also seventy shepherds, and resigned to them
_the care of_ the sheep, that they might overlook them;
95. Saying to them and to their associates, Every one of you
henceforwards overlook the sheep, and whatsoever I command you, do; and
I will deliver _them_ to you numbered.[226]
96. I will tell you which of them shall be slain; these destroy. And he
delivered the sheep to them.
97. Then he called to another, and said, Understand, and watch
everything which the shepherds shall do to these sheep; for many more of
them shall perish than I have commanded.
98. Of every excess and slaughter, which the shepherds shall commit,
_there shall be_ an account; as, how many may have perished by my
command, and how many they may have destroyed of their own heads.
99. Of all the destruction _brought about by_ each of the shepherds
there shall be an account; and according to the number I will cause a
recital to be made before me, how many they have destroyed of their own
heads, and how many they have delivered up to destruction, that I may
have this testimony against them; that I may know all their proceedings;
and that, delivering _the sheep_ to them, I may see what they will do;
whether they will act as I have commanded them, or not.
100. _Of this_, however, they shall be ignorant; neither shalt thou make
any explanation to them, neither shalt thou reprove them; but there
shall be an account of all the destruction _done_ by them in their
respective seasons. Then they began to kill, and destroy more than it
was commanded them.
101. And they left the sheep in the power of lions, so that very many of
them were devoured and swallowed up by lions and tigers; and wild boars
preyed upon them. That tower they burnt, and overthrew that house.
102. Then I grieved extremely on account of the tower, and because the
house of the sheep was overthrown.
103. Neither was I afterwards able to perceive whether they _again_
entered that house.
104. The shepherds likewise, and their associates, delivered them to all
the wild beasts, that they might devour them. Each of them in his
season, according to his number, was delivered up; each of them, one
with another, was described in a book, how many of them, one with
another, were destroyed, in a book.
105. More, however, than was ordered, every _shepherd_ killed and
destroyed.
106. Then I began to weep, and was greatly indignant, on account of the
sheep.
107. In like manner also I saw in the vision him who wrote, how he wrote
down one, destroyed by the shepherds, every day. He ascended, remained,
and exhibited each of his books to the Lord of the sheep, _containing_
all which they had done, and all which each of them had made away with;