The workes of God are wonderful from the beginning, 7. and men
vngrateful 13. In Abraham God chose to himself a peculiar people: who
neuertheles were froward, and obstinate. 23. He also chose Dauid, but
stil the people were sinful: 28. the Babylonians also, by whom the are
afflicted, are no lesse but rather greater sinners.
IN the thirteth yeare of the ruine of the citie I was in Babylon, and
was trubled lying in my chamber, and my cogitations came vp ouer my
hart: 2 because I saw the desolation of Sion, and the abundance of them
that dwelt in Babylon. 3 And my spirit was tossed excedingly, and I
began to speake to the highest timorous wordes, 4 and sayd: O Lord
dominatour thou spakest from the beginning, when thou didst plant the
earth, and that alone, and didst rule ouer the people, (Gen 1) 5 and
gauest Adam a dead bodie: but that also was the worke of thy handes, &
didst breath into him the spirit of life, and he was made to liue
before thee: (Gen 2:7) 6 and thou broughst him into paradise, which thy
right hand had planted, before the earth came. 7 And him thou didst
command to loue thy way, and he transgressed it, & forth with thou
didst institute death in him, and in his posteritie, and there were
borne nations, and tribes, and peoples, and kindreds, wherof there is
no number. 8 And euerie nation walked in their owne wil, & they did
meruelous thinges before thee, and despised thy preceptes. 9 And agane
in time thou broughst in the floud vpon inhabitantes of the world, and
didst destroy them. (Gen 7) 10 And there was made in euery one of them,
as vnto Adam to dye, so to them the floud, 11 But thou didst leaue one
of them, Noe with his house and of him were al the iust. 12 And it came
to passe, when they began to be multiplied, that dwelt vpon the earth,
& multiplied children and peoples and manie nations: and they begane
againe to doe impietie more then the former. 13 And it came to passe
when they did iniquitie before thee, thou didst choose thee a man of
them whose name was Abraham. 14 And thou didst loue him and to him
onlie thou didst shew thy wil. (Gen 12) 15 And thou didst dispose vnto
him an euerlasting testament, and toldst him that thou wouldst neuer
forsake his seede. And thou gauest him Issac, and to Isaac thou gauest
Iacob and Esau. 16 And Iacob thou didst seuer to thy selfe, but Esau
thou didst separate. And Iacob grewe to a great multitude. 17 And it
came to passe when thou didst bring forth his sede out of AEgypt, thou
broughst it vpon mount Sinai. (Ex 19) 18 And thou didst bowe the
heauens, and fasten the earth, and didst shake the world, and madest
the depthes to tremble, and trubledst the world, 19 and thy glorie
passed foure gates of fire, and of earthquake, and winde, and frost,
that thou mightst geue a law to the seede of Iacob, and to the
generation of Israel diligence. 20 And thou didst not take away from
them a malignant hart, that thy law might bring forth fruite in them.
21 For Adam the first bearing a vicious hart transgressed and was
ouercome, yea and al that were borne of him. 22 And it was made a
permanent infirmitie, and the law with the hart of the people, with the
wickednes of the roote, and that which is good departed, and the wicked
remayned. 23 And the times passed, & the yeares were ended: and thou
didst raise vp vnto thee a seruant named Dauid, 24 and spakest vnto him
to build a citie of thy name, and to offer vnto thee in it
frankencense, and oblations. 25 And this was done manie yeares, and
they that inhabited the citie forsooke thee, 26 in al things as Adam
and al his generations. For they also vsed a wicked hart. 27 And thou
didst deliuer thy citie into the hands of thyne enimies. 28 Why, doe
they better thinges, that inhabite Babylon? And for this shal she rule
ouer Sion? (Jer 12) 29 It came to passe when I was come hither, and had
sene the impieties that can not be numbred: and my soul saw manie
offending this thirteth yeare, & my hart was astonied: 30 because I saw
how thou bearest with their sinne, and didst spare them that did
impiously, and didst destroy thine owne people, and preserue thine
enimies, and didst not signifie it. 31 I nothing remember how this way
should be forsaken: doth Babylon better thinges then Sion? 32 Or hath
anie nation knowen thee beside Israel: or what tribes haue beleued thy
testamentes as Iacob? 33 Whose reward hath not appeared, nor their
labour fructified. For passing through I passed among the nations, and
I saw them abound, and not mindeful of thy commandmentes. 34 Now
therfore wey our iniquities in a ballance, and theirs that dwel in the
world: & thy name shal not be found, but in Israel. 35 Or when haue not
they sinned in thy sight, that inhabite the earth? or what nation hath
so obserued thy commandmentes? 36 These certes by their names thou
shalt finde to haue kept thy commandments, but the nations thou shalt
not finde.