For the dead shall rise and they that are in the sepulchre shall be raised, says the prophet.
2A certain King had all the men in his kingdom enrolled in the army and had no civilian, but two only, one lame and one blind, and each abode separately and dwelt apart.
3And the King made a marriage-feast for his own son and invited all that were in his kingdom, but neglected the two civilians, the lame man and the blind.
4And they were angry in themselves and set about contriving a design against the King.
5Now the King had a garden: and the blind man called out from a distance to the lame man and said, 'How much would the breaking of our bread have been with the multitudes that are invited to the merry-making? Come then, and as he hath done to us, let us requite him.'
6The other asked, 'In what way?' and he said, 'Let us go into his garden and destroy the things there.' But he said, 'And how can I, who am lame and cannot walk?' and the blind man said, 'What can I myself do, who cannot see whither I am going? but let us devise means.'
7Then the lame man plucked the grass that was near him and plaited a rope and threw it to the blind man and said, 'Catch hold of it and come along the rope hither to me.'
8And when he had done as he was told and was come to the place, the lame man said, 'Come, be feet to me and carry me, and I will be eyes to thee from above and guide thee to the right hand and the left.' And so they did, and went down to the garden.
9Then, for the rest, whether they spoiled it or not, at all events their tracks were to be seen in the garden.
10And when the feasters dispersed from the marriage, they went into the garden and were enraged at finding the tracks there, and reported it to the King, saying, 'We are all soldiers in thy kingdom, and there is no civilian: whence, then, are the tracks of civilians in the garden?' And he marvelled.
11And the King sent for the lame and the blind man, and asked the blind man, 'Didst thou go down into the garden?' And he said, 'Alas, Lord! thou seest our infirmity: thou knowest that I cannot see where I walk.'
12Then he came to the lame man and asked him, 'Didst thou go down into my garden?' and he answered and said, 'O Lord, wouldest thou afflict my soul in respect of my infirmity?'
13And then the judgment was at a standstill. What, then, does the just judge do? Having discerned in what manner the two were yoked together, he sets the lame man on the blind man's back, and examines both of them with scourges, and they cannot deny the fact.
14Each convicts the other, the lame man saying to the blind, 'Didst thou not bear me and carry me off?' and the blind to the lame, 'Didst not thou thyself become eyes to me?'
15In like manner, the body is joined with the soul and the soul with the body to convict them of their deeds done in common, and the judgment becomes complete for both of them, body and soul, of the works they have done, whether good or bad.