1In the histories of the twelve tribes of Israel, it is told that there was a very rich man named Joachim, who offered to the Lord offerings in double, saying to himself: 'What I have left over shall be for all the people, and what I owe for my sins shall be for the Lord, as a propitiation in my favor.'
2However, the great feast of the Lord came, in which the children of Israel used to offer their gifts, and behold Reuben presented himself before Joachim, saying: 'It is not permitted for you to offer your offering first, because you have had no offspring in Israel.'
3Joachim, then, became very sad, went to consult the records of the twelve tribes of the people, for he thought: 'I will consult the records of Israel to know if I am the only one without offspring.' Upon searching, he found that all the righteous had had children in Israel. And he remembered the patriarch Abraham, to whom our Lord God, in his last days, had granted a son, Isaac.
4And Joachim was greatly distressed and, without saying anything to his wife, withdrew to the desert and there pitched his tent. And he spent forty days and forty nights fasting, saying to himself: 'I will not go down either for food or for drink, until the Lord my God visits me; and prayer shall be my food and my drink.'