1And my children, after having taken charge of the service, took their meals each day along with their three sisters beginning with the older brother, and made a feast.
2And I rose in the morning and offered as sin-offering for them fifty rams and nineteen sheep, and what remained as a residue was consecrated to the poor.
3And I said to them: "Take these as residue and pray for my children.
4Perchance my sons have sinned before the Lord, speaking in haughtiness of spirit: We are children of this rich man. Ours are all these goods; why should we be servants of the poor?
5And speaking thus in a haughty spirit they may have provoked the anger of God, for overbearing pride is an abomination before the Lord."
6So I brought oxen as offerings to the priest at the altar saying: "May my children never think evil towards God in their hearts.’’
7While I lived in this manner, the Seducer could not bear to see the good [I did], and he demanded the warfare of God against me.
8And he came upon me cruelly.
9First he burnt up the large number of sheep, then the camels, then he burnt up the cattle and all my herds; or they were captured not only by enemies but also by such as had received benefits from me.
10And the shepherds came and announced that to me.
11But when I heard it, I gave praise to God and did not blaspheme.
12And when the Seducer learned of my fortitude, he plotted new things against me.
13He disguised himself as King of Persia and besieged my city, and after he had led off all that were therein, he spoke to them in malice, saying in boastful language:
14"This man Job who has obtained all the goods of the earth and left nothing for others, he has destroyed and torn down the temple of god.
15Therefore shall I repay to him what he has done to the house of the great god.
16Now come with me and we shall pillage all that is left in his house."
17And they answered and said to him: "He has seven sons and three daughters.
18Take heed lest they flee into other lands and they may become our tyrants and then come over us with force and kill us.’’
19And he said: Be not at all afraid. His flocks and his wealth have I destroyed by fire, and the rest have I captured, and behold, his children shall I kill."
20And having spoken thus, he went and threw the house upon my children and killed them.
21And my fellow-citizens, seeing that what was said by him had become true, came and pursued me, and robbed me of all that was in my house.
22And I saw with mine own eyes the pillage of my house, and men without culture and without honor sat at my table and on my couches, and I could not remonstrate against them.
23For I was exhausted like a woman with her loins let loose from multitude of pains, remembering chiefly that this warfare had been predicted to me by the Lord through His angel.
24And I became like one who, when seeing the rough sea and the adverse winds, while the lading of the vessel in mid-ocean is too heavy, casts the burden into the sea, saying:
25"I wish to destroy all this only in order to come safely into the city so that I may take as profit the rescued ship and the best of my things."
26Thus did I manage my own affairs.
27But there came another messenger and announced to me the ruin of my own children, and I was shaken with terror.
28And I tore my clothes and said: The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken. As it hath deemed best to the Lord, thus it hath come to be. May the name of the Lord be blessed."