24. You told him to build a city to your name and to bring you offerings in it from what is yours.
25. This was done for many years. But those who inhabited the city sinned,
26. doing in every matter just as Adam and all his descendants had done, for they too exercised their inclination to do evil.
27. So you handed your city over to your enemies.
28. “I said then in my heart, Are the lives of Babylon’s inhabitants any better? Is that why Babylon has gained dominion over Zion?
29. But when I came here, I saw their countless godless acts. I have seen many sinners during these thirty years. Then my heart failed,
30. because I saw how you sustain these sinners and have spared those who act without giving you a thought. I saw how you destroyed your people and preserved your enemies,
31. and haven’t given anyone any clue as to how to make sense of these ways. Does Babylon do better than Zion?
32. Has any other nation known you besides Israel? What tribes have believed your covenants as have these tribes of Jacob,
33. whose reward hasn’t appeared and whose labor hasn’t borne fruit? I have traveled widely among the nations and seen them enjoying abundance while not giving your commandments a thought.
34. Now then put our sins on one side of a pair of scales, and put the sins of those who live in the world on the other side. Let’s see then which way the scales tip.
35. When have those who live on earth not sinned in your sight, or what other nation has observed your commandments as has ours?