22. Yet snow and ice withstood fire and were not melted,so that they might know that their enemies’ fruitsWere consumed by a fire that blazed in the hailand flashed lightning in the rain.
23. But this fire, again, in order that the righteous might be nourished,forgot even its proper strength;
24. For your creation, serving you, its maker,grows tense for punishment against the wicked,but is relaxed in benefit for those who trust in you.
25. Therefore at that very time, transformed in all sorts of ways,it was serving your all-nourishing bountyaccording to what they needed and desired;
26. That your children whom you loved might learn, O Lord,that it is not the various kinds of fruits that nourish,but your word that preserves those who believe you!
27. For what was not destroyed by fire,melted when merely warmed by a momentary sunbeam;
28. To make known that one must give you thanks before sunrise,and turn to you at daybreak.
29. For the hope of the ungrateful melts like a wintry frostand runs off like useless water.