A soul am I of the Great Life,

a soul am I of the mighty Life,

a soul am I of the Great Life,

who shine through the praise of my Creator.

When they brought me into captivity,

sent and brought me into this world,

they sent me into the world of the criminals,

who are all cut off and doomed to destruction,

into the world whose form is ugly

and whose ...... does not shine.

Its servants have no gait,

all its creatures have no splendour.

They are not gentle, not calm,

and there is no fellowship among them.

Dark is their form,

and their appearance is gloomy.

Their houses have sunk down,

and they all sit in the wilderness.

They turned black and took on blackness,

all are ugly and black.

Whispering they all stand,

evil criminals who are full of ......

What does it profit me to stand surety for you

and to be counted with you?

Shall I be cut off through your wickedness

and sink down among you?

What does it profit me to see your vapour,

when everyone who sees it falls?

What does it profit me that I saw your works,

which bear no pure name?

I go to the house of life,

why should I love your dwelling?

The planets stand there,

bound with fetters, and say:

"When Adam fled from us,

our watch-houses broke.

When Adam ascended from us on high,

our splendour was swiftly taken from us.

Swiftly our splendour was taken from us,

and our ...... became as though it had never been."

He rose and ascended to the house of life,

they washed him in the Jordan and guarded him.

They washed him and guarded him in the Jordan,

they laid their right hands upon him.

They baptized him with their baptism

and made him firm by their pure words. —

God is held high and is victorious,

and victorious is the man who went here.