In the name of the Great Living God, glorified be the exalted Light.

Sum-Kusta stands and recites and teaches. Sum bar Nu, Sum-Kusta, stands and speaks humbly before the Lord: "My measure is full. Now I am about to depart, but I do not know who will guide me, that I may ask him how long my road is. Neither among the good nor among the wicked is there anyone who went and returned, that I might ask him how long my road is. Neither among the tranquil nor among the rebellious is there anyone who went and came back, that I might ask him how long my road is. What have I given, that it be given to me, and what have I lent, that it be lent to me? The clearness has risen on high, and the turbidity has increased, and there is no one to fetch me. The purity has risen on high, and the filth has increased, and there is no one to fetch me and say: 'Arise, let us go!' What have I done and what have I given away, that I may load it upon myself as provision for the journey when I go? For this I have heard, this has entered my ear: whoever carries provision for the journey with him, him they carry across when he arrives at the crossing place. But whoever carries no provision with him stays sitting and waits for the crossing. My head has turned white, and I wish to cross over. Like a field whose harvest has come, my eyes ceased to see. Like a fortress whose roof has fallen in, my ears ceased to hear. Like a barren woman who has had no son, my mouth ceased to speak. Like a river that dries up at its mouth, my hands ceased to work. Like a woman who raises no child, my feet ceased to walk. Like a stammerer, a child who cannot learn a book, I ran about by day and by night. I took a wife and raised children. I took a wife full of longing for this world. I raised sons here, as my father raised me, and I rendered it as a payment within this world. What have I now from having taken a wife, and what have I from having been given sons, if my sons do not buy my road for me and my daughters do not bring me across the great Suf Sea? My brothers do not come with me, and my sisters are no provision for me. If my wife, who loves me, remembers me in sorrow and weeps for me one hour of the day, can I hold fast to my deeds on that account and lean upon the works of my hands?"

When Sum bar Nu said this, a messenger came to him, a helper, and said to him: "Let it not trouble you that you took a wife, and let it not grieve you that sons have come to you. The wife is among the signs of God in this world, created as heaven and earth were created. Without wives there would be no generations on this world, no seed would be sown, no children would be born, and no one would remain to remember your name. A wife was created here by God, as heaven and earth were created in this world. You have raised children so that there may be someone in the world who remembers your name. They provide your body with provision for the grave, they follow you to the burial place, they recite prayers for you on the day you leave the world. They give alms after your death, that judgement may not be passed against you."

Then Sum bar Nu answered the messenger who had come from on high: "If only they do not commit fornication and dig pits for me. If only they do not steal, so that I am not condemned on that account. If only they do not sing the songs of Satan, so that the blazing fire consumes me for it. If only they do not deny the name of God, so that I must die a double death." Then the messenger of God answered and said to Sum bar Nu, the messenger who had come from on high: "Those who fornicate will go into the fire; those who steal, great wrath will strike them; those who sing the songs of Satan, the blazing fire will consume them; those who deny the name of God will die a double death. They have not made you a judge in the world, nor created you a decider in the earth. Had they made you a judge, they would not have brought the angel Abathur here. Leave the world without delay, and let the fire cling to them and consume them. Let the world suffer desolation when the righteous leave it. Arise, ascend to the house of the Great Living God, to the place where the good dwell, the place whose sun does not set and whose lamps of light do not grow dim, the place where there is no lie, where there is no fault and no lack."

And God is victorious.