Chapter 38

1Parable the first. When the congregation of the righteous shall be manifested; and sinners be judged for their crimes, and be troubled in the sight of the world; 2When righteousness shall be manifested35 in the presence of the righteous themselves, who will be elected for their good works duly weighed by the Lord of spirits; and when the light of the righteous and the elect, who dwell on earth, shall be manifested; where will the habitation of sinners be? And where the place of rest for those who have rejected the Lord of spirits? It would have been better for them, had they never been born.36 3When, too, the secrets of the righteous shall be revealed, then shall sinners be judged; and impious men shall be afflicted in the presence of the righteous and the elect. 4From that period those who possess the earth shall cease to be37 powerful and exalted. Neither shall they be capable of beholding the countenances of the holy; for the light of the countenances of the holy, the righteous, and the elect, has been seen by the Lord of spirits.38 5Yet shall not the mighty kings of that period be destroyed; but be delivered into the hands of the righteous and the holy. 6Nor thenceforwards shall any obtain commiseration from the Lord of spirits, because their lives in this world will have been completed.