The Holy Scripture
Chapter XIII
1 Look upon my ophanhood, O Lord, for unto thee did I flee, O Lord.
2 Lo, I took off my royal robe interwoven with gold and put on a black tunic instead.
3 Lo, I loosed my golden girdle and girt myself with a rope and sackcloth.
4 Lo, I threw off my diadem from my head and sprinkled myself with ashes.
5 Lo, the floor of my room once scattered with stones of different colors and of purple, and besprinkled with myrrh, is now sprinkled with my tears and scattered with ashes.
6 Lo, Lord, from the ashes and from my tears there is as much mud inside my room as there is on a public highway.
7 Lo, Lord, my royal dinner and my fatted beasts have I given to the dogs.
8 And lo, for seven days and seven nights I have neither eaten bread nor drunk water; and my mouth is dry like a drum and my tongue like horn, and my lips like a potsherd, and my face is shrunken, and my eyes are failing as a result of my incessant tears.
9 But do thou, O Lord, pardon me, for in ignorance did I sin against thee and uttered calumnies against my lord Joseph.
10 And I did not know, wretch that I am, that he is thy son, O Lord; for they told me that Joseph was a shepherd's son from the land of Canaan, and I believed them; but I was wrong, and I despised Joseph, thine elect one, and I spoke evil of him, not knowing that he is thy son.
11 For what man ever was so handsome and who else is as wise and strong as Joseph? But to thee, my Lord, do I entrust him; for I love him more than mine own soul.
12 Preserve him in the wisdom of thy grace, and give me to him as a servant, so that I may wash his feet and serve him and be his slave for all the seasons of my life.