15 You made an everlasting covenant with him and promised him that you would never abandon his descendants. You gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau.
16 You chose Jacob, and his descendants became a great nation, but you rejected Esau.
17 “You rescued the descendants of Jacob from Egypt and led them to Mount Sinai.
18 There you bent down the skies, shook the earth, moved the world, made the water beneath the earth tremble, and brought disorder to the universe.
19 The dazzling light of your presence passed through the four gates of fire, earthquake, wind, and frost, in order to give the Law and its commandments to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel.
20 Yet you did not remove their evil impulse, but let your Law guide their lives.
21 The first man, Adam, weighed down with an evil impulse, sinned and was defeated, and the same was true of all his descendants.