16 like as a wave is greater than a drop.
17 And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so also the seed; and as the flowers be, such are the colors also; and such as the work is, such also is the judgement thereon; and as is the husbandman, so is his threshing floor also. For there was a time in the world,
18 even then when I was preparing for them that now live, before the world was made for them to dwell in; and then no man spoke against me,
19 for there was not any: but now they which are created in this world that is prepared, both with a table that fails not, and a law which is unsearchable, are corrupted in their manners.
20 So I considered my world, and, behold, it was destroyed, and my earth, and, behold, it was in peril, because of the devices that were come into it.
21 And I saw, and spared them, but not greatly, and saved me a grape out of a cluster, and a plant out of a great forest.
22 Let the multitude perish then, which was born in vain; and let my grape be saved, and my plant; for with great labor have I made them perfect.