8 Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where you have scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to penalty, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear to understand wisdom.
10 How is it, O Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land, that you have become old in a strange country, that you are defiled with the dead,
11 that you are counted with them that go down into the grave?
12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
13 For if you had walked in the way of God, you should have dwelled in peace for ever.
14 Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding; that you may know also where is length of days, and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.