How that, having changed their minds to let your people go, And having speeded them eagerly on their way, They would repent themselves and pursue them.
For while they were yet in the midst of their mourning, And making lamentation at the graves of the dead, They drew upon themselves another counsel of folly, And pursued as fugitives those whom with intreaties they had cast out.
For the doom which they deserved was drawing them to this end, And it made them forget the things that had befallen them, That they might fill up the punishment which was yet lacking to their torments,
For the whole creation, each part in its several kind, was fashioned again anew, Ministering to your several commandments, That your servants might be guarded free from hurt.
Then the cloud that shadowed the camp was seen, And dry land rising up out of what before was water, Out of the Red sea an unhindered highway, And a grassy plain out of the violent surge;
For they still remembered the things that came to pass in the time of their sojourning, How that instead of bearing cattle the land brought forth lice, And instead of fish the river cast up a multitude of frogs.
And upon the sinners came the punishments Not without the tokens that were given beforehand by the force of the thunders; For justly did they suffer through their own wickednesses, For grievous indeed was the hatred which they practised toward guests.
And moreover they were stricken with loss of sight (Even as were those others at the righteous man’s doors), When, being compassed about with yawning darkness, They sought every one the passage through his own door.
For as the notes of a lute vary the character of the rhythm, Even so did the elements, changing their order one with another, Continuing always the same, each in its several sound; As may clearly be divined from the sight of the things that are come to pass.