Chapter 20

¹ And it came to pass, when the girls had gone out, that the two elders rose up and ran to her and said: Behold, the doors of the garden are shut and no one sees us, and we are in desire for you; therefore consent to us and be with us. But if not, we will testify against you that there was a young man with you, and that this is why you sent the girls away from you.

² O lawless rulers and leaders, filled full of diabolical activity!

³ Is this what Moses handed down to you? Is it thus that, while reading the Law, you teach others? You who say one must not commit adultery, do you yourself commit adultery? You who proclaim one must not kill, do you yourself kill? You who say one must not covet, do you yourself wish to ruin your neighbor’s wife?

⁴ Tell me thus, you rulers of Israel: does God, who made all things, not see these things? Do the day and the sun not see your deed? And shall the earth, defiled by you, not cry out?

⁵ Why do you, lawless men, try to seduce a chaste and innocent soul with false words, that you may establish your own desire?

⁶ These things happened to Naboth the Israelite, who did not consent to give Ahab his vineyard, that it might become a garden of vegetables; and for this the righteous man, testified against, was unjustly put to death.

⁷ These are your dread deeds of daring from the beginning, because of the deceiver who from the beginning has lurked within you.

⁸ For there was indeed a young man with her—from the heavens—not consorting with her, but drawing near to her.