But upon the ungodly there came a wrath without mercy unto the end, for He knew beforehand what they would do.

That when they had given them leave to depart, and had sent them hastily away, they would repent and pursue them.

For while they were yet mourning and making lamentation at the graves of their dead, they turned to another foolish counsel, and pursued those whom they had exhorted to depart, even as pursuing those who had fled.

For a necessary end compelled them to this, and made them forget those things which had happened before, that they might fulfil the punishment which was yet wanting to their torments.

And that Thy people should pass through an admirable passage, while those suffered a strange death.

For the whole creation in its nature was fashioned anew, serving Thine own peculiar commandments, that Thy children might be kept without hurt.

For a cloud overshadowed the camp, and where water stood before, dry land appeared, a way in the Red Sea, and a green field in the mighty deep.

There went all the nation thorough, being protected by Thy hand, beholding Thy marvellous wonders.

For they fed as horses, and leaped as lambs, praising Thee, O Lord, their Deliverer.

Remembering what things were done in their sojourning, how, instead of the breed of animals, the earth brought forth flies, and the river poured forth swarms of frogs instead of fish.

And at the last they saw a new sort of fowls, when their appetite led them to ask for delicate food.

For quails came up from the sea for their solace; but upon the sinners did vengeance descend, with its ancient signs, which are violent thunderings. And they truly suffered what their great iniquities deserved.

For their treatment of strangers was most hateful; for those indeed refused to receive strangers whom they knew not, but these enslaved guests who had done them good.

And beside this, there shall be a further retribution upon them; for those indeed received foreign folk unwillingly.

But these received guests with solemnity and joy, and made them partakers of their rights, and then afflicted them with various grievous torments.

So they were smitten with blindness, like those at the door of the righteous man, who were encompassed with dreadful darkness, so that each one sought to find the entrance of his door.

For the elements were changed one into another, as when the notes of an instrument change the name of the sound and the voice; and this is evident to him who considers those events.

The earthly things were turned into watery, and those that swam went upon the earth.

And the fire had power in the water more than its natural strength, and the water forgot its quenching power.

And contrariwise, the flame did not hurt the flesh of perishable animals when it walked therein, nor did the heavenly food, quick to dissolve, melt like ice; for Thou, O Lord, didst magnify Thy people in all things, and didst glorify them, and didst not neglect them, but wast their Helper in every time and place.