Kebra Nagast

and with Abraham who did not transgress Thy commandment, and with Isaac Thy servant who kept his body pure from the pollution of sin, and with Israel, Thy holy one, whom Thou didst make many by the Holy Spirit, and didst call Thy trace [sic], Israel, and with Moses and Aaron Thy priests, in whose days Thou didst make the Tabernacle of the Law to come down from heaven upon earth, to the children of Jacob Thine inheritance, with Thy Law and Thy Commandment, in the form of the constitution of the angels. For Thou hadst already founded Zion as the habitation of Thy glory upon the mountain of Thy sanctuary. And again Thou didst give it to Moses that he might serve it nobly upon the earth, and might make it to dwell in the Tent of Witness,' so that Thou Thyself mightest come there from the mountain of Thy sanctuary, and mightest make the people to hear Thy voice, ' ' ' so that they might walk in Thy Commandments." " Now I know that Thou esteemest Thine inheritance more lightly than Thy people Israel. And until this with us, and we did not minister unto it present for this reason Thou art angry with us, and and rightly, Thou hast turned Thy face from us. O Lord, look not upon our evil deeds, but consider Thou the goodness of our forefathers. My father David, Thy servant, wished to build a house to Thy Name, for he had heard the word of Thy prophet, who said, Which is the house for My habitation, and which is the place for Me to rest in ? Is it not My hands that have made all this, it was ' saith the Lord, 1 Who ruleth everything ' ? And when he had meditated upon this Thou didst say unto him, It is impossible for thee to build this, but he who hath gone forth from thy loins shall build a house for me.' 2 And now, O Lord, Thy word hath not been made a lie, and I have built Thy house, Thou being my helper. And when I had finished building Thy house, ' 1 90 Isaiah Ixvi, I. 2 I Chronicles xxii, 8, 9.