If you see the oppression of the poor or perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the matter. For one authority watches over another authority, and higher ones are over them.
For who knows what is good for one during his life—during the few days of his fleeting life—that pass like a shadow? For who can tell a person what happens after him under the sun?
During my fleeting days I have seen both of these things: sometimes a righteous one perishes in his righteousness and sometimes a wicked one lives long in his wickedness.
No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, nor authority over the day of death. As no one is discharged during a battle, so wickedness cannot rescue its master.
No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the youth will die at a hundred years, But one who misses the mark of a hundred must be accursed.
They have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My Torah, My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.”