1 Sedrach said to him, ‘Three years are too many, my Lord.
2 His death perchance will arrive and he will not fulfill his repentance.
3 Have mercy, Lord, upon your image and be compassionate, because three years are too many.”
4 God said to him, “If, after a hundred years, a man lives and remembers his death and confesses before men, and I find him, after one year? I will forgive all his sins.”
5 Again Sedrach said, “Lord, I beg for your mercy again upon your creature; one year is much, and his death will perchance arrive and suddenly snatch him away.”
6 The Savior said to him, “Sedrach, my beloved, one question will I ask you, then you can resume your inquiries; if the sinner repents for forty days, shall I not indeed remember all the sins he has done?”