1 (l) Blessed are you, O Lord, King of the ages,
who through Christ made everything,
and through him in the beginning ordered that which was unprepared;
2 who separated waters from waters with a firmament,
and put a lively spirit in these;
3 who settled the earth (firmly),
and stretched out heaven,
and ordered the exact arrangement of each one of the creatures.
4 (2) For by your conception, O Master, order has beamed with joy;
5 while heaven, having been pitched like a vault, is adorned with stars,
for the sake of encouragement (in the midst of) the darkness;
6 while light and sun, for days and (for) fruits, came to birth;
7 while moon, for changing of seasons, increased and decreased,
and night was named, and day was kindly addressed;
8 while a firmament was shown forth in the midst of the abysses,
and you said for the waters to be gathered together,
and for the dry land to appear;
9 (3) while the sea itself—how shall we describe it in full?—
which comes raging from (the) oceans,
yet runs back again from (the) sand, being hindered by your command.
10 For you said,
By it shall her waves be shattered.
11 While for living creatures, for small and for great,
and for (the) voyaging of ships, you made it.
12 (4) Then earth grew green, engraved with all sorts of flowers,
and with an embroidery of different trees.
13 And (the) all-blazing luminaries are nourishers of these,
keepipg without trespass the long course,
not deviating in any way from your ordinance;
14 but wherever you may command,
in this (place) they rise and set,
for signs of seasons and years,
alternating for the assistance of mankind.
15 (5) Thereafter were prepared races of differing living creatures:
those found on dry land,
those living in water,
those traversing the air,
(and) amphibians.
16 And by the skilled Wisdom of your forethought
is given to each one the appropriate providence.
17 For just as she was not exhausted in bringing forth differing races,
neither has she neglected to make for each one a different providence.
18 (6) And the goal of the creative work—
the rational living creature, the world citizen—
19 having given order by your Wisdom, you created, saying,
Let us make man according to our image and likeness;
20 having declarzd him a (micro-)cosm of the cosmos,
having formed for him the body out of the four elements;
21 and having prepared for him the soul out of non-being,
and having given to him fivefold perception,
and having placed over the perceptions a mind, the holder of the reins of the Soul.
22 (7) And in addition to all these things, O Master, Lord,
who can worthily describe the movement of rain-producing clouds,
the flashing forth of lightning, the clashing of thunders;
23 for the supplying of appropriate nourishment,
and the blending of complex atmospheres?
24 (8) But when man was disobedient,
You took away his deserved life.
25 You did not make it disappear absolutely, but for a time,
26 having put (him) to sleep for a little (while),
by an oath you have called (him forth) to new birth.
27 You have loosed the boundary of death,
You who are the Maker of life for the dead, through Jesus Christ, our hope!