על צאצאי קין כ״זOn the Posterity of Cain and his Exile 27
א׳
1[94] For it is always the case that the application of a second seal destroys the impressions made by the first. The Law is so far from allowing what is evil to be substituted for what is good, that it does not even allow that which is beautiful to take the place of what is troublesome. By “troublesome” it does not mean worthless, for it would be folly not to give up bad things for the sake of getting better ones. It means all that involves toil and trouble, for which Attic writers provide a name by changing the accent of their word for “wicked.”
ב׳
2[95] The ordinance is this: “Everything that cometh under the rod in the count, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord. Thou shalt not exchange a good with a bad one: and if thou shalt have changed it both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy” (Lev. 27:32 f.). And yet how could the bad one be holy? Nay, as I have just said, what is troublesome, not what is worthless, is meant, so that the thing signified is to this effect; while what is beautiful is a perfect good, toil is an imperfect boon. If then thou shalt win that which is complete, leave off seeking that which is defective. But if in thy excessive zeal thou shalt choose to go on toiling, know this that thou shalt seem to be exchanging one for another, but that in reality thou shalt acquire both; for each by itself, though of no less value, is not the absolutely holy thing.