"Have pity on me, O Lord; for I have greatly sinned, transgressed, and done evil. Knowingly and unknowingly, I have sinned by worshiping idols and by polluting my lips by their sacrificial meal. I am not worthy to open my mouth to speak to Thee, O Lord—I, the wretched daughter of Potiphar, once so proud and haughty."
"I take refuge with Thee, O Lord. As the little child flees in fear to the father, and the father takes it to his bosom, so do Thou stretch forth Thy hands as a loving father and save me from the enemy who pursues me as a lion, from Satan, the father of the Egyptian gods, who desires to devour me because I have despised his children, the Egyptian gods. Deliver me from his hands, lest he cast me into the fire; lest the monster of the deep [leviathan] eat me up, and I perish forever. Save me; for my father and mother deny me, and I have no hope nor refuge but Thy mercy, O Lover of men, Helper of the broken-hearted! There is no father so good and sweet as Thou, O Lord. All the houses my father gives me as possessions are for a time and perishable; but the houses of Thy possession, O Lord, are indestructible and last forever."
On the morning of the eighth day an angel appears to her resembling Joseph, but with a face like lightning, and with eyes like beams of fire, the captain of the host of the Lord (Michael). He tells her to wash, and to exchange her garments of mourning for garments of beauty—for as a pure virgin she needs no veil—and then announces to her that "from that day on she should be reborn, while eating the blessed bread of life, and drinking the cup filled with immortality, and anointing herself with the blessed oil of incorruption, and that her name should be written in the book of life never to be effaced." She should no longer be called "Asenath" (
), but City of Refuge ("Manos"
), for through her many Gentiles (ἔθνη) should take refuge under the wings of the divine Shekinah (compare Rev. xiii. 6), and under her walls those that turn to God, the Most High, should find protection in repentance. (This is clearly the meaning of the original text; and what follows defies explanation.) The angel then prepares her for the arrival of Joseph as her bridegroom, and tells her to put on her bridal gown, "prepared from the beginning of the world," which glad tidings she receives with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord "who rescued her from darkness and led her from the deep abyss unto light."