| Chapter 2 |
1 | Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.
|
2 | Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds.
|
3 | Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end.
|
4 | Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience.
|
5 | For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.
|
6 | Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein.
|
7 | Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from him, lest ye fall.
|
8 | Ye that fear the Lord, believe him: and your reward shall not be made void.
|
9 | Ye that fear the Lord, hope in him: and mercy shall come to you for your delight.
|
10 | Ye that fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be enlightened.
|
11 | My children behold the generations of men: and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.
|
12 | For who hath continued in his commandment, and hath been forsaken? or who hath called upon him, and he despised him?
|
13 | For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in truth.
|
14 | Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways.
|
15 | Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and therefore they shall not be protected by him.
|
16 | Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways.
|
17 | And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine?
|
18 | They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to his word: and they that love him, will keep his way.
|
19 | They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to him: and they that love him, shall be filled with his law.
|
20 | They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls.
|
21 | They that fear the Lord, keep his Commandments, and will have patience even until his visitation,
|
22 | Saying: If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men.
|
23 | For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him.
|