The Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
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.
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The Catholic Bible Online. Scriptures are from The Douay Rheims Catholic Bible 1582-1610 a.d. Version In the Public Domain. The Douay Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English undertaken by members of the English College, Douai in the service of the Catholic Church.
