Chapter 2

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