Sirach

¹My son, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. ²Set your heart aright, constantly endure, and don’t make haste in time of calamity. ³Cling to him, and don’t depart, that you may be increased at your latter end. ⁴Accept whatever is brought upon you, and be patient when you suffer humiliation. ⁵For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. ⁶Put your trust in him, and he will help you. Make your ways straight, and set your hope on him. ⁷All you who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy. Don’t turn aside, lest you fall. ⁸All you who fear the Lord, put your trust in him, and your reward will not fail. ⁹All you who fear the Lord, hope for good things, and for eternal gladness and mercy. ¹⁰Look at the generations of old, and see: Who ever put his trust in the Lord, and was ashamed? Or who remained in his fear, and was forsaken? Or who called upon him, and he neglected him? ¹¹For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. He forgives sins and saves in time of affliction. ¹²Woe to fearful hearts, to faint hands, and to the sinner who goes two ways! ¹³Woe to the faint heart! For it doesn’t believe. Therefore it won’t be defended. ¹⁴Woe to you who have lost your patience! And what will you all do when the Lord visits you? ¹⁵Those who fear the Lord will not disobey his words. Those who love him will keep his ways. ¹⁶Those who fear the Lord will seek his good pleasure. Those who love him will be filled with the law. ¹⁷Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and will humble their souls in his sight. ¹⁸We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men; for as his majesty is, so also is his mercy.