Sirach 2

¹My son, if you come to serve the Lord,

prepare your soul for temptation.1

²Set your heart aright, constantly endure,

and don’t make haste in time of calamity.1

³Cling to him, and don’t depart,

that you may be increased at your latter end.1

⁴Accept whatever is brought upon you,

and be patient when you suffer humiliation.1

⁵For gold is tried in the fire,

and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.1

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.1

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?1

¹¹For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

He forgives sins and saves in time of affliction.1

¹²Woe to fearful hearts, to faint hands,

and to the sinner who goes two ways!1

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?1

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.