| 1 Son, when you apply yourself to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. | 1 My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal. |
| 2 Humble your heart, and persevere. Incline your ear, and accept words of understanding. And you should not hurry away in the time of distress. | 2 Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes. |
| 3 Endure steadfastly for God. Join yourself to God, and persevere, so that your life may increase in the very end. | 3 Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honoured at the end of your days. |
| 4 Accept everything that will happened to you, and persevere in your sorrow, and have patience in your humiliation. | 4 Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, |
| 5 For gold and silver are tested in fire, yet truly, acceptable men are tested in the furnace of humiliation. | 5 since gold is tested in the fire, and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation. |
| 6 Believe God, and he will restore you to health. And straighten your way, and hope in him. Observe his fear, and grow old in it. | 6 Trust him and he wil uphold you, fol ow a straight path and hope in him. |
| 7 You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy. And do not turn away from him, lest you fall. | 7 You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside, for fear you fal . |
| 8 You who fear the Lord, believe in him. And your reward will not be taken away. | 8 You who fear the Lord, trust him, and you will not be robbed of your reward. |
| 9 You who fear the Lord, hope in him. And mercy will approach you, to your delight. | 9 You who fear the Lord, hope for those good gifts of his, everlasting joy and mercy. |
| 10 You who fear the Lord, love him. And your hearts will be illuminated. | 10 Look at the generations of old and see: whoever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Orwhoever, steadfastly fearing him, was forsaken? Or whoever cal ed to him and was ignored? |
| 11 My sons, consider the nations of men, and know that not one of them hoped in the Lord and was confounded. | 11 For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, he forgives sins and saves in the time of distress. |
| 12 For who has remained in his commandment and been abandoned? Or who has called upon him, and yet he despised him? | 12 Woe to faint hearts and listless hands, and to the sinner who treads two paths. |
| 13 For God is upright and merciful, and he will forgive sins in the day of tribulation. And he is the Protector to all those who seek him in truth. | 13 Woe to the listless heart that has no faith, for such will have no protection. |
| 14 Woe to the duplicitous heart, and to the wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner who walks the earth by two ways! | 14 Woe to you who have lost the strength to endure; what will you do at the Lord's visitation? |
| 15 Woe to the dissolute in heart, who do not trust God! For, as a result, they will not be protected by him. | 15 Those who fear the Lord do not disdain his words, and those who love him keep his ways. |
| 16 Woe to those who have lost endurance, and who have abandoned upright ways, and who have turned aside to depraved ways! | 16 Those who fear the Lord do their best to please him, and those who love him wil find satisfaction in theLaw. |
| 17 And what will they do when the Lord begins to examine them? | 17 Those who fear the Lord keep their hearts prepared and humble themselves in his presence. |
| 18 Those who fear the Lord will not be unbelieving toward his Word. And those who love him will keep to his way. | 18 Let us fal into the hands of the Lord, not into any human clutches; for as his majesty is, so too is hismercy. |
| 19 Those who fear the Lord will seek the things that are well-pleasing to him. And those who love him will be filled with his law. | |
| 20 Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and they will sanctify their souls in his sight. | |
| 21 Those who fear the Lord keep his commandments, and they will have patience even until his examination, | |
| 22 saying: “If we do not do penance, then we will 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. | |