1 It is a luxurious thing, wine, and inebriation is tumultuous. Anyone who is delighted by this will not be wise.
2 Just like the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king. Whoever provokes him sins in his own soul.
3 Honor is for the man who separates himself from contentions. But all the foolish meddle in altercations.
4 Because of the cold, the lazy one was not willing to plough. Therefore, in the summer, he will beg, and it will not be given to him.
5 Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep waters. But a wise man will draw it out.
6 Many men are called merciful. But who will find a faithful man?
7 The just who walks in his simplicity shall leave behind him blessed sons.
8 The king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil with his gaze.
9 Who is able to say: “My heart is clean. I am pure from sin?”
10 Diverse weights, diverse measures: both are abominable with God.
11 A child may be understood by his interests: whether his works may be clean and upright.
12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye: the Lord has made them both.
13 Do not love sleep, lest deprivation oppress you. Open your eyes and be satisfied with bread.
14 It is bad, it is bad, says every buyer; and when he has withdrawn, then he will boast.
15 There is gold, and there are a multitude of jewels. But lips of knowledge are a precious vessel.
16 Take away the vestments of him who stands up to vouch for a stranger, and take a pledge from him instead of from outsiders.
17 The bread of lies is sweet to a man. But afterwards, his mouth will be filled with pebbles.
18 Plans are strengthened by counsels. And wars are to be handled by governments.
19 Do not become involved with him who reveals mysteries, and who walks deceitfully, and who enlarges his lips.
20 Whoever curses his father and mother, his lamp will be extinguished in the midst of darkness.
21 When an inheritance is obtained hastily in the beginning, in the end it will be without a blessing.
22 Do not say, “I will repay evil.” Wait for the Lord, and he will free you.
23 Diverse weights are an abomination with the Lord. A deceitful balance is not good.
24 The steps of men are directed by the Lord. But who is the man able to understand his own way?
25 It is ruin for a man to devour what is holy, or, after making vows, to retract them.
26 A wise king scatters the impious and bends an archway over them.
27 The spirit of a man is a lamp to the Lord, which investigates all the secrets of the inner self.
28 Mercy and truth guard the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency.
29 The joy of youths is their strength. And the dignity of old men is their grey hairs.
30 The bruise of a wound, as well as scourges, shall wipe away evils in the more secret places of the inner self.
&
1 And Judas heard of the fame of the Romans, that they are powerful and strong, and that they willingly agree to all things that are asked of them; and that, whoever was agreeable to them, they established a friendship with them, and so they are powerful and resourceful.
2 And they heard of their battles, and the successful works that they had accomplished in Galatia, how they had subdued them and brought them under tribute,
3 and what great things they had accomplished in the region of Spain, and that they had driven under their power the mines of silver and gold which are there, and that they had obtained possession of the entire place by their counsel and patience,
4 and that they had overcome places that were very far from them, and kings, who came against them from the ends of the earth, and had crushed them and struck them with a great scourging, while the rest pay tribute to them every year,
5 and that they had defeated in battle Philip, and Perses the king of the Ceteans, and the others who had taken up arms against them, and had crushed them in warfare and subdued them,
6 and how Antiochus, the great king of Asia, who brought a fight against them, having one hundred and twenty elephants, with horsemen, and swift chariots, and a very great army, was crushed by them,
7 and how they had captured him alive and had decreed to him that both he and those who would reign after him would pay a great tribute, and that he should provide hostages bound to an agreement,
8 and that regions from the Indians, and from the Medes, and from the Lydians, from among their best regions, with those whom they had taken from them, they gave to king Eumenes.
9 And those who were in Greece wanted to go out and defeat them, but they became aware of this plan.
10 And so they sent one general to them, and he fought against them, and many of them fell, and they led into captivity their wives, and their sons, and they despoiled them and took possession of their land, and they destroyed their walls and drove them into servitude, even to this day.
11 And the remaining kingdoms and islands, which at any time had resisted them, they destroyed and drove under their power.
12 But with their friends, and with those who remained at peace with them, they maintained friendship and conquered kingdoms: those that were near, and those that were far off. For all those who heard of their name were afraid of them.
13 In fact, whomever they wanted to help become ruler, these reigned, but whomever they wanted, they deposed from the kingdom. And they were greatly exalted.
14 And of all these, none wore a diadem or was clothed in purple, to be magnified in this.
15 And also, they had made themselves a senate house, and they consulted daily with three hundred and twenty men, continually acting as a counsel for the multitude, so that they would do the things that were right.
159 Behold I have loved thy commandments, O Lord; quicken me thou in thy mercy.
160 The beginning of thy words is truth: all the judgments of thy justice are for ever.
161 SIN. Princes have persecuted me without cause: and my heart hath been in awe of thy words.
162 I will rejoice at thy words, as one that hath found great spoil.
163 I have hated and abhorred iniquity; but I have loved thy law.
164 Seven times a day I have given praise to thee, for the judgments of thy justice.
165 Much peace have they that love thy law, and to them there is no stumbling block.
1 In many places and in many ways, in past times, God spoke to the fathers through the Prophets;
2 lastly, in these days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he appointed as the heir of all things, and through whom he made the world.
3 And since the Son is the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and is carrying all things by the Word of his virtue, thereby accomplishing a purging of sins, he sits at the right hand of Majesty on high.
4 And having been made so much better than the Angels, he has inherited a name so much greater than theirs.
5 For to which of the Angels has he ever said: “You are my Son; today have I begotten you?” Or again: “I will be a Father to him, and he shall be a Son to me?”
6 And again, when he brings the only-begotten Son into the world, he says: “And let all the Angels of God adore him.”
7 And about the Angels, certainly, he says: “He makes his Angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.”
8 But about the Son: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of equity.
9 You have loved justice, and you have hated iniquity. Because of this, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of exultation, above your companions.”
10 And: “In the beginning, O Lord, you founded the earth. And the heavens are the work of your hands.
11 These shall pass away, but you will remain. And all will grow old like a garment.
12 And you will change them like a cloak, and they shall be changed. Yet you are ever the same, and your years will not diminish.”
13 But to which of the Angels has he ever said: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?”
14 Are they not all spirits of ministration, sent to minister for the sake of those who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?
1 For this reason, it is necessary for us to observe more thoroughly the things that we have heard, lest we let them slip away.
2 For if a word that was spoken through the Angels has been made firm, and every transgression and disobedience has received the recompense of a just retribution,
3 in what way might we escape, if we neglect such a great salvation? For though initially it had begun to be described by the Lord, it was confirmed among us by those who heard him,
4 with God testifying to it by signs and wonders, and by various miracles, and by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, in accord with his own will.
5 For God did not subject the future world, about which we are speaking, to the Angels.
6 But someone, in a certain place, has testified, saying: “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the Son of man, that you visit him?
7 You have reduced him to a little less than the Angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, and you have set him over the works of your hands.
8 You have subjected all things under his feet.” For in as much as he has subjected all things to him, he has left nothing not subject to him. But in the present time, we do not yet perceive that all things have been made subject to him.
9 Yet we understand that Jesus, who was reduced to a little less than the Angels, was crowned with glory and honor because of his Passion and death, in order that, by the grace of God, he might taste death for all.
10 For it was fitting for him, because of whom and through whom all things exist, who had led many children into glory, to complete the authorship of their salvation through his Passion.
11 For he who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified, are all from One. For this reason, he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying:
12 I will announce your name to my brothers. In the midst of the Church, I will praise you.
13 And again: “I will be faithful in him.” And again: “Behold, I and my children, whom God has given to me.”
14 Therefore, because children have a common flesh and blood, he himself also, in like manner, has shared in the same, so that through death, he might destroy him who held the dominion of death, that is, the devil,
15 and so that he might free those who, through the fear of death, had been condemned to servitude throughout their entire life.
16 For at no time did he take hold of the Angels, but instead he took hold of the offspring of Abraham.
17 Therefore, it is fitting for him to be made similar to his brothers in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest before God, in order that he might bring forgiveness to the offenses of the people.
18 For in as much as he himself has suffered and has been tempted, he also is able to assist those who are tempted.
