1 She directed their works in the hands of the holy prophet.
2 They made a path through desolate areas, which were uninhabited, and set up their homes in remote places.
3 They stood firm against the enemy, and vindicated themselves from their adversaries.
4 They thirsted, and they called upon you, and water was given them out of the deepest rock, and respite from thirst out of the hard stone.
5 For through water, their enemies had been punished, by the corruption of their drinking water; and so, among them, when the sons of Israel lacked the abundance they would have had, their enemies rejoiced;
6 yet though water, when they were in need, it turned out well for them.
7 For instead of a fountain, even everlasting in flow, you gave human blood to the unjust,
8 and while they would be crushed into disgrace because of the murdering of infants, you unexpectedly gave your own abundant water,
9 revealing through the thirst, which occurred at that time, how you would exalt your own and would kill their adversaries.
10 For when they were being tested, and even when receiving merciful correction, they knew in what way, when your wrath judged the impious, they would suffer torments.
11 For these, advising like a father, you approved; but the others, interrogating like a severe king, you condemned.
12 For whether absent or present, they were tortured alike.
13 For they had received double: weariness and groaning in the remembrance of things past.
14 For when they paid attention to their punishments, to attend to their own benefit, they called to mind the Lord, admiring the end result.
15 For though they showed scorn by throwing out distorted statements, in the end they were amazed at the result, but this is not the same as thirsting for justice.
16 For according to the thinking of their irrational iniquity, because some, going astray, were worshiping mute serpents and worthless beasts, you sent upon them a multitude of mute beasts for vengeance,
17 so that they might know that by whatever things a man sins, by the same also is he tormented.
18 For it was not impossible for your all-powerful hand, which created the world from unknown material, to send forth upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce lions,
19 or, in anger, beasts of a new kind, massive and strange, either breathing out a fiery vapor, or sending forth an odorous smoke, or shooting horrible sparks from their eyes;
20 whereby, not only wounds would be able to destroy them, but also the very sight would kill them through fear.
21 Yet, even without these, they could have been killed with one breath, suffering persecution of their own making and being scattered by your spirit of virtue; but you have ordered all things in size and number and weight.
22 Though many are strong, you alone always overcome. And who will withstand the strength of your arm?
23 For, like a tiny grain on a scale, just so is the world before you, and like a drop dew before dawn, which descends upon the earth.
24 But you are merciful to all, because you can do all, and you dismiss the sins of man because of repentance.
25 For you love all things that are, and you hate nothing of the things you have made; for you would not have created or established anything that you hated.
26 For how could anything endure, except by your will? Or what, having been called by you not to exist, would be preserved?
27 Yet you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord, who loves souls.
1 O how good and gracious, Lord, is your spirit in all things!
2 Therefore, those who wander afield, you correct, and, as to those who sin, you counsel them and admonish them, so that, having abandoned malice, they may believe in you, O Lord.
3 For those ancient inhabitants of your holy land, who you abhorred,
4 because they were doing works hateful to you, through unjust medicines and sacrifices,
5 and the merciless murderers of their own sons, and the eaters of human entrails, and the devourers of blood apart from your community sacrament,
6 and the sellers performing the ceremonies of helpless souls, you willed to destroy by the hands of our parents,
7 so that they might worthily secure the sojourn of the children of God, in the land which is most beloved by you.
8 Yet, so that you were lenient even to these men, you sent wasps, forerunners of your army, so that you might destroy them little by little,
9 not because you were unable to subdue the impious under the just by war or by cruel beasts, or with a harsh word to exterminate them at once,
10 but, in judging by degrees, you were giving them a place of repentance, not unaware that their nation is wicked, and their malice is inherent, and that their thinking could never be changed.
11 For this offspring was accursed from the beginning. Neither did you, fearing anyone, give favor to their sins.
12 For who will say to you, “What have you done?” Or who will stand against your judgment? Or who will come before you as a defender of unfair men? Or who will accuse you, if the nations perish, which you have made?
13 For neither is there any other God but you, who has care of all, to whom you would show that you did not give judgment unjustly.
14 Neither will king or tyrant inquire before you about those whom you destroyed.
15 Therefore, since you are just, you order all things justly, considering it foreign to your virtue to condemn him who does not deserve to be punished.
16 For your power is the beginning of justice, and, because you are Lord of all, you make yourself to be lenient to all.
17 For you reveal power to those who do not believe you to be perfect in power, and you expose the arrogance of those who do not know you.
18 Yet, you are the master of power, since you judge with tranquility, and since you administer us with great reverence; for it is close to you to be used whenever you will.
19 But you have taught your people, through such works, that they must be just and humane, and you have made your sons to be of good hope, because in judging you provide a place for repentance from sins.
20 For even if the enemies of your servants were deserving of death, you afflicted them with great attentiveness, providing a time and a place whereby they would be able to be changed from malice;
21 with what diligence, then, have you judged your sons, whose parents you have given oaths and covenants in good faith!
22 Therefore, while you give us discipline, you give our enemies a multiplicity of scourges, so that in judging we may think on your goodness, and when we are judged, we may hope for mercy.
23 Therefore, also to these, who have lived their lived their life irrationally and unjustly, through these things that they worshiped, you gave the greatest torments.
24 And, indeed, they wandered for a long time in the way of error, valuing those things as gods, which are worthless even among animals, living in foolish irrational behavior.
25 Because of this, you have given a judgment in derision, as if from foolish children.
26 But those who have not been corrected by mockery and chiding, have experienced a judgment worthy of God.
27 For among those who were indignant at their sufferings, which came through those things that they reputed to be gods, when they saw that they would be destroyed by these same things, those who formerly refused knowledge of him, now acknowledged the true God, and, because of this, the end of their condemnation came upon them.
&
1 In the one hundred and seventy-second year, king Demetrius gathered together his army, and he went into Media to obtain auxiliaries to fight against Trypho.
2 And Arsaces, the king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius entered his confines, and so he sent one of his princes to capture him alive and to bring him to him.
3 And he went out and struck the camp of Demetrius. And captured him and brought him to Arsaces, and he placed him under guard.
4 And the entire land of Judah was quiet during all the days of Simon, and he sought what was good for his people. And his power and his glory pleased them through all his days.
5 And, with all his glory, he accepted Joppa as a port, and he made it an entrance to the islands of the sea.
6 And he enlarged the boundaries of his nation, and he controlled the countryside.
7 And he gathered together many captives, and he was the ruler of Gazara and Bethzur, and the stronghold. And he took uncleanness away from it, and there was no one who could withstand him.
8 And each one cultivated his land in peace, and the land of Judah produced its fruits, and the trees of the fields their fruit.
9 All the elders sat in the streets, and they discussed what was good for the country, and the youths clothed themselves in glory and in the robes of war.
10 And he gave tributes of provisions to the cities, and he decreed that they would have equipment for fortification, so that the fame of his glory was renowned, even to the ends of the earth.
11 He caused there to be peace over the land, and Israel was rejoicing with great joy.
12 And each one sat under his vine and under his fig tree. And there was no one who would terrify them.
13 There was nothing left of those who might fight against them in the land; kings had been crushed in those days.
14 And he confirmed all the humble of his people, and he sought the law, and he took away every iniquity and evil.
15 He glorified the sanctuary, and he multiplied the vessels of the holy places.
16 And it was heard at Rome, and even in Sparta, that Jonathan had passed away. And they were very sorrowful.
17 But when they heard that Simon, his brother, had been made high priest in his place, and that he obtained the entire country and the cities in it,
18 they wrote to him on tablets of brass, so as to renew the friendship and alliance, which they had made with Judas and with Jonathan, his brothers.
19 And they were read in the sight of the assembly at Jerusalem. And this is a copy of the letters that the Spartans sent:
20 The leaders and the cities of the Spartans, to Simon, the great priest, and to the elders, and the priests, and the rest of the people of the Jews, their brothers: greetings.
21 The ambassadors who were sent to our people have reported to us of your glory, and honor, and rejoicing. And we were glad at their arrival.
22 And we wrote down what was said by them in the councils of the people, as follows: ‘Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater, the son of Jason, ambassadors of the Jews, came to us to renew the former friendship with us.
23 And it pleased the people to receive the men gloriously, and to place a copy of their words in a section of the public books, so as to be a memorial for the people of the Spartans. Furthermore, we have written a copy of them to Simon, the great priest.’ “
24 But after this, Simon sent Numenius to Rome, in possession of a great shield of gold, weighing over a thousand pounds, to confirm the association with them.
1 Praise ye the name of the Lord: O you his servants, praise the Lord:
2 You that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing ye to his name, for it is sweet.
4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself: Israel for his own possession.
5 For I have known that the Lord is great, and our God is above all gods.
6 Whatsoever the Lord hath pleased he hath done, in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps.
7 He bringeth up clouds from the end of the earth: he hath made lightnings for the rain. He bringeth forth winds out of his stores:
1 Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the newly-arrived elect of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 in accord with the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, with the obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied for you.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has regenerated us into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead:
4 unto an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, which is reserved for you in heaven.
5 By the power of God, you are guarded through faith for a salvation which is ready to be revealed in the end time.
6 In this, you should exult, if now, for a brief time, it is necessary to be made sorrowful by various trials,
7 so that the testing of your faith, which is much more precious than gold tested by fire, may be found in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
8 For though you have not seen him, you love him. In him also, though you do not see him, you now believe. And in believing, you shall exult with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 returning with the goal of your faith, the salvation of souls.
10 About this salvation, the prophets inquired and diligently searched, those who prophesied about the future grace in you,
11 inquiring as to what type of condition was signified to them by the Spirit of Christ, when foretelling those sufferings that are in Christ, as well as the subsequent glories.
12 To them, it was revealed that they were ministering, not for themselves, but for you those things which have now been announced to you through those who have preached the Gospel to you, through the Holy Spirit, who was sent down from heaven to the One upon whom the Angels desire to gaze.
13 For this reason, gird the waist of your mind, be sober, and hope perfectly in the grace that is offered to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.
14 Be like sons of obedience, not conforming to the desires of your former ignorance,
15 but in accord with him who has called you: the Holy One. And in every behavior, you yourself must be holy,
16 for it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am Holy.”
17 And if you invoke as Father him who, without showing favoritism to persons, judges according to each one’s work, then act in fear during the time of your sojourning here.
18 For you know that it was not with corruptible gold or silver that you were redeemed away from your useless behavior in the traditions of your fathers,
19 but it was with the precious blood of Christ, an immaculate and undefiled lamb,
20 foreknown, certainly, before the foundation of the world, and made manifest in these latter times for your sake.
21 Through him, you have been faithful to God, who raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope would be in God.
22 So chastise your souls with the obedience of charity, in fraternal love, and love one another from a simple heart, attentively.
23 For you have been born again, not from corruptible seed, but from what is incorruptible, from the Word of God, living and remaining for all eternity.
24 For all flesh is like the grass and all its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away.
25 But the Word of the Lord endures for eternity. And this is the Word that has been evangelized to you.
