DRC - Sirach - 2

2:1  Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.

2:2  Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds.

2:3  Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end.

2:4  Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience.

2:5  For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.

2:6  Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein.

2:7  Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from him lest ye fall.

2:8  Ye that fear the Lord, believe him: and your reward shall not be made void.

2:9  Ye that fear the Lord hope in him, and mercy shall come to you for your delight.

2:10  Ye that fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be enlightened.

2:11  My children behold the generations of men: and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.

2:12  For who hath continued in his commandment, and hath been forsaken? or who hath called upon him, and he despised him?

2:13  For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in truth.

2:14  Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways.

2:15  Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and therefore they shall not be protected by him.

2:16  Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways.

2:17  And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine?

2:18  They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to his word: and they that love him, will keep his way.

2:19  They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to him: and they that love him, shall be filled with his law.

2:20  They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls,

2:21  They that fear the Lord, keep his commandments, and will have patience even until his visitation,

2:22  Saying: If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men.

2:23  For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him.