kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have finned against thee. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveneffes, though we have rebelled against him. 10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he fet before us by his fervants the prophets. II Yea, all Ifrael have tranfgrefled thy law, even by departing that they might not obey thy voice, therefore the curfe is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Mofes the fervant of God, because we have finned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his words which he fpake against us, and againft our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil for under the whole heaven hath not been done, as hath been done upon Jerufalem. 13 As it is written in the law of Mofes, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. 14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, that haft brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and haft gotten thee renown as at this day: we have finned, we have done wickedly. 16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I befeech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerufalem, thy holy mountain: because for our fins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerufalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy fervant, and his fupplications, and caufe thy face to fhine upon thy fanctuary that is defolate, for the Lord's fake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our defolations, and the city, which is called by thy name: for we do not prefent our fupplications before thee for our righteoufneffes, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord hear, O Lord forgive, forgive, O Lord hearken and to make reconciliation for do, defer not for thine own iniquity, and to bring in efake, O my God: for thy verlafting righteousness, and city, and thy people, are cal-to feal up the vision and led by thy name. prophecy, and to anoint the 20 And whiles I was moft holy. fpeaking, and praying, and 25 Know therefore and confeffing my fin, and the fin underftand, that from the of my people Ifrael, and pre-going forth of the commandfenting my fupplication be- ment to restore and to build fore the Lord my God, for Jerufalem, unto the Messiah the holy mountain of my the prince, fhall be feven God: weeks; and threescore and 21 Yea, whiles I was fpeak-two weeks the ftreets fhall ing in prayer, even the man be built again, and the wall, Gabriel, whom I had seen in even in troublous times. the vision at the beginning, being caufed to fly fwiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 26 And after threescore and two weeks fhall Meffiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that fhall come, fhall deftroy the city, and the fanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and faid, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee fkill and a flood, and unto the end understanding. of the war defolations are 23 At the beginning of determined. thy fupplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to fhew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore underftand the matter, and confider the vifion. 27 And he fhall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midft of the week he fhall cause the facrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over24 Seventy weeks are de-fpreading of abominations, termined upon thy people, he fhall make it defolate, and upon thy holy city, to even until the confummation, finish the tranfgreffion, and and that determined shall be to make an end of fins, and poured upon the defolate. BOOK воок III. APOCRYPHAL. L The WISDOM of SOLOMON. CHAP. I. OVE righteoufnefs, ye that be judges of the earth; think of the Lord with a good (heart,) and in fimplicity of heart feek him. 2 ¶ For he will be found of them that tempt him not: and fheweth himself unto fuch as do not distrust him. 3 For froward thoughts feparate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwife. 4¶ For into a malicious foul wisdom fhall not enter: nor dwell in the body that is fubject unto fin. 5 For the holy fpirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in. 6 For wisdom is a lovས ing fpirit: and will not acquit a blafphemer of his words: for God is witness of his reins, and a true beholder of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. 7 For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world: and that which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice. 8 Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things, cannot be hid: neither fhall vengeance, when it punisheth, pafs by him. 9 For inquifition fhall be made into the counfels of the ungodly and the found of his words fhall come unto the Lord, for the manifeftation of his wicked deeds. 10 For the ear of jealousy heareth all things: and the noife of murmurings is not hid. thought to have it their friend, they confumed to nought, and made a covenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it. CHAP. II. OR the ungodly faid, reafoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is fhort and tedious, and in the death of a man, there is no remedy: neither was there turned from the grave. any man known to have re II Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable, and refrain your tongue from backbiting; for there is no word fo fecret, that shall go for nought: and the mouth that belieth, flay-adventure: and we shall be eth the foul. 12 Seek not death in the error of your life and pull not upon yourselves deftruction, with the works of your hands. 13 For God made not death neither hath he pleafure in the destruction of the living. 14 For he created all things; that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful: and there is no poifon of deftruction in them: nor the kingdom of death upon the earth. 15 For righteoufnefs is immortal. 16 But ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they 2 For we are born at all hereafter, as though we had never been for the breath in our noftrils is as smoke, and a little fpark in the moving of our heart: 3 Which being extinguithed, our body fhall be turned into afhes, and our fpirit fhall vanish as the foft air. 4 And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man fhall have our works in remembrance, and our life fhall pafs away as the trace of a cloud, and fhall be difperfed as a mist that is driven away with the beams of the fun, and overcome with the heat thereof. 5 For our time is a very thadow that paffeth away: and after our end, there is no no returning for it is faft the knowledge of God: and fealed, fo that no man com- he calleth himself the child of eth again. the Lord. 6 Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are prefent: and let us fpeedily use the creatures like as in youth. 7 Let us fill ourfelves with coftly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the fpring pass by us. 14 He was made to reprove our thoughts. 15 He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. 16 We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abftaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pro 8 Let us crown ourselves with rofe-buds before they be nounceth the end of the withered. juft to be bleffed, and mak9 Let none of us go with-eth his boaft that God is out his part of our voluptu- his father. oufnefs let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place for this is our portion, and our lot is this. 10 Let us opprefs the poor righteous man, let us not fpare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged. II Let our ftrength be the law of juftice, for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth. 17 Let us fee if his words. be true: and let us prove what fhall happen in the end of him. 18 For if the just man be the fon of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. 19 Let us examine him with defpitefulness and torture, that we may know his meeknefs, and prove his patience. 20 Let us condemn him with a fhameful death: for by his own faying he shall be refpected. 12 Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous: because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth 21 Such things they did us with our offending the imagine, and were deceivlaw, and objecteth to our in-ed: for their own wickfamy the tranfgreffings of our edness hath blinded them. education. 13 He profeffeth to have 22 As for the mysteries of God, they knew them. not: |