Sirach 2

Revised Standard Version

Duties toward God

2 My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord,
    prepare yourself for temptation.^[a]
²Set your heart right and be steadfast,
    and do not be hasty in time of calamity.
³Cleave to him and do not depart,
    that you may be honored at the end of your life.
⁴Accept whatever is brought upon you,
    and in changes that humble you be patient.
⁵For gold is tested in the fire,
    and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.
⁶Trust in him, and he will help you;
    make your ways straight, and hope in him.

⁷You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
    and turn not aside, lest you fall.
⁸You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
    and your reward will not fail;
⁹you who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
    for everlasting joy and mercy.
¹⁰Consider the ancient generations and see:
    who ever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?
Or who ever persevered in the fear of the Lord^[b] and was forsaken?
    Or who ever called upon him and was overlooked?
¹¹For the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
    he forgives sins and saves in time of affliction.

¹²Woe to timid hearts and to slack hands,
    and to the sinner who walks along two ways!
¹³Woe to the faint heart, for it has no trust!
    Therefore it will not be sheltered.
¹⁴Woe to you who have lost your endurance!
    What will you do when the Lord punishes you?
¹⁵Those who fear the Lord will not disobey his words,
    and those who love him will keep his ways.
¹⁶Those who fear the Lord will seek his approval,
    and those who love him will be filled with the law.
¹⁷Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts,
    and will humble themselves before him.
¹⁸Let us fall^[c] into the hands of the Lord,
    but not into the hands of men;
for as his majesty is,
    so also is his mercy.

Footnotes

Sirach 2:1 Or trials
Sirach 2:10 Gk of him
Sirach 2:18 Gk We shall fall

Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.