Font Size
Wisdom of Ben Sira 17:24-26
New Catholic Bible
Wisdom of Ben Sira 17:24-26
New Catholic Bible
24 But to those who repent he allows a return,
and he encourages those who have lost hope.
Return to the Lord[a]
25 Therefore, return to the Lord and renounce your wicked ways;
pray in his presence and lessen your offense.
26 Return to the Most High, turn away from iniquity,
[for he will guide you out of darkness and into the light of health,][b]
and hate intensely what he abhors.
Footnotes
- Wisdom of Ben Sira 17:25 It is the Lord who gives life and allows people to live on earth. The author still regards the sojourn of the dead as a place in which there is no hope and from which there is no return. Other believers affirm that this life of humans cannot be definitively destroyed by death (Wis 3; 2 Mac 7; 12:44; Dan 12:2-3). Christ will say: “I have come / that they may have life, / and have it in abundance” (Jn 10:10).
- Wisdom of Ben Sira 17:26 Added by some early MSS.