衣索比亞馬加比一書 第 21 章

David trusted in the Lord, and He became his refuge, because he trusted in Him; and He delivered him from the hand of Saul the king.

And in the time of Absalom his son, and in the time of the Philistines, and in the time of the Amalekites and the Edomites, and in the time of the Kornites, and from all these who rose up against him, the Lord delivered David, because he trusted in Him and kept His law.

But those wicked kings who did not trust in Him, the Lord did not deliver, for they were overcome by the hand of their enemies, because chastisement was from the Lord.

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, and He delivered him from the hand of the proud Syrian.

But Manasseh his son was overcome by the hand of his enemy, because he did not set his trust in the Lord; and those enemies of Manasseh who overcame him were not like the others, but they imprisoned him and carried him away to their country, because he did not set his trust upon the Lord and did not fear Him who had honoured and exalted and magnified him.

And then He took away part of the gift which He had given him, because he did not make his way good toward the Lord his God, that He might prolong his days, and withstand his enemy for him, and be for him strength and might and a defence and a deliverance.

For better than a multitude of hosts is trust in the Lord, and better than trust in horses and shield and bow.

For he who trusts in the Lord shall live and be honoured and exceedingly exalted.

But those who do not trust in the Lord, and trust in the abundance of their wealth, shall be cast out from His grace which He gave them; for the Lord shows no partiality.

But those who trust in Him He guards; and those who make themselves His servants, them He owns; yet He does not hasten their help in the time of their distress when their enemies oppose them, because they did not strengthen their hearts in following the Lord and keeping the commandments of the Lord.

But he who strengthens himself in following the Lord and in following His commandments, and in keeping His law, to him He becomes a refuge in the time of his distress.

And He gladdens him with the slaying of his enemies, and with the spoil of the oxen of his foes, and with the captives of the land of his enemies, and with the rain of his vineyards, and with the fruit of his early figs, and with the bringing up of his harvests, and with the fruit of his gardens;

and with the spring rains and the autumn rains, and the grass and the green herbage, and that which is within his borders; that your people who are under your hand may rejoice.

And they shall eat the labour of others and be satisfied with the marrow of their enemies, and the cattle and oxen and sheep; and they shall eat the labour of others and take captive the children of their enemies.

This the Lord does for him who loves Him; but as for him who hates Him, He makes him a deceiver, delivered to his enemy.

And He binds his hands and his feet and delivers him into the hand of his enemy, and makes him a mockery to his foes; and He does not gladden him with the seed of his house, because he became a disturber of the commandment of the Lord and a shedder of blood.

And he shall not stand in the judgment; and He shall requite them with the fruit of their deeds, those who do evil, even the workers of evil, in the day when He requites evil.

But to the workers of good, that He should repay them with good things, it was commanded from the Lord by His own hand, that He should guard them.

And He too, that He should keep the commandment; for He is Lord over all that He created, that they should do good, and He gives them everlasting life; and they praise the Lord who created them, and there is none of those whom He created that transgresses His commandment, except man alone.

And they all know Him and keep themselves in His commandment and in His ordinance, as the Lord commanded them all, all that dwell each according to their ordinance.

But man transgresses against Him who made him king over all the beasts and the cattle and over all the birds that the Lord created.

Whether what is in the sea or what is on the dry land, and all that the Lord created, He committed to our father Adam, that he should do with it as he pleased, and eat of them as of the grass that is on the earth, and make them his servants and use them, whether the wild beasts or the cattle; and the Lord gave them that they should be subject to man. And men too, who became kings, that they should be subject to the Lord through the honour He gave them, and through their being set over all that He created, should be devoted to Him and obey Him.

And if they transgress His commandment, He too takes away from them the gift which He gave them, and gives it back to him who does His will; for He is the Lord of heaven and earth.

And whom He wills He appoints, and whom He wills He puts away; and He kills and makes alive, He smites and shows mercy.

And there is no other like Him, and there is none that can put Him away; for He is Lord of all that He created, and there is no other God besides Him, in the heaven above nor in the earth beneath.

And He appoints and He puts away, and He kills and makes alive, and He smites and shows mercy, and He makes poor and makes rich.

And He receives the petition of those who ask Him, and of him who does His will with a pure heart; He hears their prayer and does their will in all that they ask Him.

And He commands for them small and great, and all that is theirs, that is in the mountains and the hills and the caves and the forests and the recesses of the earth and the sea and the dry land.

And all that is theirs is for those who do the will of their God; and He does not withhold from them His blessing, and gives them the reward of their praise.

And what is in heaven too He gives them, the honour which He prepared for their fathers, for Abraham and for Isaac and for Jacob, and for David and for Hezekiah and for Samuel, who did not transgress the commandment and the judgment of the Lord.

That He should give them the inheritance which He swore to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, who from of old pleased Him, and that they should rejoice in His kingdom.