衣索比亞馬加比二書 第 10 章

And you also, kings and princes, do not walk in the way of Satan; but fear the Lord who created you and has kept you until now.

Hearken to the kingdom.

For when the children of Israel came toward Amalek to inherit the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Perizzites, Balak the son of Zippor.

And he said to Balaam: I would have you curse them for me, for whom you curse is cursed, and whom you bless is blessed; and I will give you much gold and silver to honor you, that you may curse them for me.

And Balaam came, hoping for the reward of his iniquity; and Balak the son of Zippor showed him the place where the children of Israel were encamped.

And he performed divinations and offered sacrifices and slaughtered sheep and oxen from among his fattened beasts, and he desired to curse the children of Israel.

But the Lord did not desire that he should curse them; rather, He turned the curse into a blessing by His own word.

And he said: Let those who bless you be blessed, and let those who curse you be cursed; for you are the people whom the Lord has chosen, and you are the dwelling place of the Beloved who shall come from on high.

And thereupon Balak the son of Zippor was grieved and angry and wroth, because he had blessed them before him; and he commanded him to curse them.

And Balaam said to him: I will not curse those whom the Lord has blessed, for the people whom the Lord has chosen have come into this land.

And Balak the son of Zippor said to Balaam: I desired that you would curse them for me, and you have not cursed them, but you have blessed them before me. Now, had you cursed them for me when you said, 'Give to me,' I would have given you a house full of gold and silver; but you have wholly blessed them, and you did me no good; and I also will do you no good.

And Balaam said: As for me, I cannot disregard or transgress the word of the Lord; rather, that word which the Lord has put into my mouth, that I will speak.

And I will not prefer riches above my soul, for if I love riches, the Lord will be wroth with me; I will not curse a blessed people.

For the Lord said to Jacob their father: Let those who bless you be blessed, and let those who curse you be cursed; for every one who blesses you is blessed.

And he who curses you unjustly is cursed. Make good your deeds and your way, that the Lord may take pleasure in you.

And do not be like the people of old who provoked the Lord by their wickedness, and whom He forsook; some of whom He destroyed in the waters of the flood.

And there were those whom He destroyed by the hand of their enemies; He brought against them the enemy, an evil people who afflicted them and led their kings into captivity together with their prophets and their Levites.

And they brought them to a strange land which they did not know, and they carried them captive and plundered them and chastised them and laid waste their land.

And they made Jerusalem like a plowed field, for they tore down the towers and walls of the holy city.

And the priests were led into captivity, and the law was overthrown, and the warriors fell by the sword.

And the widows were led into captivity, and they did not weep for their husbands who had died, because they themselves were taken captive and it was upon their own heads.

And the children wept and the old men were put to shame; and they had no compassion on the face of the aged or the gray-haired.

Neither those in the prime of life nor the virgins were spared; and they destroyed all that they found in their cities, and they carried them away to a strange land which they did not know; for when the Lord desired to be wroth with His people, He first allowed His sanctuary to be taken.

And because of this, when the Lord forsook the children of Israel, He allowed Jerusalem to be plowed like a field, for they provoked their Creator at all times.

Yet He did not utterly destroy them all at once, for He has compassion on them for the sake of their fathers; and it is not for their own sake that He has compassion on them, but because He loves their fathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who reigned in righteousness and walked uprightly in the way of Him who created them.

And He appointed them to a twofold honor, both in heaven and on earth.

And likewise you also, kings and princes, who are in this passing world: remember those who went before you, who walked in purity, how they inherited the kingdom of heaven, and how their name was made goodly to generation after generation.

And you also, that He may make straight your kingdom and make your name goodly, even as the good kings before you who pleased the Lord by the beauty of their lives.