衣索比亞馬加比三書 第 4 章

And the Lord of Adam is able to ransom him, and to put you to shame, and to deliver the lamb out of the wolf's mouth.

But you shall arise and go toward destruction, taking with you those whom you have ruled.

And those who kept the law of the Lord their God shall rejoice with their Creator, those whom God hid from your evil works, that He might make them His own portion, and that they might praise Him with His holy angels, who did not transgress the law of their God as you did.

But the Lord Most High, who chose you and gave you a place above all who were like you, that you might praise Him with His angels—because of your pride He withheld from you the lofty throne.

But you refused, and you were named—they were named demons. But those who love God become a people to Him, like the holy angels.

But those who love God become a people to Him, like the holy angels; and without ceasing the cherubim and seraphim who praise Him spread out their wings.

But by your sloth and your pride you destroyed your praise, which you were commanded to offer Him at all times, together with your kindred and all your assembly, who were created with you in your fellowship.

And when you despised the praise of Him who created you, while it seemed to you that He could not make another like you—lest the praise of God, who created you as the tenth tribe, should fail when you were separated from the fellowship of your brethren—He created Adam in your place, lest the praise of Him who created you should fail.

But in the pride of your heart you grew slothful in the praise of Him who created you; therefore He was angry with you and mocked you, and bound you into the trembling of Gehenna with your demons.

And He took dust from the earth in His holy hands, and mingling water and fire and wind, He created Adam in His own likeness and image.

And He set him over all the work of His hands, that he might fill up the breach of your praise; and the praise of the earthly one was joined with the praise of the heavenly ones, and their praise became equal.

But in your pride and the stiffness of your neck you were driven out, and you destroyed yourself from the praise of God who created you.

Know that His praise was not diminished; for He made one who praises Him by the counsel of his own will, that the praise of God might not be lessened.

For He knows all things before they come to pass; and before He created you, He foreknew that you would transgress His commandment. And when you rebelled, He made Adam, His servant, in His own image and likeness; for before the world there was a hidden counsel with Him.

Even as Solomon said: Before the mountains were brought forth, He begot me; and before the world was firmly set, He created me, and before the foundations of the earth were laid;

and before He set in place the standing of the hills and mountains, and before the courses of the world were made firm, and before the light of the sun and the moon shone, and before the circuits of the stars and the seasons were established;

and before night and day alternated, and before the bounds of the sea were set, and before all that came to be had come to be;

and before all that now appears appeared, and before every name that is now named was named—neither you, nor those like you, nor His servant Adam, were yet in being, but they were already in the mind of God.

When you rebelled, that His holy name might be praised, and when you exalted yourself, He created Adam His servant, that He might be praised by His humble handiwork, whom He created from the earth.

For God hears the prayer of the poor from afar, and He loves the praise of the lowly.

And God disregards the words of the proud; for He does not desire the strength of a horse, nor delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him.

And they shall weep and cry aloud because of the sins they have committed.

But you were not able to make supplication in repentance.

But the one of earth returned in repentance, weeping and lamenting bitterly because of his sin before the Lord his Creator.

But you, in the pride of your heart and the stiffness of your neck, did not know the way of peace nor of repentance; and you were not able to make supplication before God your Creator with repentance, weeping, and tears.

But the one of earth and ashes and poverty returned in weeping and tears, into repentance and the way of peace and humility.

But you did not humble yourself, nor did your heart relent before Him who created you.

But the one of earth humbled himself and made supplication for the sin he had committed, and was not proud.

And that error was not produced by him who came from you; for it was you who created and brought forth rebellion, and took him with you into destruction by your pride. It was not he.

He Himself knew that it came to pass through the pride of your heart; for before He created you both, He knew you, and He knew your ways.

But that one, who was without proud cunning, He restored through repentance, weeping, and tears.

But you, in the pride of your heart, were not able to make supplication in repentance; for he who does wrong and does not make supplication multiplies the evil of his pride beyond his former iniquity; but he who does wrong and makes supplication, and weeps before God his Creator—

that one has truly repented; and he has found the way of his salvation, that he may soften the heart of his Lord. He made supplication before his Master, and his Lord relents from the punishment of old, lest He be angry with His servant; for he made supplication before Him with much repentance and bowing, and his former transgression He forgives him.

And if he does not return to his former transgression, this is perfect repentance, if he so does. And Adam did not forget to think upon his God, and he made supplication in repentance to Him who created him.

And you also—make supplication to Him and repent toward your Creator, and do not lay sin upon Him and upon the work of His hands; for their Lord, who created them, knows their weakness, since they are flesh and blood.

And as for their souls, after they have departed from their flesh, the flesh shall be dust until the day that the Lord wills.