THE CONCLUDING SECTION OF THE BOOK
- Exhortation to the Fear of God: all Nature fears Him, but not the Sinners.
Chapter 101
1 “Now seriously consider heaven, all ye children of heaven, and all ye works of the Most High, fear him, and do no evil before him.
2 “When he shuts up the windows of heaven, and restrains the rain and the dew, that it may not descend on the earth on your account, what will ye do then?
3 And when he sends his indignation upon you, and upon all your works, you are not they who can entreat him, you who speak great and powerful things against his righteousness, and to you there shall be no peace
4 “And do you not behold the governors of ships, how their ships are driven about by the waves, torn to pieces by the winds, and exposed to danger?
5 Therefore they are afraid, because all their valuable riches are with them on the ocean, and they think not good in their hearts, because the sea may swallow them up, and in it they may be destroyed.
6 “Is not the whole sea, all its waters, and all its commotions, the work of him the Most High? And he has sealed up all its operations, and enclosed it around with sand.
7 And at his rebuke it is dried up, and alarmed, and all which is in the same, and will ye not fear him ye sinners, who are upon the earth?
8 “Is he not the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things which are in them? And who has given instruction and wisdom to all those who are upon the earth, and to those on the sea?
9 Are not the governors of ships afraid of the ocean? And shall not sinners be afraid before the Most High?”
- Terrors of the Day of Judgement: the adverse Fortunes of the Righteous on the Earth.
Chapter 102
1 “In those days when he shall bring upon you ardent fire,Where will you fly, and where will you be secure?And when he sends forth his word against you,Are you not astonished and afraid.
2 “All the luminaries are moved with great fear,And the whole earth is astonished, while it trembles, and suffers anxiety.
3 “All the angels perform the commands which they have received,And desire to be concealed from the presence of the great glory,While the children of the earth tremble, and are agitated.But you ye sinners are execrable for ever,For you there shall be no peace.
4 “Fear not ye souls of the righteous,But hope for the day of your death in righteousness.
5 “And be not sorrowful, because in great trouble,With groaning, lamentation, and sorrow,Your souls descend to the repository of the dead,For in your lives your bodies have not received according to your goodness,But in the days in which you existed, many more sinners existed,In the days of execration and punishment.
6 “And when you die, the sinners say concerning you:“‘As we die the righteous die. What advantage have they in their works?
7 Behold like us they die in sorrow, and in darkness.What is their superiority before us? Henceforward we are equal!
8 And from hence what will they obtain and what will they see forever?For behold they are dead.And from this time they never will again perceive the light.’
9 “I say unto you ye sinners, Ye have been satisfied with meat, and drink, with spoil of men, with robbery, and sin with the acquisition of wealth, and the sight of good days,
10 but have you not seen the righteous, their end is in peace, because no oppression is found in them, even to the day of their death.
11 They perish, and are as if they were not, while their souls descend in trouble to the repository of the dead.”
- Different Destinies of the Righteous and the Sinners: fresh Objections of the Sinners.
Chapter 103
1 “But now I declare to you ye righteous, by his great splendour and glory, by his renowned kingdom, and by his majesty, to you
2 I declare that:“I understand this mystery,That I have read on the tablets of heaven,And have seen the book of the holy ones,And I have seen what is written and impressed upon them.
3 “For all goodness, joy, and glory has been prepared for them,And written down for the spirits of them who die in righteousness,And much goodness. It shall be given to you a plant of your suffering,And your portion shall far exceed the portion of the living.
4 “The spirits of you who die in righteousness shall live,And their spirits shall rejoice and exult,And their remembrance shall be before the face of the mighty OneFor all the generations of the world,And they shall not now fear their disgrace.
5 “Woe to you ye sinners, when you die in your sins,And they who are like you say concerning you,‘Blessed are those sinners,They have seen all their days,
6 And now they die in happiness, and in wealth,In their lives they saw not calamity and destruction,They die in honour,And in their lives they never were restrained by judgment.’
7 “But has it not been shewn to them,That when their souls shall be made to descend to the repository of the deed,Their wickedness will then become their greatest torment?
8 For their spirits shall enter into darkness,Into the snare, end into the flame,Which shall burn to the great judgment,And the great judgment shall be for all generations and forever.Woe to you, for to you there shall be no peace.
9 “And ye cannot say to the righteous, and to the good who are alive,‘In the days of our distress we have been loaden with affliction and every trouble we have seen,And much evil we have suffered,And our spirits have been wasted, weakened, and diminished;
10 “‘We have been sentenced to the lowest places,And there was nothing to help us in word or deed that we knew,And because we found none we have been oppressed,And condemned to misery.We have not expected to live from day to day:
11 “‘And we hoped to become the head, but we have become the tail.We have been oppressed when we laboured,But we had no power over our oppressors,We have been food for sinners,And the yoke of the ungodly has been heavy upon us.
12 “‘Those who hate and afflict us were powerful over us,And to those who hate us we had bowed our neck,But towards us there was no compassion.
13 “‘We sought to go from them, that we might fly away,And have rest, but we found no place to which we could fly,And be secure from them.
14 “‘We have accused them before princes in our distress,And have cried out to those who were devouring us,But they regarded not our cry,And they were not disposed to hear our voice.
15 “‘But they assist those who rob and devour us,Those who diminish us, and conceal their oppression,Who remove not from us their yoke, but devour, enervate, and slay us,Who conceal our slaughter, yet by that never remember,That they have lifted up their hands against us.’”