O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions!

To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all things, and that is yet able to take meat!

O death thy sentence is welcome to the man that is in need, and to him whose strength faileth:

Who is in a decrepit age, and that is in care about all things, and to the distrustful that loseth patience!

Fear not the sentence of death. Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee: this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh.

And what shall come upon thee by the good pleasure of the most High? whether ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years.

For among the dead there is no accusing of life.

The children of sinners become children of abominations, and they that converse near the houses of the ungodly.

The inheritance of the children of sinners shall perish, and with their posterity shall be a perpetual reproach.

The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach.

Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most high Lord.

And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion.

All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.

The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the ungodly shall be blotted out.

Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee, more than a thousand treasures precious and great.

A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever.

My children, keep discipline in peace: for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both?

Better is the man that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom.

Wherefore have a shame of these things I am now going to speak of.

For it is not good to keep all shamefacedness: and all things do not please all men in opinion.

Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother: and of a lie before a governor and a man in power:

Of an offence before a prince, and a judge: of iniquity before a congregation and a people:

Of injustice before a companion and friend: and in regard to the place where thou dwellest,

Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant: of leaning with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking:

Of silence before them that salute thee: of looking upon a harlot: and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman.

Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour, and of taking away a portion and not restoring.

Gaze not upon another man’s wife, and be not inquisitive after his handmaid, and approach not her bed.

Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not.

Repeat not the word which thou hast heard, and disclose not the thing that is secret; so shalt thou be truly without confusion, and shalt find favour before all men: be not ashamed of any of these things, and accept no person to sin thereby:

Of the law of the most High, and of his covenant, and of judgment to justify the ungodly:

Of the affair of companions and travellers, and of the gift of the inheritance of friends:

Of exactness of balance and weights, of getting much or little:

Of the corruption of buying, and of merchants, and of much correction of children, and to make the side of a wicked slave to bleed.

Sure keeping is good over a wicked wife.

Where there are many hands, shut up, and deliver all things in number, and weight: and put all in writing that thou givest out or receivest in.

Be not ashamed to inform the unwise and foolish, and the aged, that are judged by young men: and thou shalt be well instructed in all things, and well approved in the sight of all men living.

The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away his sleep, when she is young, lest she pass away the flower of her age, and when she is married, lest she should be hateful:

In her virginity, lest she should be corrupted, and be found with child in her father’s house: and having a husband, lest she should misbehave herself, or at the least become barren.

Keep a sure watch over a shameless daughter: lest at anytime she make thee become a laughingstock to thy enemies, and a byword in the city, and a reproach among the people, and she make thee ashamed before all the multitude.

Behold not everybody’s beauty: and tarry not among women.

For from garments cometh a moth, and from a woman the iniquity of a man.

For better is the iniquity of a man, than a woman doing a good turn, and a woman bringing shame and reproach.

I will now remember the works of the Lord, and I will declare the things I have seen. By the words of the Lord are his works.

The sun giving light hath looked upon all things, and full of the glory of the Lord is his work.

Hath not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful works, which the Lord Almighty hath firmly settled to be established for his glory?

He hath searched out the deep, and the heart of men: and considered their crafty devices.

For the Lord knoweth all knowledge, and hath beheld the signs of the world, he declareth the things that are past, and the things that are to come, and revealeth the traces of hidden things.

No thought escapeth him, and no word can hide itself from him.

He hath beautified the glorious works of his wisdom: and he is from eternity to eternity, and to him nothing may be added,

Nor can he be diminished, and he hath no need of any counsellor.

O how desirable are all his works, and what we can know is but as a spark!

All these things live, and remain for ever, and for every use all things obey him.

All things are double, one against another, and he hath made nothing defective.

He hath established the good things of every one. And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?

The firmament on high is his beauty, the beauty of heaven with its glorious shew.

The sun when he appeareth shewing forth at his rising, an admirable instrument, the work of the most High.

At noon he burneth the earth, and who can abide his burning heat? As one keeping a furnace in the works of heat:

The sun three times as much, burneth the mountains, breathing out fiery vapours, and shining with his beams, he blindeth the eyes.

Great is the Lord that made him, and at his words he hath hastened his course.

And the moon in all in her season, is for a declaration of times and a sign of the world.

From the moon is the sign of the festival day, a light that decreaseth in her perfection.

The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her perfection.

Being an instrument of the armies on high, shining gloriously in the firmament of heaven.

The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven; the Lord enlighteneth the world on high.

By the words of the holy one they stand in judgment, and shall never fall in their watches.

Look upon the rainbow, and bless him that made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness.

It encompasseth the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the most High have displayed it.

By his commandment he maketh the snow to fall apace, and sendeth forth swiftly the lightnings of his judgment.

Through this are the treasures opened, and the clouds fly out like birds.

By his greatness he hath fixed the clouds, and the hailstones are broken.

At his sight shall the mountains be shaken, and at his will the south wind shall blow.

The noise of his thunder shall strike the earth, so doth the northern storm, and the whirlwind:

And as the birds lighting upon the earth, he scattereth snow, and the falling thereof, is as the coming down of locusts.

The eye admireth at the beauty of the whiteness thereof, and the heart is astonished at the shower thereof.

He shall pour frost as salt upon the earth: and when it freezeth, it shall become like the tops of thistles.

The cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into crystal; upon every gathering together of waters it shall rest, and shall clothe the waters as a breastplate.

And it shall devour the mountains, and burn the wilderness, and consume all that is green as with fire.

A present remedy of all is the speedy coming of a cloud, and a dew that meeteth it, by the heat that cometh, shall overpower it.

At his word the wind is still, and with his thought he appeaseth the deep, and the Lord hath planted islands therein.

Let them that sail on the sea, tell the dangers thereof: and when we hear with our ears, we shall admire.

There are great and wonderful works: a variety of beasts, and of all living things, and the monstrous creatures of whales.

Through him is established the end of their journey, and by his word all things are regulated.

We shall say much, and yet shall want words: but the sum of our words is, He is all.

What shall we be able to do to glorify him? for the Almighty himself is above all his works.

The Lord is terrible, and exceeding great, and his power is admirable.

Glorify the Lord as much as ever you can, for he will yet far exceed, and his magnificence is wonderful.

Blessing the Lord, exalt him as much as you can; for he is above all praise.

When you exalt him put forth all your strength, and be not weary: for you can never go far enough.

Who shall see him, and declare him? and who shall magnify him as he is from the beginning?

There are many things hidden from us that are greater than these: for we have seen but a few of his works.

But the Lord hath made all things, and to the godly he hath given wisdom.