CHAPTER 3
1 Dearworthy sons, hear ye the doom of the father; and do ye so, that ye be safe.
2 For why God honoured the father in sons, and he seeketh, and hath made steadfast the doom of the mother into sons.
3 He that loveth God, shall pray for sins, and he shall abstain [or with-hold] himself from those [or them], and he shall be heard in the prayer of days.
4 And as he that treasureth, so he that honoureth his mother.
5 He that honoureth his father, shall be made merry in sons, and he shall be heard in the day of his prayer.
6 He that honoureth his father, shall live by [or with] longer life; and he that obeyeth to the father, shall refresh the mother, that is, shall comfort her.
7 He that dreadeth the Lord, honoureth father and mother; and he shall serve in work, and word, and in all patience to them that engendered [or begat] him, as to lords.
8 Honour thy father, that the bless-ing of God come to thee; and his blessing dwelleth in the last.
9 The blessing of the father maketh steadfast the houses of sons; but the cursing of the mother draweth out the foundaments [by the root].
10 Have thou not glory in the des-pising [or the wrong] of thy father; for it is not glory to thee, but confusion [or shame].
11 For why the glory of a man is of the honour of his father; and the shame of the son is a father without honour.
12 Son, receive the eld [or last age] of thy father, and make thou not him sorry [or not sorrow thou him] in his life;
13 and if he faileth in wit, give thou forgiveness, and despise thou not him in thy virtue;
14 for why the alms-[deeds] of the father shall not be [in] forgetting. For why good shall be restored to thee for the sin of the mother, and building [up] shall be made to thee in rightful-ness [or rightwiseness];
15 and it shall remember of thee in the day of tribulation, and thy sins shall be released [or loosed], as ice in clearness, either heat, of the sun.
16 He is of full evil fame, that forsaketh the father; and he that wratheth the mother, is cursed of God.
17 Son, perform thy works in mild-ness, and thou shalt be loved over the glory of men.
18 In as much as thou art great, make thee meek in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God;
19 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)
20 for why the power of God alone is great, and he is honoured of meek men.
21 Seek thou not higher things than thou, and inquire [or search] thou not stronger things than thou;
22 but ever[more] think thou those things, which God commanded to thee; and be thou not curious in full many works of him. For it is not needful to thee to see with thine eyes those things, that be hid.
23 In superfluous things do not thou seek [or ensearch] manyfold; and be thou not curious in many works of him; for why full many things above the wit of men be showed to thee.
24 For the suspicion of many men hath deceived them, and withheld their wits in vanity.
25 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)
26 An hard heart shall have evil in the last time; and he that loveth peril shall perish therein. An heart that entereth by two ways [or The heart going into two ways], that is, that hath the knowing of good in under-standing, and malice in will, shall not have prosperities, either rest; and a man of shrewd heart, shall be caused to stumble in those [or them].
27 A wicked heart shall be grieved in sorrows; and a sinner shall heap or add to [or lay to], to do sin.
28 Health shall not be to the synagogue of proud men; for why the thick wood of sin shall be drawn out [or taken up] by the root in them, and it shall not be understood, of sinners who will not think on God’s dooms.
29 The heart of a wise man is understood in wisdom, and a good ear shall hear wisdom with all covet-ousness. A wise heart and able to understand shall abstain itself from sins, and shall have prosperities in the works of rightfulness [or rightwise-ness].
30 Water quencheth fire burning, and alms-[deeds] against-standeth sins.
31 And God, the beholder of him that yieldeth grace, that is, doeth alms, hath mind afterward; and he shall find steadfastness in the time of his fall.