1 Meqabyan

The first of three books unique to the Ethiopian canon, not to be confused with the Western books of Maccabees. The Meqabyan describe the resistance of faithful believers against an unjust king. Modernized from a Ge'ez translation; see A Note on Sources for full attribution.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 1

There was a man whose name was Tsirtsaydan - called "the Syro-Sidonian" - who loved wickedness. He boasted in the multitude of his horses and in the strength of the troops under his command.
He had many idols that he worshipped, bowed down to, and sacrificed to day and night.
But in the blindness of his mind, he believed they were the ones who gave him power and strength.
In his heart, he believed they were the ones who granted him authority over all his kingdom.
And again, in time of battle, he believed they were the ones who gave him victory and everything he desired.
He sacrificed to them both day and night.
He appointed priests to serve his idols.
The priests made it appear to him as though the idols were eating day and night from that defiled sacrifice, and they told him so.
Again, he urged other people to sacrifice and eat just as they did. And those people in turn urged still others to offer sacrifice just as they had.
But he put his trust in his worthless idol.
In the blindness of his mind and the poverty of his understanding, he believed they had created him - that they fed him and set him on his throne. For Satan had darkened his mind so that neither he nor his people would know the Creator who brought him from non-existence into existence. And so they were destined to go together to the eternal fire of hell - condemned alongside those who, though no gods at all, were called gods by them.
Since they are never alive, they ought rightly to be called dead.
A demonic spirit that resembles the idols dwells within their images, tells the worshippers the desires of their own hearts, and appears to them in whatever form they wish. And so the children of Adam - whose hearts have become as ashes - are condemned by those very idols in which they place their trust.
When they see what they hoped for fulfilled, they are filled with wonder. And they carry out the will of that spirit until they sacrifice their own sons and daughters - children born of their own bodies - shedding the pure blood of their boys and girls.
Satan sweetened the sacrifice for them so that they would fulfill their evil desires without grief - all in order to drag them down with him into hell, where there is no escape forever, and where he himself endures torment.
Now this Tsirtsaydan was an arrogant man. He possessed fifty idols fashioned in the likeness of men and twenty fashioned in the likeness of women.
He boasted in those useless idols, honored them greatly, and sacrificed to them morning and evening.
He commanded the people to offer sacrifices to his idols. He himself ate from that defiled sacrifice, and he commanded others to eat from it as well. Above all, he stirred up strife in the cause of evil.
He built five houses for his idols - which were hammered and crafted from iron, bronze, and lead.
He adorned them with gold and silver, hung curtains all around the house for them, and pitched a tent over them.
He appointed guards for them there. He continually sacrificed forty offerings to his idols: ten fat bulls, ten choice milking cows, ten fat rams, and ten lean goats - along with winged birds.
For he believed the idols were truly eating. He also presented them with fifty measures of wine and fifty measures of wheat kneaded with oil.
He said to the priests, "Take these and give them to the gods. Let the creators eat the flesh I have slaughtered for them, and let them drink the wine I have brought. And if it is not enough, I will add more."
He compelled everyone to eat and drink from that defiled sacrifice.
But in his evil cunning, he dispatched spies throughout all his kingdom with orders to identify and bring before him anyone who was not sacrificing or bowing down - to punish them with fire and sword in his presence, to seize their wealth, to burn their houses with fire, and to confiscate everything they owned.
"If anyone refuses to sacrifice and worship the gods," he declared, "I myself will bring suffering and punishment upon them. For the gods are great and good - it is by their generosity that they created us.
They created the heavens and the earth, the great sea, the sun and the moon, the stars, the winds and the rains, and everything that moves - all of it for our food and sustenance.
Those who do not worship them will be punished with utter torment, and the gods will show them no mercy."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 2

There was a man from the tribe of Benjamin whose name was Meqabis.
He had three sons who were handsome and exceedingly strong, and they were beloved by all people - throughout the region of Zirutsaydan, in the land of the Chaldeans, in Midian, and in the land of Medon.
When they encountered them, they said to them: "As the king has commanded, will you not bow down to the gods of Zirutsaydan? Will you not offer sacrifices?
But if you refuse, we will seize you and bring you before the king, and the king will destroy all your possessions, as he has commanded."
Those handsome young men answered them: "We have the God of our fathers - the one who created heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in it, the sun and the moon, the stars and the clouds. He is the true God whom we worship and in whom we believe."
Now those servants of the king were four commanders, and the servants who carried their weapons numbered fifty each.
When they sought to seize these holy ones, the holy ones escaped from their hands, and no one laid a hand on them; for those young men were exceedingly strong warriors, and they went away bearing their shields and spears.
One of them could kill a bear by choking it, wringing its neck on the spot as one would a chicken.
Another of them could kill a lion with a single stone or one blow of a staff.
Another of them could strike a man dead in battle with a single sword blow at one stroke; and their fame and the terror of them was proclaimed throughout all the land of Moab and the Chaldeans.
They were mighty warriors, and they possessed handsomeness and eloquence.
Again, the beauty of their appearance was marvelous; but surpassing all else was the valor of their minds, for they worshiped God and did not fear death.
When the troops were sent to frighten them, no one could capture them; for they were strong, and they climbed up to the high mountain and escaped.
Those troops returned to the city and shut its gates, and they threatened the people, saying: "If you do not bring those warriors - the Meqabyans - we will burn your city with fire and send word to the king to destroy your land."
Then the people of that land - the poor and the wealthy, men and women, orphans and widows - all came out and cried together; they turned their eyes toward the mountain and called out to them: "Do not let us and our land be destroyed!"
Then they all wept together, and they were seized with fear before God.
They turned their faces toward the east, stretched out their hands, and prayed together to God, saying: "Lord, shall we refuse these people who have broken your commandment and your law?
But we do not wish to hear the word of that wicked one who does not believe in your law - who puts his trust in gold and silver, and in stone and wood made by human hands.
Though you are the Creator who saves and who kills, that one acts as though they created him; and he is one who sheds human blood and devours human flesh.
But we do not wish to look upon that wicked one's face or to hear his words.
Yet if you command us, we will go to him; and because we believe in you, we will surrender our bodies to death - but even so, we will not obey that wicked one's command when he orders sacrifice to be offered to the gods.
O Lord, God of our fathers who did your will and stood firm in your law - O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you who examine the heart and mind - we believe in you with all our hearts.
You search the hearts of people and know both the sinner and the righteous; nothing is hidden from you, and what is concealed is laid bare before you.
We have no other God besides you.
For the sake of your holy name, be our strength, our might, and our refuge in this work in which we serve you, as we give our bodies to death.
As you heard the prayer of Jacob when Israel went down to the land of Egypt, so now, O holy God, we pray to you."
Their appearance was supremely beautiful, and when two men stood before them to confront them, fiery swords came down - terrifying as lightning - and at that moment cut off their necks and killed them; yet then they rose up again, alive as they had been before.
The beauty of their appearance became more glorious than ever; they shone more brightly than the sun and were more magnificent than before.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 3

A word came from heaven saying: "You, servants of the Most High God - Abiya, Sila, and Fentos - you have been granted that just as you have seen these who rose from death before you, so also you will rise after your death; and your faces will shine in the kingdom of heaven.
Go with those men, and there receive martyrdom."
Then they prayed and gave thanks, and they worshiped God; neither death nor the king's punishment frightened them.
They went to those soldiers and did not frighten them, but became like innocent sheep. When they reached them, the soldiers seized and struck them, bound and flogged them, then brought them before the king and made them stand in his presence.
The king answered them, saying: "You rebels - why do you not sacrifice to the gods? Why do you not bow down to them?"
Those holy and blessed brothers - chosen and joyful, shining like precious gems of great worth - Abiya, Sila, and Fentos answered him with one voice.
To that wicked king they said: "We will not sacrifice to defiled idols that have no knowledge or understanding, nor will we bow down to them.
Furthermore, we will not bow down to idols made of gold and silver, stone and wood by human hands - things that have no soul, no understanding, no knowledge - that cannot repay good to those who do good to them, nor return evil to those who do evil against them."
The king answered them, saying: "Why do you act this way? Why do you insult the honored gods, who know those who mock them and those who wrong them?"
They answered him: "We insult them because they are worthless to us - we will not honor them."
The king said: "I will punish you according to the measure of your evil deeds. I will destroy your fine appearance with severe torment, with flogging, and with fire.
Now tell me - will you sacrifice to the gods or not? If not, I will bring the whip and the sword upon you."
They answered him: "We will not sacrifice to defiled idols, nor will we bow down to them." Then the king commanded that they be beaten with thick rods, then flogged with a whip, and after that split open until their inner organs were exposed.
After this, they were bound and placed in a prison cell until he could deliberate on how to further punish and kill them.
They were taken and bound tightly in prison without mercy; and they remained in that prison for three days and three nights.
After three days, the king commanded a herald to go around and summon his nobles, his advisors, his officials, and the elders of the land.
When King Tsiruts'aidan sat in the public square, he commanded that the honored Abiya, Sila, and Fentos be brought; and they stood before him, bound and wounded.
The king said to them: "Now that you have spent these three days, do you have a change of mind? Or do you still persist in your former wickedness?"
The honored servants of God answered him: "We are resolute. We will never consent to worship the idol you point us to - the one full of sin and wickedness."
That wicked man was enraged and commanded that they be hung up and their wounds be reopened; and their blood flowed out onto the ground.
He also commanded that they be burned with firebrands and that their flesh be seared; and this was done. But those honored men said to him: "You fool, speak on - the more you multiply our punishment, the greater our reward becomes."
Furthermore, he commanded that savage beasts - leopards, bears, and lions - be brought unfed and set upon them to devour their flesh completely, together with their bones.
He commanded the beast-keepers to drive the animals at them, and they did as they were commanded. The honored holy martyrs were bound hand and foot, and then further pegged to the ground with stakes.
The beasts, though hungry, lunged toward them, but when they reached the martyrs, they bowed down before them and did them homage.
Still hungry, the beasts turned back toward their keepers, frightened them, and chased them until they were driven before the face of the king.
There, among the army of the wicked, seventy-five men were killed.
Many people were trampled and crushed as they pressed upon one another in terror, until the king himself fled his throne; and with great difficulty the beasts were seized and taken back to their dens.
The two younger brothers of Abiya, Sila, and Fentos came, freed them from their bonds, and said to them: "Come, let us flee so that these wicked and suspicious men do not find us."
But those martyrs answered their brothers: "It is not right for us to flee after we have taken our stand for martyrdom. If you are afraid, then go and flee."
Then the younger brothers said: "We will stand with you before the king, and if you die, we will die together with you."
After this, the king, from the balcony of his palace hall, saw that these blessed men had been freed and that all five brothers were standing together. The commanders who directed and punished the troops asked and learned that they were brothers, and reported this to the king; and the king, in his fury, roared like a wild donkey of the wilderness.
The king commanded that all five brothers be locked in prison until he could deliberate on how to punish them; and they were bound mercilessly in split-log stocks and kept in prison.
King Tsiruts'aidan said: "These straying men have worn me out. How firm is the resolve of these people! Their wickedness in deed matches the stubbornness of their strength. If I suppose they will turn back, they only harden their hearts further.
I will repay them according to the measure of their evil deeds. I will burn their flesh in fire until it becomes ash, and I will scatter the ash of their flesh like dust on a mountaintop, so the wind may carry it away."
After saying this, he waited three days and then commanded that the holy ones be brought. When the holy ones were brought near, he commanded that a great furnace pit be lit - with fuel that feeds the flames and a boiling mixture for destruction: fat and galbanum, sea foam and pitch, and sulfur were to be thrown into it.
When the fire in the pit blazed up, the messengers went to the king saying: "We have done as you commanded; send the people to be thrown in."
Having received word, he commanded that they be thrown into the fiery pit. The soldiers did as the king commanded, and when those holy ones entered the fire, they gave up their souls to God.
Angels, in full sight of those who had cast them in, received them; and their souls were carried to paradise - where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwell, where joy is found.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 4

When that wicked man saw that they had died, he commanded that their bodies be burned in fire until they became ashes, and that the ashes be scattered in the wind. But the fire was not able to burn even the hair of their heads, and they were taken out of the pit.
Again, they kindled fire over them from morning until evening, but it did not touch them. Then they said, "Come now, let us throw their bodies into the sea."
They did as the king commanded and threw them into the sea. Even after adding heavy iron weights, great stones, and a millstone that a donkey turns, casting them into the sea along with the bodies, the sea had no power to drown them. For the Spirit of God dwelt upon them, and they floated on the sea and did not sink in its depths. By every scheme devised against them, it proved impossible to destroy them.
He said, "This death of theirs has exhausted me more than their life. What else can I do but throw their bodies to the wild animals to devour them?"
And so they did. But the wild animals and the vultures did not touch their bodies. The vultures and birds shielded them with their wings from the scorching sun. The bodies of the five martyrs lay there for fourteen days.
When people looked upon them, their bodies shone like rays of the sun, and a light encircled them like a tent, as angels surrounded their bodies.
He took counsel but could find nothing to do. After this, he dug into the earth and buried the bodies of the five martyrs.
While that arrogant king lay sleeping in his bed at night, the five martyrs appeared before him - standing with their swords drawn, filled with anger.
It seemed to him that enemies had broken into his house in the night. When he awoke from sleep, he was terrified and wanted to flee from corner to corner of the house. It seemed to him that they had come to accuse him, and that they were about to kill him, and his knees trembled with fear.
So he said, "My lords, what do you want? What shall I do for you?"
They answered him, "Was it not you who burned us in fire and commanded that we be thrown into the sea? Yet you could not destroy us, for God, in whom we believed, preserved our bodies. Let glory and praise be given to God, for those who believe in him do not perish. We who believed in him were not put to shame even in our suffering."
"I did not know that such punishment would come upon me. What reward shall I give you in return for the evil I have done to you?
Now, name the reward you require, so that you do not take my body in death and do not drag me down to Sheol while I still live.
I have sinned against you, and since the law of God your Father is merciful, forgive me my sin," he said to them.
Those blessed martyrs answered him and said, "We will not repay you evil for the evil you did to us, for it is God who repays. It is our Creator God who will give you what you deserve.
But because of your lack of knowledge and the darkness of your heart, we have revealed ourselves and appeared to you, so you may know that we are alive. Though you thought you had killed us, you have prepared life for us.
But you and the priests of your idols will descend into Gehenna forever, from which there is no exit.
While you were nothing but spittle, you abandoned worshiping God who created you - woe to you, and to the idols you serve and bow down to. You do not even know where you came from. Are you not like smoke, seen today and gone tomorrow?"
The king answered them, "Whatever you command me, I will do everything you desire."
"We counsel you for your own sake, so that you do not enter the fire of Gehenna - it is not for our sake.
For your idols have no soul, no mind, and no understanding. They are gold and silver, stone and wood, made by human hands.
They cannot kill and cannot save; they cannot do good and cannot do evil; they cannot dishonor and cannot honor; they cannot make poor and cannot make rich; they cannot uproot and cannot plant.
But those demonic spirits, who desire that not one person among you should be saved, deceive you with a blindness of heart even greater than that of ordinary people. For though you made those idols, you think they created you.
The spirits of demons and devils dwell within them, and they will give you what you desire only to drown you in the sea of Gehenna.
But you - abandon this error of yours and worship our God. Let this be our reward in exchange for our death, that we might profit our own souls," they said to him.
He was utterly astonished and filled with wonder. He was afraid, for all five had appeared to him with their swords drawn. So he bowed down before them.
"Now I truly know that those who have become dust - the dead - do rise after death. As for me, I came only a little short of dying," he said.
After this, they disappeared from before the king. And from that day forward, that Tsirutsayidan, who had been utterly arrogant and proud, ceased burning their bodies.
He had long been deceived in the error of his heart and took pleasure in his idols. He was not the only one who went astray - he led many others like himself astray as well, until they forsook following their Creator.
They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons, and they carried out the desires of their hearts - fornication and depravity - committing the disorder and lewdness that God despises, as their father Satan had taught them.
They married their own mothers and defiled their sisters and aunts. They committed this vile act and everything like it, defiling their own bodies. For Satan had hardened the hearts of those perverse people, and they said they would never turn back.
But that Tsirutsayidan, who did not know his Creator, was proud and arrogant and boasted in his idols.
He said, "How does God give kingship to people who do not know him? It is because he tests them to see whether they will fully return to him."
If they would fully return to him, he would love them and preserve their kingdom. But if they refused, he would punish them severely in Gehenna forever.
The king ought to have feared God in proportion to the greatness of his kingdom, and the ruler ought to have served his Creator well in proportion to the greatness of his dominion.
And the great elders, leaders, and officials ought to have obeyed their Creator in proportion to the greatness of their honor.
For he is the Lord of heaven and earth who created all his creation. It is he who makes poor and makes rich; it is he who dishonors and honors. For there is no other God besides him - above in the heavens or below on the earth.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 5

Ra'ayitawi was proud, and God made his body swell from foot to head through a single malaria mosquito; and he died from that small mosquito.
Again, Nimrod was proud because of the abundance of his power, having built himself an iron bed; and God destroyed him.
Again, Nebuchadnezzar was proud and said, "There is no other king besides me; I am the one who causes the sun to rise over the earth." He said this because of his great arrogance.
God separated him from humanity and drove him into the wilderness for seven years, making his lot to be with the wild animals of the wilderness and the birds of the sky, until he came to know that the one who created him was God.
When he came to know this, God restored him once more to his kingdom. Who is there who was bold and proud against God his creator, yet did not become dust?
Who is there who broke his law and his order, and was not swallowed by the earth?
"O Zirutazaydan - the Syro-Sidonian - you also desire to be proud against your Creator; and the time is coming when, because of your arrogance, he will destroy you just as he destroyed them, and bring you down to the grave.
And again, he will bring you down to Sheol - that end of darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth - to the great and deep pit from which, once one has entered, there is no way out forever.
You too will die tomorrow and perish, just like the proud kings who were like you and who abandoned the life of this world."
We say this: "You are a human being, and you are not God; for God is the one who created the earth and the heavens, and who also created you.
He brings down the proud, and he honors those who are humbled. He gives strength to the weary, and gives weakness to the mighty.
He kills the living, and he raises up the dead who were buried in the grave and became dust.
He also sets slaves free from the bondage of sin into life.
O King Zirutazaydan! Why do you boast in your defiled idols that have no benefit?
God created the heavens; he laid the foundation of the earth; he created the great sea; he created the sun and the moon; he established seasons and years.
A person goes out to his field and spends the day plowing until evening; and the stars of the sky stand firm by his word.
He calls them all by their names, and there is nothing done without God knowing it.
He commanded the angels of heaven to serve him and to praise his glorious name; and the angels are sent to all people who will inherit life.
The angel Raphael was sent to Tobit, and he saved Tobias in the land of Raguel.
An angel was sent to Gideon to inform him so that he would destroy the Eloflawians; and when he led Israel across the Red Sea, an angel was sent to the prophet Moses.
For it is written: "God alone led them, and there was no other god with them."
He brought them out to the harvest that was on the earth.
He fed them the grain of Hudad; for he loved them deeply, and he fed them honey from the rock.
"He also made you king over his people and gave you authority over the four kingdoms, so that you would rightly protect his people and do the will of God who created you.
For he has exalted you above all and enthroned you; he has made you fully king so that you would love God your Creator.
You also ought to love God your Creator with all your heart, just as he loved and trusted you above all his people. Do the will of God, so that your days on all the earth may be multiplied and that he may remain with you,
and stand with you against your enemies, and seat you upon all your thrones, and spread his wings over your head as a shelter.
For know this: just as God chose Saul from among the children of Israel - while he was tending his father's donkeys - and made him king over his people Israel, and Saul sat on the throne with the prophet Samuel, so God chose you.
God set Saul apart from his brothers and gave him a high destiny, and said to him: 'From this day forward, God has made you king over his people so that you may protect them.
Guard those who do good with goodness and those who do evil with severity, for God has appointed you over them to kill and to save.'
Repay those who do good with good, and those who do evil with evil; for God has appointed you over all things so that you may do his will, whether you punish or deliver.
Since you are a servant of God who governs all things in heaven, submit yourself before him in all your thoughts, so that in everything you ask he may grant your desire; therefore do the will of God at every time and in every hour.
There is no one who rules over him; but he rules over all.
There is no one who appoints him; but he appoints all.
There is no one who removes him; but he removes all.
There is no one who rebukes him; but he rebukes all.
There is no one who contends with him; but he contends with all. For the authority of heaven and earth belongs to him, and no one escapes his hand. Everything is revealed before him, and nothing is hidden from his eyes.
He sees all things, but no one sees him. He hears the prayer of whoever prays to him, and he receives that prayer; for he created humanity in his image and likeness.
From his inexhaustible treasury he feeds all. For he is a King who lives forever.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 6

He truly establishes the kings who do his will, and the kings wrote what was right about him.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and all the righteous kings whose dwelling place is light - their dwelling place shines with an unsearchable light, for they did the will of God.
It is not like any hall that exists on earth; rather, it is a hall in heaven that is completely brilliant, and its floor - of gold, silver, and precious stones - is pure.
Its utterly radiant splendor is beyond human understanding. The hall of the Kingdom of Heaven shines with pazyon and emerald, with thelma and crystal.
It is a hall of the Kingdom that shines exceedingly with precious stones beyond human comprehension. It is the hall of the Kingdom of Heaven, built by God himself as only he knows. Its floor - with the appearance of gold and silver, of heavenly gemstones and green stones, of yellow stones and white silk - is pure.
So it is exceedingly and completely beautiful; it is pure and bright.
It is bound together with righteousness and truth, and it is built with forgiveness and mercy.
From it flows the water of life; it is exceedingly clear, like the sun. There is also a tent of light, and it is surrounded by the fragrance of Hermon.
All around the house, sweet fruit of paradise has been planted, its appearance and fragrance uniquely beautiful. There too is a vineyard and an olive grove; it is exceedingly beautiful, and the fragrance of its fruit is sweet.
If a mortal person were to enter it, the soul would depart from the body from the sheer abundance of joy and the sweetness of its fragrance.
There the righteous kings who did the will of God rejoice; their deeds and their place are known in the Kingdom of Heaven, in the place of eternal life.
Just as the glory of their kingship existed on earth, so he revealed it on earth as it is in heaven. Just as they were honored and worshipped on earth, so they are honored and exalted on high in heaven. If they did good works in this world, they rejoice.
But wicked kings, in the kingdoms and dominions that God gave them, do not judge rightly or justly, for they disregard the cry of the poor and the hungry. They do not deliver the oppressed, the stranger, or those whose fathers and mothers have died.
They do not rescue the poor and the hungry from the hands of those who rob them; they do not satisfy those who hunger for food, nor give drink to those who thirst; and they do not turn their ears to the cry of the poor.
These kings lead such people down to Sheol, the dwelling place that is the very end of darkness. When the great day that God created arrives and his wrath comes upon those kings, their suffering and disgrace will multiply in proportion to their wickedness - just as David said in his psalm: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your wrath."
Kings and nobles who rule this world on earth - they seize those who have not kept your law.
But in heaven there is God who rules over all. The soul of every person is in his hand; the life of all is at his word. He is the one who gives honor to those who honor him, for he is almighty and rules over all, and he loves those who love him.
He, the King of heaven and earth, searches the heart and mind; and whoever prays to him with a pure heart, he gives that person the reward of their prayer.
He destroys the pride of the powerful who do evil against widows and orphans.
You did not obtain this kingdom by your own power, nor did you sit on this throne by your own ability. Rather, he placed you on the royal throne to test whether you would rule the people - unlike Saul, who in those days, while ruling his people, disregarded the word of God and the word of Samuel and did not kill the king of Amalek and his armies.
For God had commanded the prophet Samuel, saying: "Go and tell Saul to march to the land of Amalek and destroy all their kings and their armies, from people down to livestock, for they have grieved me by breaking the law, by worshipping their idols, by bowing down in their idol temples, and by all their worthless and defiled deeds."
For this reason he sent him to destroy those who had grieved God.
But Saul spared their king, and also spared much livestock, women and virgins, and the finest of the young men. Therefore God said to the prophet Samuel: "He has despised my word and has not obeyed my command - go and divide the kingdom from him."
"Anoint David the son of Jesse to reign over Israel in his place."
"But upon Saul, release a demon that chokes and torments him."
"He refused to do my will, even though I gave him the kingdom for that very purpose. Since he refuses to do my will, strip him of his honor. But you - go and tell him. Say to him: 'Will you so despise the Lord who made you king over his people Israel and set you on the royal throne?'"
"You have not known God, who gave you such great honor and splendor."
Then the prophet Samuel went to King Saul. He found him seated at a table, with Agag the king of Amalek seated at his left, and Samuel entered before him.
He said to him: "Why have you completely disregarded God, who commanded you to destroy both people and livestock?"
At that moment the king rose from his throne in fear and seized Samuel's garment. But Samuel refused to turn back, and Samuel's garment was torn.
Samuel said to Saul: "God has torn the kingdom away from you."
Again Saul said to Samuel: "Honor me before the people, and make atonement for my sin before God so that he may forgive me." But Samuel refused to change his word, for he feared the word of God his Creator and did not fear a mortal king.
And because of this matter, he struck down Agag, king of Amalek, then and there without hesitation.
As for Saul, who had broken the word of God, a troubling and unclean spirit seized him and struck him. For God, being the King of kings who commands all things, does not show partiality to a king who has committed iniquity.
He is the Lord of all creation, and no one commands him; he overthrows all the authority of kings and nobles who do not fear him.
Just as he had declared - "The house of David will grow stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul will grow weaker and weaker" - so he took the kingdom away from Saul and from his son.
Because Saul had grieved him, and because he had failed to destroy the wrongdoers who had grieved God by their evil deeds, God took vengeance and destroyed the house of Saul. For the person who does not take vengeance against the enemies of God is himself an enemy of God.
The person who, when he has the ability and the authority to act, does not take vengeance against the sinner and does not take vengeance against those who disregard the law of God - that person is truly an enemy of God.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 7

"Whether you are a king or a ruler, what are you? Is it not God who created you?
He brought you from non-existence into existence so that you would do his will, walk according to his commands, and fear his judgment. Just as you are angry with your servants and have authority over them, so too there is one who is angry with you and has authority over you.
Just as you strike those who have sinned without mercy, so too there is a God who will strike you and cast you into a judgment from which there is no escape - forever.
Just as you flog one who does not submit to you and brings you no tribute, why do you not bring tribute to God?
Just as you desire that people fear you, why do you not fear the Lord your God? For it is he who created you and set you as king over all his creation, so that you would faithfully shepherd his people and his flock.
"Judge rightly and justly as God has appointed you - do not show favoritism to the great or the small. Whom will you fear apart from him? Keep his ways and his commands.
I have set before you fire and water - put your hand to whichever you choose. Do not turn to the right or to the left, just as Moses commanded the children of Israel.
Listen to his word - the word I speak to you - so that you may hear it and do his commands. Do not say, 'Who will bring it to me from across the sea, or from the other side of the deep, or from beyond the river, so that I may go, hear it, and keep the commands of God?'
And do not say, 'Who will ascend into heaven and bring down that word of God so that I may hear it and do it?' Behold, his word is near to your mouth. It is in your hand.
If you have not heard the Scripture, you have not heard God your Lord. If you have not kept his word, you have not loved him, and you have not done his commands.
If you have not loved his commands and have not done the will of him who honored and exalted you above all your people so that you would truly keep them, you will enter into judgment forever.
He made you the highest and the chief over all his people so that you would remember the name of your God who created you. He gave you authority to rule his people in truth and in righteousness.
There are those you punish for wronging you. There are also those you acquit - while keeping the ways of God in mind, directing your heart rightly, and judging justly.
Do not show partiality when people bring disputes before you. Do not accept a bribe to acquit the guilty and wrong the innocent - for the whole earth is your inheritance.
"If you do his will, he will lengthen your days on the earth. But if you grieve him, he will cut your days short.
Remember that you will rise from death and stand before him to be examined for everything you have done, whether good or evil.
If you do good works, you will dwell in the abodes of righteous kings, in houses of light. But if you do evil works, you will dwell in the abode of wicked kings.
God does not despise your authority and dominion. But when you see your fearsome greatness, the rewards of your warriors, your weapons of war hanging on display, your horses, the troops under your command, those who blow the trumpet, and those who play the harp before you -
when you see all of this, you lift yourself up in pride and stiffen your neck. You forget the one who gave you all this honor. And when the time comes to leave it all behind, will you not be the one who must leave?
Because you have utterly neglected the appointment entrusted to you, your honor will be given to another.
For death will come upon you suddenly, and at the time of resurrection judgment will be rendered. Every human deed will be examined - he will investigate you, hold you to account, and judge you.
He shows no special honor to the kings of the earth, for he is the judge of truth. At the time of judgment, the poor and the wealthy stand together before him. The crowns in which the nobles of the earth take pride will fall.
"Judgment is prepared. The soul trembles. The books will be opened. The deeds of people will be revealed. Nothing will remain hidden.
Just as a woman cannot hold back her womb when the time has come to give birth and the child within her is ready to be born, so the earth will return the trust placed upon it at the time of the resurrection of the dead.
Can the rain be held back so that the clouds cannot carry it to the place where God has commanded them to pour it? In the same way, since the word of God brought all things from non-existence into existence and the word of God has again brought all things into the grave, it is impossible that the dead should not rise when the time of resurrection comes.
And just as he spoke to Moses - saying that a person does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God - so the word of God will raise every person from the grave.
Behold, it is now made known that the dead will become alive by the word of God.
Again, concerning kings and nobles and those who do his will, God said this in the second law: 'The day of their reckoning has come - I will take vengeance on them on the day of judgment, when their feet stumble.'
"Again, God said this to those who do not know his judgment: 'Know that I am the Lord. I kill and I give life.
I wound and I heal. I bring down to Sheol and I raise up again to heaven. There is none who can escape from my hand.
Concerning kings and nobles who have not kept the law, God said: Earthly kingship is passing - it fades from morning to evening. Keep my law and my order, so that you may enter into my eternal kingdom.
For God's calling is both for honor and for humiliation - he humbles one and exalts another.
He removes from office the one who has not done his will, and he appoints the one who has done his will.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 8

"Listen to me, and I will tell you about the resurrection of the dead. Trees are planted; they put forth branches; the vine puts forth tendrils. God brings its fruit into being from nothing, and from it they press wine.
Look - that tree you planted was small. Yet today it has put forth branches, leaves, and fruit.
God waters its roots from two sources - from water and from earth.
He feeds its branches with wind and sun; the root draws up water for the leaves, and the earth gives strength to the branches.
The wind that God created gives fruit among them. So too is the resurrection of the dead.
"When the soul separates from the body, each element goes its own way. He commanded: 'Gather the souls from water and earth, from fire and wind, from the four corners.'
The nature of earth held fast to itself and became ash; the nature of water held fast to itself and became dew.
The nature of wind held fast to itself and became wind; the nature of fire held fast to itself and became burning fire.
But the soul that God created returned to the hand of its Creator, for when He wills, He returns it and places it where He pleases.
He places the souls of the righteous in a house of light, but the souls of sinners He keeps in a house of darkness until the time He wills to bring them out.
"He also spoke to the prophet Ezekiel, saying: 'Call from the four corners, so that they may be gathered and become one body.'
And when he spoke thus with a single word, they were gathered from the four corners.
The nature of water brought forth dew, and the nature of fire brought warmth.
The nature of earth again brought forth earth, and the nature of wind brought forth breath.
Then God brought the soul from its dwelling where He had kept it. By a single word they were gathered, and resurrection came to pass.
"Again, I will show you a parable drawn from your own experience. The day grows dark and you lie down to sleep; the night gives way to morning and you rise from your bed. Yet when you slept, you were as one dead.
When you woke, it was a parable of the resurrection. The night - entirely dark - is a parable of this world. All the world sleeps in it, for the darkness of night has covered them.
But the morning light - when darkness is driven away, when light fills all the world and people rise and go about their work - that is a parable of the resurrection of the dead.
This is how the renewal of the world and the resurrection of the dead will be, for this world is passing away in the likeness of that night.
"As David spoke, saying, 'He set His parable in the sun' - the sun as it rises and shines is a parable of this present world.
Just as the sun shines in this world today, when God comes He will shine upon the new world. He will shine like the sun, for He has said, 'I am the sun that never sets, the light that never goes out.' He - God Himself - is its light.
He will also raise the dead in the blink of an eye. And again, I will bring you a parable from what you sow - from the food by which you live. Whether it is a grain of wheat, a grain of barley, or a grain of lentil, every seed that a person sows in the ground will not sprout unless it first breaks down.
As you can see, just as with all human flesh - when it breaks down, both the grain and its husk are consumed in the earth.
When the grain is consumed, it springs up sevenfold. God gives the breath of life as He wills; the root sprouts within the earth and puts up leaves upon the earth.
Consider: the seed cannot sprout unless it first breaks down. But after it sprouts, it puts forth many shoots.
To each shoot that grows, God gives fruit, and the husk clothes the grain.
Look only at how much the seed you planted has multiplied - its leaves, its stalk, its husk, and its harvest are beyond counting.
"Do not be foolish. See how your seed has multiplied. In the same way, consider the resurrection of the dead and how each will be repaid according to their deeds.
Listen again - I will tell you that one seed does not turn into another. If you plant wheat, do you harvest barley? If you plant cumin, do you gather flax?
If you plant a fig tree, will it grow up as a walnut? If you plant a walnut, will it grow up as a vine?
If you plant a sweet fruit, will it come up bitter? If you plant a bitter fruit, will it come up sweet?
In the same way, if a sinner dies, can he become righteous at the resurrection? If a righteous person dies, can he become a sinner at the resurrection? Everyone will be repaid according to their deeds - the fruit of their works and the labor of their hands. No one is judged for another's sin.
The cedar of Lebanon is planted and puts forth tall and mighty branches, yet it withers and its leaves fall unless the dew of Hermon rains down upon it - without that, its leaves will not be green.
The juniper tree will be uprooted unless the winter rain falls upon it.
In the same way, the dead will not rise unless the dew of life descends upon them from God.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 9

The valleys of Gelabuhe and the mountains of Lebanon will not produce grass for livestock and wild animals unless the rain of mercy descends upon them from God.
The mountains of Gilead and the valleys of Elam will give no green pasture for the grazing goats and sheep, for the wild animals - the feyko, the tora, and the walya.
In the same way, apostates and heretics who have made denial and error their own possession - unless the dew of mercy from God descends upon them, the dead will not rise: those who worship idols and use roots in sorcery, those who fabricate schemes to stir up strife, Kopros and Dimaso,
those who use roots in sorcery, who practice witchcraft and work harmful spells, and who cause the deaths of people,
those who transgress the law and covet, who trust in their idols - the people of Atena and Medon - and those who play the lyre, the drum, and the harp for them and sing for them,
those who go astray through their idols and covet the work of their own hands - these are they who will not save themselves on the day of resurrection, on the day of judgment, and upon whom condemnation will be passed.
You who are foolish and empty-hearted, do you think the dead will not rise?
Do not think this way - for you will not remain as one asleep at the resurrection of the dead, when the trumpet is blown by the archangel, the holy Michael.
Mountains and hills will be brought low; rivers and depths will be leveled; and they will become straight highways.
There will be a resurrection for all who are clothed in flesh.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 10

"If this is not so, then why did the ancient fathers - from Adam onward, Abel and Seth, Noah and Shem, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, Moses and Aaron - why did none of them wish to be buried outside the tombs of their fathers?
Was it not so that at the resurrection they might rise together as one with their kindred? And that their bones might not be counted among the bones of the wicked - those who worship idols, the idol worshipers and the pagans?
But do not deceive your mind by asking how the dead will rise after death - those buried by the tens of thousands in a single grave, their bones all mingled together.
When you look at a grave and there is not even a handful of earth to be found, you speak this foolishness in your heart, saying: 'How will the dead rise?'
Would you say that the seed you have sown will never sprout? Even the very seed you have sown does sprout.
In the same way, the souls that God has sown will rise swiftly. For he truly brought humanity from non-existence into existence, and he will not delay in raising them up by his life-giving word.
Again he brings them from life into death, and again he brings them from death into life.
God is able to give life and to raise the dead."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 11

Armon and its walls have fallen. The Lord has repaid them according to their wickedness and according to the work they did with their own hands. Those who worship the idols of Zabulon and Edomyas will then be put to shame. Because they did not abandon the sins of their childhood even into old age, the one who will judge them for their idols and their wickedness has drawn near, and Tyre and Sidon will weep.
Therefore, because they practiced licentiousness, impurity, and fornication, and because they worshiped idols, the Lord will take vengeance on them. The daughters of Judah also will be put to shame, for they did not stand firm in the commandment of the Lord their Creator.
And just as it is with her, so at the time of the resurrection the shame of Jerusalem will be exposed, for she did not walk in the law and judgment of the Lord, but lived in pleasure and by killing the righteous.
At that time the Lord will examine her with the light of his wisdom, and he will take vengeance on her for everything she did in the days of her childhood and for all the evil she did not abandon from the days of her youth until her old age.
As they lived according to their own customs and refused the commandment of the Lord, so they will be repaid at the time of the resurrection. She will go down to the grave like her ancestors who came before her, and she will become ashes.
For Moses spoke about them in this way: "Their vineyard has become like the vineyard of Sodom.
Their vines are from Gomorrah; their clusters are clusters of gall; their fruit is bitter.
Their wine is the venom of a serpent - yes, the deadly poison of a viper."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 12

Daughter of Jerusalem! This is the shame of which the prophet wrote. Daughter of Jerusalem! For your deeds and your sin are like the deeds and sin of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Your shame is like that of Gomorrah and Sodom; their vineyard was planted in fornication and pride.
No rain of humility or mercy fell upon them - only fornication and pride, rebellion and sin, plunder and bloodshed, and the forgetting of the name of the Lord their Creator.
They did not know the Lord their Creator - only their evil deeds and their idols. They delighted in the work of their hands and committed fornication with animals and with men.
Their eyes were blinded so they could not see, and their ears were stopped so they could not hear the will of God or do what he desires; in their deeds they did not know God. They are the vineyard of Sodom, and their vine is the grapevine of Gomorrah that bears no sweet fruit.
From the day it was planted it was planted under a curse, and its blossoming came in a time of destruction; when their wine is pressed it becomes a deadly poison.
For their vine has drunk the waters of Sheol, and their branches have thrived in a scorching wind; there is never any goodness in their vine.
When its fruit is pressed it becomes a plague and destruction; it hardens the hearts of those who drink it and makes them contemptuous and far from God.
Because they live in evil deeds it makes them a dwelling place of the devil. The vine of Sodom begins to spread and climb the mountains and into the trees.
She surrounds herself with the idols that those around her worship, and she sacrifices her sons and daughters to demons who do not know good from evil.
They pour out innocent blood; they make it flow continually from the wine of Sodom, pouring it out for idols.
She also honors and worships Dagon, whom the Philistines worship.
She sacrifices the fattest of her flocks to them and does their will - so that she would delight in their drunkenness and laziness, as the demons taught her - from her childhood through her youth, and again through her old age to the day of her death, all so that she would not know the Lord her Creator, who nourishes and cares for her always.
And again I will punish her at the time of resurrection; for she did not return to my law, and she did not stand firm in my commandment. Her time - in Gehenna, where she will dwell - will be forever.
If her gods are truly creators, let them arise and run into Gehenna to save her when I am angry with her and when I have driven away the lovers who committed fornication with her.
Just as she brought reproach and shame upon my house and my holy things, so I made her destitute before all.
Behold, this is the people of God; she is the house of God, the Creator of Israel; she is the dwelling place of the name of the Most High; she is set apart from all others, called Jerusalem, the city of the glorious King - yet she has grieved the name by which I am called among her.
She boasts in me as though she is my servant and I am her Lord, yet she accuses me like a criminal - she does not fear me as her Lord, nor does she do my will.
She serves other gods - gods that do not feed her, raise her, or clothe her - who became only a stumbling block to deceive her and lead her away from me.
She offers sacrifices to them and eats their offerings; she pours out drink offerings to them and drinks the drink offering herself; she burns incense to them and breathes in its fragrance. They command her, and she obeys them.
She also sacrifices her sons and daughters to them, and she shouts for joy out of love for them; she takes delight in the work of her hands and the words of her lips.
Woe to her on the day of judgment! Woe to the gods she loves and embraces! With them she will descend into the lowest depths of Sheol, where the worm never sleeps and the fire is never quenched.
Woe to you, wretched daughter of Jerusalem! For you have abandoned me, your Creator, and worshiped other gods.
I will bring punishment upon you according to your deeds; because you have grieved me, despised my word, and not made your deeds pleasing, I will repay you according to your opposition.
Because you grieved my word and did not stand firm in the covenant you made with me - that you would keep my commandments, that I would dwell with you, that I would save you from all who attack you, and that you would observe the ordinances I commanded you - I will disregard you and will not quickly rescue you.
You kept none of these things; I have disregarded you, and I will punish you at the time of judgment. Did I not create you? You did not keep my word or my commandments, though I honored you to be my own people.
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah were separated from me, so also have you separated yourself from me.
I destroyed them in my wrath; for you are kin to Sodom and Gomorrah whom I destroyed - because those I created grieved me: going after other men's wives, fornicating with women, fornicating without law with animals and with men - so I wiped their name and renown from the earth so that they could not live on in their pleasures.
From the least to the greatest among them, there is no fear of God before them. They help one another in every evil deed, and not one rebukes another to make them stop. Their deeds are evil, and they are full of rebellion and wrongdoing.
All their evil deeds - plunder, pride, and greed - are prepared in their hearts.
Therefore God abandoned them; he overturned their cities, and he burned them to their foundations with fire. They were utterly destroyed forever, and not a single one of them remained.
They are bound in sin and will remain until the great day of judgment, when eternal sentence is passed upon them. Because they grieved me with their evil deeds, I will not have compassion on them, nor will I forgive them.
I have abandoned them; and likewise you, wretched daughter of Jerusalem, will be bound as they are on the day of judgment - for all your deeds are plunder and sin, fornication and greed, and the speaking of lies, a path of error and filth that I do not love. When I seize you in my anger, you will find no excuse.
I made you for honor, but you made yourself for shame; I set you apart for myself, but you gave yourself to another.
I betrothed you for holiness, but you became the devil's own; and I will repay you according to the evil of your deeds.
Because you did not hear all my words and did not keep the commandments I gave you when I loved you - I, the Lord your Creator, will multiply severe punishment upon you. I will be angry at all sinners like you, and I will repay them on the day of judgment according to their wickedness.
Because you did not keep my word and have despised my judgment, I will punish you together with them.
Woe to you, Sodom and Gomorrah, who have no fear of God in your hearts!
Likewise, woe to your sister, the daughter of Jerusalem, who will be judged together with you in the fire of Gehenna! Woe to all who have done as you did, for together you will descend into Gehenna, from which there is no escape forever.
Because neither of you kept my word and my commandments, you and she will descend together into Sheol on the day of judgment.
But the righteous who kept my word and my commandments will eat what the wicked have hoarded; the good will share, as God has commanded, in the plunder that evil people seized; the righteous and the good will be glad and will rejoice.
But wrongdoers and sinners will weep; they will grieve over all the wrongs they committed by transgressing the commandment.
The one who keeps my word and walks in my commandments - that is the one who will receive my blessing and be honored before me.
The one who keeps my word and does my commandments will eat the blessing of the land and will enter and dwell where the good and righteous kings enter.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 13

Woe to Tyre and Sidon, and to all the districts of the land of Judah - those who today exalt themselves - for when I seize them in my wrath they shall be humiliated and struck down.
For the Lord said: "The arrogant and proud son of destruction, enemy of righteousness, who stiffens his neck, who boasts and does not know his Creator - he shall come forth from among them. I have made him a symbol of my wrath, so that I, the Lord who rules over all, may reveal my power against him."
Capernaum, Samaria and Galilee, Syria and Damascus, Cyprus and Achaia, and all the peoples of the region of the Jordan - they are stiff-necked, walking in their own ways, covered by the shadow of death and darkness. For the devil has covered their hearts, and they obey that arrogant one and will not return to the fear of the Lord.
Woe to those who obey the unclean spirits and sacrifice to them in their name! They have rejected God who created them and have become like senseless beasts. For that negligent son of destruction sets up his image everywhere, and he takes delight in the works of his hands and the desires of his heart - in all plundering and sin, in betrayal and wrongdoing, in theft and all the fornication that people commit, and in every false thing.
For it is appointed before God that he should do these things, and so it will be known in his time that he acts in this way.
The sun will be darkened, the moon will turn to blood, and the stars will fall from the sky. All his works will be destroyed by the miracle that comes in the last age, so that the earth and everything in it may pass away according to the measure of the deeds of the people who dwell in it.
For God is compassionate toward the creation he made, and in one moment he acts as he wills. He will abolish death, the last enemy.
For the Lord who rules over all has said, "I will take vengeance," and after that he shall have no more authority.
On the day he is seized in my wrath, he will descend into the plague and judgment that have been reserved for him. For he draws all who are with him into destruction, into suffering and denial - for I am the one who brings out and brings in from the judgment of hell.
For he gives strength and power to the weary, and again he gives weariness to the mighty and the strong, so that the powerful may not boast in their strength.
For he is the Lord, the Ruler. He judges and delivers those who are wronged from the hands of those who oppress them, and he repays the vengeance of widows and orphans.
Woe to you who are proud and who stiffen your neck! Do you think I will not seize you in my wrath and take vengeance on you? For it is written: "Why has the morning star, the son of the dawn, fallen from heaven?
For in his arrogance and pride he said, 'I will set my throne above the heavens and above the stars, and I will be like the Most High.'"
You spoke this with bold arrogance and did not consider God, who formed and made you with his own hands. Why did you exalt yourself in the stubbornness of your heart, only to descend into hell?
You were humbled in your pride before all the angels that are like you, for they praise their Creator with humility of heart and do not depart from his commandments. They have known that he is the one who formed and made them, and they have guarded their minds so as not to depart from or transgress his commandments.
But you did evil through the pride of your heart, and you were separated from your companions and brought low. You are the guardian over all the sin and wrongdoing, the deceit and plundering in which those sinners who are like you dwell - those who belong to your kind and deny as you do. You teach them evil, and they walk according to your will and your command.
Woe to you! For you and those you have deceived with your cunning will descend together into hell.
Woe to you, children of God, who were led astray by that criminal! For as he and his demons have taught you, you have become like him, and you will descend swiftly into a plague from which there is no escape forever.
Even in former times, when Moses the servant of God was among you, you grieved him at Horeb and at the waters of Meribah, at Mount Sinai and at Amalek.
And again, when you sent spies to Canaan and they reported to you that the road was far, that their walls reached up to the sky, that their fortresses were strong, and that warriors lived there - you were angry and rebelled against the word of the Lord, intending to return to the land of Egypt where you had labored under hardship.
You did not remember the Lord who had saved you from suffering, who had performed great wonders in Egypt and led you by the hand of his angel. By day he covered you with a cloud so the sun would not scorch you, and by night he lit a pillar of fire so your feet would not stumble in the darkness.
When Pharaoh and his army terrified you, you cried out urgently to Moses, and Moses cried out urgently to God. He protected you by his angel so that you would not encounter the army of Pharaoh.
But he turned them back with hardship. For it is said: "The Lord led them alone; there was no other god with them." He buried their enemies in the sea all at once and left none of them to escape.
He led Israel through the sea on dry ground. No harm came to them from the Egyptians. He brought them to Mount Sinai and fed them with manna there for forty years.
Yet even after God had done so much good for them, the children of Israel continually grieved him and neglected to worship the Lord.
From their youth until they grew old they harbored evil in their hearts. For the mouth of the Lord spoke this in the Book of the Generations of the Fathers: "The hearts of the children of Adam are like ash, and all their deeds tend toward plundering and evil. Among them there is no one who loves what is right - only unlawfully gathering other people's wealth, swearing falsely, killing their neighbor, robbing, and stealing.
All of them go toward this evil throughout their lives." And the children of Israel, who broke the commandments of the Lord, grieved him utterly from beginning to end.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 14

When God punished the former generations for the sins of Cain's children with the floodwaters, he baptized the earth through the water of Noah and cleansed it from all the sins of Cain's children.
For he had said, "I regret that I made humankind," and he destroyed all the wicked. He spared no one except eight people; he destroyed them all. After this, he multiplied them, and they filled the earth and shared in the inheritance of their father Adam.
But Noah made a covenant with God that God would not destroy the earth again with a flood. And the children of Noah covenanted not to eat what had died or what was putrefied, not to worship other gods besides God who created them, that he alone would be their God, that he would not destroy them in vain, that he would not withhold the early and latter rains from them, that he would give food in its season to their livestock and to them, that he would give them grass and the fruit of grain and plant life, and that they would conduct themselves well in all that God loves.
But after he gave them this ordinance, the children of Israel grieved him with their wickedness. They did not walk as their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had walked, without breaking the law of God their Creator.
Those children of Israel who did not keep God's law - from the least of them to the greatest - were crooked in their deeds.
Their priests, their leaders, and their scribes all broke the law of God.
They did not stand firm in the law and ordinance of God, as Moses had commanded them in the Book of the Law, saying: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Love your neighbor as yourself. Do not worship other gods. Do not go in to a married woman. Do not kill. Do not steal.
Do not bear false witness. Do not covet your neighbor's property, nor anything your brother has acquired - not his donkey, not his ox."
But after all these commands were given to them, the wicked children of Israel would turn back to sin and denial, to wrongdoing and plunder, to married women and theft, to falsehood and the worship of idols.
The children of Israel grieved God at Horeb by making an idol in the form of a grazing calf and bowing down to it, saying, "Look - these are our gods who brought us out of Egypt."
They were pleased with the work of their hands. They ate and drank and were satisfied, and they rose up to revel.
So when God said to him, "Your people, whom you brought out from the land of Egypt and the house of bondage, have done wrong and gone astray; they have made the image of a calf and bowed down to the idol," Moses came down from Mount Sinai in anger.
Moses came down in anger at his people, together with his attendant Joshua. When Joshua heard the noise, he said, "Listen - I hear the sound of battle in the camp of Israel."
But Moses said to Joshua, "That is not the sound of battle - it is the sound of new wine." He went down and broke their idol, grinding it completely to dust, and threw it into the water that the children of Israel drank from near the mountain.
After this, because they had done evil before God, he commanded the Levites to fight against one another.
Knowing that defying God was worse than killing themselves, their relatives, and their fathers, they did as he had commanded them.
Therefore Moses said to them, "Because you grieved the Lord - who sustained you and cared for you, who brought you out of the house of bondage, and who gave you the inheritance he swore to your fathers to give to them and to their children after them - you have now pleased God by your own hand."
Yet they did not stop grieving God, for they kept going back to sin and wickedness.
They were not like their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who pleased God with their good works from their youth through their old age, so that he might give them what is on earth and what he has prepared in heaven for those who love him - the promised land flowing with milk and honey, and the joyful garden prepared in the age to come for the righteous, what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived, which God has prepared for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who loved him and pleased him in their lives.
But their children, who were apostates and wicked and lived by the desires of their own hearts, did not listen to the word of God who had sustained them, cared for them, and kept them from their youth.
They did not remember God who brought them out of the land of Egypt and rescued them from brickmaking and bitter servitude.
But they grieved him greatly, and he stirred up the nations around them, who rose up in hostility and subjugated them however they wished.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 15

At that time the people of Midian rose up against Israel in hostility and mustered their armies to plunder them. The name of their king was Akrandyos, and in the morning he assembled a great army from Syria, Cilicia, and Damascus.
He camped on the far side of the Jordan and sent messengers to Israel, saying: "Pay me tribute. Otherwise, I have come to punish you, to seize your cattle, to take all your possessions, and to capture your children.
I will take you as captives to a land you do not know, and there I will make you water-carriers and wood-gatherers.
Do not be proud, saying, 'We are the people of God - nothing can overcome us.' Was I not sent by God to destroy you and plunder your wealth, and to gather everything that belongs to you?
Did the various idols of the other peoples I punished truly save them? I seized their wealth and their possessions, I killed them, and I captured their children.
Likewise, if you do not bring me the tribute I have commanded, I will do to you just as I did to them." So he crossed the Jordan to plunder their cattle and wealth, and to take their wives and children captive.
After this, the children of Israel wept bitter tears before God and cried out with all their might, but they found no one to help them.
Therefore God granted strength to three brothers whose names were these: Mebekeyus, Meqabis, and Yehuda. They were handsome in appearance and warriors with all their strength.
When they heard the children of Israel weeping bitterly, the outcry rising from all Israel grieved their hearts. Widows and orphans, their priests and princes, all the people of Israel, sons and daughters alike - all sprinkled ashes on their heads and wept, while their leaders wore sackcloth.
But those handsome and well-built brothers agreed to go and rescue them. They took counsel together, saying: "Let us go and give our lives unto death for the sake of these people."
Encouraging one another - "Courage! Courage!" - they girded their swords at their sides, took their spears in their hands, and went forth prepared to fight the enemy.
They arrived while he was seated at a meal. Mebekeyus stabbed the commander, and before the man could swallow what was in his mouth, he struck off his head with a single blow. Yehuda and Meqabis struck down with the sword those who stood to the left and right of the king.
When their king fell, all of them fled. Their own spears entered the hearts of their companions, their arrows shattered, and they were utterly routed.
But those handsome and well-built brothers were unharmed; not a single evil thing befell them. For God had turned his punishment back upon those wicked men, and they destroyed one another.
They were routed and they died. As they fled, they abandoned all their possessions until they had crossed the Jordan, leaving behind everything that was theirs. When the children of Israel saw that those men had fled and returned to their camp, they took for themselves all the wealth that had been plundered.
In this way God saved the children of Israel through the hand of Mebekeyus and his brothers.
The children of Israel then lived for a few months pleasing God.
But after that they turned back again to their wickedness, and the children of Israel neglected the proper worship of God.
But God once again afflicted them through peoples they did not know - through those who harvested their crops and destroyed their vineyards, who plundered their flocks and slaughtered their cattle before them without letting them eat,
and through peoples who captured their wives, their sons, and their daughters. Because they continually grieved God, they were a people who had broken his law; and so their own children were beaten down before their very eyes, and there was no one who could save them.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 16

The people of Tyre and Sidon on the seashore, those beyond the Jordan River, in Gilead and Karan, in Canaan and among the Jebusites, among the Girgasites and in Edom - and also the people of Amalek -
and all the nations in their own lands and tribes, in their own orders and provinces, each speaking their own language - all dwell as God has appointed them.
Among them there are those whose deeds are good and who know God.
But among them there are also those whose deeds are evil and who do not know God who created them; and according to their deeds, he subdued them by the hand of Amenaser, the king of Syria,
for he takes the wealth of Damascus and shares in the plunder of Samaria before the king of Egypt.
The mountains of Gilead and the valleys of Gelabuh, Samaria and all of Pontus in the land of Judah, those who dwell in Arabia, in Media and in Parthia, in Seleucia and in the mountains of Cappadocia -
those who live in their own provinces - they are a stiff-necked people who do not know God and do not keep his commandments.
He will repay them according to the wickedness of their deeds and the work of their hands.
For the province of Caesarea, the people of Gilead and Amalek have conspired together to destroy the city of God - that city full of righteousness, in which dwells the Holy One of Israel, the Lord of Hosts who is enthroned upon the chariot of the cherubim, before whom countless multitudes of angels stand, and in which he is praised.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 17

The armies of Edomyas and Amalek do not worship the Lord, who holds dominion over heaven and earth in his hand. They are criminals who do not walk in truth, and they do not fear to trample his sanctuary.
There is no fear of God before them - only the eating of what is fornication, bloodshed, torn by animals, and carrion, and everything like these. They are a despised and defiled people.
They have no faith and no virtue, for they hate every good work and they do not know God. They do not know the way of peace - only evil and robbery, defiled works and all manner of disorder, and song and amusement - just as their father Sebliyanos taught them.
For he ruled over them together with the demons, teaching them all the evil deeds that belong to him: wickedness and plunder, seizing another man's property by force, theft, eating what has been torn by animals and what is already dead, and fornication.
He taught them all that resembles these things as well: going to another man's wife, shedding blood, eating what has been sacrificed to idols and what has died of itself, killing human souls by force, slander and envy, greed, and every evil work that God does not love. Their enemy Sebliyanos brought this teaching to them in order to lead them away from the way of God, who holds the entire world in his hand.
But the way of God is humility and gentleness, loving one's neighbor and not provoking one's brother to anger, living in love and peace with all people.
Do not be those who show favoritism, who are robbers and violent men, plunderers and those who go to another man's wife, who commit injustice and evil against their neighbors, or who scheme to lead their neighbors into wrongdoing by force.
They slander one another, they stir up strife among themselves, and they conspire toward wickedness. They rush to lead people astray so as to bring them down to eternal judgment.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 18

Think about how you will go before God. Everything is in his hand, and you will stand before him to be judged according to the works you have done.
For long ago, the children of Reayt were just the same - wicked and arrogant, with none among them greater or mightier. Because they saw their own strength, their great stature, and the power of their arms, they did not set God before them, and they did not know that he was their Creator who had brought them into being out of nothing.
Their fathers, while they were angels, praised God together with the angels in heaven. But when their own will led them astray, they fell down into the eternal punishment of judgment.
They took wives from among the children of men, for God had fashioned human flesh for them - to test them, whether they would keep his law and his commandments, and to humble the pride of their hearts.
But they did not keep his commandments, and he cast them down into the fire of Gehenna together with their father the Devil. Because God was angered by the angels who sinned in the manner of men, the lifespan of humanity was shortened on their account.
They also took the children of Adam along with them, and dragged them down to Sheol through their punishment.
Because the angels - the sons of Seth - went astray through the children of Cain, the lifespan of humanity was reduced. What had originally been nine hundred years was brought down to one hundred and twenty years.
And God said, "Because they are flesh and blood, my Spirit will not remain upon them."
And so our lifespan was shortened. And again, because of our transgressions and our sins, our lifespan has become even less than that of our forefathers, so that some die while they are still children.
But the lifespan of our fathers was long, because they kept his commandments and did not grieve God.
They disciplined their daughters to instruct them, and they disciplined their sons so that they would not transgress the commandments of God.
Therefore, because they did not break God's commandments - neither they, nor their sons, nor their daughters - their lifespan was truly long.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 19

When the children of Cain multiplied, they made harps and drums, lyres and cymbals, and all manner of entertainment and song.
Now Abel the righteous had a beautiful wife, and it was because of her that Cain killed him. From her, beautiful and shapely daughters were born to Cain; and after he killed his brother, he took her as his wife, and she became his.
Taking them with him, he separated from his father and went westward to the valleys of Kefaz. The children of that beautiful woman were beautiful like their mother.
Then angels descended to the daughters of Cain; they did not delay even an hour, but took those they had chosen as wives for themselves.
Therefore, because they led us together with them into error through their transgression, God was angry with both us and them.
For the Devil deceived our father Adam and our mother Eve, saying, "You will be like gods, like your Creator, like God," and drew them into his error.
But in their ignorance it seemed true to them, and they broke the commandment of their Creator - the one who had brought them from non-existence into existence - so that they might bow down and give praise to his holy name.
But their Lord humbled those who had taken God's wealth for themselves, and he humbled that proud one.
For as David said, "The poor are consumed by the pride of the wicked" - so our father Adam was judged with true judgment before his Creator, before God, because of the Devil's pride.
Likewise, the angels who went astray among the children of Cain drew us into their error. Therefore God reduced the span of years he granted us, making it less than the years of our fathers.
But they had done good works, and evil did not draw near to them; for they had fixed their hearts on God, and they taught their sons and daughters not to depart from the commandments of God that they themselves had been taught.
But if they did good works yet did not tell their children and did not teach them, it would have been of no benefit to them.
As David said: "They did not hide it from their children, but declared it to the next generation - the glory of the Lord, the mighty works he performed, and his wonders. They proclaimed these things so that their children would in turn teach them,
so that they would take heed and act accordingly, so that they would entrust the judgments of God to their own children, and so that they would keep his commandments just as their fathers had done, pleasing God in their conduct - for they themselves had learned the fear of God and his judgments from their fathers in their childhood, and they did not forsake the commandments their fathers had entrusted to them.
Their children likewise learned from their fathers to refine their character and to give glory to their Creator; for they kept the law and loved him.
And he hears their prayers; he does not disregard their petitions; for he is forgiving.
He turns back his anger again and again, and he did not destroy them in all his afflictions."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 20

Our brothers, do not forget what you were previously told - that God preserves the righteousness of those who do good works.
He multiplies their fruit on the earth; their name will be remembered for good things forever; and their descendants will not lack grain on the earth.
He will contend on their behalf and will not hand them over to their enemies; he will rescue them from all their adversaries and from the hand of all who hate them.
To those who love his name, he will be their helper in the time of their suffering; he will protect them, and he will forgive all their sins.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 21

David trusted in God; he believed in him, and God became his refuge and saved him from the hand of King Saul.
When his son Absalom rose against him, when the Philistines rose against him, and when the Amalekites, Edomites, and Qerniwonaeans rose against him, he trusted in God and kept his law, and God saved David from all the enemies who opposed him.
But the wicked kings who did not trust in him, God did not save; for victory belongs to God, and so they were conquered at the hands of their enemies.
Hezekiah also trusted in God, and he saved him from the hand of the proud Assyrian.
But his son Manasseh did not place his trust in God, and he was conquered at the hands of his enemies. Those enemies who conquered Manasseh were not like him; because he did not put his trust in God, and because he did not honor or fear the Lord God who had greatly exalted him, they bound him and took him to their country.
Because he did not make his way pleasing before his Creator, God - so that his days might be many, so that he might contend against his enemies, and so that he might have strength and steadfastness both before and behind - God withheld from him the wealth he had given him.
For it is better to trust in God than to trust in great armies and horses, in bows and shields.
The person who trusts in him will live, will be honored, and will be greatly exalted.
But God shows no favoritism; those who have not trusted in God, and who have trusted in the abundance of their wealth, will be stripped of the grace and honor he gave them.
But those who trust in him, he guards. Those who call themselves wise, however, he makes into fools; because they did not harden their hearts to follow God and to keep his law, he will not quickly help them in the time of their suffering or when their enemies rise against them.
But for the one who has steeled himself to follow God and to keep his commandments and law, God will be a refuge in the time of trouble.
He makes him glad by killing his enemies and capturing his enemies' livestock, by taking captive the people of his enemies' land, by sending the seasonal rains, giving the fruit of the harvest, bringing in the sheaves, and the fruit of everything planted in its place,
by giving the fruit of the fig trees and the vines, and grass and greenery, and by giving various fruits so that all those under his hand may rejoice.
He makes him glad to eat the labor of others, to fill themselves with what they have plundered from their enemies, to seize livestock, sheep, and cattle, to eat and wear what belongs to others, and to take their enemies' children as captives.
God does all this for the one he loves; but the one he hates, he hands over to be plundered by his enemies.
He binds his hands and feet, throws him into the hands of his enemies, and makes him a mockery to his foes; because he broke the law of God and became a shedder of blood, God will not bring joy to the offspring of his house.
He will not stand firm in the day of judgment; for when God repays evildoers, he gives to those who do evil the fruit of their works.
But to those who do good, he repays them with good; and man was commanded by God to guard them with his hand.
He was also commanded to keep his commandments, to do his will, and to praise God his Creator; for man is a servant over all creation, and among all fleshly creatures, none but man alone has transgressed the commandment of his Creator.
All of them know him; and all who live according to their appointed order are kept by his commandment and his law, just as God commanded them.
But man is insolent against God, who made him ruler over the wild animals, the livestock, the birds, and all his creation.
God gave all the creatures he made - everything in the sea and everything on the land - to our father Adam: to do with them as he wished, to consume them like grain on the earth, to rule over them and put them to work; and God gave them so that the wild animals and livestock would obey man. He appointed over all creation those he set to reign, so that they would obey God who gave them honor, and so that they would be devoted to him and obey him.
But if they depart from his law, he will separate them from the wealth he gave them; for he is the ruler of heaven and earth, and he gives it to the one who does his will.
He appoints whom he wills and removes whom he wills; he kills and he saves; he strikes and he forgives.
There is no other like him; there is none who can reproach him, for he is Lord over all the creation he made; there is no other God above in heaven or below on earth except him.
He appoints and he removes; he kills and he saves; he strikes and he forgives; he impoverishes and he enriches.
He receives the petitions of those who come before him in prayer; he hears the prayers of those who do his will with a pure heart; and in all that they ask, he fulfills their desire.
He makes both the great and the small obey them; and all that is in the mountains and hills, in caves and forests, in the depths of the earth, and in the sea and on the land - all of it belongs to them.
For those who do the will of their God, all things are theirs; he will not deprive them of his blessing; and he will give them the reward of their praise.
He will give them in heaven the glory that was prepared for their fathers - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - and for David, Hezekiah, and Samuel, who did not depart from his law and commandment;
so that he might give them the inheritance he swore to their fathers - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - who served him from the beginning, and so that they might rejoice in his kingdom.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 22

Call to mind the names of those who do good works, and do not forget their deeds.
Aspire to have your name counted among the names of the righteous kings and nobles who did the will of God, so that you may rejoice together with them in the dwelling of light that has been prepared for them.
Also know and understand the names of evil kings and nobles - how judgment will be passed on them, and how people will condemn them even after their death.
Though they saw and heard, they did not make their ways pleasing to God, and so they will be judged together with the negligent and the faithless who did not do the will of God.
But you - be kind, gentle, and upright; do not walk in the path of the negligent with whom God is angry.
Judge with truth; vindicate the widow and the orphan; rescue them from the hands of sinners who plunder them.
Stand as a father to the orphan to save him from the hand of the one who robs him. Let the orphan's tears move you to compassion when they flow before you, so that you will not be terrified by the sea of fire where the unrepentant sinners will be made to dwell.
Direct your feet toward the path of peace; seek peace and pursue it, for the eyes of God are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the face of God is set against those who do evil, to wipe out their memory from the earth; he will not spare even the man who takes refuge in mountain or wall.
I will not turn my face away until I have destroyed those who do not keep my word. For I, the Lord, am jealous - I will take vengeance on those who hate me and do not keep my word.
But those who honor me and keep my word - I will honor them.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 23

Do not go in the way of Cain, who killed his brother - the one who followed him in innocence, believing that Cain loved him.
He killed his brother out of jealousy over a woman. Those who commit wrongdoing, jealousy, and betrayal against their neighbors are just like him.
They walked the path of Cain - not the gentle path of innocent Abel. For Abel was gentle as a lamb, and his blood was like the blood of a pure lamb offered to God with a pure heart. But those who walk in the gentle way of Abel love God.
For they have become gentle like Abel, and God loves everyone who walks in gentleness, just as he loved the righteous and gentle Abel.
But God will despise the wicked. Their judgment awaits them, hanging over their necks, and it is written upon their shoulders. At the time of judgment, it will be read aloud before the angels, before people, and before all of creation.
Then the unfaithful and the rebellious - those who did not do the will of God - will be put to shame.
A terrifying word will be pronounced over them: "Cast them into the fire of Gehenna, from which there is no escape forever."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 24

When Gideon trusted in God, he defeated with a small army the vast hosts of the uncircumcised pagans - numberless as locusts.
O kings and princes! There is no other God besides me, so do not trust in other gods.
I am the LORD your God who brought you out of your mothers' wombs, who raised you, fed you, and clothed you - so why do you deceive me? Why do you worship another god besides me?
I have done all this for you - yet what have you given me? What do I seek from you? Nothing but the salvation of your souls - that you walk in my law, my ordinances, and my commandments, so that I may grant your souls salvation.
The LORD who rules over all said: "Save yourselves from idols, sorcery, and divination."
Upon those who practice these things and give ear to them, upon those who do their will and make themselves their friends, and upon those who walk in their commandments - the wrath of God will come upon them.
For a people who do not know you and have no compassion for you will rise against you if you do not do the will of God who created you. As the prophets spoke from the prophet Samuel onward, and as Ezekiel and Enoch spoke, and as Asaf spoke - strangers will eat the fruit of your labor.
He said further: "Evil people will come in changed clothing; they have no law except eating and drinking, adorning themselves with silver and gold, and doing every work that God does not love.
They are prepared only for food and drink; after waking from sleep, from morning until evening they run toward evil deeds. In their path there is nothing but ruin and destruction - their feet have no road of peace.
They do not know the way of peace; there is no fear of God before their eyes. They are crooked and wicked, devoid of faith and virtue - greedy, gluttonous, given to drink, and lawless in their conduct. They go after fornication, bloodshed, theft, and betrayal, and they violently seize the property of others.
They condemn without judgment and without law; they do not fear God who created them, and there is no shame before them.
They are not ashamed before the faces of people they see; they show no respect for the gray-haired or the elder. When they merely hear of another's wealth, they claim it as their own before they have even seen it with their eyes. Because there is no fear of God before them, whatever they see with their eyes they think they have already consumed with their mouths.
Their princes devour wealth entrusted to them; they are traitors, and there is no truth in their mouths - what they say in the morning they do not uphold in the evening.
They disregard the cry of the poor and the hungry; they do not rescue the oppressed from the hands of those who rob them. Their corrupt kings hasten toward evil.
Therefore, let the kings not be those who withhold justice, but let them deliver the wronged and the oppressed."
But they are criminals who collect tribute and drink blood; their way is evil. They show no mercy when devouring a calf along with its mother or a bird together with its chicks; everything they see and hear they seize for themselves.
They love to gather only for themselves and show no compassion for the sick and the poor; by violence they seize the wealth of others. They hoard everything they find so that they may gorge themselves at home and take pleasure in it.
They will vanish quickly like smoke that rises from a pit, whose trace cannot be found and which never returns home. Woe to their souls when God seizes them in his wrath, for they did no good work while they lived.
When God abandons them, they will perish all at once. Yet God is patient with them, hoping they will return to repentance, for he does not hasten to destroy. In their appointed time they will perish.
But if they do not return to repentance, just as he destroyed those who came before them - who likewise failed to keep God's commandments as they ought - so he will destroy them as he destroyed those earlier generations.
They are those who eat human flesh and drink human blood; they arm themselves with violence to plunge into sin, and the fear of God is never before them. After rising from their beds, they do not rest from committing transgression.
Their work is eating and drinking and running after evil and destruction - destroying the lives of many people upon the earth.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 25

Their way is crooked, and all of them walk on the deceptive path of Satan. Therefore, the Lord who rules all things says: "Woe to their flesh when I seize it in my wrath."
But they do not know the way of the Lord; they have turned their backs on it and have despised my law.
In the last days I will repay them according to the evil of their deeds. On the day of judgment I will take vengeance on them as their evil deeds are written before me. For it is I, the Lord, who kills and who saves, who strikes and who forgives - and they shall not escape from my hand.
I, the Lord, am full from horizon to horizon, and all creation is in my hand. There is nothing that can escape my hand - not beneath the earth, not above the heavens, not in the sea, nor in the depths of the waters.
I command the serpent beneath the earth, the fish within the sea, the birds in the air, and the wild donkeys of the wilderness. From horizon to horizon, all of it is mine.
It is I who performs wonders and miracles. Nothing above in the heavens or below on the earth can escape my hand. There is no one who can say to me, "Where are you going?" or "What are you doing?"
I command the rulers and armies of the angels. Every name that is called is mine. All the birds of the sky, all the wild beasts, and all the animals are mine.
The wind of Azeb stirs the heat of Mesem, and the Sea of Eritrea in the last days will be shaken because of the majesty that comes upon it.
For he rules over the living and the dead - from Noba and Sheba, from Ethiopia and Hindeke, together with all their provinces and all their territories.
With the staff in his hand he guards all things with gentleness; for his staff surpasses all staffs, and with it he protects his sheep.
His horn surpasses all horns. His kingdom is exalted above all kingdoms. His authority governs the whole world; he is able to do all things, and there is nothing impossible for him.
Above, he commands the clouds; below, he causes grass to grow for the animals and gives fruit to the cultivated fields.
He feeds all according to his will, each in their own place; with every fruit and every food, he feeds all that he has created. Beneath the earth he feeds the earthworm and the beetle; above the earth he feeds wild creatures and animals. To the one who prays he grants their prayer, and he does not neglect the petition of widows or orphans.
Above all, he accepts the prayers of the innocent who call on him at all times. For the wickedness of evil people is like a swirling wind, and the assembly of transgressors is like the vapor of mist.
Their joy is like a bird in flight; the fair appearance of their silver and gold will vanish from the earth - it serves only the idle, for their gold does not benefit them, and the moth devours their garments.
The abundance of grain and wheat is devoured by worms and weevils. All things pass like yesterday, a day already gone; and just as a word once spoken cannot be recalled, so too is the wealth of sinners. Their fine way of living is like a passing shadow, and the riches of sinners before God are like borrowed clothing.
But when the righteous prosper, God does not ignore them; for they prosper in order to show compassion to the poor, to hear the cause of orphans and the needy, to clothe the naked from their own garments, and to give to the refugee and the fasting - without neglecting the household wealth that God has given them.
They do not pervert the judgment of the ignorant, nor do they withhold the wages of the laborer. For the word of God is truth and honor, like a double-edged sword; and by the count of their months and by the measure of their scales, they commit no injustice.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 26

But the poor lie in their beds and ponder again; if the wealthy do not receive them, they become like dry wood with no moisture - for without moisture, the root cannot flourish, and without a root, the leaf cannot flourish.
The leaf serves as the adornment of the fruit, so if the leaf does not flourish, there is no fruit. A person himself is the fruit of righteousness, and one who bears no fruit has no good works.
If he practices righteousness, he produces integrity; and God is pleased with the person who practices truth and integrity.
To the one who prays, He gives the reward of his prayer and the words of his lips; and He does not wrong the righteous person for the righteousness he has practiced.
For God is righteous, and because He loves righteousness, He will not justify the sinner for the evil deeds he has done without repentance. Since the soul of every person is held in His hand, and since He rules over heaven and earth, He shows no partiality in judgment between the rich and the poor.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 27

He created the entire world out of nothing; he fully prepared the mountains and hills; he established the earth upon the waters; and he set its boundary with sand so that it would not be shaken - for from the beginning, the word of God had spoken: "Let there be light."
While the world was in darkness, there was light. God did his work; he prepared and established the world in proper and balanced order; he said, "Let there be evening and darkness," and there was evening and darkness.
Again God said, "Let there be light," and morning came and there was light; and he raised the upper waters high toward the sky.
He spread them out like a tent and established them with wind; and he placed the lower waters deep below in the sea.
He locked the gates of the sea with sand, and by his Spirit he kept them firm so they would not sink. He placed wild creatures and animals within it - the great creatures, both the visible and the countless invisible ones, he placed within it.
On the third day, God created upon the earth vegetation - all grass, trees, and fruits bearing according to their kinds,
beautiful to look upon and sweet to eat. He created the tree of life, grass, and every plant that carries its seed within itself. He created food for cattle, wild animals, and birds, and he gave nourishment to everything he had made.
Evening came and morning came. On the fourth day, God said, "Let there be light in the expanse of the sky," and God created the sun, the moon, and the stars. He set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth and to govern the day and the night.
After this, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and day and night, followed one after another in their turn.
On the fifth day, God created all the wild creatures and animals that live in the water, and all the birds that fly across the sky - the visible and the invisible - all of this God created.
On the sixth day, he created wild animals, cattle, and creeping things; and when he had made and prepared everything, he created Adam in his own image and likeness.
He gave Adam dominion over all the animals and wild creatures he had made; and he also gave him all the animals and beasts, all the fish, and all the great sea creatures of the ocean.
He gave him all the cattle and sheep upon the earth, and every creature, both visible and invisible.
Adam, whom he had created in his image and likeness, he placed in the garden; and he commanded him to eat, to tend the garden, and to praise God there.
He commanded him not to eat from the tree that brings death and gives knowledge of good and evil, so that he would not break God's commandment.
For he had said, "On the day you eat from that tree, you will surely die."
Our mother Eve was deceived and led astray by the serpent's cunning, and she ate from that tree and gave some to our father Adam.
He ate from that tree and brought death upon himself and upon his children.
Because he had broken the commandment - for God had commanded him not to eat of it, yet he had eaten of that tree - God was angry with our father Adam. He drove him out of the garden and expelled him, and gave him that cursed land, the land that sprouts thorns and thistles, so that he would till it and eat the reward of his labor by the sweat of his brow, in punishment for breaking the commandment.
When God drove him out to this land, Adam was overcome with grief and anguish of heart. He began to till the ground and to eat by the sweat of his face, through toil and hardship.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 28

After this, his children multiplied; and among them were those who praised and honored God and did not break his commandments.
There were also prophets who spoke of what had happened and what was yet to come; but among his children there were also sinners who spoke lies and wronged others. Cain, the firstborn son of Adam, became evil and killed his brother Abel.
Because he killed his brother Abel, God was greatly angry with Cain; and because the earth had drunk his blood, God was also angry with the earth.
God said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" But Cain, in his arrogance, answered, "Am I my brother Abel's keeper?"
Abel was righteous; but Cain, by killing his brother Abel - a good man - became a sinner.
Again, righteous children were born; for Adam had fathered thirty daughters and thirty sons. Among them there were good ones, and there were also evil ones.
Among them there were prophets and righteous people; and among them there were also sinners and deceivers.
Among them were good and blessed ones who fulfilled the will of their father Adam - keeping God's commandments from Adam down to righteous Noah - and carrying out all that he had told his son Seth.
He entrusted his children with keeping the law of God; and just as their father Noah had charged them not to break God's law, so also he charged them to keep God's law and to pass it on to their own children.
And they continued to teach it to their children after them.
But Satan, once their fathers had been laid in the grave, dwelt within idols that bore images, and continued to incite and speak to those who would listen to him; and they continued to do everything that the teacher of evil commanded them.
They continued to worship idols according to their customs until the righteous Abraham arose to do the will of God.
God made a covenant with him in fire and whirlwind, for he had been the first to separate himself from his kinsmen and walk in the way of righteousness.
God swore to give him and his children the land of inheritance forever.
Likewise, he swore to give Isaac the inheritance of his father Abraham; and to Jacob he also swore to give him the inheritance of his father Isaac.
After them, he made their descendants - the children of Jacob from the twelve tribes of Israel - into kings and priests; he blessed them and said to them, "Be many and multiply greatly."
He gave them the inheritance of their fathers; yet even as he was providing for them and showering them with every blessing, they did not stop grieving God.
When he would punish them, then they would seek him; they would turn and run back to God, and because God loves them, he would forgive them.
It was not for their own sake, but for the sake of their fathers; for he is merciful and forgiving to all he has created.
He stretches out his right hand in blessing to satisfy the hungry body; he opens his eye in mercy to multiply grain for food.
He gives food to the young ravens and to all who cry out to him; and when they cry to him, he saves the children of Israel from the hand of their enemies.
But they would turn back again to grieve him; so he would send the enemy nations around them to destroy them, kill them, and take them captive.
Again they would cry out to God with shouting and weeping, and he would send them a deliverer; and there were times when he saved them through the hands of prophets.
There were also times when he saved them through the hands of judges; but when they grieved God, their enemies conquered and captured them.
David arose and saved them from the hand of the Philistines; but again they grieved God, and he raised up against them those who would oppress them.
There was a time when he saved them through the hand of Jephthah; but again they forgot the God who had saved them. So God brought his judgment upon them, sending against them evil enemies who inflicted great suffering and utterly took them captive.
Again, when they were in distress, they cried out to him; and he saved them through the hand of Gideon. But again, through the work of their hands, they grieved God.
So he sent against them those who would torment them once more; and they turned and wept before God and cried out.
Again he saved them through the hand of Samson; and they rested for a while. But they rose again to grieve God with the same evil they had done before.
So he sent others against them to oppress them again. And again they cried out to God with weeping, asking him to send them a deliverer; and he saved them through the hands of Barak and Deborah.
Again they lived for a short time worshiping God; but again they forgot him, and with their former evil deeds they grieved God.
And he sent others against them to oppress them; but again he saved them through the hand of Judith. And again, after resting for a few months, they rose to grieve God with their wickedness as before.
So he raised up nations to rule over them; and they cried out to God and wept, and he saved them through the hand of Mattathias and his sons at the corner of the house.
For Ahimelech had struck down the head of the man from Reatha who had come to attack the land of Judah; and when that man fell, his army was scattered and fled. The children of Israel pursued them as far as Yabok, and not one of them was left to escape.
After this, they waited a little while before rising again to grieve God; and he raised up nations to rule over them. Again they cried out to God and wept; but God ignored their cries and their weeping, because they had continually grieved him and had forgotten his law.
Their captors took them away with their priests to the land of the Chaldeans.
Even there, those treacherous children of Israel did not cease from sinning, worshiping idols, and grieving God. They mingled with the nations that had taken them captive.
God was angry enough to destroy them all at once for their sins there; and when one advised the king that ten thousand pieces of gold be placed in the royal treasury and that they be destroyed on an appointed day, God stirred up anger and wrath in the heart of King Artaxerxes - so that not one of their children throughout the land of Persia, from India to Ethiopia, would be left alive.
And so it was done: a letter of decree was written with the king's approval, and the king's own seal was handed over so that it might be delivered throughout the land of Persia.
The seal was given with orders to destroy them on the chosen day as the king commanded; but the plunder - their gold and silver - was ordered to be brought into the royal treasury.
When the children of Israel heard this, they cried out to God urgently and wept; they told Mordecai, and Mordecai told Esther.
Esther said, "Fast and pray; and all you people, the children of Israel, wherever you are, cry out to God."
Mordecai put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on his head; and the children of Israel, wherever they were, fasted, prayed, and repented.
Esther wept greatly; and even though she was queen, she put on sackcloth, sprinkled ashes on her head, shaved her hair, and did not anoint herself with perfume as the queens of Persia do; and from the depths of her heart she cried out and wept before God, the Creator of her ancestors.
Because of this, God granted her favor before Artaxerxes, king of Persia; and she prepared a great banquet in honor of the Creator of her ancestors.
The king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared; and there, God repaid Haman for what he had intended to do to Mordecai, and they hanged him on the tall gallows.
A royal decree went out to leave Israel alone to live as they pleased - not to subjugate them, not to plunder them, not to harm them, and not to seize their property.
The decree went out that their land must not be destroyed and their livestock must not be taken captive, but that throughout the land of Persia they should be loved and honored. For this is how God forgives Israel when in repentance they petition him and cry out to him.
But when they grieve him, he raises up nations to oppress them; and then they cry out and weep earnestly, pleading with him to send their deliverer and save them from the hand of the nations who afflict them.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 29

When the people of Egypt afflicted the children of Israel with hardship - forcing them to make bricks, treading clay without straw, and driving them in all manner of labor -
and when they set taskmasters over them to press the workers harder, they cried out to the Lord to save them from making all the bricks of Egypt.
At that time he sent them Moses and Aaron to help them, for the Lord had sent them to bring his people out from under the rule of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they saved them from the labor of brick-making. In his pride, Pharaoh had refused to release Israel so that they could worship the Lord and offer sacrifice in the wilderness.
The Lord despises the proud, and so he drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea because of his arrogance.
Likewise, he despises those who, when appointed and enthroned as kings and princes, have not done well - those who disregard the word of the Lord, who fail to carry out his will, who do not give wages to those who serve faithfully, and who do not honor his great name.
"If they set my kingdom in order, I will set their kingdoms in order," says the Lord Almighty.
"Do good to me, and I will do good to you. Keep my commandments, and I will protect your lives. Walk in my commandments, and I will walk according to your hearts.
Love me, and I will love your lives. Draw near to me, and I will strengthen you.
Trust in me, and I will save you," says the Lord Almighty.
"Do not walk in crooked ways. Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you - for I love straight paths," says the Lord Almighty. "Sinners and traitors, cleanse your hands and remove the wickedness from your hearts.
Then I will turn my wrath away from you and return to you with forgiveness and mercy.
I will also drive away from you the criminal enemies who work iniquity. Just as I saved my servant David from the many schemes of the enemies he faced - from the hand of Goliath the warrior, from the hand of Saul who sought to kill him, and from the hand of his own son Absalom who desired to seize his kingdom -
so I will save those who keep my law and fulfill my will. I will cause them to inherit honor and will make them reign over all things, so that they may rejoice in both this age and the age to come."
Those who serve the Lord with an honorable way of life will be joined with the blessed kings who served the Lord with noble lives - just as God chose Samuel from his childhood, on account of his excellent conduct from his earliest years.
God spoke to the prophet Samuel while he was serving in the dwelling place of the Lord, so that he might carry the message to Eli the elderly priest, whose works had been good.
As Samuel grew up serving in the house of the Lord, God commanded him to appoint the people and to anoint the kings. Because the Lord desired him to appoint the tribe he had chosen from among the children of Israel, when the one God had created fulfilled his will, God placed in his hand the anointing oil of kingship.
While Saul was reigning over his kingdom, the Lord said to the prophet Samuel: "I have chosen David the son of Jesse, who was born of the tribe of Judah - go and anoint him."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 30

"Because he transgressed my word and grieved me, I hated the household of Saul.
I rejected him; and because he no longer kept my word, I will not raise up a king from his lineage.
Likewise, from those who do not keep my word and do not walk in my law and my ordinances, I will withhold my kingdom and my gifts from their children forever.
Because when I exalted them they did not exalt me, and when I honored them they did not honor me, I will destroy them and will not return to honor them again.
When I did good to them, they did not do good to me; when I forgave them, they did not forgive.
When I made them rulers over all, they did not make me their ruler; though I honored them above all others, they do not honor me; and they do not keep my commandments.
I have taken back the gift I gave them; and in my anger, as I swore, I will not restore it to them. The Almighty God says this: I will honor those who honor me, and I will love those who love me.
Those who did not honor me and did not keep my law - I will separate them from the gift I gave them.
The Almighty God says this: I will love those who love me, and I will exalt those who exalt me.
For I am the Lord, the Almighty - there is no one who can escape from my hand, above in the heavens or below on the earth; for I am the Lord who kills and saves, who wounds and forgives.
Glory and majesty belong to me; I will honor those I love, and I will humble those I hate; for I am the one who judges and takes vengeance.
I am the one who forgives those who love me and call on my name always; I am the one who feeds both the rich and the poor.
Not only people - I also feed the birds and the animals, the fish of the sea and the wild beasts, and even the serpents.
I feed the crocodiles and the whales, the squirrels and the hippopotamuses, and the chameleon.
Everything that moves in the water and everything that flies through the air belongs to me.
I am the one who provides in all that is fitting and needful for all who seek me."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 31

"Kings do not reign without my will; those who fast are not left in want without my command; the mighty do not prevail without my command.
I gave David valor and Solomon wisdom; and I added years to Hezekiah.
I cut short the days of Goliath; I gave Samson strength, and then weakened his strength again.
I saved my servant David from the hand of Goliath the giant.
I also saved him from the hand of King Saul, and likewise from the hand of another giant who opposed him, and from all who opposed and hated him - for he kept my commandment.
And I loved him; I will also love kings and nobles who keep my commandment, for they have pleased me - and I will give them strength and victory over their enemies.
Furthermore, I will give them the free and spacious land of inheritance that I swore to their fathers, so that they may inherit the land of their fathers."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 32

"You also, kings and nobles, hear my word and keep my commandments," says the Almighty Lord. "I protected them and saved them, I raised them up from their parents, I nourished them in everything they needed,
I brought them into the harvest of the land and fed them with the blessings of the earth as was fitting - the vineyard they did not plant, the fruit of the olive they did not cultivate, the clear cisterns of water they did not dig,
the honeycomb of bees, the milk of sheep, fine wheat along with beautiful garments, and everything they required - all these things I gave them, while I was the Lord their God. Do not grieve me as the children of Israel grieved me, worshiping other gods.
There was nothing they asked of me that I did not give them."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 33

"Again, as David said, 'People ate the bread of angels,' I fed them manna in the wilderness, so that they would worship me rightly and in truth. I did all of this for them.
But they did not worship me, and I abandoned them, says the Almighty God. They grieved me and walked in ways that were not mine.
I will repay them according to their deeds. Because they neglected my worship and did not stand firm in my counsel and my ordinance, I will neglect them as the work of their hands deserves, and I will bring them down to the punishment of hell.
Because they did not keep my commandments, I will be angry with them and cut short their days on the earth.
O king! Are you not also a man who will die and perish - who tomorrow will decay and become crumbling dust?
Yet today you boast and take pride as though you are a man who will never die.
You appear well today, but you are a man who will die tomorrow, says the Almighty God.
But if you keep my commandments and my word - where their dwelling place is radiant, their crowns are beautiful, their thrones are of silver and gold, the people who sit upon them are adorned, and they have done my will - I will give you the holy city as an inheritance together with the honored kings.
Within that city, which is a dwelling prepared for those who do good works, they will rejoice greatly.
But for those who do evil, it is not right for them to enter that city into which the honored kings enter.
For they did not keep my word and my ordinance, says the Almighty God."

1 Meqabyan Chapter 34

The kingdom of Media will perish; but the kingdom of Rome will prevail completely over the kingdom of Macedonia; and the kingdom of Nineveh will prevail over the kingdom of Persia.
The kingdom of Ethiopia will prevail over the kingdom of Alexandria; and the kingdom of Moab will prevail over Amalek.
Brother will rise against brother; and God will execute vengeance so that they destroy one another, just as he has spoken.
He said this: "Kingdom will rise against kingdom, people against people, nation against nation.
There will be conflict; there will be war, famine, pestilence, turmoil, and drought; peace and love will vanish, and the scourge of God will descend upon it.
When the fearsome day of God arrives suddenly, flashing like lightning seen from east to west,
then every person will receive according to their deeds, the labor of their hands, and the fruit of their works; for God himself has said, 'On the day of judgment, the day when their feet stumble, I will repay them - for the day appointed for their destruction has arrived.'
"At that time God will destroy with eternal condemnation the evildoers who do not walk in his law - the people of Judah and Cyprus, of Samaria and Damascus, and of Babylon,
and those who live on the western islands - Hindeke and Noba, Saba and Egypt, and Ethiopia - and all who dwell among them.
Then they will know that I, the Lord, am the one who rules heaven and earth, who gives glory and honor, who kills and who saves.
I am the one who brings out the sun and sends it to its setting; I am the one who brings both evil and good.
I am the one who brings nations you do not know to consume the wealth you have labored for, and the herds of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep.
"Your children will be struck down and seized as captives before your eyes, and you will not be able to save them. Because the Spirit of God has not rested upon you, and because you did not fear the commandments of God that you heard - they will devour your toil and your abundance.
Everyone upon whom the Spirit of God rests knows all things, just as Nebuchadnezzar told the prophet Daniel, saying, 'I see the Spirit of God upon you.'
The one upon whom the Spirit of God rests knows all things, for what is hidden is revealed to him; he knows both what is revealed and what is hidden, for nothing is hidden from the Spirit of God.
But we are people who will die tomorrow, and every deed we have done in secret will be revealed.
Just as gold and silver are tested in fire, so sinners will likewise be tested on the last day, because they did not keep the commandments of God.
At that time the deeds of all the children of Israel and of all the nations will be tested.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 35

Because you did not render true justice for the child whose father and mother have died, God is angry with you - woe to you, mighty ones of Israel.
Woe to you who go to the tavern morning and evening and get drunk, who pervert justice, who do not hear the case of the child whose father and mother have died nor the case of the widow, and who live in sin and debauchery.
The Lord says this to the mighty ones of Israel: "Woe to you if you do not walk in my commands, if you do not keep my word, and if you do not love what I love!
I will bring plague, destruction, and suffering upon you; you will perish as if eaten by moths and rot, and no trace of you will be found in your territories.
Your land will become a wasteland. All who once saw it will clap their hands in astonishment, saying, 'Was this not a land filled with every blessing and goodness? Has the Lord done this to it because of the sins of those who lived in it?' And they will marvel over her.
Woe to her, for she hardened her heart until the Lord brought her down to the dust of the earth; she exalted herself and stretched out her neck; and because of the pride of those who lived within her, she has become a wasteland - thorns and thistles have sprouted over her.
She has brought forth weeds and brambles; she has become a wasteland and a desert, and wild beasts dwell within her.
She has become a terror to all who pass through her, for the wrath of God has fallen upon her, and she has drunk from the cup of his fury because of her arrogant heart and the wickedness of those who lived in her.

1 Meqabyan Chapter 36

You people of Macedonia, do not boast; and you Amalekites, do not lift up your necks in arrogance, for the LORD who will avenge himself against you is present.
Even if you exalt yourself as high as heaven, you will descend to Sheol.
When Israel first entered the land of Egypt under the kingdoms of Moab and Medon, he said, "Do not boast, for it is not fitting to provoke the LORD to the point of challenging him."
"And you - Ishmaelite, son of a slave - why do you stretch out your neck toward what is not yours? Do you not consider that on the day of judgment, when he rises to pass sentence upon the earth, God will judge you as well?
At that time you will receive according to the works of your hands. Why do you lift up your heart in pride? Why do you stretch out your neck?" says the LORD who rules over all.
Just as you have dared to challenge those who are not your own people, so I will challenge you; for you have loved to do evil and you carry it out - and I will abandon you in the place where I sent you.
This is what I will do to you, says the LORD Almighty. But if you do good and love what I love, I will hear everything you ask of me.
If you do my will, I will do your will; I will stand against your enemies; and I will bless your work, your offspring, and your children.
I will bless your herds of cattle and your flocks of sheep; if you walk in my commandments and do what I desire, I will bless everything your hand undertakes, says the LORD Almighty.
But if you do not do my will, if you do not walk in my commandments and my law, then all the suffering that was foretold will come upon you; because you did not endure in my commandments and did not walk in my law, you will never escape my wrath that will continually come upon you.
For you did not love what I loved; and though I brought you from non-existence into existence and created you, you have neglected to praise and worship me.
I gave you honor and lordship over those placed beneath you so that you could do all that you wished. It was yours to kill or to spare, to build or to destroy, to honor or to humble, to exalt or to bring low.
But if you do God's will and walk in his commandments, he desires that you rejoice with him in his lordship and be a partaker with those who have inherited the Holy Land.
For he has said: "If they endure in me, I will cause them to inherit honor and love; I will bring them joy in my sanctuary; and they will be chosen and beloved like a sacred offering," says the LORD Almighty.
Do not neglect doing good and the way of salvation, so that you may pass from death into life.
But those who do good works - God will protect them in every good thing, so that they may be like his servant Job, whom God protected from all evil.
As he saved Abraham when the kings were killed - when they pressed him morning and evening, day and night, harassing him in an effort to make him worship their idols - just as he saved him from the hands of the Canaanites among whom Abraham lived and from the hand of Pharaoh; and as he also saved Moses:
Abraham refused and endured when they tried to drag him toward their idols.
He refused them and worshiped the LORD who created him. For Abraham had trusted him from his youth and was a faithful friend of God.
Because he loved God completely, he never neglected to worship him until the day he died; and until the day of his death he did not transgress his commandments; and he taught his children to keep God's commandments.
And they too, following the example of their father Abraham, did not transgress God's commandments - Abraham's children Isaac and Jacob, his servants on whose behalf God spoke, just as he told the angels, "I have a friend on earth named Abraham," did not transgress the law of God.
"Abraham is my friend; Isaac is my servant; and Jacob is the one my heart has chosen; and through them I was glorified," says the LORD Almighty.
While he loved the children of Israel with all his heart, they continually grieved him; yet he was patient with them and fed them with manna in the wilderness.
Their garments did not wear out, and their feet did not blister, for they ate manna, the bread of knowledge.
Yet their hearts always strayed from God; for they had practiced evil from of old, and there was no hope of salvation for them.
They became like a crooked bow and did not serve God in the honorable manner of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they continually grieved him with their idols on the hills and high places; they ate on the mountains, in caves, and under the trees.
They slaughtered animals; they offered sacrifices; they took delight in the work of their hands; they ate the remains of the sacrifices; they drank the libations poured out as offerings; and they sang and played music with demons.
The demons applauded all their games, their songs, and all their drunkenness; they practiced fornication without restraint; and they committed robbery and greed, which God does not approve.
To the idol of Canaan - Baal - and to the idol of Midian, to the idols of the Elophli - Dagon and Apollo, Artemis and Serapis -
and to all the idols of the nations around them, they offered sacrifices. They worshiped everything they saw and heard, just as the nations did; and they practiced the games, songs, and wild dances of the nations.
The people of Israel, who declared they were worshiping God, acted this same way - though they were obligated to keep God's commandments and to turn away from worshiping idols.
After he had fed them with grain from heaven, brought forth the harvest of the earth for them, poured honey from the rock for them, and fed them with manna - still they did not keep the commandments and the law that Moses had given them in the Torah: not to worship other gods apart from the Creator of their fathers.
He did not withhold what they craved and desired; for he was their God, and he fed them with whatever they wished.
But they did not stop grieving God; whenever he brought them joy, they forgot him.
When he brought calamity upon them, they cried out to him; and he would deliver them from whatever suffering had befallen them; then once again they would live openly in pleasure for many years.
But immediately they would turn their hearts back to grieving God just as before; and he would stir up the nations around them to destroy them, and those nations would oppress and subjugate them.
Then they would turn back again and cry out swiftly to the LORD their Creator.
And he would forgive them - not for their own sake, but for the sake of their fathers who had served God faithfully and honorably from of old, and because of the covenant he had confirmed: for the sake of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He loved those who loved him and kept his commandments, with the intent of multiplying their descendants like the stars of the sky and like the sand of the sea.
Those who are likened to the sand of the sea are the souls of sinners who, at the resurrection of the dead, will be separated from the children of Israel and enter into Gehenna.
But those described as stars shining in the heavens are the souls of the righteous from among the children of Israel. For God said to Abraham: "Look up to the sky at night; count the stars of heaven if you are able - for so will your righteous children shine like the stars of heaven in the kingdom of heaven.
And again, look toward the sea and the riverbank; see what lies within the sand; count it if you are able - for so are those of your children who will descend into Gehenna at the resurrection of the dead."
Abraham believed in God, and it was counted to him as righteousness; his hope was fulfilled on earth; and his wife Sarah gave birth to a son, Isaac, even after she had grown old.
And because of his faith he will also receive the kingdom of heaven. For he believed that the dead would rise - that those who had done good would go to eternal life,
and that those who had done evil would go to eternal punishment at the resurrection of the dead. But the righteous who have done good will reign with him forever.
And those who have done evil will be judged for eternity. Amen. Amen. Give Glory and praise due to YAH the True without falsehood - and the first book that speaks the words of Meqabyan is filled and fulfilled.

1 Meqabyan

Chapters

1 Meqabyan

1 Meqabyan Chapter 1

1 Meqabyan Chapter 2

1 Meqabyan Chapter 3

1 Meqabyan Chapter 4

1 Meqabyan Chapter 5

1 Meqabyan Chapter 6

1 Meqabyan Chapter 7

1 Meqabyan Chapter 8

1 Meqabyan Chapter 9

1 Meqabyan Chapter 10

1 Meqabyan Chapter 11

1 Meqabyan Chapter 12

1 Meqabyan Chapter 13

1 Meqabyan Chapter 14

1 Meqabyan Chapter 15

1 Meqabyan Chapter 16

1 Meqabyan Chapter 17

1 Meqabyan Chapter 18

1 Meqabyan Chapter 19

1 Meqabyan Chapter 20

1 Meqabyan Chapter 21

1 Meqabyan Chapter 22

1 Meqabyan Chapter 23

1 Meqabyan Chapter 24

1 Meqabyan Chapter 25

1 Meqabyan Chapter 26

1 Meqabyan Chapter 27

1 Meqabyan Chapter 28

1 Meqabyan Chapter 29

1 Meqabyan Chapter 30

1 Meqabyan Chapter 31

1 Meqabyan Chapter 32

1 Meqabyan Chapter 33

1 Meqabyan Chapter 34

1 Meqabyan Chapter 35

1 Meqabyan Chapter 36

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