2 Meqabyan

The second book of Meqabyan, continuing the narrative of faith under persecution with the story of a Moabite king's dramatic conversion and a passionate defense of bodily resurrection. Modernized from a Ge'ez translation; see A Note on Sources for full attribution.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 1

1. This is the book that tells how Meqabis found the Jews in Syria between the two rivers, and killed them in their valleys from Yaboq to the square of Jerusalem, and how he destroyed the holy city.
2. For they had spread out from Samaria to the square of Jerusalem and throughout the entire province, and they killed with the sword, leaving almost no one alive. The Edomites, the Syrians, and the Amalekites had all united with Meqabis, the man of Moab, who destroyed the city of Jerusalem.
3. When the children of Israel sinned, God raised up against them Meqabis the Moabite, and he killed them all with the sword.
4. Because of this, the enemies of God boasted against the holy city and swore oaths together in their wickedness.
5. The Edomites and the Iloflaites also encamped, for God had sent them because they had defied his word, and they began to take vengeance on the city of God.
6. The homeland of Meqabis was Remat of Moab. He arose from his homeland with force and swore an oath with the men who were with him.
7. They encamped from the valleys of Mesopotamia-Gelabue all the way to Syria in order to destroy the city of God. There Meqabis pleaded with the Iloflaites and the Amalekites, and gave them much gold and silver, horses and chariots, so that they would join him in his wickedness.
8. Coming together as one, they plundered the city of the prophets and shed the blood of those who lived within her like water.
9. They made Jerusalem like a watchman's hut in a garden. They raised their voices within her and committed every evil deed that God hates. They defiled the city of God, which had been filled with righteousness and holiness.
10. "They made the corpses of your servants food for the birds of the sky. They made the flesh of your righteous ones meat for the wild animals of the wilderness."
11. They robbed the widow and the orphan. Acting without any fear of God, as Satan had instructed them, they tore the unborn from the wombs of pregnant women - until God, who searches the kidneys and the heart, was roused to anger.
12. Rejoicing over the evil they had done against the people of God, they returned to their homeland and carried off with them the plunder they had seized from the holy city.
13. When they returned and entered their homes, they celebrated with joy, with singing and with clapping of hands.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 2

1. The prophet known as the Seer spoke thus: "Rejoice a little in the light of your time today; but the Holy One of Israel, the LORD, will surely bring punishment upon you - of that, have no doubt.
2. Do you say, 'The horses are swift, and so I will escape by running'?
3. I tell you, those who pursue you are swifter than the Amorites; you will not escape from the destruction and the wrath of God that is coming upon you.
4. Do you say, 'I will clothe myself in iron armor; neither hurled spears nor arrows can harm me'? The Holy One of Israel, the LORD, says: I will not take vengeance on you with spear or arrow. Instead, I will bring upon you a severe affliction of the heart, festering sores, and lameness - worse than any spear or arrow.
5. Because you have provoked my wrath, I will strike you with disease of the heart; you will find no one to help you; and you will not escape from my hand until I blot out your name from the earth.
6. Because you have stiffened your neck and exalted yourself above my city, when I do this thing swiftly, in the blink of an eye, you will know that I am the LORD your Creator. For before me you are like grass before the wind that fire devours, and like dust that a whirlwind sweeps up and scatters from the earth - that is what you are before me.
7. Because you have provoked my wrath and have not known your Creator, I will abandon everything that belongs to you; and I will not hold back those who advance against all your strongholds.
8. Now turn back from all the evil you have done. If you turn back and confess fully before the LORD with weeping and grief, and pray to him with a pure heart, the LORD will forgive all the sins you have committed before him."
9. Then Meqabis covered himself with ashes and wept before the LORD on account of his sin, for the LORD had grown angry with him.
10. He knew that the LORD would not delay the punishment he had spoken through the prophet. For the LORD's eyes are open and he does not sleep; his ear is open and he does not turn away; he does not make his spoken word a lie - in a single moment, in the blink of an eye, he carries it out.
11. He threw off his garment and put on sackcloth; he sprinkled dust on his head; and he cried out and wept before the LORD his Creator on account of the evil he had done.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 3

1. Because Remat of Moab is near to Syria, the prophet spoke to him.
2. He dug a pit and entered it up to his neck; he wept with bitter weeping; and he repented before the Lord for the sin he had committed.
3. And the Lord said to the prophet: "Return from the land of Judah to Remat of Moab, to the chief Meqabis. Say to him, Thus says the Lord: It was not you who did this thing - I, the Lord your Creator, sent you by my own will to destroy my city. Do not say that you destroyed the holy city by the strength of my power and by my armies.
4. For she grieved me with all her greed, her treachery, and her fornication.
5. And I, in my patience, gave her over into your hand - not on your account, lest you say that you stiffened your neck and that I besieged the city by the strength of my hand. But now, for the sake of the children you have fathered, the Lord forgives your sin.
6. Now repent with full resolve of heart. Do not be a doubter, for those who doubt do not have the resolve to repent.
7. But blessed are those who repent with their whole heart and, having repented of their wickedness, never return to crooked ways and sin.
8. And blessed are those who have the resolve to return to the Lord who created them, with weeping and mourning, with much prayer and prostration - for he has declared to those who repented after they had fallen: 'You who repented after losing your way - you are mine.'
9. He also said to the proud man, when he fell away and returned to him in repentance: 'I will forgive your sin because of your fear and trembling' - for I am the Lord your Creator, who visits the sin of the father upon the children to the third and fourth generation, yet who shows mercy to those who love me and keep my law, to a thousand generations.
10. 'And now, for the sake of these children you have fathered, I will keep my covenant with you; and for the sin you committed, I will accept the repentance you have made,' says the Lord God of Israel, the Holy Almighty."
11. Then he came out of the pit and bowed down before the prophet, saying: "May the Lord do so and more to me, so long as I do not separate from you - for I have grieved the Lord; do to me as you see fit. I did not walk in his commandments as the fathers did, for we had no law; and you know that we worshiped idols just as our fathers taught us.
12. For I am a sinner who walked in my sin and the pride of my heart, and grieved my Creator with the stiffness of my neck. Until now I had not listened to the words of the Lord's prophets, and I had not lived by the law and commandments he gave me."
13. And the prophet answered: "I know that your repentance has been accepted today, for none from your people had ever confessed their sin before you."
14. "But from now on, abandon the worship of idols; return to the knowledge of the Lord so that your return may be true." And he bowed down at the prophet's feet; the prophet raised him up and instructed him in all the good works that are fitting.
15. And he did as the Lord commanded him, and returned to his house.
16. Then that Meqabis set his mind aright, and from his house he removed the idols and the sorcery, the idol worshipers, the diviners, and the sorcerers.
17. And the captive children whom he had brought from Jerusalem - he examined them morning and evening concerning all the Lord's commandments, his ordinances and his law, that they might practice them as their fathers had done.
18. And from among the captive children, he appointed the wisest over his household.
19. And again, from among the younger ones he appointed wise men who would enter his chamber to guard his tender young children and teach them the law of the Lord as the children of Israel practiced it. He would hear from the captive children all the ordinances, the law, the worship, the judgments, and all the customs practiced by the Moabites.
20. He destroyed their shrines, their sorceries and idols, and the sacrifices and wine offered to the idols from the fat kids and lambs and flocks of sheep slaughtered morning and evening.
21. At noon and at the hour of all his labors he used to bow down and worship them; he would pray to them and trust in them; and likewise, when he returned from a journey, he would pray to them. And the priests of the idols would do whatever pleased them in all they told him.
22. For it seemed to him that in everything they told him they would save him, and so he neglected nothing they said.
23. But that Meqabis abandoned their way.
24. And after he heard what those called prophets had seen, he made his ways pleasing through repentance. And in those months, all his people made their ways more pleasing than the children of Israel - for the children of Israel had grieved him once, and when he struck them they would come to their senses and cry out to the Lord.
25. When he heard that they had been captured by nations who pressed afflictions upon them and had been humiliated, and that they had cried out to him - he would remember the oath sworn to their fathers and forgive them for the sake of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
26. But when he saved them, they would forget the one who had saved them and return to worshiping idols.
27. Then he would raise up nations to torment them with affliction; and when they tormented and grieved them, they would cry out to the Lord. And at that time, in his compassion, he would forgive them - for he loved them because they were the work of his hands.
28. Yet again, when he was keeping them, they would return to grieving him by worshiping the idols around them and by the evil work of their hands.
29. But he would raise up against them the peoples of the Iloflins, Moab, Midian, Syria, and Egypt. And when their enemies defeated them, pressed afflictions upon them, subdued and enslaved them, they would cry out and weep. And the Lord, when it pleased him, would raise up judges to save them - and the judges would save them.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 4

1. There was a time when through Joshua he saved them.
2. There was a time when through Gideon he saved them.
3. There was a time when through Samson, Barak, Deborah, and Judith he saved them. Whether through a woman or through a man, he raised up judges to deliver them from the hands of their enemies who oppressed them.
4. And the Lord saved them from the hands of those who oppressed them, as he pleased.
5. In all the good things he did for them, he was pleased to multiply the seed of their land, all their flocks in the wilderness, and all their livestock.
6. He blessed their livestock and their crops; he blessed everything they possessed in house and wilderness. Because he looked upon them with eyes of mercy, he did not diminish their animals; and because they were children of the righteous, he loved them deeply.
7. But when they became evil in their deeds, he handed them over to their enemies.
8. When he was destroying them, they would immediately seek him; and they would turn back and hasten to the Lord their Creator.
9. When they returned with all their hearts, he forgave their sins. He knew them as flesh and blood, and because the deceiving thoughts of this world and demons were among them, he did not hold their former sins against them.
10. But that Meqabis, when he heard this ordinance which God had established on his holy mountain, strove earnestly in repentance.
11. After he had seen and heard these things, he did not despise doing good. Because God had forgiven them, he did not belittle doing all the acts of kindness that the children of Israel did. And when they transgressed his commandments and the Lord punished them, they would weep and cry out; and again he would forgive them; and they would keep his law.
12. Meqabis likewise kept his way straight; he observed his commandments; and he walked in the commandments of the Lord, the God of Israel.
13. Then, after hearing all that the children of Israel gloried in, he likewise gloried in keeping the commandments of the Lord just as they did.
14. He urged his household and his children to walk in all the law and commandments of the Lord.
15. He also abstained from the things the Jews forbade; and having heard the commandments the Jews kept, he kept them also. Though he was of a distinct Moabite lineage, he abstained from the foods the Jews forbade.
16. He paid tithes; he gave the firstborn of his sheep, his cattle, and his donkeys, and everything he acquired. And likewise, turning his face toward Jerusalem, he offered the sacrifices that the Jews offered.
17. He offered his vow offerings and his sin offerings, his freewill offerings and his peace offerings, and his regular offerings.
18. He gave the firstfruits of the harvest. He presented the wine offering that the Jews presented and gave it to the appointed Levite. All that the Jews did, he did likewise; and he prepared the incense.
19. He fashioned a lampstand and vessels, tables and tents, the four loaves and the rings, pure oil for the lamp of the Holy of Holies, and the curtain - just as Israel did in the Holy of Holies when serving the Lord.
20. When the people lived according to the law and the ordinance, and when the Lord did not abandon them or hand them over to their enemies, Meqabis likewise did good works in all his ways as they did.
21. He continually prayed to the Lord, the Creator of Israel, that a leader would be appointed over him and that he would not be separated from the people of Israel - those whom God had chosen and who had done his will.
22. He prayed that God would accept his repentance in all the repentance and weeping he had brought before the Lord, that God would deliver him from destruction as had been spoken through the mouth of the prophet, and that God would give him a son in Zion and a house in Jerusalem.
23. He prayed again that his offspring would not be cut off from the earth, and that God would guard him in his going out and coming in.
24. The Moabite peoples who were under the authority of Meqabis were glad to believe. Because their ruler walked in the right way, they observed his judgments and did his will. Since they had come to despise the customs and language of their own land, they recognized that the ways of Meqabis were upright and far superior.
25. They came to him and listened to the judgments of Meqabis - his kindness and his truth.
26. He had great wealth; he had male and female slaves, camels and donkeys; he had five hundred horses fitted with armor. He completely conquered the Iloflawyans, the Amalekites, and the Syrians. But previously, when he was worshiping idols, they used to defeat him.
27. From the time he believed in the Lord, however, whenever he went to battle he was the one who conquered, and no one conquered him.
28. They would come against him in the power of their idols to wage war, and they would call on the names of their idols and curse him. Yet because he had placed his faith in the Lord his Creator, none could defeat him.
29. In this way he continued, conquering his enemies and ruling the nations under his authority.
30. He avenged those who had been wronged, and he upheld the cause of the fatherless.
31. He received widows and orphans in their time of need; he fed the hungry; and he clothed the naked.
32. He took delight in his wisdom and the work of his hands; he gave without withholding from what he had; and he gave tithes to the house of the temple. And while Meqabis was doing all these things, he came to his rest in peace.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 5

1. He died leaving his young children behind. They grew up according to the order their father had established for them, kept the customs of his household, and watched over all their relatives. They did not cause the poor, the widows, or the orphans to cry out.
2. They feared God and gave their wealth to the poor. They kept everything their father had entrusted to them, and comforted the widow and the orphans in their time of need. They became father and mother to them, delivered them from the hands of those who wronged them, and consoled them through every trouble and grief that came upon them.
3. They lived this way for five years.
4. After this, the king of the Chaldeans, Tsirutsaydan (also known as "the Syro-Sidonian") came. He destroyed all their land, took the children of Meqabis captive, and laid waste to all their villages.
5. He plundered all their wealth, and he carried them off to his own country - idolaters who did not walk in the commandments and judgments of God, but who lived in all wickedness and fornication, in impurity and greed, in blasphemy and utter disregard for their God.
6. They eat what has died of itself, blood, what wild animals have torn, and whatever is defiled - everything that God does not approve. They have no law from any of the true commandments written in the Torah.
7. They do not know that God brought them forth from their mother's womb, provided for them fully, and is their Creator and their Savior.
8. In matters of justice they have no law. They marry their stepmothers and their aunts, and pursue robbery, evil, sin, and fornication. They do every wicked thing. They marry their sisters and their own relatives. They have no law.
9. All their ways are filth and darkness, impurity and fornication.
10. But the children of Meqabis kept themselves in all their ways. They did not eat what had died or what had been struck and maimed. They did not practice any of the impurity and sin of the children of the Chaldeans. For the deeds of sinners and criminals, of heretics and traitors, of the children of the pagans - filled as they were with utter impurity and robbery - were evil and many, too many to be recorded in this book.
11. Not one of the works that the Lord their Creator loves was found among them.
12. They also worshiped an idol named Beel Fegor. They worshiped it and trusted it as they would God their Creator. But it is deaf and mute - it neither sees nor hears - for it is an idol made by human hands, fashioned by a smith who works silver and gold, the work of human hands with no breath or understanding in it.
13. It does not eat; it does not drink.
14. It does not kill; it does not save.
15. It does not plant; it does not uproot.
16. It does not do good; it does not do evil.
17. It does not bring poverty; it does not bring honor.
18. It does not chastise; it does not forgive. Yet the foolish make it a stumbling block to lead the people of the Chaldeans astray.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 6

1. The enemy of God, the arrogant Tsirutsaydan, appointed false priests and servants of his idols.
2. They would offer sacrifices to them and pour out wine for them.
3. And it seemed to him that they ate and drank.
4. Every morning he gave them cattle, sheep, goats, and heifers; and he sacrificed both evening and morning; and he ate from that defiled offering.
5. Furthermore, they would stir up other people and compel them to sacrifice to his idols - it was not they alone who did this.
6. When the priests of his idols saw that the sons of Meqabis were handsome and that they worshiped God their Creator, they desired to persuade them to sacrifice and to eat from the defiled offering; but these blessed sons of Meqabis refused them.
7. For they kept their father's commandment, stood firm in doing good works, and feared God completely - and so it proved impossible to make them consent.
8. When they bound them, insulted them, and flogged them,
9. they reported to the king, to Tsirutsaydan, that they had refused to bow down to the idols and to sacrifice.
10. So the king was furious and grieved. He commanded that they be brought; and when they brought them and stood them before him, he said to them, "Bow down to the idols and offer sacrifice."
11. They answered him, saying, "We will not yield to you in this matter, and we will not offer sacrifice to your defiled idols."
12. He threatened them with many tortures, but because they trusted in God and had steeled their hearts, he could not overcome them.
13. He kindled a fire and threw them into it; and they gave their souls to God.
14. After their death, they appeared to him alive in the night while he lay upon his royal throne, holding drawn swords; and he was overwhelmed with terror.
15. He said to them, "My lords, show me favor! What shall I do for you? Do not take my life - I will do everything you command." And they filled him with dread.
16. They told him everything that was fitting, saying, "Remember that God is your Creator. There is One who will strip you of this arrogance of yours and bring you down to hell alongside your father the devil. There you will receive all your punishment - though we did you no wrong, though we were worshiping our Creator God and bowing before him in reverence of his Lordship, you burned us in fire.
17. For he is the one who created all things - heaven and earth, the sea and everything in it,
18. the sun and the moon, the stars, and all his creation - he is the Lord God.
19. Above in heaven and below on earth there is no other God but him; he is the Almighty and nothing is impossible for him. He is the one who kills and saves, who strikes down and forgives.
20. For he rules heaven and earth, and there is none who can escape from his hand.
21. Among all the creation he made, none departs from his command - except criminals like you, whose hearts your father Satan has corrupted. You and those idols of yours - your demons - will together descend into hell, from which there is no escape, forever.
22. For it is not you alone who does this - your teacher Satan is the one who taught you this evil work, so that you would do evil against us.
23. You did not think of God who created you, and you conduct yourself as though you were your own creator, as though you were God himself.
24. You pride yourself in the work of your hands and in your idols until God brings you down; and he will repay you for all the sin and wickedness you have committed upon the earth."

2 Meqabyan Chapter 7

1. Woe to you and those like you, who do not know the Lord who created you and who do not keep his commandments and his word! For when you are seized in the anguish of Sheol and flogged, you will repent with a repentance that profits nothing.
2. You and your priests - who sacrifice to your idols and bow down to them as if they were your Creator, the Lord - those idols that have no soul or breath, that cannot avenge the evil done to them and cannot return good to those who do good to them - you have no escape from it forever.
3. For they are the work of human hands, through which Satan speaks within them to deceive the hearts of fools like you, in order to bring you down - you, the servants of your gods, and the demons that command you - into the fire of Gehenna.
4. You do wrong and err, because you do not know that there is nothing that profits you.
5. The animals, beasts, and dogs that God created are better than you in their conduct, for they face no second condemnation - only a single death.
6. But you will die, and then you will be judged again in the depths of Gehenna, from which there is no escape forever.
7. Having said this, they departed and disappeared from his sight.
8. But Tsirutsayidan was seized with intense fear and trembled; it did not leave him until morning.
9. After this, he went to the place where he had cast the bodies of the righteous, but he did not find them - for he had wished to bury them. He went, but could not find them, because God had hidden them so that he would not touch their bodies.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 8

1. He walked in pride and in the deceit of his heart.
2. For in his kingdom, which Daniel saw and which was called the strong iron, he went around the nations of the Gentiles that surrounded him.
3. He lived in all wickedness and evil, and in disorder.
4. He broke what had been previously agreed upon, crushed it, and consumed it.
5. Because he stiffened his neck like his father the devil, who spits poison, he trampled whatever remained under his feet.
6. He did not acknowledge that God was his Creator; instead he said, "My era has become like the era of heaven."
7. In his mind he thought that the sun rose from him.
8. He rose up in power; he took possession of the territory of Zebulun; he raised an army in Macedonia; he received his provisions from Samaria; and from Syria they brought him tribute.
9. He settled in the region of the nomads; he reached as far as Sidon; he imposed tribute on Achaia; he lifted his neck high all the way to the flowing sea; and turning back, he sent his messengers as far as the sea of India.
10. In the same way he lifted his neck high even to heaven.
11. He lived entrenched in arrogance and evil, and there was no humbling himself.
12. All his ways led to darkness and filth, to crime and arrogance, to the shedding of blood and to suffering.
13. All his ways were what God hates; he acted as Seblanyos, the teacher of plunder, evil, and sin, had taught him; he made the poor cry out, and he had no compassion for the poor.
14. He brought the kings of the nations into his hand and killed them.
15. He ruled over the chiefs of his enemies; he ruled over many nations; and he subjected them as he pleased.
16. He showed no mercy; from the sea of Tarsus to the sea of Jericho, there was nothing he did not plunder.
17. He worshipped idols; he ate what had been killed along with its blood, what had been strangled, and what had been sacrificed to idols; in all his deeds there was nothing but total rage and strife without justice, and there was no judgment in him. And since he had become a terror to the nations under his authority, he made them pay tribute as he wished.
18. Because he did whatever he pleased, there was no fear of God before him; he lived in deceit before God his Creator.
19. He did not conduct himself as his Creator would have him do. When God takes hold of him in his anger, he will repay him for the evil he did to his neighbor.
20. For God has said, "I will take vengeance and destroy the proud who do not live by my commandments, so as to blot out their name and reputation from this world." Therefore, just as he destroyed the sinners who lived before him, he will take vengeance on him in due time.
21. The wicked will receive their punishment according to their wicked deeds.
22. But goodness from God will follow those who do good.
23. Just as Joshua destroyed the five kings of Canaan in a single day in a single cave, and as he stopped the sun at Gibeon by his prayer in order to destroy their armies - for the sun stood still in the middle of the sky until he had destroyed the armies of the Hivites and the Canaanites, the Perizzites and the Hittites, and the Jebusites - and just as he killed about twenty thousand people at one time, bound them foot to neck, killed them in the cave with the sword, and rolled stones upon them -
24. so those who grieve God by their evil deeds will meet with the same kind of suffering.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 9

1. O weak man, who is not God! Why do you boast? Today you are a person; tomorrow you are earth and ash; and in your grave you will become worms and decay.
2. Again, Sheol will follow you and all those who do your works; for your teacher is Seblyanos, who deceived our father Adam and draws upon himself all the sins of the world.
3. For he himself, in his pride and by hardening his heart, refused to bow down to the work of his Creator - Adam.
4. And you too, like your teacher, have refused to bow down to the Lord your Creator.
5. You will go the same way as those who came before you, who did not know the Lord their Creator -
6. just as they were punished for the evil deeds they committed on earth and descended into Sheol -
7. so you too will descend into Gehenna like them.
8. Do you think you can escape from the hand of God? You have provoked his wrath, and you have neglected to worship the Lord who gave you authority over the five kingdoms.
9. He tested you to see whether you would do his will or not. If you had made your path good on earth, the Lord would have established your way; he would have fulfilled everything you set your hand to; he would have blessed you; and he would have subdued both your ancient enemies and your daily enemies under you.
10. In your going out and your coming in, in the fruit of your womb, in your flocks and your cattle, in every work your hands took up, and in everything your heart planned, you would have found joy - for authority was given to you from the Lord to build and to plant and to tear down, and all things would have obeyed you.
11. But if you refuse to hear the word and the law of the Lord, and do not live by his judgment - for all his judgment is true - there is no escaping from the hand of God, just as those who came before you, who did not worship the Lord as they ought and did not stand firm in his righteous judgment, could not escape.
12. Nothing is hidden from his face; rather, all things are completely revealed before him.
13. It is he who holds the authority of kings and overturns the thrones of the mighty.
14. It is he who lifts up the humbled and raises those who have fallen.
15. It is he who sets free those who are bound; it is he who raises the dead; for the dew of forgiveness comes from him, and when he wills, he raises up those whose flesh has crumbled and decayed and become like dust.
16. And those who have done evil, having grieved him, he will raise to a resurrection of judgment, and he will take vengeance on them.
17. He will also destroy their seed on earth, for they are those who have broken the law and ordinances of the Lord.
18. Because the path of the righteous is harder than the path of sinners, sinners do not want to live by the counsel of the righteous.
19. Just as the sky is far from the earth, so the path of the righteous is far from the path of sinners.
20. But the path of sinners is one of plunder and wickedness, of rebellion and fornication, of greed and betrayal - getting drunk through lawlessness and robbing others of their possessions.
21. It is hastening to shed human blood, causing needless destruction, making the poor and orphaned weep, eating blood and animals that have died on their own, eating the flesh of camels and donkeys, and going to a woman who has just given birth or who is in her menstrual blood and has not yet been purified.
22. All of this - the work of sinners - is the wide road and the outstretched snare of Satan that leads to eternal destruction and punishment.
23. But the narrow and slender path of the righteous leads to life, to gentleness and humility, to love and peace, to fasting and prayer, to bodily purity, to abstaining from what is harmful, from eating what has been mangled or has died on its own, and to keeping away from going to another man's wife and from fornication.
24. Because sinful people do all these things, the righteous keep themselves from every work condemned and detested in the law, from eating unclean food, and from every work that God does not love.
25. The righteous keep far from every path that God does not love.
26. And he loves them; he guards them through all their troubles as his prized treasure; and he saves them.
27. But Satan rules over sinners, because they keep his laws, his ordinances, and all that he loves.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 10

1. And you - kings and princes - do not walk in the way of Satan. Instead, fear the Lord who created you and has kept you safe until this very day.
2. Stand firm and live by the law and commandments of God, who rules over all.
3. When the children of Israel came against the Amalekites to inherit the land of the Hittites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, Balak son of Zippor
4. said to Balaam, "Come and curse them for me, for whoever you curse is cursed and whoever you bless is blessed; I will give you much gold and silver to honor you."
5. And Balaam came, hoping for the reward of his sorcery; and Balak son of Zippor showed him the place where the children of Israel were camped.
6. He performed his divination; he offered his sacrifice; he slaughtered fat cattle and sheep; and he set his heart on cursing the children of Israel.
7. But God did not wish for them to be cursed; by his word he turned the curse into a blessing instead.
8. And he declared: "You are the people whom God has chosen; you are the dwelling place of the Beloved who comes from heaven - let those who bless you be blessed, and let those who curse you be cursed."
9. After this, when Balaam blessed them before him, Balak son of Zippor was filled with grief and burned with anger, and he commanded him to curse them.
10. But Balaam said to him, "The people whom God has blessed have come to this land; I will not curse those whom God has blessed."
11. And Balak son of Zippor said to Balaam, "I wanted you to curse them for me, but you did not curse them - instead you blessed them fully before my very eyes. If you had agreed to curse them for me, I would have given you a house full of gold and silver; but you blessed them completely and did nothing good for me, so I will do nothing good for you."
12. And Balaam replied, "I cannot disregard or transgress the word of God; I can only declare the word that God has placed in my mouth.
13. I do not love money with my whole soul - for if I loved money and cursed a blessed people, God would be angry with me."
14. For God said to their father Jacob, "Let those who bless you be blessed, and let those who curse you be cursed";
15. therefore everyone who blesses you is blessed, and whoever curses you without cause is cursed. Walk in your ways and carry out your deeds so that God may love you.
16. Do not be like the people of former times, who grieved God with their wickedness and whom he forsook - some were destroyed by the floodwaters.
17. Others were destroyed at the hands of their enemies; he brought wicked enemies who afflicted them with great suffering and captured their kings together with their priests and prophets.
18. They drove them into a foreign land they did not know; they took them completely captive, flogged them, and destroyed their homeland.
19. They tore down the walls and ramparts of the holy city and made Jerusalem like a plowed field.
20. The priests were taken captive, the law was broken, and the warriors fell by the sword.
21. Widows were taken captive; they did not weep for their dead husbands, for they themselves were in captivity and wept for their own fate.
22. Children wept; elders were put to shame; their captors showed no mercy toward the aged or the grey-haired.
23. They showed no mercy toward the beautiful or toward those who lived by the law; they destroyed everyone they found in the land. For when God, having grown angry with his people, chose first to destroy the temple, the enemy took them captive and led them away to a foreign land they did not know.
24. Thus, when God abandoned the children of Israel, he caused Jerusalem to be plowed like a field, for they had continually grieved their Creator.
25. Yet he never utterly destroyed them, for he shows compassion on them for the sake of their fathers - his compassion is not for their own sake, but because he loves their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who truly reigned and lived by righteous law before their Creator.
26. And he appointed them to a twofold honor; they obtained two kingdoms - one in heaven and one on earth.
27. Likewise, you kings and princes who live in this passing world - remember the fathers who came before you, how they stood firm in righteous deeds and inherited the Kingdom of Heaven, and how their names have been made glorious from generation to generation.
28. Set your conduct right so that he may establish your kingdom; following the example of the good kings who came before you and served God with honorable conduct, align your deeds so that your name too may be made honorable.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 11

1. Remember Moses, the man of God. In his prayer and humility he watched over this great people and was not disturbed, nor did he destroy them. But for his brother and his sister - who desired that he would die and that God would destroy them both at once - in his gentleness he interceded before God for their sins, saying: "Lord, your people have sinned before you - forgive your people and do not neglect them.
2. Forgive me, your servant, who have sinned before you and who am a sinner. For you are merciful and forgiving - forgive them also."
3. Thus Moses interceded for those who had sought his death.
4. And because of this he was called gentle.
5. God loved him far more than all his brothers, the sons of Levi. And because He appoints the priests through him, He made him like God among them.
6. But the arrogant sons of Korah He swallowed under the earth. While they were still alive in body and soul, along with their livestock and their tents, He brought them down to Sheol. For Moses had loved God his Creator and had not departed from His commandment, and every word he spoke was treated as the word of God.
7. You also - if you do not transgress God's commandment, God will fulfill your desire, love your affairs, and guard your kingdom.
8. The sons of Korah and Asaph, who had departed from Moses' commandment, grumbled against him because he told them to direct their hearts to God.
9. "Are we not sons of Levi who perform priestly work in the Tabernacle of Witness?" they said to him.
10. They took their censers to burn incense; they went and burned incense. But God did not accept their prayer. They were burned by the fire of their own censers and melted like wax melting in fire. Not a single one of them remained. For it is written: "Their censers grew heavy with the burning of their bodies." By God's command, nothing of theirs remained - not their clothes, not their bones - except their censers, which had entered the dwelling of God.
11. Therefore God said to Moses and Aaron: "Gather their censers into the tabernacle. Let them become instruments for my house, which I have prepared entirely, from outside to inside."
12. He prepared the instruments of the holy tabernacle - the cover and the ring, the image of the Cherubim, and the basin.
13. He made the screen and the curtain, the capitals and the surrounding hangings of the tabernacle, the pots, and the altar on which sacrifice is offered in the Tabernacle of Witness.
14. He offered the freewill offering and the peace offering, the vow offering and the sin offering, and the evening and morning offerings.
15. He commanded them everything that God had commanded Moses to do in the Tabernacle of Witness.
16. Those to whom He promised the land flowing with milk and honey - to whom He swore an oath before Abraham, promising to give them their fathers' inheritance - they did not demean their worship to their Creator God, so that His name might be praised among them in the tabernacle of His law.
17. He confirmed the oath to Isaac, and confirmed His worship to Jacob.
18. In the Tabernacle of Witness He confirmed it to Moses and Aaron,
19. And to Samuel and Elias, until it became - in Jerusalem, in the tabernacle and in the temple that Solomon built - the dwelling of God, the resting place of the name of the Most High, and the holy dwelling of Israel.
20. For it is a place of petition and sin-atonement, where God reveals Himself to the humble priests.
21. It is a place where He hears the prayers of those who do His will.
22. For it is where the law of God, the Holy One of Israel, is carried out.
23. For it is where sacrifice is offered as a pleasing aroma to God, the Holy One of Israel, and where incense is burned.
24. Inside the Tabernacle of Witness, He would speak from above the mercy seat - the place of forgiveness. The light of God was revealed to the chosen sons of Jacob, and to His holy ones who live steadfastly in God's law and commandment.
25. But those who rebel will be like the sons of Korah - swallowed by the earth. And sinners, He declared, will enter the fire of Gehenna, which has no way out, forever.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 12

1. Woe to you, mighty ones of Israel, who did not keep what was commanded in the tabernacle, and who did not do his will but only your own will! This refers to pride and arrogance, fornication and greed, drunkenness and drinking, and swearing falsely.
2. Therefore my anger will burn against you like straw before fire; and like a fire that consumes the mountain, and scatters its fine dust from the earth so that no trace of it can be found - swept up into the sky like a whirlwind -
3. so will I destroy all those who do evil, says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel. Consider the Lord who governs all things; nothing is impossible for him.
4. He loves those who love him, and for those who walk in his commandments he forgives their wrongdoing and their sins. Do not be deaf and dull of heart in your unbelief.
5. Make your hearts upright before God; trust in him to save your souls; and on the day of your tribulation I will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
6. When you call upon me, I will say to you: I am here with you - and I will deliver you from the hand of your enemies - because you have trusted in me, kept my commandments, not departed from my law, and loved what I love. I will not abandon you on your day of tribulation, says the Lord who governs all things.
7. He loves those who love him; for he is compassionate and forgiving, and he protects those who keep his commandments.
8. He turns back his anger from them time and again; for he is forgiving, knowing them to be flesh and blood, and he does not destroy them with all his plagues. When their souls depart from their bodies, they return to their earthly nature.
9. For he created them from nothing, and they do not know the place where they will dwell until God wills to bring them back from nothing. He himself took their souls, and returned what belonged to the earth to its earthly state.
10. And by his will he will bring them again from non-existence into existence.
11. But Tsiruts'aydan, who denied God, multiplied his arrogance greatly before God; and when God abandoned him, he exalted himself until the day God was pleased to act.
12. And he said, "My age has become like the age of heaven; I am the one who makes the sun rise; and I will never die, not through all eternity."
13. Before he had even finished saying these words, the angel of death, whose name is Tilmyakos, descended and struck his heart, and he died in that very hour. Because he had not praised his Creator, on account of the greatness of his pride and the wickedness of his deeds, he was cut off from his glorious life and perished.
14. Now the army of the king of the Chaldeans, who had desired to attack him and had encamped outside the city and the open squares of his land, when he died they advanced and destroyed his land. They plundered all his livestock and left not a single man, even those who clung to the walls.
15. They plundered all his wealth and took his possessions; they burned the city with fire and returned to their own land.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 13

1. The five sons of Meqabis who believed refused to eat the sacrifice offered to idols and gave their bodies over to death.
2. Knowing that this world grows old and passes away, and that its pleasures do not last forever, they gave their bodies to fire so as to be saved from the fire that exists in heaven.
3. For they knew that defying God is worse than defying man, and that the wrath of God is more terrible than the wrath of a king.
4. "O Lord, one day of rejoicing in paradise is better than many years of living on earth; and one hour of your forgiveness is better than many long years.
5. What is our human lifespan? Does it not pass like a shadow - like wax at the edge of a fire?
6. But you, O Lord, live forever; your age is without end; and your name endures from generation to generation."
7. The sons of Meqabis sang this and everything like it; they chose to trust in God and refused to eat the defiled sacrifice.
8. Therefore, knowing that the dead will rise and that judgment will be rendered after the resurrection, they gave their bodies to martyrdom for the sake of God.
9. You people who do not know and do not believe in the resurrection of the dead - learn from these five men! They knew that their future life would far surpass this passing earthly life, and so together they gave their bodies to death, and their brotherhood was glorious.
10. Because they believed that all things pass away, because they did not bow down to idols, and because they did not eat the dead and defiled sacrifice, they gave their bodies to death in order to receive glory from God.
11. Therefore, knowing that the last day would bring them joy in soul and body, they did not cling to the pleasures of this world or shrink from the bitterness of death - though they had wives and children. And knowing that on the last day there would be a resurrection in both soul and body, they gave their bodies to death.
12. Those who kept the ordinances of God - in the coming world, where there is no sickness, no grief, and no death - for generations and for long ages,
13. knowing that they would reign alongside the righteous kings and princes who believed the word of God, and having seen in their hearts what was yet to come, they gave their bodies to death like wax in the midst of fire.
14. With the hope that their faces would shine seven times brighter than the sun, and that all of them would rejoice in his love when they rise in soul and body, they gave their bodies to death.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 14

1. The matter of the Sadducees - those who do not believe in the resurrection of the Jews and Samaritans, the Pharisees, and the dead - grieves me deeply, and my heart knows it. The Jews say: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, and after that there is nothing we will see."
2. But the Samaritans say: "Our flesh will become dust and will not rise."
3. "When the resurrection occurs, we believe in the rising of souls. Because the soul is like the wind - invisible - and like the sound of thunder, people say 'behold, she is here,' yet she cannot be seen. Since she is invisible, even if the body dies, the soul does not die."
4. "But our flesh is visible to all; it becomes ash and dust. For animals devour it, and worms consume it in the grave."
5. "And those who devoured it will themselves become like grass; they will become dust as if they had never been created; they will become ash, and their trace will not be found. Where can flesh that has already perished be found?"
6. And the Pharisees say this: "We believe in the resurrection of the dead; but the souls will be clothed with another body in heaven, not on earth."
7. And the Sadducees say this: "After our soul has departed from our body, we will not rise from death. There is no resurrection for soul or body; after we die, we will not rise."
8. Therefore they are utterly and completely mistaken. Because they speak blasphemy against God and His lordship, their condition grieves me.
9. Because they did not believe in God who justifies them, they have no hope of salvation - no hope of salvation, and no hope of rising from the dead.
10. You, blind Jew - will you make God out to be ignorant? He who created you from nothing, who made you a human being when you were like saliva - can it be beyond Him to unite and raise your soul and body, which He formed in His likeness and image?
11. Do not think this way, for you cannot escape from God's hand. You will rise whether you want to or not. At the time of your death, the rope of Sheol by which you were bound is around your neck, and you will be judged whether you want to or not.
12. That rope which is tied around your neck sprouted for you from the root of Sheol in your mother's womb. As you grew, it grew with you.
13. At the time of your death they will place it upon your neck; and when it pulls its root, it will bring along its branches - it will draw its branches in.
14. For all sinners are held within it, the rope around their necks.
15. All the souls of sinners will come from the farthest edges of heaven where they are; and likewise your rope will drag your soul from wherever you are and bring you into Sheol.
16. After your body is separated from your soul, it will rise completely through God's gracious dew, like the body of our father Adam. And there you will receive your punishment according to the sin and transgression you committed and according to your unbelief.
17. Do not think you are only leading others astray - you yourself are also astray. In your error you will dwell in the grave, for you have departed from God's commandment and say there is no resurrection of the dead, in order to lead others astray.
18. Who would leave you in dust and ash? He will raise you up to give you your punishment according to your works.
19. Then, whether it is the nature of wind within the wind, or the nature of water within the water, or the nature of earth within the earth, or the nature of fire within the fire - it will come.
20. Even the soul that dwells within you, living in a place of darkness, will come.
21. And the souls of the righteous who live in joy in paradise will also come.
22. You, the Jew; you, the Samaritan; you, the Pharisee; you, the Sadducee - you will dwell in darkness until judgment is passed upon you.
23. Then you will see that God repays you according to your works, because you led people astray.
24. You say to them: "The dead do not rise; let us eat, let us drink, for tomorrow we die." And sitting in the seat of Moses, you declare with your mouth that there is no resurrection of the dead.
25. Therefore, though you know the Book of the Law and teach the words of the Scriptures, you have gone astray. It would have been better had you stopped rather than leading others astray.
26. It would have been better for you not to have known the words of the Scriptures than to lead God's people astray with your evil teaching and worthless words.
27. But He will give you according to your works and the fruit of your lips. God looks without showing partiality, and He gives from the grace He has prepared to His friends who teach good works.
28. There is no way for you to escape from the hand of God who will judge you. He has that with which to repay you according to your works, and you and those you taught will be judged together.
29. Know also that the dead will rise. Even those who kept the law will rise; they cannot remain in the grave. For just as when rain falls, the earth brings forth grass, so His command will bring them forth.
30. Just as when rain saturates the earth, a living tree brings forth its leaves; as wheat bears its fruit and grain yields its harvest; and as the earth cannot withhold its fruit when God wills it -
31. And just as a pregnant woman, when labor seizes her, cannot close her womb or escape without giving birth -
32. So the earth likewise will bring forth those gathered within her. After she hears the word of God, she cannot close her womb. The dew commanded by God will descend upon her, and she will bring them all forth at once.
33. The bodies will be gathered to the places where their corpses fell; the storehouses of souls will be opened; and the souls will return to the bodies from which they were previously separated.
34. When the trumpet is blown, the dead will rise in the twinkling of an eye. They will stand before God, and they will be given according to the work of their hands.
35. Then you will see that you rise together with the dead. You will be astonished at all the works you did upon the earth, and when you see them written before your very eyes, you will feel a remorse that can do nothing.
36. And you will know that you rise with the dead, and that you will receive according to the works you have done.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 15

1. Those who receive the reward of their good deeds will rejoice at that time; but those who were careless and said "the dead do not rise" - when they see that the dead have risen together with their worthless evil deeds, then they will grieve.
2. The deeds they did will judge them; and they themselves will know that judgment will be passed against them without anyone arguing their case.
3. On the day of weeping and judgment, on the day of decisive judgment and on the day of the Lord, the negligent will stand in the place where they must stand.
4. On the day of utter darkness, on the day of clouds, on the day of flashing light, on the day of lightning,
5. on the day of fear and trembling, on the day of cold and heat, on the day of frost,
6. on the day when the evil person receives punishment for the evil they did, when the pure person receives their reward for the pure deeds they did - just as the sinner receives punishment for the sins they committed -
7. on the day when the master is not honored above his servant, when the mistress is not honored above her maidservant,
8. when the king is not honored above the poor man, when the elder is not honored above the child, when the father is not honored above his son, when the mother is not honored above her daughter,
9. when the wealthy are not honored above the poor, when the proud are not honored above the humble, when the great are not honored above the small - for it is the day of judgment, the day of punishment and retribution, the day when every person receives what they have done.
10. For it is the day when those who did good receive their reward, and the day when those who did evil receive what is evil.
11. For it is the day when those who receive their reward will rejoice, and the day when those who receive what is evil will grieve. And those who twisted the scriptures by saying "the dead do not rise" will see it with their own eyes.
12. Then the sinners of the earth will weep - because of the sins they committed and because of the restless grief that will overtake them for failing to do good while they were on earth.
13. Likewise, the joy of the righteous who did good works while they were on earth will never come to an end, for they did good deeds.
14. They knew they would rise from death, and so they did not depart from the law of their Creator.
15. Because they did not depart from his commandments, they will inherit two lives; and on earth he multiplied their descendants and blessed their children.
16. And in the heavens, on the day of resurrection, when the wealthy are brought low, he will grant them the Kingdom of Heaven that he promised to their fathers.
17. Those who do evil and do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, who give no thought to the law of God and the day of resurrection, will weep.
18. Then they will see the suffering that comes upon them - suffering without end, without salvation, and without relief; and in their hearts there will be grief with no peace and no rest.
19. The worm that never sleeps and the fire that never dies will overtake them.
20. And where their flesh lies, fire and brimstone, whirlwind, frost and hail, and scorching heat will rain down upon them.
21. The fire of Gehenna is appointed for those who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 16

1. Consider for yourself the nails on your hands and feet, and the hair on your head; when you cut them, they grow back quickly. If you have a heart and mind to believe, know this.
2. You ask where the nails on your hands and feet, and the hair on your head, come from? Did God not arrange them to grow so that you might know the resurrection - not in another body, but in your very own body - and so understand that you will rise from death?
3. And you, who led the people astray by saying there is no resurrection of the dead - just as you committed sin and wrongdoing, so you will receive your punishment at the time of the resurrection of the dead.
4. When the day of your punishment arrives, you will see it; for what you have sown - whether wheat or barley - does not refuse to sprout.
5. Again, the plant you have planted does not refuse to grow; whether it is a vine or a fig tree, its leaves and fruit do not change.
6. If you plant a vine, it does not change to become a fig tree; if you plant a fig tree, it does not change to become a vine; if you sow wheat, it does not change to become barley;
7. and if you sow barley, it does not change to become wheat. But all things - each according to its seed and its kind, its fruit and its wood, its leaf and its root - receive blessing from the dew of mercy that comes from God and bring forth fruit.
8. Likewise, the earth will yield up soul and body as God has sown them in it; the body and soul that God sowed will rise united. Those who did good works will not be exchanged for those who did evil, and those who did evil works will not be exchanged for those who did good.
9. When the hour of the trumpet blast arrives, the dead will rise by the merciful dew that comes from God. Those who did good works will rise to a resurrection of life, and their reward is what God has prepared for the righteous - the joyful garden, the dwelling place of the pure, where there is no suffering or sickness, and where they will never die again.
10. But those who did evil works will rise to a resurrection of judgment, and will go with the Devil who deceived them,
11. and with his host of demons who do not desire that even a single one of all the children of men should be saved - they will go to eternal punishment.
12. They will descend into hell - the outer boundary of darkness, where there is gnashing of teeth and weeping, where there is no forgiveness or mercy, and no way out for all eternity. For while they lived in the flesh upon the earth, they did not do good works.
13. Therefore, both soul and body will be judged at the time of the resurrection.
14. Woe to those who do not believe in the united rising of soul and body - the very thing through which God displays the abundance of his wonders!
15. Each and every person will receive their reward according to their deeds and the labor of their hands.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 17

1. A grain of wheat, if it does not fall and break, will not sprout; neither will it bear fruit. But if a grain of wheat breaks, it is driven down into the earth beneath; it puts forth leaves; it becomes full of grain; and it bears fruit.
2. You yourselves know how one grain of wheat becomes many grains.
3. In the same way, this grain sprouts from wind, water, and earth - but the sun serves in place of fire. For wheat cannot bear fruit without the sun.
4. The wind serves in place of the soul - without wind, wheat cannot bear fruit either. And water irrigates the earth and satisfies it.
5. After the earth has drunk water, it produces roots; its top rises upward; and it bears fruit according to the measure of God's blessing.
6. But the grain of wheat is the image of Adam, into whom God placed the rational soul He created. The vine likewise drinks water; it sends out roots; and the fine cords of its roots draw in water.
7. It draws that water up to the tips of the leaves, for the dew that comes from God waters the ends of the long branches. In the heat of the sun it spreads out, and by the will of God it bears fruit.
8. It also produces a pleasant fragrance that gladdens the heart. When eaten, it satisfies like grain that does not cause hunger and like water that does not cause thirst. When fermented, it becomes wine.
9. When drunk, it gladdens the heart of man, as it is written in the Psalms: "Wine gladdens the heart of man." A carefree person who opens his mouth and drinks becomes drunk; his lungs fill up; and his blood flows toward his heart.
10. The drunkenness of wine greatly numbs a person and strips him of his reason. It makes rugged ground and cliffs seem like an open plain to him, and he does not notice the obstacles and thorns at his hands and feet.
11. God made the vine and its fruit in this way, so that His name might be praised by those who do His will and who believe in the resurrection of the dead.
12. And He gladdens those who believe in the rising of the dead with an eternal dwelling place of life.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 18

1. You who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead - how great is the error in which you wander? When they take you to a place you do not know, and cast you into hell because you did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, in soul and body together, then you will feel a regret that is utterly useless.
2. Saying, "We know that the dead, who have become dust and ash, do not rise," you deceive the minds of your neighbors - and whether you have done good or evil, you will receive your reward accordingly.
3. So they deceive their neighbors. For there is no rest in their death, no power to restrain their plague, they did not stand firm in their toil, and they must stand in the court of God.
4. When he rebukes them in his wrath, when he is angry with them for the evil they have done, they will be utterly ashamed - for they speak without knowing the ways of God, and they do not know where they came from.
5. They do not know the hell toward which they are going. Because they are wrathful, crooked in their deeds, and wicked, they teach their neighbors according to the crookedness of their own hearts - they are teachers of false doctrine, saying there is no resurrection of the dead.
6. Then they will know that the dead rise. They will know that judgment falls on them because they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, which is appointed for all the children of humanity.
7. Because we are all children of Adam, we have died on account of Adam - the sentence of death from God has come upon us all through the transgression of our father Adam.
8. Yet we will rise again, together with our father Adam, to receive the recompense of what we have done. For through the ignorance of our father Adam, the world was subjected to death.
9. Therefore we bear the penalty of Adam's transgression. Our flesh dissolved in the grave, and our bones crumbled.
10. The earth drank our marrow. We vanished. Our bloom faded into dust. Our flesh was buried in the grave. Our beautiful words were buried in the ground.
11. From our once-bright eyes came worms. Our faces disappeared in the grave. We became dust.
12. Where is the radiant beauty of those young men who were handsome, whose stature was fine, whose speech was eloquent? Where is the glory of the warriors?
13. Where is the power of kings? Where is the honor of nobles? Where is the thundering of horses, the adorning with gold and silver, the gleaming of shining weapons of war?
14. Where is the taste of fine foods and the sweetness of wine?

2 Meqabyan Chapter 19

1. O earth, you who gathered kings and princes, the great and the honored, beautiful women and fair young maidens - woe because of you!
2. Those who were ruddy and truly handsome, who had knowledge and understanding, whose words were as pleasing as the resonant strumming of a begena, as the playing of a krar and a masenqo -
3. Those whose song was as delightful as sweet wine, whose eyes shone like the morning star -
4. Those whose right hand was strong to give and to receive, who were swift in striking, whose feet were beautiful to behold and who ran like well-aligned wheels - O earth, you who gathered these mighty people - woe because of you!
5. O death, you who were sent by God's will and separated the souls of handsome people from their bodies - woe because of you!
6. And you, O earth! You have gathered the many bodies that God brought forth from you and returned to you - woe because of you! By the will of God we came out of you; to you we shall return; and by God's will we are at peace with you.
7. You became a carpet for our corpses; we walked upon you; we lay within you; we ate your fruit; and you ate our flesh.
8. We drank water from your springs; and you drank from the spring of our blood; we ate the richness of your soil; and you ate the richness of our bones.
9. As God commanded you to be our sustenance, we ate grain from your beautiful, dew-laden soil; you received the vitality of our flesh; and as God commanded you, you turned us to dust for your nourishment.
10. O death, you who gathered many mighty kings and princes, who did not fear them on account of their greatness and majesty as God who created them commanded you, and who did not despise even the one who fasts - woe because of you!
11. You showed no pity for those who were fair in appearance; you did not spare the strong and the warriors; you did not spare the rich and the poor, the ugly and the handsome, the elderly and the children, the women and the men.
12. You did not spare those who thought rightly and did not transgress God's commandments; nor did you spare those who thought evil, whose conduct was like that of beasts. You did not spare those who were perfect in their handsome appearance, in their words, and in the sweetness of their speech.
13. You did not spare those whose words were harsh and whose mouths were filled with curses; and you gathered their souls into your storehouses of light and darkness.
14. And the earth gathered their bodies - whether in caves or in the ground - until the time when the trumpet shall be sounded and the dead shall rise.
15. The evildoers will receive their reward according to the deeds they have done; for at the sound of the trumpet and by God's command, the dead will rise in the blink of an eye, and those who did good deeds will rejoice.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 20

1. Believe me - when we stand before him in fear and trembling, none of the work we have done on earth will be absent or hidden.
2. When we have no provisions for our journey, when we have no clothing for our bodies,
3. when we have no staff for our hands and no sandals for our feet,
4. whether it is mud, or rough and broken ground, or darkness, or thorns and thistles, or the depths of the sea, or the depths of a pit - when we do not know the road by which they will take us.
5. We do not know those who will take us, and we do not hear their words.
6. For they are dark, they lead us into darkness, and we cannot see their faces.
7. As the prophet David said: "When my soul wept within me, O Lord my Master, you know my path. On the road I have traveled they have hidden a trap for me. I looked to my right and found no one who knows me. I have no way of escape."
8. He said this because he knew that demons would mock him and lead him down a road he did not know. Whether he turned to the right or to the left, he found no one who knew him.
9. There was no one who knew him, for he was surrounded by angels of darkness.
10. Those sent to the righteous are the subtle angels of light - sent to receive the souls of the righteous and to lead them to the place of living light.
11. But those sent to the souls of the wicked are the angels of darkness and demons - sent to receive them and to lead them to the eternal punishment prepared for them, where they will receive the penalty for the sins they have committed.
12. Woe to the souls of the wicked, who are led away to destruction - those who find no rest, no relief, no escape, and no way out from their torment, forever.
13. For they have walked in the way of Cain, they have perished for the wages of Balaam's transgression, and they have lost their path. They scheme to receive bribes and usury, seizing by force the wealth of others that does not belong to them.
14. And they will receive their punishment according to their deeds in the fire of Gehenna.

2 Meqabyan Chapter 21

1. Where are the people who violently gather the wealth of others - wealth that is not their own and not the work of their hands?
2. They take the wealth of others without payment; they accumulate without knowing the day of their death that is coming upon them, and they leave their wealth to strangers.
3. Their children take no joy in their fathers' wealth, for they are of the same kind of sinners as their fathers - they too seize and oppress, whether by theft or by extortion.
4. Their fathers' wealth profits them nothing, for it was gathered by plunder and violence. Just as morning mist is scattered by the wind, as smoke is dispersed, as grass withers and falls away, as wax melts before fire - so the glory of the wicked vanishes.
5. As David said: "I saw the sinner flourishing and towering like a cedar of Lebanon; but when I returned, he was gone - I searched, and his place could not be found."
6. Let those who wrong their neighbors today - gathering the wealth of others by violence as though they will never die - not boast, for the ruin of the wicked comes all at once, just like this.
7. You fools, consider that you will pass away and your wealth will pass away with you. However much gold and silver you may accumulate, it will rust away.
8. If you multiply children, it only means more graves; if you multiply houses, they will become ruins.
9. Because you have not carried out the will of the Lord your God, even if you multiply livestock, they will become plunder for your enemies. All is left without blessing, and all the wealth you have laid your hands on will be found no more.
10. Whether in the house or in the field, whether in the pasture or on the farmland, whether at the threshing floor or at the winepress - it will be found no more.
11. Even the fruit of your womb will bring you no joy, but only grief on account of your enemies. For you did not keep the commandments of the Lord, and the Lord will not save you together with all your households.
12. But those who keep his law, his ordinances, and his commandments - he will not deprive them of his blessing. He will give them all they ask, and he will bless the fruit of their land and the fruit of their womb.
13. He will make them to rule and not to be ruled, raising them above all the nations around them, and he will give them all his blessing in their dwelling places.
14. He will bless everything they set their hands to - all the produce of their fields and all the places where their livestock dwell. He will make them rejoice in the fruit of their womb.
15. He will not diminish their livestock; he will save them from all their afflictions, from sickness and weariness, from destruction, and from both known and unknown dangers.
16. He will plead their cause at the time of judgment; he will deliver them from all evil, from affliction, and from all who oppose them. In the beginning, when a Levite was entrusted with the service of the tabernacle and kept that service and walked in the will of God, they gave him, according to the original law, the tithe and the firstborn of all - from persons to livestock.
17. As Moses commanded Joshua son of Nun, there was a city of refuge in all their cities, where a person who had killed someone - whether knowingly or unknowingly - could take shelter until judgment was rendered for and against him.
18. He told them: "Examine carefully in your hearts whether there was a previous quarrel with him.
19. Whether it was an axe, a stone, or a piece of wood - if a man says that something slipped from his hand unknowingly and the person it fell upon died, investigate the matter and save him, for he acted unknowingly and shall be spared.
20. But if he acted knowingly, he shall receive punishment according to his offense, and no one will show him pity. If, however, he acted unknowingly and the person died, investigate and save him from death, for he acted without knowledge."
21. Moses established these ordinances for the children of Israel so that they would not transgress the commandments of God, and so that they would turn away from all evil.
22. He commanded them to live according to his judgments and his law - to keep entirely away from worshiping idols, from eating what has died of itself or what is struck with disease, and from all things that are not fitting for the children of men who live by the commandments of God and who turn away from all evil deeds, as he has ordained for them.
23. He commanded them not to depart from the ordinance he had established for them - patterned after the tabernacle that is in heaven - so that they might save their souls and find their dwelling place with the righteous fathers who did good.
24. Those who believe in the word of God and walk in his commandments are called children of the righteous, for they descend from Adam and Eve, who did the will of God.
25. We are children of Adam, and God created us in his image and likeness so that we may do good and all that pleases him - let us not be found unworthy.
26. If we do good, we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven together with those who have done good, for he does not separate those who love him.
27. He greatly loves those who pray to him with a pure heart; he hears their prayers. He accepts the repentance of those who turn back to him with sincere and resolute repentance. To those who keep his law, his ordinances, and his commandments, he gives strength and steadfastness.
28. Those who have done his will shall rejoice with him in his kingdom forever, and both former and later generations will offer praise to him. From now and unto eternity. Amen. Give the Glory due to YAH forever - and the second book of Meqabyan arrived and was fulfilled.