2 Samuel 24

 Translation: DRA

1 And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda.

2 And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them.

3 And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing?

4 But the king's words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5 And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad.

6 And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon,

7 They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee:

8 And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.

9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men.

10 But David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered: and David said to the Lord: I have sinned very much in what I have done: but I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceeding foolishly.

11 And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying:

12 Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee thy choice of three things, choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee.

13 And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee: or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land. Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

14 And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.

15 And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men.

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Date: August 30 2020

16 And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

17 And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father's house.

18 And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

19 And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him.

20 And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him:

21 An going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? Arid David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease.

22 And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

23 All these things Areuna as a king gave to the king: and Areuna said to the king: The Lord thy God receive thy vow.

24 And the king answered him, and said: Nay, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God holocausts free cost. So David bought the floor, and the oxen, for fifty sicles of silver:

25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

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Sirach 7

 Translation: DRA

1 Do no evils, and no evils shall lay hold of thee.

2 Depart from the unjust, and evils shall depart from thee.

3 My son, sow not evils in the furrows of injustice, and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold.

4 Seek not of the Lord a pre-eminence, nor of the king the seat of honour.

5 Justify not thyself before God, for he knoweth the heart: and desire not to appear wise before the king.

6 Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to extirpate iniquities: lest thou fear the person of the powerful, and lay a stumblingblock for thy integrity.

7 Offend not against the multitude of a city, neither cast thyself in upon the people,

8 Nor bind sin to sin: for even in one thou shalt not be unpunished.

9 Be not fainthearted in thy mind:

10 Neglect not to pray, and to give alms.

11 Say not: God will have respect to the multitude of my gifts, and when I offer to the most high God, he will accept my offerings.

12 Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul: for there is one that humbleth and exalteth, God who seeth all.

13 Devise not a lie against thy brother: neither do the like against thy friend.

14 Be not willing to make any manner of lie: for the custom thereof is not good.

15 Be not full of words in a multitude of ancients, and repeat not the word in thy prayer.

16 Hate not laborious works, nor husbandry ordained by the most High.

17 Number not thyself among the multitude of the disorderly.

18 Remember wrath, for it will not tarry long.

19 Humble thy spirit very much: for the vengeance on the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms.

20 Do not transgress against thy friend deferring money, nor despise thy dear brother for the sake of gold.

21 Depart not from a wise and good wife, whom thou hast gotten in the fear of the Lord: for the grace of her modesty is above gold.

22 Hurt not the servant that worketh faithfully, nor the hired man that giveth thee his life.

23 Let a wise servant be dear to thee as thy own soul, defraud him not of liberty, nor leave him needy.

24 Hast thou cattle? have an eye to them: and if they be for thy profit, keep them with thee.

25 Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their neck from their childhood.

26 Hast thou daughters? have a care of their body, and shew not thy countenance gay towards them.

27 Marry thy daughter well, and thou shalt do a great work, and give her to a wise man.

28 If thou hast a wife according to thy soul, cast her not off: and to her that is hateful, trust not thyself. With thy whole heart,

29 Honour thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother:

30 Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them: and make a return to them as they have done for thee.

31 With all thy soul fear the Lord, and reverence his priests.

32 With all thy strength love him that made thee: and forsake not his ministers.

33 Honour God with all thy soul, and give honour to the priests, and purify thyself with thy arms.

34 Give them their portion, as it is commanded thee, of the firstfruits and of purifications: and for thy negligences purify thyself with a few.

35 Offer to the Lord the gift of thy shoulders, and the sacrifice of sanctification, and the firstfruits of the holy things:

36 And stretch out thy hand to the poor, that thy expiation and thy blessing may be perfected.

37 A gift hath grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain not grace from the dead.

38 Be not wanting in comforting them that weep, and walk with them that mourn.

39 Be not slow to visit the sick: for by these things thou shalt be confirmed in love.

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Date: August 26 2020

40 In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.

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