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4.
1
AND now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with your whole heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law.
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4.
2
And do ye also teach your children letters, that they may have understanding all their life, reading unceasingly the law of God.
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4.
3
For every one that knoweth the law of the Lord shall be honoured, and shall not be a stranger whithersoever he goeth.
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4.
4
Yea, many friends shall he gain more than his parents, and many men shall desire to serve him, and to hear the law from his mouth.
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4.
5
Work righteousness, therefore, my children, upon the earth, that ye may have it as a treasure in heaven.
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4.
6
And sow good things in your souls, that ye may find them in your life.
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4.
7
But if ye sow evil things, ye shall reap every trouble and affliction.
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4.
8
Get wisdom in the fear of God with diligence; for though there be a leading into captivity, and cities and lands be destroyed, and gold and silver and every possession perish, the wisdom of the wise nought can take away, save the blindness of ungodliness, and the callousness that comes of sin.
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4.
9
For if one keep oneself from these evil things, then even among his enemies shall wisdom be a glory to him, and in a strange country a fatherland, and in the midst of foes shall prove a friend.
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4.
10
Whosoever teaches noble things and does them, shall be enthroned with kings, as was also Joseph my brother.
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4.
11
Therefore, my children, I have learnt that at the end of the ages ye will transgress against the Lord, stretching out hands to wickedness against Him; and to all the Gentiles shall ye become a scorn.
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4.
12
For our father Israel is pure from the transgressions of the chief priests [who shall lay their hands upon the Saviour of the world].
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4.
13
For as the heaven is purer in the Lord's sight than the earth, so also be ye, the lights of Israel, purer than all the Gentiles.
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4.
14
But if ye be darkened through transgressions, what, therefore, will all the Gentiles do living in blindness?
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4.
15
Yea, ye shall bring a curse upon our race, because the light of the law which was given for to lighten every man this ye desire to destroy by teaching commandments contrary to the ordinances of God.
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4.
16
The offerings of the Lord ye shall rob, and from His portion shall ye steal choice portions, eating them contemptuously with harlots.
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4.
17
And out of covetousness ye shall teach the commandments of the Lord, wedded women shall ye pollute, and the virgins of Jerusalem shall ye defile; and with harlots and adulteresses shall ye be joined, and the daughters of the Gentiles shall ye take to wife, purifying them with an unlawful purification; and your union shall be like unto Sodom and Gomorrah,
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4.
18
And ye shall be puffed up because of your priesthood, lifting yourselves up against men, and not only so, but also against the commands of God.
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4.
19
For ye shall contemn the holy things with jests and laughter.
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4.
20
Therefore the temple, which the Lord shall choose, shall be laid waste through your uncleanness, and ye shall be captives throughout all nations.
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4.
21
And ye shall be an abomination unto them, and ye shall receive reproach and everlasting shame from the righteous judgement of God.
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4.
22
And all who hate you shall rejoice at your destruction.
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4.
23
And if you were not to receive mercy through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers, not one of our seed should be left upon the earth.
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4.
24
And now I have learnt that for seventy weeks ye shall go astray, and profane the priesthood, and pollute the sacrifices.
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4.
25
And ye shall make void the law, and set at nought the words of the prophets by evil perverseness.
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4.
26
And ye shall persecute righteous men, and hate the godly; the words of the faithful shall ye abhor.
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4.
27
And a man who reneweth the law in the power of the Most High, ye shall call a deceiver; and at last ye shall rush upon him to slay him, not knowing his dignity, taking innocent blood through wickedness upon your heads.
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4.
28
And your holy places shall be laid waste even to the ground because of him.
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4.
29
And ye shall have no place that is clean; but ye shall be among the Gentiles a curse and a dispersion until He shall again visit you, and in pity shall receive you through faith and water.
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