¹ My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.

² Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.

³ Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honoured at the end of your days.

⁴ Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient,

⁵ since gold is tested in the fire, and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation.

⁶ Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him.

⁷ You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside, for fear you fall.

⁸ You who fear the Lord, trust him, and you will not be robbed of your reward.

⁹ You who fear the Lord, hope for those good gifts of his, everlasting joy and mercy.

¹⁰ Look at the generations of old and see: whoever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Or whoever, steadfastly fearing him, was forsaken? Or whoever called to him and was ignored?

¹¹ For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, he forgives sins and saves in the time of distress.

¹² Woe to faint hearts and listless hands, and to the sinner who treads two paths.

¹³ Woe to the listless heart that has no faith, for such will have no protection.

¹⁴ Woe to you who have lost the strength to endure; what will you do at the Lord's visitation?

¹⁵ Those who fear the Lord do not disdain his words, and those who love him keep his ways.

¹⁶ Those who fear the Lord do their best to please him, and those who love him will find satisfaction in the Law.

¹⁷ Those who fear the Lord keep their hearts prepared and humble themselves in his presence.

¹⁸ Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, not into any human clutches; for as his majesty is, so too is his mercy.

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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