Chapter LXXXIV

¹Behold, I have informed you about these things while I am still alive, and I am telling you about them so that you may understand what is worth pursuing; ¹ Lit. ‘that you may learn the things that are excellent’. for the Mighty One has commissioned me to instruct you, and I will, therefore, remind you of some of the precepts he has given us ² Lit. ‘and I will set before you some of the commandments of his judgement’. before I die. ²Remember how Moses at one time summoned heaven and earth to witness against you and said, If you transgress the law you will be scattered, but if you keep it you will be firmly planted ³ Another reading is ‘you will be kept’. in your land. ³And other things, too, he told you when you, the twelve tribes, were together in the wilderness. ⁴But after his death you rejected them; and so there came upon you what had been predicted. ⁵Moses told you beforehand, so that it might not happen to you; and it happened to you, ⁴ Or ‘Moses told you before it happened to you, and it happened to you’. because you forsook the law. ⁶And now I also tell you, after you have suffered, that if you take note of what you have been told, you will receive from the Mighty One whatever has been appointed and reserved for you. ⁷Furthermore, may this letter stand as a witness between us (between you and me), so that you may remember the commandments of the Mighty One, and that I also may have a defence before him who sent me. ⁸Remember the law and Zion, the holy land and your brothers, and the covenant of your fathers; and do not forget the festivals and the sabbaths. ⁹And hand on this letter and the traditions of the law to your sons after you, just as your fathers handed them on to you. ¹⁰Be always regular in your prayers, and pray diligently with all your heart that the Mighty One may restore you to his favour, and that he may not take account of your many sins, but remember the faithfulness of your fathers. ¹¹For if he is not to judge us in the fullness of his mercy, woe to all of us poor mortals! ⁵ Lit. ‘all of us who have been born!’