2 Meqabyan 4:1-32

¹In the time of Joshua, there was a day when the Lord saved them.

²In the time of Gideon, there was a day when He saved them.

³In the time of Samson, and in the time of Deborah, Barak, and Judith, there were days when He saved them. Whether concerning a son or a daughter, He would raise up princes for them so they might be saved from the hands of their enemies who brought tribulation upon them.

⁴And because God loved them, He would save them from those who brought tribulation upon them.

⁵They would be totally at peace in all the work He accomplished for them; they were peaceful in their land, in their seed, and in the multiplying of all their flocks in the wilderness and their livestock.

⁶He would bless their plants and their livestock for them, for He looked upon them with an Eye of Mercy. He would not diminish their livestock, for they were the children of kind persons, and He loved them completely.

⁷But at the time they were evil in their works, He would cast them into the hands of their enemies.

⁸And when He destroyed them, they would seek Him in worship; they would return from sin and walk toward God in repentance.

⁹And when they returned with their complete reasoning, He would atone for their sins. He would not remember their former sins against them, for He knew they were flesh and blood, that they had the misleading thoughts of this world, and that they had demons in them.

¹⁰But when Meqabees heard of this Order that the Lord worked in His place of worship, the Temple, he was moved to repentance.

¹¹After he saw and heard this, he did not scorn doing good works; he did not scorn doing all the good works that the children of Israel did when the Lord forgave them. After they trespassed against His Law, they would weep and cry when the Lord chastised them, and again He would forgive them, and they would keep His Law.

¹²Meqabees likewise straightened his works; he kept His Law, and he lived firmly in the commands of the Lord, the Creator of Israel.

¹³At that time, after he heard all the works in which the children of Israel boast, he boasted like them in keeping the Law of the Lord.

¹⁴He urged his kindred and children to live firmly in the commands of the Lord and all His Law.

¹⁵He forbade what Israel forbade, and he heard and kept the Law that Israel kept. Even though his kindred was of the people of Moab, he forbade the food that Israel forbade.

¹⁶He sent forth tithes; he gave the firstborn of all he owned from his cows, sheep, and donkeys. Turning his face toward Jerusalem, he offered the sacrifices that Israel sacrificed.

¹⁷He offered sin offerings and vow sacrifices - sacrifices by which welfare is done, peace offerings, and the continual sacrifice.

¹⁸He gave his first crops; he crushed and poured the grapes as Israel pours them. He gave these to the priest whom he had appointed, and likewise, he did all that Israel does, and he offered sweet incense.

¹⁹He built a candlestick, a bowl, a seat, a tent, and the four links of rings. He provided pure oil for the lamps of the Holy of Holies and the curtain that Israel made in the Holy of Holies when they served the Lord.

²⁰Just as they did good works while they lived firmly in His Order and Law - and the Lord did not neglect them or cast them into their enemies' hands - Meqabees also did good works like them.

²¹He prayed to the Lord, the Creator of Israel, every time, that He might be his Teacher and not separate him from the children of Israel whom He chose and who kept His Covenant.

²²Again he prayed that He might give his children a place in Zion and a house in Jerusalem - that He might give them a Heavenly Seed of Virtue in Zion and a Heavenly House of the Soul in Jerusalem - and that He might save him from the destruction spoken by the tongue of the prophets, accepting his repentance and the mourning he wept before the Lord.

²³He prayed that the Lord would not destroy his children in this world and that He would keep him in his going out and his coming in.

²⁴The kindred of the Moabite people under the authority of Meqabees were pleased to believe, for their chief lived firmly in straight works. They observed his judgment and fulfilled his covenant; they rejected their own country's language and laws, understanding that the work of Meqabees was superior and righteous.

²⁵They would come to hear the charity and truthful judgments of Meqabees.

²⁶He had much wealth; he had female and male slaves, camels, and donkeys. He had five hundred horses that wore breastplates. He totally defeated the Amalekites, the Philistines, and the Syrians; yet formerly, when he worshipped idols, they defeated him.

²⁷He prevailed from the time he began worshipping the Lord onward; when he went to battle, no one defeated him.

²⁸His enemies would come in the power of their idols to fight him; they would call on their idols' names and curse him. However, none defeated him, for he placed his faith in the Lord, his Creator.

²⁹When he did this and defeated his enemies, he ruled the people under his authority.

³⁰He would take revenge and destroy the enemies of the wronged; he judged with truth for the child whose mother and father were dead.

³¹He would receive widows in their time of trouble; he gave his food to satisfy the hungry and clothed the naked with his own clothes.

³²He was pleased with the work of his hands; he gave money without grudging and gave tithes to the Temple. Meqabees died having lived in righteousness while doing these things.