And as for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts, and understands the thoughts of all minds. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will cast you aside for eternity.
But good works have been found in you. For you have taken away the sacred groves from the land of Judah. And you have prepared your heart, so as to seek the Lord, the God of your fathers."
And Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, from the sons of Elam, responded and said to Ezra: "We have sinned against our God, and have taken foreign wives from the peoples of the land. And now, if there is repentance within Israel over this,
Confession of him is beyond heaven and earth, and he has exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his holy ones, to the sons of Israel, to a people close to him. Alleluia.
My soul has desired you in the night. But I will also watch for you with my spirit, in my inmost heart, from the morning. When you accomplish your judgments upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn justice.
I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I have not said to the offspring of Jacob, "Seek me in vain." I am the Lord, who speaks justice, who announces what is right.
Thus says the Lord: In a pleasing time, I have heeded you, and in the day of salvation, I have assisted you. And I have preserved you, and I have presented you as a covenant of the people, so that you would lift up the earth, and possess the scattered inheritances,
Then you will call, and the Lord will heed; you will cry out, and he will say, "Here I am," if you take away the chains from your midst, and cease to point your finger and to speak what is not beneficial.
And the open plains will become sheepfolds for the flocks, and the valley of Achor will become a domicile for the herds, for my people who have sought me.
when he said: Return, each one from his evil way, and from your wicked thoughts. And you shall dwell in the land, which the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from ancient times and even forever.
Because of this, say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Be converted, and withdraw from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I do not desire the death of the impious, but that the impious should convert from his way and live. Be converted, be converted from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?
And he said to me: "Son of man, you see what these ones are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here. Do you not think, then, that I should withdraw far away from my own sanctuary? But if you turn again, you will see even greater abominations."
And the king spoke out loud, saying, "Isn't this the great Babylon, which I have built, as the home of the kingdom, by the strength of my power and in the glory of my excellence?"
Sow for yourselves in justice, and harvest in the mouth of mercy; renew your fallow land. But the time when you will seek the Lord is the time when he will arrive who will teach you justice.
Seek the Lord and live. Otherwise, the house of Joseph may be destroyed with fire, and it will devour, and there will be no one who can extinguish Bethel.
And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry out to the Lord with strength, and may man be converted from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands.
Be reconciled with your adversary quickly, while you are still on the way with him, lest perhaps the adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown in prison.
Then, when the father of the family will have entered and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us.' And in response, he will say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.'
And when you will seek the Lord your God in that place, you shall find him, if only you seek him with all your heart, and in all the tribulation of your soul.
in what way might we escape, if we neglect such a great salvation? For though initially it had begun to be described by the Lord, it was confirmed among us by those who heard him,