Ecclesiasticus, 49

1. The memory of Josiah is like blended incense prepared by the perfumer's art; it is as sweet as honey to all mouths, and like music at a wine feast.

1. Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, and his word burned like a torch.

2. He took the right course, of converting the people, he rooted out the iniquitous abominations,

2. He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal he made them few in number.

3. he set his heart on the Lord, in godless times he upheld the cause of religion.

3. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens, and also three times brought down fire.

4. Apart from David, Hezekiah and Josiah, they all heaped wrong on wrong, they abandoned the Law of the Most High: the kings of Judah disappeared;

4. How glorious you were, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! And who has the right to boast which you have?

5. for they handed their power over to others and their honour to a foreign nation.

5. You who raised a corpse from death and from Hades, by the word of the Most High;

6. The holy, chosen city was burnt down, her streets were left deserted,

6. who brought kings down to destruction, and famous men from their beds;

7. as Jeremiah had predicted; for they had ill-treated him, though consecrated a prophet in his mother's womb, to tear up and afflict and destroy, but also to build up and to plant.

7. who heard rebuke at Sinai and judgments of vengeance at Horeb;

8. Ezekiel saw a vision of glory which God showed to him above the chariot of the great winged creatures,

8. who anointed kings to inflict retribution, and prophets to succeed you.

9. for he mentioned the enemies in the downpour to the advantage of those who follow the right way.

9. You who were taken up by a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with horses of fire;

10. As for the twelve prophets, may their bones flower again from the tomb, since they have comforted Jacob and redeemed him in faith and hope.

10. you who are ready at the appointed time, it is written, to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.

11. How shall we extol Zerubbabel? He was like a signet ring on the right hand,

11. Blessed are those who saw you, and those who have been adorned in love; for we also shall surely live.

12. so too was Joshua son of Jozadak; they who in their days built the Temple and raised a sanctuary sacred to the Lord, destined to everlasting glory.

12. It was Elijah who was covered by the whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit; in all his days he did not tremble before any ruler, and no one brought him into subjection.

13. Great too is the memory of Nehemiah, who rebuilt our walls which lay in ruins, erected the bolted gates and rebuilt our houses.

13. Nothing was too hard for him, and when he was dead his body prophesied.

14. No one else has ever been created on earth to equal Enoch, for he was taken up from earth.

14. As in his life he did wonders, so in death his deeds were marvelous.

15. And no one else ever born has been like Joseph, the leader of his brothers, the prop of his people; his bones received a visitation.

15. For all this the people did not repent, and they did not forsake their sins, till they were carried away captive from their land and were scattered over all the earth; the people were left very few in number, but with rulers from the house of David.

16. Shem and Seth were the most honoured of men, but above every living creature is Adam.

16. Some of them did what was pleasing to God, but others multiplied sins.

17.

17. Hezekiah fortified his city, and brought water into the midst of it; he tunneled the sheer rock with iron and built pools for water.

18.

18. In his days Sennacherib came up, and sent the Rabshakeh; he lifted up his hand against Zion and made great boasts in his arrogance.

19.

19. Then their hearts were shaken and their hands trembled, and they were in anguish, like women in travail.

20.

20. But they called upon the Lord who is merciful, spreading forth their hands toward him; and the Holy One quickly heard them from heaven, and delivered them by the hand of Isaiah.

21.

21. The Lord smote the camp of the Assyrians, and his angel wiped them out.

22.

22. For Hezekiah did what was pleasing to the Lord, and he held strongly to the ways of David his father, which Isaiah the prophet commanded, who was great and faithful in his vision.

23.

23. In his days the sun went backward, and he lengthened the life of the king.

24.

24. By the spirit of might he saw the last things, and comforted those who mourned in Zion.

25.

25. He revealed what was to occur to the end of time, and the hidden things before they came to pass.