II
INVITATION TO GRACE AFTER MEALS


1 [Loudly acclaim the majesty of God; where many are foregathered Let His majesty resound!

2 Amid the throng1 of the upright proclaim how majestic He is,2 and along with the faithful tell stories of His greatness!3

3 [Join company]4 with the good and the blameless in confessing the majesty transcendent;5

4 unite8 in making known His saving power, nor be laggard in showing to the mindless His might and majesty!

5 For it is that the glory of the LORD* may be made known that wisdom has been given,

6 and that the richness7 of His works may be told has it been imparted to man,

7 to the end that the witless may have knowledge of His power, and the mindless a sense of His greatness-

8 men who keep far from her doors, remote from all access to her.

9Although the Most High, forsooth, is Jacob's special Lord,8 yet does His majesty reach out over all that He has made,

10 and a mortal who avows it9 is no less pleasing to Him than one who brings offerings of grain,

11 or presents to Him he-goats and bullocks, or fills the altar with ashes of burnt-offerings never so many10-yea, than fragrant incense proffered by righteous men.

12 Wisdom's voice rings out from behind the doors of the righteous; wherever the godly foregather (is heard) her song.

13 Whenso they eat and are filled,11 the word is of her; when they drink in fellowship together,

14 their talk is of the Torah of the Most High; the aim of their discourse is to further the knowledge of His power.

15 (But oh, how far from the wicked is any word of her; how far from all the proud any wish to have knowledge of her!)

16 Behold, the eye12 of the LORD looks with compassion on the good,

17 and great is His tenderness to them that avow His majesty; He will save them from the time of trouble.18

18 [Bless ye] the LORD* Who redeems the humble from the grasp of the proud, [and deli]vers [the blameless] [from the hand of the wicked;]

19 [Who will yet raise Ja]cob [to honor],14 and [from Israel] govern [the world];15

20 [Who will spread His tent in Zion and be present in Jerusalem for ever!]18

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* Written in Archaic script (possibly the sacred name YHWH).
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Christian Section ....Dead Seas Scrolls: The Praise of God
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