Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| The Lord created man out of earth, and turned him back into it again;
2| he gave them a number of days and a season, and gave them authority over the things upon it.
3| He clothed them with strength like his own, and made them according to his image;
4| and he put the fear of him upon all flesh, and gave them dominion over beasts and birds.
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6| Counsel and tongue and eyes, ears and a heart he gave them for thinking;
7| he saturated their minds with insight, and revealed good and evil to them;
8| he set his eye upon their hearts, to show them the greatness of his works;
9| that they might tell of the greatness of his works.
10| And they shall praise his holy name,
11| he added to them knowledge, and allotted to them the law of life;
12| he established with them an everlasting covenant, and showed them his judgments;
13| their eyes saw the greatness of his glory, and their ear heard the glory of his voice;
14| and he said to them, Beware of all wrongdoing, and he commanded each of them concerning his neighbor.
15| Their ways are before him continually, they will not be hidden from his eyes.
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17| Over every nation he appointed a ruler, but Israel is the Lord's own portion.
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19| Every deed of theirs shines like sunlight in his sight, and his gaze never leaves their paths.
20| Their wrongdoings were not hidden from him, and all their sins are before the Lord.
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22| A man's almsgiving is like a signet ring with him, and he will guard a person's kindness like the pupil of an eye.
23| Afterward he will rise up and repay them, and he will render their reward upon their own heads;
24| yet to those who repent he grants return, and he encourages those who are losing hope to endure.
25| Turn back to the Lord and abandon your sins, pray before his face and lessen your offense;
26| come back to the Most High, forsake iniquity, and despise what is detestable with your whole strength.
27| Who will praise the Most High in Hades, in place of the living who give thanks?
28| From the dead, as from one who no longer exists, thanksgiving perishes; the living and the healthy praise the Lord.
29| How great is the mercy of the Lord, and his atonement for those who turn back to him!
30| For not everything can belong to human beings, since the son of man is not immortal.
31| What is brighter than the sun? Yet even it fails, and flesh and blood will devise evil.
32| He himself surveys the host of the height of heaven, while all mankind are earth and ash.