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lightning, and before a modest man grace will go forth. Be ashamed before father and mother for fornication, and before a ruler and a tyrant for a lie; before a judge and a magistrate for a transgression, and before the place where you sojourn for theft, and before the truth of God, and before the covenant; and for leaning your elbow on the loaves, and for scornfulness in receiving and giving, and for silence before those who greet you; for gazing at a prostitute, and for turning your face away from a relative, and for observing a married woman, and for being overly curious about her maidservant; before friends for a word of reproach, and for revealing secret words; and you shall be truly modest, and find grace before every man.

TITLE 41. -Concerning evil shame. Be not ashamed for your soul's sake.

For there is a shame that brings on sin, and there is a shame that is glory and grace; and do not show partiality against your soul, and do not be ashamed to your own downfall. There is one who for shame makes a promise to a friend, and has made him an enemy. Wrath, and shamelessness, and great shame, if a wife supports her husband. Concerning these things be not ashamed, and do not show partiality to sin: Concerning the law of the Most High and the covenant, and concerning judgment to justify the ungodly, concerning a word to a partner and fellow travelers, and concerning the giving of an inheritance of others; concerning accuracy of the balance and weights, and concerning the acquisition of much and little; concerning the different prices of merchants, and concerning much discipline of children, and making a wicked servant's side bleed. With a wicked wife a seal is good; and where there are many 95.1252 hands, lock up. Whatever you hand over, do it by number and weight; and giving and receiving, all in writing. They say that reverence has not been profitable to many.

TITLE 42. -Concerning unjust requests; and that unjust requests should not be brought to completion, even if the one making the request happens to be one's mother.

A throne was set for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right hand, and said

to him: I ask one small request of you; do not turn away my face. And the king said to her: Ask, my mother, for I will not turn you away. Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Ornias [alt. Adonijah srnpsē pro 'dnpsē] your brother as a wife. And King Solomon answered and said to his mother: And why do you ask for Abishag for Ornias as a wife? And ask for him the kingdom; for he is my older brother, and for him is Abiathar the priest, and for him is Joab son of Zeruiah the commander of the army, his companion. And King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: May God do so to me, and more also, if Ornias has not spoken this word against his own life. And now, as the Lord lives, who has prepared and set me on the throne of David my father, today Ornias shall be put to death. And he sent and struck him down, and Ornias died on that day. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, worshipping and asking something from him. And he said to her: What do you want? And she said: That these my two sons may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom. And Jesus answered and said: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say to him: We are able. He says to them: You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism; but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.

TITLE 43. -Concerning insatiability; and that we are insatiable in our appetite for more.

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ἀστραπὴ, καὶ πρὸ αἰσχυντηροῦ προελεύσεται χάρις. Αἰσχύνεσθε ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς περὶ πορνείας, καὶ ἀπὸ ἡγουμένου καὶ τυράννου ἕνεκεν ψεύδους· ἀπὸ κριτοῦ καὶ ἄρχοντος περὶ πλημμελείας, καὶ ἀπὸ τόπου οὗ παροικεῖς περὶ κλοπῆς, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀληθείας Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ διαθήκης· καὶ ἀπὸ πήξεως ἀγκῶνος ἐν ἄρτοις, καὶ ἀπὸ σκορακισμοῦ λήψεως καὶ δόσεως, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀσπαζομένων περὶ σιωπῆς· ἀπὸ ὁράσεως γυναικὸς ἑταίρας, καὶ ἀπὸ συστροφῆς προσώπου συγγενοῦς, καὶ ἀπὸ κατανοήσεως γυναικὸς ὑπάνδρου, καὶ ἀπὸ περιεργίας παιδίσκης αὐτῆς· ἀπὸ φίλων περὶ λόγου ὀνειδισμοῦ, καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως λόγων κρυφίων· καὶ ἔσῃ αἰσχυντηρὸς ὡς ἀληθινὸς, καὶ εὑρίσκων χάριν ἔναντι παντὸς ἀνθρώπου.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΜΑʹ. -Περὶ αἰσχύνης πονηρᾶς. Περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς σου μὴ αἰσχυνθῇς.

Ἔστι γὰρ αἰσχύνη ἐπάγουσα ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ἔστιν αἰσχύνη δόξα καὶ χάρις· καὶ μὴ λάβῃς πρόσωπον κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς σου, καὶ μὴ ἐντραπῇς εἰς πτῶσίν σου. Ἔστι χάριν αἰσχύνης ἐπαγγελλόμενος φίλῳ, καὶ ἐκτήσατο αὐτὸν ἐχθρόν. Ὀργὴ, καὶ ἀναίδεια, καὶ αἰσχύνη μεγάλη, ἐὰν γυνὴ ἐπιχορηγῇ τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς. Περὶ τούτων μὴ αἰσχυνθῇς, καὶ μὴ λάβῃς πρόσωπον τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν· Περὶ νόμου Ὑψίστου καὶ διαθήκης, καὶ περὶ κρίματος τοῦ δικαιῶσαι τὸν ἀσεβῆ, περὶ λόγου κοινωνοῦ καὶ ὁδοιπόρων, καὶ περὶ δόσεως κληρονομίας ἑτέρων· περὶ ἀκριβείας ζυγοῦ καὶ σταθμῶν, καὶ περὶ κτήσεως πολλῶν καὶ ὀλίγων· περὶ διαφόρου πράσεως ἐμπόρων, καὶ περὶ παιδείας τέκνων πολλῶν, καὶ οἰκέτῃ πονηρῷ πλευρὰν αἱμάξαι. Ἐπὶ γυναικὶ πονηρᾷ καλὸν σφραγίς· καὶ ὅπου χεῖρες 95.1252 πολλαὶ, κλεῖσον. Ὃ ἐὰν παραδῷς, ἐν ἀριθμῷ, καὶ σταθμῷ· καὶ δόσις καὶ λῆψις πάντων ἐν γραφῇ. Τὴν αἰδὼ φασὶ μὴ λυσιτελῆσαι πολλοῖς.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΜΒʹ. -Περὶ ἀδίκων αἰτήσεων· καὶ ὅτι τὰς ἀδίκους αἰτήσεις, οὐ χρὴ πρὸς

πέρας ἄγειν, κἂν μήτηρ τύχῃ ἡ τὴν αἴτησιν ποιουμένη. Ἐτέθη θρόνος τῇ μητρὶ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκάθισε, καὶ εἶπεν

αὐτῷ· Αἴτησιν μίαν μικρὰν ἐγὼ αἰτοῦμαι παρὰ σοῦ· μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς τὸ πρόσωπόν μου. Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ βασιλεύς· Αἴτησαι, μήτηρ ἐμὴ, ὅτι οὐκ ἀποστρέψω σε. ∆οθήτω δὴ Ἀβισὰκ ἡ Σουναμῖτις Ὀρνίᾳ [αλ. Ἀδονίᾳ σρνψη προ 'δνψη] τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου εἰς γυναῖκα. Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Σολομὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς, καὶ εἶπε τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ· Καὶ ἵνα τί αἰτῇ τὴν Ἀβισὰκ τῷ Ὀρνίᾳ εἰς γυναῖκα; Καὶ αἴτησαι αὐτῷ τὴν βασιλείαν· ὅτι οὗτος ὁ ἀδελφός μου μείζων ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ, καὶ αὐτῷ Ἀβιαθὰρ ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ αὐτῷ Ἰωὰβ υἱὸς Σαρουΐα ὁ ἀρχιστράτηγος ἑταῖρος αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὤμοσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Σολομὼν κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, λέγων· Τάδε ποιῆσαί μοι ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τάδε προσθείη, ὅτι κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐλάλησεν Ὀρνίας τὸν λόγον τοῦτον. Καὶ νῦν ζῇ Κύριος, ὃς ἡτοίμασε, καὶ ἔθετό με ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον ∆αβὶδ τοῦ πατρός μου, ὅτι σήμερον θανατωθήσεται Ὀρνίας. Καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν, καὶ ἀνεῖλεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀπέθανεν Ὀρνίας ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. Τότε προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῆς, προσκυνοῦσα καὶ αἰτοῦσά τι παρ' αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Τί θέλεις; Ἡ δὲ εἶπεν· Ἵνα καθίσωσιν οὗτοι οἱ δύο υἱοί μου, εἷς ἐκ δεξιῶν σου, καὶ εἷς ἐξ εὐωνύμων σου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου. Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· Οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε. ∆ύνασθε πίνειν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω, καὶ βάπτισμα, ὃ βαπτίζομαι, βαπτισθῆναι; Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· ∆υνάμεθα. Λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τὸ μὲν ποτήριόν μου πίεσθε, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα βαπτισθήσεσθε· τὸ δὲ καθίσαι ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων μου, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι, ἀλλ' οἷς ἡτοιμάσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός μου.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΜΓʹ. -Περὶ ἀπληστίας· καὶ ὅτι ἀπλήστως ἔχομεν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πλείονος

ὄρεξιν.