On Blessing
LXX. On Blessing
1. God is our blessing
our joy and our salvation:
let us pray to Him, then, that He may grant us forgiveness.
2. God blesses men so that they may behold
His glory, and eternally possess Him
according to their wishes.
3. It pertains to God to bless man
and it pertains to man to serve,
love, honour and cherish God.
4. God blesses a good beginning,
a good middle and a good end
in a well-nurtured man.
5. Let us all bless the name of God
and <bless> everyone who belongs to Him,
Who makes a fief thereto of His love.[1]
6. Blessing God for His goodness,
for <His> infinity and <His> eternity
is a blessing beloved by God.
7. It is better to bless God by almsgiving,
than by honouring or making wealthy
one’s son who has no desire to serve God.
8. Blessing God while enduring suffering
is for Him a pleasant blessing
and elicits great forgiveness on His part.
9. Blessing God by means of one’s loving,
one’s understanding and one’s remembering
constitutes a blessing that is profitable to undertake.
10. He who refuses to honour God’s name,
<but instead> maligns it and blasphemes against it,
shall fittingly be damned.
[1] A fief (or fee) is an estate granted by a feudal lord to a vassal on condition of service; here the term is used figuratively, though the relation between the two parties involved in this arrangement remains.