Ecclesiasticus 45

¹Moyses beloved of God, and men: whose memory is in benediction.

²He made him like in the glory of saints, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies. And with his words he appeased monsters.

³He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandment before his people, & shewed him his glory.

⁴In his faith and meekness he made him holy, and chose him of all flesh.

⁵For he heard him, and his voice, and brought him into a cloud.

⁶And he gave him precepts face to face, and a law of life and discipline, to teach Jacob his testament, and Israel his judgements.

⁷He exalted Aaron his brother high, and like to himself of the tribe of Levi.

⁸He established unto him an everlasting testament, and gave him the Priesthood of the nation, and made him blessed in glory,

⁹and he girded him about with a girdle, and put upon him a robe of glory, and crowned him in furniture of power.

¹⁰Garments to the feet, and breeches, and an Ephod he put upon him, and compassed him with little bells of gold very many round about,

¹¹to give a sound in his going, to make sound heard in the temple for a memory to the children of his nation.

¹²An holy robe, of gold, and hyacinth, and purple, a woven work, of a wiseman, endued with judgement and truth:

¹³Of twisted scarlet the work of an artificer, with precious stones figured in the closure of gold, and graven by the work of a lapidary for a memorial, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁴A crown of gold upon his mitre graven with a seal of holiness, and the glory of honour: a work of power, & the adorned desires of the eyes.

¹⁵There were none such so fair before him, even from the beginning.

¹⁶No stranger was clothed with them, but only his children alone, and his nephews for ever.

¹⁷His sacrifices were consumed with fire every day.

¹⁸Moyses filled his hands, & anointed him with holy oil.

¹⁹It was made unto him for an everlasting testament, and to his seed as the days of heaven, to do the function of Priesthood, and to have praise and to glorify his people in his name.

²⁰He chose him of all that lived, to offer sacrifice to God, incense, and good odour, for a memorial to pacify for his people:

²¹and he gave them power in his precepts, in the testaments of his judgements, to teach Jacob his testimonies, and in his law to give light to Israel.

²²Because strangers stood against him, and for envy men compassed him about in the desert, they that were with Dathan and Abiron, and the congregation of Core in anger.

²³Our Lord God saw, and it please him not, and they were consumed in the violence of wrath.

²⁴He did prodigious things unto them, and consumed them in flame of fire.

²⁵And he added glory to Aaron, and gave him an inheritance, and divided unto him the first fruits of the increase of the earth.

²⁶He prepared them bread in the first unto satiety: for the sacrifices also of our Lord they shall eat, which he gave to him, and to his seed.

²⁷But he shall not inherit the nations in the land, and he hath no part in the nation: for himself is his portion & inheritance.

²⁸Phinees the son of Eleazar is the third in glory, in imitating him in the fear of our Lord:

²⁹and to stand in the reverence of the nation: in the goodness and alacrity of his soul he pacified God for Israel.

³⁰Therefore did he establish unto him a covenant of peace, to be the Prince of the holies, and to his nation, that the dignity of Priesthood should be to him and to his seed for ever.

³¹And the testament to David king, the son of Jesse of the tribe of Juda, and inheritance to him and to his seed, that he might give wisdom into our heart to judge his nation in justice, that their good things might not be abolished, & their glory in their nation he made everlasting.