Sirach 2:11

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon

9 You who fear the Lord, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy. 10 Consider the generations of old and see: has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed? Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken? Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected? 11 For the Lord is compassionate and merciful; he forgives sins and saves in time of distress. 12 Woe to timid hearts and to slack hands, and to the sinner who walks a double path! 13 Woe to the fainthearted who have no trust! Therefore they will have no shelter.

Against Novatian 18

Anonymous
Patristic

While the way of mercy, brethren, is open, let us entreat God with full atonements; let us humble ourselves, that we may be exalted; let us acquiesce in the divine exhortation, whereby we may escape the day of the Lord and His anger. For thus He says: Look, my son, upon the nations of men, and know who has hoped in the Lord, and has been confounded; or has remained in His commandments, and has been forsaken; or has called upon Him, and He has despised him. For the Lord is loving and merciful, and forgiving in time of tribulation their sins to all those that seek after Him in truth. Therefore He says, First tell your sins, that you may be justified. Let there be first in your hand that prayer full of confession.

 Notes and References

"... Clement of Rome probably also knew Wisdom. Admittedly, Wisdom is never cited as 'Scripture'. The matter involves brief citations or allusions that are never specially indicated as such. 1 Clement 34:1 probably alludes to Sirach 4:29b. On the other hand, similarities in the context of the great concluding prayer (2 Maccabees 7:35; / Clement 60:1; 61:2 and Sirach 2:11; 43:29-30; Tobit 3:2; 13:7 ...) can be explained in relation to common Jewish liturgical diction. Clement demonstrates more clearly than any other document from the New Testament period how the piety, ethos and liturgy of Diaspora Judaism could be adopted almost seamlessly by Christian communities ..."

Hengel, Martin The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon (p. 116) Baker Academic, 2004

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