13because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the loss of the living. 14For he created all things that they might exist, and he made the nations of the world curable, and there is no medicine of extermination in them, nor a kingdom of hell upon the earth. 15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
2I will extol you, Lord, for you have sustained me, and you have not allowed my enemies to delight over me. 3O Lord my God, I have cried out to you, and you have healed me. 4Lord, you led my soul away from Hell. You have saved me from those who descend into the pit. 5Sing a psalm to the Lord, you his saints, and confess with remembrance of his holiness. 6For wrath is in his indignation, and life is in his will. Toward evening, weeping will linger, and toward morning, gladness. 7But I have said in my abundance: “I will never be disturbed.” 8O Lord, in your will, you made virtue preferable to beauty for me. You turned your face away from me, and I became disturbed. 9To you, Lord, I will cry out. And I will make supplication to my God. 10What use would there be in my blood, if I descend into corruption? Will dust confess to you or announce your truth? 11The Lord has heard, and he has been merciful to me. The Lord has become my helper. 12You have turned my mourning into gladness for me. You have cut off my sackcloth, and you have surrounded me with joy. 13So then, may my glory sing to you, and may I not regret it. O Lord, my God, I will confess to you for eternity.
7But, just as in all things you abound in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all solicitude, and even more so in your charity toward us, so also may you abound in this grace. 8I am speaking, not commanding. But through the solicitude of others, I approve of the good character of your charity. 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that through his poverty, you might become rich. 10And about this, I give my counsel. For this is useful to those of you who, only a year earlier, had just begun to act, or even to be willing to act. 11So, truly now, accomplish this in deed, so that, in the same manner as your willing mind is prompted, you may also act, out of that which you have. 12For when the will is prompted, it receives according to what that person has, not according to what that person does not have. 13And it is not that others should be relieved, while you are troubled, but that there should be an equality. 14In this present time, let your abundance supply their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be an equality, just as it was written: 15“He with more did not have too much; and he with less did not have too little.”