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17:1  The Lord fashioned man from the earth and causes him to return to it again.
17:2  He granted him a fixed span of days and gave him dominion over everything on earth.
17:3  He endowed him with strength like his own and made him in his own image.
17:4  He put the fear of him into all living things and made him the master over beasts and birds.
17:5  [ He received the use of the five faculties from the Lord; as a sixth he gave him the gift of mind, and as a seventh the gift of reason, the interpreter of one’s faculties.]
17:6  He fashioned men’s tongues, eyes, and ears and gave them minds with which to think.
17:7  He filled them with wisdom and understanding and a knowledge of good and evil.
17:8  He placed the fear of him into their hearts to display to them the majesty of his works
17:9  [ and to enable them to proclaim his marvelous deeds]
17:10  so that they may give praise to his holy name.
17:11  He granted knowledge to them, endowing them with the law of life. [Thus, they might know that those who are living are mortal.]
17:12  An everlasting covenant he established with them, and his decrees he revealed to them.
17:13  Their eyes beheld his glorious majesty, and their ears heard the glory of his voice.
17:14  He said to them, “Refrain from all wrongdoing,” and he gave them a commandment concerning duties toward one’s neighbor.
17:15  Their ways are always known to him; they cannot be hidden from his sight.
17:16  [ Their ways from childhood tend toward evil, and they cannot transform their stony hearts into hearts of flesh.]
17:17  He appointed a ruler over every nation, but Israel is the Lord’s own portion.
17:18  [ Since Israel is his firstborn, he rears him with discipline, bestowing on him the light of his love and not neglecting him.]
17:19  All their deeds are as clear as the sun to him, and his eyes are ever upon their ways.
17:20  Their iniquities are not hidden from him; all their sins are before the Lord.
17:21  [ Yet the Lord, who is compassionate and knows how they are formed, has neither left nor abandoned them but spared them.]
17:22  Almsgiving is like a signet ring to him, and he cherishes kindness like the apple of his eye. [He apportions repentance to his sons and daughters.]
17:23  In the end, he will rise up and repay the wicked, bringing down retribution on their heads.
17:24  But to those who repent he allows a return, and he encourages those who have lost hope.
17:25  Therefore, return to the Lord and renounce your wicked ways; pray in his presence and lessen your offense.
17:26  Return to the Most High, turn away from iniquity, [for he will guide you out of darkness and into the light of health,] and hate intensely what he abhors.
17:27  Who will glorify the Most High in the netherworld in place of the living who give praise?
17:28  The dead cannot offer praise anymore than those who have never lived; only those who are alive and well sing the Lord’s praises.
17:29  How great is the mercy of the Lord and the forgiveness he offers to those who return to him!
17:30  Many things are beyond the human capacity to achieve, since the son of man is not immortal.
17:31  Is anything brighter than the sun? Yet it is subject to eclipse. Thus, flesh and blood devise evil plans.