RECOMMENDATION OF WISDOM AS RATIONAL PIETY[282]
A Warning: (a) Against Outward and Sacrificial Worship
V. 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God! And to draw near him, in order to obey, is better than the offering of sacrifices by fools: for they know not….[283] to work evil.
(b) Against Mechanical Prayer
V. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, nor let thy heart be hasty to utter words before God! For God is in heaven, and thou art upon earth; therefore let thy words be few! 3. For
Dreams proceed from much brooding,
And the prattle of fools from a multitude of words.
(c) Against Rash Vows
V. 4. If thou makest a vow unto God, fail not to fulfil it, for fools are displeasing. Carry out that which thou hast promised. 5. It is better thou shouldst not vow at all than vow and not perform. 6. Suffer not thy mouth to render thy body punishable, neither utter thou the plea before the messenger:[284] "it was rashness." Why cause God to be wroth at thy voice and destroy the work of thy hands?
(d) Against Arbitrary Religious Speculations
V. 7….[285] For in the multitude of fancies and prattle there likewise lurketh much vanity. Rather fear thou God!