1
But thou, our God, art kind and true, patient, and ruling all things in mercy.
2
For even if we sin we are thine, knowing thy power; but we will not sin, because we know that we are accounted thine.
3
For to know thee is complete righteousness, and to know thy power is the root of immortality.
4
For neither has the evil intent of human art misled us, nor the fruitless toil of painters, a figure stained with varied colors,
5
whose appearance arouses yearning in fools, so that they desire the lifeless form of a dead image.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.