The Wisdom of Solomon 2
An Ungodly View of Life
1 For they said among themselves, as they reasoned incorrectly: “Our life is short and painful, And there is no cure for the death of a man; For no one has been known to return from Hades;†
2 Because we were born by chance, And after this we shall be as though we never existed; For the breath in our nostrils is smoke, And our speech is the spark kindled by the beating of our heart.
3 When the spark is extinguished, our body will turn to ashes, And our breath will disperse like empty air.
4 Then our name will be forgotten in due time, And no one will remember our works; So our life will pass away like the trace of a cloud And be scattered like fog, Driven away by the rays of the sun And oppressed by its heat.
5 For our appointed time is the passing of a shadow, And there is no return from our death; Because it is sealed up, no one can turn back.
6 Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that exist, And make the most of creation as quickly as possible, As we did in our youth.
7 Let us be filled with expensive wine and perfumes, And let no flower of springtime pass us by.
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds Before they wither away.
9 Let none of us fail to share in our arrogance. Let us leave signs of our gladness everywhere, Because this is our portion, and this is our lot.
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor man; Let us not spare a widow, Nor respect the aged gray hair of an old man.
11 Let our might be our law of righteousness, For what is weak is shown to be useless.
Hatred of the Righteous
12 “Let us lie in ambush for the righteous man, Because he is useless to us and opposes our deeds; He denounces us for our sins against the law And accuses us of sins against our upbringing.†
13 He claims to have knowledge of God, And he calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He has become for us as a refutation of our purposes; Even seeing him is a burden to us,
15 Because his life is unlike that of others; For his paths go in a different direction.
16 We are considered by him as a hybrid, And he avoids our ways as something immoral. He considers the last things of the righteous as blessed And pretends that God is his Father.
17 Let us see if his words are true, And let us put these last things to the test at the end of his life.
18 For if the righteous man is a son of God, He will help him, And deliver him from the hand of those who oppose him.†
19 Let us test him with insult and torture That we may know his gentleness And test his patient endurance.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death, For there shall be a visitation because of his words.”
21 So they reasoned these things And were led astray, For their malice blinded them.
22 But they did not know the mysteries of God, Nor hope for the wages of holiness, Nor judge the reward of blameless souls.
23 For God created man for immortality And made him an image of His own eternity.
24 But death entered the world by the envy of the devil, And those of his portion tempt it.
Psalms 138
13 For You possess my heart, O Lord; You took hold of me from my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, For I am fearfully and wondrously made; Marvelous are Your works, And my soul knows this very well.
15 My bone you made in secret was not hidden from You. And my substance was in the lowest parts of the earth;
16 Your eyes saw me when I was unformed, And all men shall be written in Your book; They shall be formed day by day, When as yet there were none among them.
17 Your friends, O God, became very honorable to me; Their principalities became very strong;
18 I shall count them, And they shall be multiplied more than the sand; I awakened, and I am still with You.
19 If You should slay sinners, O God, You would turn aside from me, O men of blood.
20 For You will say regarding their reasoning, “They shall receive your cities in vain.”
21 Have I not hated those who hate You, O Lord? And was I not wasting away because of Your enemies?
22 I hated them with perfect hatred; They became my enemies.
23 Test me, O God, and know my heart; Examine me, and know my paths,
24 And see if there is a lawless way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Proverbs of Solomon 30
A Father’s Wisdom
1 My son, fear my words, And when you receive them, repent; The man says these things to those who believe in God, then I cease speaking;†
2 For I am the most lacking of all men in discernment, And the discernment of men is not in me;†
3 God gives me wisdom, And I know holy things.
4 Who ascends into heaven and descends? Who gathers the winds in His bosom? Who wraps up the water in a garment? Who rules over all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His children, That you might acknowledge it?†
5 All the words of God are tried in fire, And He defends those who fear Him.†
Acts 4
Peter and John Arrested
1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,†
2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Before the Sanhedrin
5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,
6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.Ӡ
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.†
14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it .†
17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”
18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.†
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.
22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.