Wisdom of Sirach 5
God Is the Lord
1 Do not set your heart on your possessions, And do not say, “I am independent.”†
2 Do not follow yourself and your strength So as to walk in the desires of your heart;
3 And do not say, “Who will be lord over me?” For the Lord will surely punish you.
4 Do not say, “I sinned, so what happened to me?” For the Lord is patient.
5 Do not be so confident of atonement That you add sin to sin;
6 And do not say, “His compassion is great; He will atone for the multitude of my sins,” For both mercy and wrath come from Him; And His anger rests on sinners.
7 Do not delay to turn to the Lord, And do not put it off from day to day; For suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come forth, And in the day of vengeance, you will perish.
8 Do not set your heart on dishonest wealth, For it will profit you nothing in the day of distress.
Control of the Tongue
9 Do not winnow with every wind And do not follow every road; For a double-tongued sinner is of such a kind.†
10 Be established in your understanding And let your word be consistent.
11 Be quick to listen And give your answer with patience.
12 If you have understanding, answer your neighbor, But if not, let your hand be over your mouth.
13 There is glory and dishonor in speech, And a man’s tongue may cause him to fall.
14 Do not be called a slanderer, And do not lie in ambush with your tongue; For shame awaits a thief, And a grievous condemnation will come upon A double-tongued man.
15 In a great or in a small matter, do not go wrong.
Psalms 12
1 For the End; a psalm by David. †
2 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me to the end? How long will You turn Your face from me?
3 How long will I take counsel in my soul, Having grief in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
4 Look upon me and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
5 Lest my enemy say, “I prevailed against him”; Those who afflict me greatly rejoice, if I am shaken.
6 But I hope in Your mercy; My heart shall greatly rejoice in Your salvation; I will sing to the Lord, who shows kindness to me; I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.
Psalms 13
1 For the End; a psalm by David. †The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they are abominable in their habits; There is none, not even one, who does good.
2 The Lord stooped down from heaven to look upon the sons of men, To see if there were any who understood or sought God.
3 All turned aside and were altogether corrupted; There was not even one doing good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; They deal deceptively with their tongues; The poison of serpents is under their lips, Whose mouth is full of curses and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood; Affliction and suffering are in their ways, And the way of peace they have not known; There is no fear of God before their eyes.
4 Do all the workers of lawlessness not know? They eat up my people as they eat bread, and they do not call upon the Lord.
5 They were in great fear where no fear was, Because God is in the righteous generation.
6 You shamed the counsel of the poor man, Because the Lord is his hope.
7 Who will bring about the salvation of Israel out of Zion? When the Lord returns His people from captivity, Let Jacob greatly rejoice, and let Israel be glad.
Proverbs of Solomon 2
Holy Thinking
10 For if wisdom comes into your mind, And the perception in your soul seems to be good,
11 Then good counsel will guard you, And holy thinking will keep you;
12 That it might rescue you from an evil way And from a man who speaks nothing trustworthy.
13 Woe to those who forsake the paths of uprightness So they may walk in the ways of darkness,
14 Who delight in evils And rejoice in evil perversion,
15 Whose ways are crooked And their paths devious,
16 So they may cause you to be far from the straight way And a stranger to righteous judgment.
Acts 16
19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city;†
21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”
22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The Philippian Jailer
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.†
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.†
28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”†
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.†
34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
The Apostles Released
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”†
38 And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.
39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city.
40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.