Wisdom of Sirach 7
Put away Evil Acts
1 Do no evil things, And evil will never overtake you.†
2 Stay away from wrongdoing, And it will turn away from you.
3 My son, do not sow on the furrows of wrongdoing, And you will not reap the same things sevenfold.
4 Do not seek authority from a lord Nor the seat of honor from a king.
5 Do not declare yourself righteous before a lord, Nor play the wise man before a king.
6 Do not try to be a judge If you will not be strong enough to remove wrongdoing, Lest you respect the presence of the powerful And compromise your integrity.
7 Do not sin against the population of a city, Nor disgrace yourself before the people.
8 Do not repeat your sin, For you will not be unpunished even for one.
9 Do not say, “He will look upon the multitude of my gifts, And when I bring an offering to God Most High, He will accept it.”
10 Do not be fainthearted in your prayer And do not neglect to do alms.†
11 Do not laugh at a man who is in bitterness of soul, For there is One who humbles and exalts.
12 Do not devise a lie against your brother, Nor do the same against a friend.
13 Do not desire to tell any lie, For the habit of lying never does any good.
14 Do not talk idly in the assembly of the elders, And do not repeat yourself in prayer.
Farm and Family
15 Do not hate hard work, especially farming, Which was created by the Most High.
16 Do not number yourself among an assembly of sinners; Remember that wrath will not tarry long.
17 Humble yourself greatly, For the punishment of the ungodly is fire and worms.
18 Do not exchange a friend for money, Nor a genuine brother for the gold of Ophir.†
19 Do not ignore a wise and good wife, For her grace is worth more than gold.
20 Do not mistreat a servant who does his work in truth Nor a hired worker who devotes himself to you.†
21 Let your soul love an intelligent servant; Do not deprive him of his freedom.
22 Do you have cattle? Take care of them; And if they are profitable to you, keep them.†
23 Do you have children? Correct them, And make them obey from their youth.
24 Do you have daughters? Watch carefully over their chastity, And do not be too easy on them.†
25 Give a daughter in marriage And you will have completed a great work; But give her to a man of understanding.
26 Do you have a wife after your own heart? Do not reject her, But do not trust yourself to a wife whom you disregard.
27 Honor your father with all your heart, And do not forget the birth pangs of your mother.
28 Remember that you were begotten through them, And what can you give back to them To the degree they gave to you?
The Priests and the Poor
29 Fear the Lord with all your soul And honor His priests.†
30 Love Him who made you And do not forsake His ministers.
31 Fear the Lord and honor His priests, And give them their portion as commanded: The firstfruits, the trespass offering, The gift of the shoulder offering, The sacrifice of sanctification, And the firstfruits of the holy things.
32 Stretch forth your hand to the poor, That your blessing may be complete.†
33 Let the kindness of giving be shown In the presence of all the living, And do not withhold kindness from the dead.
34 Do not withdraw yourself from those who weep, And mourn with those who mourn.
35 Do not hesitate to visit a sick man, For by such visits you will be loved.
36 With all your words, remember the time you will die, And you will never sin.
Psalms 16
1 A prayer of David. †Listen, O Lord of my righteousness; Attend to my supplication; Give ear to my prayer that is not with deceitful lips.
2 From Your face let my judgment come; Let my eyes behold uprightness.
3 You tested my heart, when You visited me in the night; You tried me in the fire, and found nothing unjust in me.
4 That my mouth might not speak of the works of men, I held to hard ways because of the words of Your lips.
5 Restore my steps in Your paths, That my footsteps may not slip.
6 I cried out, because You listened to me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, and hear my words.
7 Magnify Your mercies, O You who save those who hope in You From those who rise up against Your right hand.
8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; In the shelter of Your wings, You will shelter me
9 From the face of the ungodly who trouble me. My enemies surrounded my soul;
10 Their fat enclosed them; Their mouth spoke arrogantly.
11 Casting me out, they now surround me; They set their eyes to bend down to the earth.
12 They seized me like a lion ready to tear its prey, Like a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O Lord, outrun them and trip up their heels; Rescue my soul from the ungodly, And Your sword from the enemies of Your hand.
14 O Lord, destroy them from the earth; Scatter them in their life. Their belly is filled with Your hidden things; They are satisfied with their sons, And they leave their possessions to their children.
15 As for me, in righteousness I shall behold Your face; I shall be satisfied when Your glory is revealed.
Proverbs of Solomon 3
The Laws of Wisdom
1 My son, do not forget my laws, But let your heart keep my words;
2 For length of days, and years of life and peace They will add to you.†
3 Do not let almsgiving and faithfulness forsake you, But hang them upon your neck;
4 And you will find grace And provide good things before the Lord and men.†
5 Trust in God with all your heart, And do not exalt your own wisdom.
Acts 17
The Church in Athens
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.†
18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.†
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?
20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:† TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter. ”†
33 So Paul departed from among them.
34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.