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WEBC: World English Bible, Catholic Edition

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Patriarchs
Egypt and Exodus
Desert Wanderings
Conquest and Judges
Royal Kingdom
Divided Kingdom
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Royal Kingdom
Divided Kingdom
Exile
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Maccabean Revolt
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Exile
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Day 207 of 365

about 13 minutes

Wisdom 8-11

Wisdom Chapter 8

¹But she reaches from one end to the other with full strength, and orders all things well. ²I loved her and sought her from my youth. I sought to take her for my bride. I became enamoured by her beauty. ³She glorifies her noble birth by living with God. The Sovereign Lord of all loves her. ⁴For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooses his works. ⁵But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things? ⁶And if understanding is effective, who more than wisdom is an architect of the things that exist? ⁷If a man loves righteousness, the fruits of wisdom’s labor are virtues, for she teaches soberness, understanding, righteousness, and courage. There is nothing in life more profitable for people than these. ⁸And if anyone longs for wide experience, she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come. She understands subtleties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings. She foresees signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times. ⁹Therefore I determined to take her to live with me, knowing that she is one who would give me good counsel, and encourage me in cares and grief. ¹⁰Because of her, I will have glory among multitudes, and honor in the sight of elders, though I am young. ¹¹I will be found keen when I give judgment. I will be admired in the presence of rulers. ¹²When I am silent, they will wait for me. When I open my lips, they will heed what I say. If I continue speaking, they will put their hands on their mouths. ¹³Because of her, I will have immortality, and leave behind an eternal memory to those who come after me. ¹⁴I will govern peoples. Nations will be subjected to me. ¹⁵Dreaded monarchs will fear me when they hear of me. Among the people, I will show myself to be good, and courageous in war. ¹⁶When I come into my house, I will find rest with her. For conversation with her has no bitterness, and living with her has no pain, but gladness and joy. ¹⁷When I considered these things in myself, and thought in my heart how immortality is in kinship to wisdom, ¹⁸and in her friendship is good delight, and in the labors of her hands is wealth that doesn’t fail, and understanding is in her companionship, and great renown in having fellowship with her words, I went about seeking how to take her to myself. ¹⁹Now I was a clever child, and received a good soul. ²⁰Or rather, being good, I came into an undefiled body. ²¹But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom unless God gave her to me— yes, and to know and understand by whom the grace is given— I pleaded with the Lord and implored him, and with my whole heart I said:

1: But she reaches from one end to the other with full strength, and orders all things well.

2: I loved her and sought her from my youth. I sought to take her for my bride. I became enamoured by her beauty.

3: She glorifies her noble birth by living with God. The Sovereign Lord of all loves her.

4: For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooses his works.

5: But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things?

6: And if understanding is effective, who more than wisdom is an architect of the things that exist?

7: If a man loves righteousness, the fruits of wisdom’s labor are virtues, for she teaches soberness, understanding, righteousness, and courage. There is nothing in life more profitable for people than these.

8: And if anyone longs for wide experience, she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come. She understands subtleties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings. She foresees signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times.

9: Therefore I determined to take her to live with me, knowing that she is one who would give me good counsel, and encourage me in cares and grief.

10: Because of her, I will have glory among multitudes, and honor in the sight of elders, though I am young.

11: I will be found keen when I give judgment. I will be admired in the presence of rulers.

12: When I am silent, they will wait for me. When I open my lips, they will heed what I say. If I continue speaking, they will put their hands on their mouths.

13: Because of her, I will have immortality, and leave behind an eternal memory to those who come after me.

14: I will govern peoples. Nations will be subjected to me.

15: Dreaded monarchs will fear me when they hear of me. Among the people, I will show myself to be good, and courageous in war.

16: When I come into my house, I will find rest with her. For conversation with her has no bitterness, and living with her has no pain, but gladness and joy.

17: When I considered these things in myself, and thought in my heart how immortality is in kinship to wisdom,

18: and in her friendship is good delight, and in the labors of her hands is wealth that doesn’t fail, and understanding is in her companionship, and great renown in having fellowship with her words, I went about seeking how to take her to myself.

19: Now I was a clever child, and received a good soul.

20: Or rather, being good, I came into an undefiled body.

21: But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom unless God gave her to me— yes, and to know and understand by whom the grace is given— I pleaded with the Lord and implored him, and with my whole heart I said:

Wisdom Chapter 9

¹“O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy, who made all things by your word; ²and by your wisdom you formed man, that he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by you, ³and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and execute judgment in uprightness of soul, ⁴give me wisdom, her who sits by you on your thrones. Don’t reject me from among your servants, ⁵because I am your servant and the son of your handmaid, a weak and short-lived man, with little power to understand judgment and laws. ⁶For even if a man is perfect among the sons of men, if the wisdom that comes from you is not with him, he will count for nothing. ⁷You chose me to be king of your people, and a judge for your sons and daughters. ⁸You gave a command to build a sanctuary on your holy mountain, and an altar in the city where you live, a copy of the holy tent which you prepared from the beginning. ⁹Wisdom is with you and knows your works, and was present when you were making the world, and understands what is pleasing in your eyes, and what is right according to your commandments. ¹⁰Send her from the holy heavens, and ask her to come from the throne of your glory, that being present with me she may work, and I may learn what pleases you well. ¹¹For she knows all things and understands, and she will guide me prudently in my actions. She will guard me in her glory. ¹²So my works will be acceptible. I will judge your people righteously, and I will be worthy of my father’s throne. ¹³For what man will know the counsel of God? Or who will conceive what the Lord wills? ¹⁴For the thoughts of mortals are unstable, and our plans are prone to fail. ¹⁵For a corruptible body weighs down the soul. The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares. ¹⁶We can hardly guess the things that are on earth, and we find the things that are close at hand with labor; but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens? ¹⁷Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom, and sent your holy spirit from on high? ¹⁸It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you. They were saved through wisdom.”

1: “O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy, who made all things by your word;

2: and by your wisdom you formed man, that he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by you,

3: and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and execute judgment in uprightness of soul,

4: give me wisdom, her who sits by you on your thrones. Don’t reject me from among your servants,

5: because I am your servant and the son of your handmaid, a weak and short-lived man, with little power to understand judgment and laws.

6: For even if a man is perfect among the sons of men, if the wisdom that comes from you is not with him, he will count for nothing.

7: You chose me to be king of your people, and a judge for your sons and daughters.

8: You gave a command to build a sanctuary on your holy mountain, and an altar in the city where you live, a copy of the holy tent which you prepared from the beginning.

9: Wisdom is with you and knows your works, and was present when you were making the world, and understands what is pleasing in your eyes, and what is right according to your commandments.

10: Send her from the holy heavens, and ask her to come from the throne of your glory, that being present with me she may work, and I may learn what pleases you well.

11: For she knows all things and understands, and she will guide me prudently in my actions. She will guard me in her glory.

12: So my works will be acceptible. I will judge your people righteously, and I will be worthy of my father’s throne.

13: For what man will know the counsel of God? Or who will conceive what the Lord wills?

14: For the thoughts of mortals are unstable, and our plans are prone to fail.

15: For a corruptible body weighs down the soul. The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares.

16: We can hardly guess the things that are on earth, and we find the things that are close at hand with labor; but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens?

17: Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom, and sent your holy spirit from on high?

18: It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you. They were saved through wisdom.”

Wisdom Chapter 10

¹Wisdom guarded to the end the first formed father of the world, who was created alone, and delivered him out of his own transgression, ²and gave him strength to rule over all things. ³But when an unrighteous man fell away from her in his anger, he perished himself in the rage with which he killed his brother. ⁴When for his cause the earth was drowning with a flood, wisdom again saved it, guiding the righteous man’s course by a paltry piece of wood. ⁵Moreover, when nations consenting together in wickedness had been confounded, wisdom knew the righteous man, and preserved him blameless to God, and kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child. ⁶While the ungodly were perishing, wisdom delivered a righteous man, when he fled from the fire that descended out of heaven on the five cities. ⁷To whose wickedness a smoking waste still witnesses, and plants bearing fair fruit that doesn’t ripen, a disbelieving soul has a memorial: a standing pillar of salt. ⁸For having passed wisdom by, not only were they disabled from recognising the things which are good, but they also left behind them for their life a monument of their folly, to the end that where they stumbled, they might fail even to be unseen; ⁹but wisdom delivered those who waited on her out of troubles. ¹⁰When a righteous man was a fugitive from a brother’s wrath, wisdom guided him in straight paths. She showed him God’s kingdom, and gave him knowledge of holy things. She prospered him in his toils, and multiplied the fruits of his labor. ¹¹When in their covetousness men dealt harshly with him, she stood by him and made him rich. ¹²She guarded him from enemies, and she kept him safe from those who lay in wait. Over his severe conflict, she watched as judge, that he might know that godliness is more powerful than every one. ¹³When a righteous man was sold, wisdom didn’t forsake him, but she delivered him from sin. She went down with him into a dungeon, ¹⁴and in bonds she didn’t depart from him, until she brought him the sceptre of a kingdom, and authority over those that dealt like a tyrant with him. She also showed those who had mockingly accused him to be false, and gave him eternal glory. ¹⁵Wisdom delivered a holy people and a blameless seed from a nation of oppressors. ¹⁶She entered into the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood terrible kings in wonders and signs. ¹⁷She rendered to holy men a reward of their toils. She guided them along a marvelous way, and became to them a covering in the day-time, and a starry flame through the night. ¹⁸She brought them over the Red sea, and led them through much water; ¹⁹but she drowned their enemies, and she cast them up from the bottom of the deep. ²⁰Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly, and they sang praise to your holy name, O Lord, and extolled with one accord your hand that fought for them, ²¹because wisdom opened the mouth of the mute, and made the tongues of babes to speak clearly.

1: Wisdom guarded to the end the first formed father of the world, who was created alone, and delivered him out of his own transgression,

2: and gave him strength to rule over all things.

3: But when an unrighteous man fell away from her in his anger, he perished himself in the rage with which he killed his brother.

4: When for his cause the earth was drowning with a flood, wisdom again saved it, guiding the righteous man’s course by a paltry piece of wood.

5: Moreover, when nations consenting together in wickedness had been confounded, wisdom knew the righteous man, and preserved him blameless to God, and kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child.

6: While the ungodly were perishing, wisdom delivered a righteous man, when he fled from the fire that descended out of heaven on the five cities.

7: To whose wickedness a smoking waste still witnesses, and plants bearing fair fruit that doesn’t ripen, a disbelieving soul has a memorial: a standing pillar of salt.

8: For having passed wisdom by, not only were they disabled from recognising the things which are good, but they also left behind them for their life a monument of their folly, to the end that where they stumbled, they might fail even to be unseen;

9: but wisdom delivered those who waited on her out of troubles.

10: When a righteous man was a fugitive from a brother’s wrath, wisdom guided him in straight paths. She showed him God’s kingdom, and gave him knowledge of holy things. She prospered him in his toils, and multiplied the fruits of his labor.

11: When in their covetousness men dealt harshly with him, she stood by him and made him rich.

12: She guarded him from enemies, and she kept him safe from those who lay in wait. Over his severe conflict, she watched as judge, that he might know that godliness is more powerful than every one.

13: When a righteous man was sold, wisdom didn’t forsake him, but she delivered him from sin. She went down with him into a dungeon,

14: and in bonds she didn’t depart from him, until she brought him the sceptre of a kingdom, and authority over those that dealt like a tyrant with him. She also showed those who had mockingly accused him to be false, and gave him eternal glory.

15: Wisdom delivered a holy people and a blameless seed from a nation of oppressors.

16: She entered into the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood terrible kings in wonders and signs.

17: She rendered to holy men a reward of their toils. She guided them along a marvelous way, and became to them a covering in the day-time, and a starry flame through the night.

18: She brought them over the Red sea, and led them through much water;

19: but she drowned their enemies, and she cast them up from the bottom of the deep.

20: Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly, and they sang praise to your holy name, O Lord, and extolled with one accord your hand that fought for them,

21: because wisdom opened the mouth of the mute, and made the tongues of babes to speak clearly.

Wisdom Chapter 11

¹Wisdom prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet. ²They traveled through a desert without inhabitant, and they pitched their tents in trackless regions. ³They withstood enemies and repelled foes. ⁴They thirsted, and they called upon you, and water was given to them out of the flinty rock, and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone. ⁵For by what things their foes were punished, by these they in their need were benefited. ⁶When enemies were troubled with clotted blood instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain, ⁷to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies, you gave them abundant water beyond all hope, ⁸having shown by the thirst which they had suffered how you punished the adversaries. ⁹For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy, they learned how the ungodly were tormented, being judged with wrath. ¹⁰For you tested these as a father admonishing them; but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them. ¹¹Yes and whether they were far off or near, they were equally distressed; ¹²for a double grief seized them, and a groaning at the memory of things past. ¹³For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited, they recognized the Lord. ¹⁴For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking. In the end of what happened, they marveled, having thirsted in another manner than the righteous. ¹⁵But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness, wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, ¹⁶that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished. ¹⁷For your all-powerful hand that created the world out of formless matter didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions, ¹⁸or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage, either breathing out a blast of fiery breath, or belching out smoke, or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes; ¹⁹which had power not only to consume them by their violence, but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight. ²⁰Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath, being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power; but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight. ²¹For to be greatly strong is yours at all times. Who could withstand the might of your arm? ²²Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance, and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning. ²³But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent. ²⁴For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it. ²⁵How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved? ²⁶But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.

1: Wisdom prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet.

2: They traveled through a desert without inhabitant, and they pitched their tents in trackless regions.

3: They withstood enemies and repelled foes.

4: They thirsted, and they called upon you, and water was given to them out of the flinty rock, and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone.

5: For by what things their foes were punished, by these they in their need were benefited.

6: When enemies were troubled with clotted blood instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain,

7: to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies, you gave them abundant water beyond all hope,

8: having shown by the thirst which they had suffered how you punished the adversaries.

9: For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy, they learned how the ungodly were tormented, being judged with wrath.

10: For you tested these as a father admonishing them; but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them.

11: Yes and whether they were far off or near, they were equally distressed;

12: for a double grief seized them, and a groaning at the memory of things past.

13: For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited, they recognized the Lord.

14: For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking. In the end of what happened, they marveled, having thirsted in another manner than the righteous.

15: But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness, wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,

16: that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished.

17: For your all-powerful hand that created the world out of formless matter didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions,

18: or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage, either breathing out a blast of fiery breath, or belching out smoke, or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes;

19: which had power not only to consume them by their violence, but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight.

20: Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath, being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power; but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight.

21: For to be greatly strong is yours at all times. Who could withstand the might of your arm?

22: Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance, and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning.

23: But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent.

24: For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it.

25: How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved?

26: But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.

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Scripture text: World English Bible, Catholic Edition (WEBC) — public domain

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