1 Does not wisdom call out, and prudence bestow her voice?
2 At the summits and the tops of exalted places, standing above the ways, in the midst of the paths,
3 beside the gates of the city, at the very doors, she speaks, saying:
4 O men, to you I call out, and my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O little ones, understand discernment. And you who are unwise, turn your souls.
6 Listen, for I will speak about great things, and my lips will be opened, so as to foretell what is right.
7 My throat shall practice truth, and my lips shall detest the impious.
8 All my words are just. There is no depravity in them, and no perversity.
9 They are upright to those who understand, and equitable to those who discover knowledge.
10 Accept my discipline, and not money. Choose the doctrine that is greater than gold.
11 For wisdom is better than all that is most precious, and everything that is desirable cannot compare to her.
12 I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and I am inside learned thoughts.
13 The fear of the Lord hates evil. I detest arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.
14 Counsel is mine, and equity. Prudence is mine. Strength is mine.
15 Through me, kings reign and legislators decree just conditions.
16 Through me, princes rule and the powerful decree justice.
17 I love those who love me. And those who stand watch for me until morning shall discover me.
18 With me, are wealth and glory, superb riches and justice.
19 For my fruit is better than gold and precious stones, and my progeny better than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21 so that I may enrich those who love me, and thus complete their treasures.
22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything, from the beginning.
23 I was ordained from eternity, and out of antiquity, before the earth was formed.
24 The abyss did not yet exist, and I was already conceived; neither had the fountains of waters yet erupted.
25 The mountains, with their great mass, had not yet been established. Before the hills, I was brought forth.
26 Still he had not made the earth, and the rivers, and the poles of the globe of the earth.
27 I was already present: when he prepared the heavens; when, with a certain law and a circuit, he fortified the abyss;
28 when he made firm the sky above, and set free the fountains of waters;
29 when he encompassed the sea within its limits, and laid down a law for the waters, lest they transgress their limits; when he weighed the foundations of the earth.
30 I was with him in composing all things. And I was delighted, throughout every day, by playing in his sight at all times,
31 playing in globe of the earth. And my delight was to be with the sons of men.
32 Therefore, sons, hear me now. Blessed are those who preserve my ways.
33 Listen to discipline, and become wise, and do not be willing to cast it aside.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, and who stands watch at my gates everyday, and who observes at the posts of my doors.
35 He who finds me, finds life, and he will draw salvation from the Lord.
36 But he who sins against me will wound his own soul. All who hate me love death.”
1 Wisdom has built a house for herself. She has hewn seven columns.
2 She has immolated her victims. She has mixed her wine and set forth her table.
3 She has sent her maids to call out to the tower and to the fortified walls of the city,
4 If anyone is little, let him come to me. And to the unwise, she has said:
5 Approach. Eat my bread, and drink the wine that I have mixed for you.
6 Leave behind childishness. And live and walk by the ways of prudence.”
7 Whoever teaches a mocker causes injury to himself. And whoever argues with the impious produces a blemish on himself.
8 Do not be willing to argue with a mocker, lest he hate you. Dispute with the wise, and he will love you.
9 Present an opportunity to the wise, and wisdom shall be added to him. Teach the just, and he will hurry to receive it.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of holiness is prudence.
11 For by me, your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you.
12 If you would be wise, you will be so for yourself. But if you would be one who ridicules, you alone shall carry the evil.
13 A foolish and loud woman, who is full of enticements and who knows nothing at all,
14 sat at the entrance of her house on a seat, in a high place of the city,
15 so as to call to those who were passing by the way and continuing on their journey:
16 Whoever is little, let him turn aside to me. And to the frenzied, she said,
17 Stolen waters are more soothing, and secret bread is more pleasant.
18 And he did not know that giants are there, and that her companions are in the depths of Hell.
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36 From there, he continued on, and he seized Chaspho, and Maked, and Bosor, and the rest of the cities of Gilead.
37 But after these events, Timothy gathered together another army, and he positioned his camp opposite Raphon, across the torrent.
38 And Judas sent men to catch sight of the army. And they reported back to him, saying: “All the nations that surround us have assembled before him, with an exceedingly great army.
39 And they have brought the Arabians as auxiliaries to them, and they have set up camp across the torrent, in preparation to come against you in battle.” And Judas went to meet them.
40 And Timothy said to the leaders of his army: “When Judas and his army approach, close to the torrent of water, if he crosses over to us first, we will not be able to withstand him. For he will be able to prevail against us.
41 If, truly, he is afraid to cross over, and so he sets up camp across the river, we will cross over to them, and we will prevail against him.”
42 But when Judas approached, close to the torrent of water, he stationed the scribes of the people near the torrent, and he commanded them, saying, “Permit no man to stay behind, but let all come into the battle.”
43 And he crossed over to them first, and all the people after him. And all the Gentiles were crushed before their face, and they threw away their weapons, and they fled to the temple that was in Carnaim.
44 And he occupied that city, and he burned the temple with fire, along with all the things that were in it. And Carnaim was subdued, and it could not stand against the face of Judas.
45 And Judas gathered together all the Israelites who were in the land of Gilead, from the least even to the greatest, with their wives and children, and a very great army, to come into the land of Judah.
46 And they came as far as Ephron. And this was a great city, positioned at the entrance, strongly fortified, and there was no way to go around it on the right or on the left, but the path was through the midst of it.
47 And those who were in the city shut themselves in and barricaded the gates with stones. And so Judas sent to them with words of peace,
48 saying, “Let us cross through your land, to go into our own land, and no one will harm you; we will only cross through on foot.” But they were not willing to open to them.
49 Then Judas instructed a proclamation to be made in the camp, that they would engage them, each one from the place where he was.
50 And the men of the army drew close. And he assaulted that city all day and all night. And the city was delivered into his hand.
51 And they destroyed every male with the edge of the sword, and he eradicated the city, and he took its spoils, and he crossed through the entire city, over those who had been slain.
52 Then they crossed over the Jordan to the great plain that is opposite the face of Bethshan.
53 And Judas was gathering the stragglers and exhorting the people, throughout the entire way, until they came into the land of Judah.
54 And they ascended to mount Zion with joy and gladness, and they offered holocausts, because not one of them had fallen, until they had returned in peace.
55 Now in the days that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and Simon his brother was in Galilee against the face of Ptolemais:
109 My soul is continually in my hands: and I have not forgotten thy law.
110 Sinners have laid a snare for me: but I have not erred from thy precepts.
111 I have purchased thy testimonies for an inheritance for ever: because they are a joy to my heart.
112 I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications for ever, for the reward.
113 SAMECH. I have hated the unjust: and have loved thy law.
114 Thou art my helper and my protector: and in thy word I have greatly hoped.
115 Depart from me, ye malignant: and I will search the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according to thy word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my expectation.
1 Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, in accord with the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus,
2 to Timothy, most beloved son. Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I give thanks to God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. For without ceasing I hold the remembrance of you in my prayers, night and day,
4 desiring to see you, recalling your tears so as to be filled with joy,
5 calling to mind the same faith, which is in you unfeigned, which also first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and also, I am certain, in you.
6 Because of this, I admonish you to revive the grace of God, which is in you by the imposition of my hands.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of virtue, and of love, and of self-restraint.
8 And so, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Instead, collaborate with the Gospel in accord with the virtue of God,
9 who has freed us and has called us to his holy vocation, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus, before the ages of time.
10 And this has now been made manifest by the illumination of our Savior Jesus Christ, who certainly has destroyed death, and who has also illuminated life and incorruption through the Gospel.
11 Of this Gospel, I have been appointed a preacher, and an Apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
12 For this reason, I also suffer these things. But I am not confounded. For I know in whom I have believed, and I am certain that he has the power to preserve what was entrusted to me, unto that day.
13 Hold to the kind of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
14 Guard the good entrusted to you through the Holy Spirit, who lives within us.
15 Know this: that all those who are in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phigellus and Hermogenes.
16 May the Lord have mercy on the house of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me, and he has not been ashamed of my chains.
17 Instead, when he had arrived in Rome, he anxiously sought me and found me.
18 May the Lord grant to him to obtain mercy from the Lord in that day. And you know well in how many ways he has ministered to me at Ephesus.
