Wednesday, March 17

3Many Gentiles shall travel and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will proclaim His way to us, and we shall walk in it.' For the law of the Lord shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4He shall judge between the Gentiles and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

5O now, house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

6For He forsook His people, the house of Israel, for as from the beginning, their land is filled with divinations—like the land of foreigners—and many children of foreigners were born to them.

7Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is also filled with horses; there is no end to their chariots.

8Their land is also filled with the abominations of their works, and they worship the works of their hands, which their fingers made.

9A man bows down and each man humbles himself, but I will not forgive them.

10Enter now into the rocks and hide in the earth from the face of the Lord, for fear and the glory of His might when He rises to smite the earth.

11For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, and man is humble. The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

24Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: the quadrupeds, the creeping things, and the wild animals of the earth according to their kind.' It was so.

25So God made the wild animals of the earth according to their kind, the cattle according to their kind, and all the creeping things on earth according to their kind. God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth.'

27So God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them.

28Then God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'

29Then God said, 'Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb that sows seed on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

30I also give every green plant as food for all the wild animals of the earth, for all the birds of heaven, and for everything that creeps on the earth in which is the breath of life.' It was so.

31Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed, it was very good. So evening and morning were the sixth day.

1Thus heaven and earth and all their adornment were finished.

2And on the seventh day God finished the works He made, and He rested on the seventh day from all the works He made.

3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His works God began to make.

1My son, if you receive the words of my commandment And hide them within yourself,

2Your ear will be obedient to wisdom, And you will incline your heart to understanding; You will entrust it to your son as an admonition.

3For if he calls upon wisdom, And you utter your voice for understanding; If you seek perception with a strong voice,

4If you seek her as silver And search for her as treasure,

5Then you will understand the fear of the Lord And find the knowledge of God.

6For the Lord gives wisdom, And from His face come knowledge and understanding;

7And He stores up salvation for the upright; He will protect their journey,

8That He might guard the ways of His ordinances; And He will carefully guard the way of those who reverence Him.

9Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, And accomplish successfully every good path for yourself.

10For if wisdom comes into your mind, And the perception in your soul seems to be good,

11Then good counsel will guard you, And holy thinking will keep you;

12That it might rescue you from an evil way And from a man who speaks nothing trustworthy.

13Woe to those who forsake the paths of uprightness So they may walk in the ways of darkness,

14Who delight in evils And rejoice in evil perversion,

15Whose ways are crooked And their paths devious,

16So they may cause you to be far from the straight way And a stranger to righteous judgment.

17My son, do not lay hold of evil counsel, Nor forsake the teaching of your youth And forget the divine covenant;

18For it establishes its house with death, And its paths beside Hades with the dead;

19All who journey there do not return, Nor do they lay hold of straight paths; For they do not comprehend the years of life.

20For if they walked in good paths, They would find the smooth paths of righteousness.

21The inhabitants of the land will be good, And the simple will be left in it;

22For the upright will dwell in the land, And the holy will be left in it.