Saint Damasus I, Pope

17Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest. 18O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea, 19And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.

1Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.

2But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.

3And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whosoever he shall do shall prosper.

4Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.

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6For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

16But whereunto shall I esteem this generation to be like? It is like to children sitting in the market place. 17Who crying to their companions say: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not mourned. 18For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say: He hath a devil. 19The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners. And wisdom is justified by her children.