Saint Damasus I, Pope

17Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord, your God, who teaches you beneficial things, who guides you in the way that you walk. 18If only you had paid attention to my commandments! Your peace would have been like a river, and your justice would have been like the waves of the sea, 19and your offspring would have been like the sand, and the stock from your loins would have been like its stones. His name would not have passed away, nor would it have been worn away before my face.

1Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence.

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

3And he will be like a tree that has been planted beside running waters, which will provide its fruit in its time, and its leaf will not fall away, and all things whatsoever that he does will prosper.

4Not so the impious, not so. For they are like the dust that the wind casts along the face of the earth.

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6For the Lord knows the way of the just. And the path of the impious will pass away.

16But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace, 17who, calling out to their companions, say: ‘We played music for you, and you did not dance. We lamented, and you did not mourn.’ 18For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19The Son of man came eating and drinking; and they say, ‘Behold, a man who eats voraciously and who drinks wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is justified by her sons.”