A reading from the book of Proverbs.

Thus says the wisdom of God.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago,

from of old I was poured forth, at first before the earth.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth.

When there were no fountains or springs of water,

before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills,

I was brought forth, while as yet the earth and fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world.

When the Lord established the heavens, I was there.

When he marked out the vault over the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations

of the earth, when he set for the sea its limits so that the water should not transgress

his command. Then I was beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth, and I found delight in the human race.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be taught. Oh, Lord our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.

Oh, Lord our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.

When I behold your heavens, the work of your finger, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is man, that you should be mindful of him

Or the son of man that you should care for him?

Oh, Lord of God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.

You have made him little less than the angels

And crowned him with glory and honor

You have given him rule over the works of your hands

putting all things under his feet

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