Friday of the second week of Advent

Thus 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 whatsoever 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. ⁵Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

℟ He that followeth me shall have the light of life.

But 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.