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Psalm 101

1  I will sing of faithfulness and justice; ♦︎
   to you, O Lord, will I sing.
2  Let me be wise in the way that is perfect: ♦︎
   when will you come to me?
3  I will walk with purity of heart ♦︎
   within the walls of my house.
4  I will not set before my eyes ♦︎
   a counsel that is evil.
5  I abhor the deeds of unfaithfulness; ♦︎
   they shall not cling to me.
6  A crooked heart shall depart from me; ♦︎
   I will not know a wicked person.
7  One who slanders a neighbour in secret ♦︎
   I will quickly put to silence.
8  Haughty eyes and an arrogant heart ♦︎
   I will not endure.
9  My eyes are upon the faithful in the land, ♦︎
   that they may dwell with me.
10  One who walks in the way that is pure ♦︎
   shall be my servant.
11  There shall not dwell in my house ♦︎
   one that practises deceit.
12  One who utters falsehood ♦︎
   shall not continue in my sight.
13  Morning by morning will I put to silence ♦︎
   all the wicked in the land,
14  To cut off from the city of the Lord ♦︎
   all those who practise evil.

Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgement

16 Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷One woman said, ‘Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. ¹⁸Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. ¹⁹Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. ²⁰She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. ²¹When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.’ ²²But the other woman said, ‘No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.’ The first said, ‘No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.’ So they argued before the king.

23 Then the king said, ‘One says, “This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead”; while the other says, “Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.” ’ ²⁴So the king said, ‘Bring me a sword’, and they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵The king said, ‘Divide the living boy in two; then give half to one, and half to the other.’ ²⁶But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—‘Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!’ The other said, ‘It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.’ ²⁷Then the king responded: ‘Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.’ ²⁸All Israel heard of the judgement that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.

Seven Chosen to Serve

6Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. ²And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait at tables.^{* 3}Therefore, friends,^* select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, ⁴while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.’ ⁵What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.