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Wisdom’s Part in Creation

²² The Lord created me at the beginning^* of his work,^*
   the first of his acts of long ago.
²³ Ages ago I was set up,
   at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
²⁴ When there were no depths I was brought forth,
   when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains had been shaped,
   before the hills, I was brought forth—
²⁶ when he had not yet made earth and fields,^*
   or the world’s first bits of soil.
²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there,
   when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when he made firm the skies above,
   when he established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he assigned to the sea its limit,
   so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
³⁰   then I was beside him, like a master worker;^*
and I was daily his^* delight,
   rejoicing before him always,
³¹ rejoicing in his inhabited world
   and delighting in the human race.

³² ‘And now, my children, listen to me:
   happy are those who keep my ways.

The Gospel According to

John

The Word Became Flesh

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life,^* and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.^*

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own,^* and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^* full of grace and truth. ¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,^* who is close to the Father’s heart,^* who has made him known.