From the book of Wisdom
1:16—2:1a, 10-24
The foolish thoughts of the impious against the just
It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death,
considered it a friend, and pined for it,
and made a covenant with it,
Because they deserve to be in its possession,
they who said among themselves, thinking not aright:
"Let us oppress the needy just man;
let us neither spare the widow
nor revere the old man for his hair grown white with time.
But let our strength be our norm of justice;
for weakness proves itself useless.
Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
"He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the Lord.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like other men's,
and different are his ways.
He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.
"Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put him to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him."
These were their thoughts, but they erred;
for their wickedness blinded them,
And they knew not the hidden counsels of God;
neither did they count on a recompense of holiness
nor discern the innocent souls' reward.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who are in his possession experience it.
RESPONSORY Wisdom 2:1, 12, 13, 17, 18; Matthew 27:43
The wicked said: Let us be in wait for the just man, for he disapproves of our way of life and calls himself the son of God.
– Let us test the truth of his words; God will deliver him from the hands of his enemies, if he truly is his son.
He trusted in God; let God rescue him if he wants him, for he said: I am the Son of God.
– Let us test the truth of his words; God will deliver him from the hands of his enemies, if he truly is his son.