young women

⁴so that they may teach prudence to the young women, so that they may love their husbands, love their children, ⁵be sensible, chaste, restrained, have concern for the household, be kind, be subordinate to their husbands: so that the Word of God may be not blasphemed.

²with old women, like mothers; with young women, in all chastity, like sisters.

¹²Their sons are like new plantings in their youth. Their daughters are dressed up: adorned all around like the idols of a temple.

²²So then, flee from the desires of your youth, yet truly, pursue justice, faith, hope, charity, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart.

³For you, there should be no unnecessary adornment of the hair, or surrounding with gold, or the wearing of ornate clothing. ⁴Instead, you should be a hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptibility of a quiet and meek spirit, rich in the sight of God.

³⁴And the unmarried woman and the virgin think about the things that are of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit. But she who is married thinks about the things that are of the world, as to how she may please her husband.

³⁰Charm is false, and beauty is vain. The woman who fears the Lord, the same shall be praised.

¹⁷And the king loved her more than all the women, and she had favor and mercy in his eyes above all the women, and he set the royal crown on her head, and he made her queen instead of Vashti.

¹⁰Who shall find a strong woman? Far away, and from the furthest parts, is her price. ¹¹The heart of her husband confides in her, and he will not be deprived of spoils. ¹²She will repay him with good, and not evil, all the days of her life. ¹³She has sought wool and flax, and she has worked these by the counsel of her hands. ¹⁴She has become like a merchant’s ship, bringing her bread from far away. ¹⁵And she has risen in the night, and given a prey to her household, and provisions to her maids.

¹⁶She answered, “Do not be against me, as if I would abandon you and go away; for wherever you will go, I will go, and where you will stay, I also will stay with you. Your people are my people, and your God is my God. ¹⁷Whichever land will receive you dying, in the same I will die, and there I will have the place of my burial. May God cause these things to happen to me, and add more also, if anything except death alone should separate you and I.”

⁴⁶And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord. ⁴⁷And my spirit leaps for joy in God my Savior. ⁴⁸For he has looked with favor on the humility of his handmaid. For behold, from this time, all generations shall call me blessed. ⁴⁹For he who is great has done great things for me, and holy is his name. ⁵⁰And his mercy is from generation to generations for those who fear him. ⁵¹He has accomplished powerful deeds with his arm. He has scattered the arrogant in the intentions of their heart.

⁴⁶And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord. ⁴⁷And my spirit leaps for joy in God my Savior.

²Now robbers had gone out from Syria, and they had led away captive, from the land of Israel, a little girl. And she was in the service of the wife of Naaman. ³And she said to her lady: “I wish that my lord had been with the prophet who is in Samaria. Certainly, he would have cured him of the leprosy that he has.”

²²How long will you be absorbed in delights, O wandering daughter? For the Lord has created something new upon the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”

²²A beautiful and senseless woman is like a gold ring in the snout of a swine.

¹Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the time of affliction arrives and the years draw near, about which you will say, “These do not please me.”

¹²Let no one despise your youth, but be an example among the faithful in word, in behavior, in charity, in faith, in chastity.