Hymn on Creation (see also Book of Genesis chapter 1)

Ben Sira 42: 15 - 25

I will now call to mind

the works of the Lord,

and will declare what

I have seen.

By the world of the Lord

his works are made;

and all his creatures

do his will.

The sun looks down on

everything with its light,

and the work of the Lord is

full of his glory.

The Lord has not empowered

even his holy ones to recount

all his marvelous works,

which the Lord the Almighty

has established so that the

universe may stand firm in

his glory.

He searches out the abyss

and the human heart; he

understands their innermost

secrets.

For the Most High knows all

that may be known; he sees from

of old the things that are to

come.

He discloses what has been and

what is to be,  and he reveals

the traces of hidden things.

No thought escapes him,

and nothing is hidden from him.

He has set in order the splendors

of his wisdom; he is from all

eternity one and the same.

Nothing can be added or taken

away, and he needs no one

to be his counselor.

How desirable are all his

works, and how sparkling they

are to see!

All these things live and remain

forever;  each creature is 

preserved to meet a particular

need.  All things come in

pairs, one opposite the other,

and he has made nothing incomplete.

Each supplements the virtues of

the other.  Who could ever tire

of seeing his glory?

NRSV translation; Commentary by 

Walter T. Wilson (2023, Eerdmans)

ISBN 978-0-8028-8176-2