Ben Sira 43:1-9

1 The pride of the heavenly heights is the clear firmament, the appearance of heaven in a spectacle of glory.
2 The sun, when it appears, making proclamation as it goes forth, is a marvelous instrument, the work of the Most High.
3 At noon it parches the land; and who can withstand its burning heat?
4 A man tending a furnace works in burning heat, but the sun burns the mountains three times as much; it breathes out fiery vapors, and with bright beams it blinds the eyes.
5 Great is the Lord who made it; and at his command it hastens on its course.
6 He made the moon also, to serve in its season to mark the times and to be an everlasting sign.
7 From the moon comes the sign for feast days, a light that wanes when it has reached the full.
8 The month is named for the moon, increasing marvelously in its phases, an instrument of the hosts on high shining forth in the firmament of heaven.
9 The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven, a gleaming array in the heights of the Lord.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.