First Reading

Now will I praise those godly men,

our ancestors, each in his own time.

But of others there is no memory,

for when they ceased, they ceased.

And they are as though they had not lived,

they and their children after them.

Yet these also were godly men

whose virtues have not been forgotten;

Their wealth remains in their families,

their heritage with their descendants;

Through God’s covenant with them their family endures,

their posterity, for their sake.

And for all time their progeny will endure,

their glory will never be blotted out.