The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.23 I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made.24 The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out:25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth:26 He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.27 When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths:28 When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth;30 I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;31 Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.32 Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways.33 Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.35 He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord:
And now I shall again recite the words which I have spoken in proof of this point. When Scripture says, "The Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven," the prophetic word indicates that there were two in number: One upon the earth, who, it says, descended to behold the cry of Sodom; Another in heaven, who also is Lord of the Lord on earth, as He is Father and God; the cause of His power and of His being Lord and God. Again, when the Scripture records that God said in the beginning, "Behold, Adam has become like one of Us," this phrase, "like one of Us," is also indicative of number; and the words do not admit of a figurative meaning, as the sophists endeavour to affix on them, who are able neither to tell nor to understand the truth. And it is written in the book of Wisdom: "If I should tell you daily events, I would be mindful to enumerate them from the beginning. The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He formed the earth, and before He made the depths, and before the springs of waters came forth, before the mountains were settled; He begets me before all the hills." When I repeated these words, I added: "You perceive, my hearers, if you bestow attention, that the Scripture has declared that this Offspring was begotten by the Father before all things created; and that which is begotten is numerically distinct from that which begets, any one will admit."
And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth,27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.†
For if she had had no husband, soon would the thought have stolen into the Devil’s mind, how she who had known no man could be pregnant. It was right that the conception should be Divine, something more exalted than human nature.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)