I, John, seemed to hear the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven,
singing, 'Alleluia! Victory and glory and power to our God!"
Then a voice came from the throne; it said, ' Praise our God, you
servants of his and all who, great or small revere him'. And I seemed
to hear the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the ocean or the
great roar of thunder, answering, 'Alleluia! The reign of the Lord our
God Almighty has begun; let us be glad and joyful and give praise to
God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride
is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white
linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.' The
angel said, 'Write this: Happy are those who are invited to the
wedding feast of the Lamb.'

This is the word of the Lord

See, the days are coming - it is the Lord who speaks - when I will
make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of
Judah, but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on
the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when
those days arrive - it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will
plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and
they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to
try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, 'Learn to know the
Lord!' No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest -
it is the Lord who speaks.

This is the word of the Lord.

Happy the husband of a really good wife;
the number of his days will be doubled.
A perfect wife is the joy of her husband,
he will live out the years of his life in peace.
A good wife is the best of portions,
reserved for those who fear the Lord;
rich or poor, they will be glad of heart;
cheerful of face, whatever the season.
The grace of a wife will charm her husband,
her accomplishments will make him stronger.
A silent wife is a gift from the Lord,
no price can be put on a well trained character.
A modest wife is a boon twice over,
a chaste character cannot be weighed on scales.
Like the sun rising over the mountains of the Lord
is the beauty of a good wife in a well kept house.

This is the word of the Lord.

I hear my Beloved
See how he comes
leaping on the mountains
bounding over the hills.
My Beloved is like a gazelle,
like a young stag.
See where he stands
behind our wall.
He looks at the window,
he peers through the lattice.
My Beloved lifts up his voice,
he says to me,
"Come then my love,
my lovely one come.
My dove , hiding in the clefts of the rock.
In the coverts of the cliff,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet
and your face is beautiful.'

My beloved is mine and I am his.

Set me like a seal on your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is strong as Death,
jealousy relentless as Sheol.
The flash of it is a flash of fire,
a flame of the Lord himself.
Love no flood can quench,
no torrents drown.

This is the word of the Lord.

On the evening of their marriage, Tobias said to Sarah, "You and I
must pray and petition our Lord to win his grace and protection.' They
began praying for protection, and this is how he began:

'You are blessed, O God of our fathers;
blessed too is your name
for ever and ever.
Let the heavens bless you
and all the things you have made
for evermore.
It was you that created Adam,
you who created Eve his wife
to be his help and support;
and from these two the human race was born.
It was you that said,
" It is not good that man should be alone;
let us make him a helpmate like himself."
And so I do not take my sister
for any lustful motive;
I do it in singleness of heart.
Be kind enough to have pity on her and on me
and bring us to old age together.'

And together they said, 'Amen, Amen'.

This is the word of the Lord.

On the evening of their marriage, Tobias said to Sarah, "You and I
must pray and petition our Lord to win his grace and protection.' They
began praying for protection, and this is how he began:

'You are blessed, O God of our fathers;
blessed too is your name
for ever and ever.
Let the heavens bless you
and all the things you have made
for evermore.
It was you that created Adam,
you who created Eve his wife
to be his help and support;
and from these two the human race was born.
It was you that said,
" It is not good that man should be alone;
let us make him a helpmate like himself."
And so I do not take my sister
for any lustful motive;
I do it in singleness of heart.
Be kind enough to have pity on her and on me
and bring us to old age together.'

And together they said, 'Amen, Amen'.

This is the word of the Lord.

Raguel kissed Tobias and wept. Then finding words, he said,'Bles-
sings on you child! You are the son of a noble father. How sad it is
t that someone so virtuous and full of good deeds should have gone
blind!' He fell on the neck of his kinsman Tobias and wept. And his
wife Edna wept for him, and so did his daughter Sarah. Raguel killed
a sheep from the flock, and they gave Tobias and Raphael a warm-
hearted welcome.
They washed and bathed and sat sown to table. Then Tobias said
to Raphael, 'Brother Azarias, will you ask Raguel to give me my sister
Sarah? Raguel overheard the words and said to the young man, 'Eat
and drink, and make the most of your evening; no one else has the
right to take my daughter Sarah - no one but you, my brother. In any
case, I, for my own part, am not at liberty to give her to any one else,
since you are her next of kin. However, my boy, I must be frank with
you: I have tried to find a husband for her seven times among our
kinsmen, and all of them have died the first evening, on going to her
room. But for the present, my boy, eat and drink; the Lord will grant
you his grace and peace.' Tobias spoke out, 'I will not hear of eating
and drinking till you have come to a decision about me'. Raguel
answered, 'Very well. Since as prescribed by the book of Moses, she is
given to you, heaven itself decrees she shall be yours I shall therefore
entrust your sister to you. From now you are her brother and she is
your sister. She is given to you from today for ever. The Lord of
heaven favour you tonight, my child, and grant you his grace and
peace.' Raguel called for his daughter Sarah, took her by the hand and
gave her to Tobias with these words, 'I entrust her to you; the law and
the ruling recorded in the Book of Moses assign her to you as your
wife. Take her; take her home to your father's house with a good
conscience. The God of heaven grant you a good journey in peace.'
Then he turned her to her mother and asked her to fetch him writing
paper. He drew up the marriage contract, how he gave his daughter as
bride to Tobias according to the Law of Moses.
After this they began to eat and drink.

This is the word of the Lord.

Abraham's servant said to Laban, 'I blessed the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who had so graciously led me to choose the
daughter of my master's brother for his son. Now tell me whether you are prepared to show kindness and goodness to my master; if not, say so, and I shall know what to do.'
Laban and Bethuel replied, 'This is from the Lord; it is not in our
power to say yes or no to you. Rebekah is there for you. Take her
and go; and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has decreed.' They called Rebekah and asked her, 'Do you want to leave with this man?' 'I do,' she replied. Accordingly they let their sister Rebekah go, with her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. They blessed Rebekah in these words:
'Sister of ours, increase
May your descendants gain possession
of the gates of their enemies!'
Rebekah and her servants stood up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah and departed.
Isaac, who lived in the Negeb, had meanwhile come into the
wilderness of the well of Lahai Roi. Now Isaac went walking in the
fields as evening fell, and looking up saw camels approaching. And
Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She jumped from her came,
and asked the servant, 'Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?' The servant replied, 'That is my master'; then she took her veil and hid her face. The servant told Isaac the whole story, and Isaac led Rebekah into his tent and made her his wife; and he loved her. And so Isaac was consoled for the loss of his mother.

This is the word of the Lord.

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.’ So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate suitable for man was found for him, so the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed: ‘This at last is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh! This is to be called woman, for this was taken from man.' This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.

This is the word of the Lord.

God said, " Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth,"

God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying to them, " Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth." God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good.

This is the word of the Lord.