Matthew 5:28 cf Sirach 9:8 – “Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman, and do not gaze at beauty belonging to another; many have been seduced by a woman’s beauty”

Matthew 6:2-4; cf Tobit 4:5-11 and Tobit 12:8 – “Revere the Lord all your days….do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing….to all those who practice righteousness give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it.  Do not turn away your face from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you….So you will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity.  For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness.  Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it, is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High” (Tob 4:5-11).

“Prayer with fasting is good, but better than both is almsgiving with righteousness.  A little with righteousness is better than wealth with wrongdoing.  It is better to give alms than to lay up gold.  For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin.  Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, but those who commit sin are their own worst enemies” (Tob 12:8-10).

Matthew 6:7 cf Sirach 7:14 – “Do not babble in the assembly of the elders, and do not repeat yourself when you pray”

Matthew 6:14-15; cf Sirach 28:3-5 – “Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord?  If someone has no mercy towards another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins?  If a mere mortal harbours wrath, who will make atonement for his sins?”

Matthew 6:19-21 cf Tobit 4:5-11 – “Revere the Lord all your days….do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing….to all those who practice righteousness give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it.  Do not turn away your face from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you….So you will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity.  For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness.  Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it, is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High”.

Matthew 7:12 cf Tobit 4:15 – “And what you hate, do not do to anyone”

Matthew 7:15-20 (Mark 7:21; Luke 6:43-45) cf Sirach 27:6 – “When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears; so do a person’s faults when he speaks.  The kiln tests the potter’s vessels; so the test of a person is in his conversation.  Its fruit discloses the cultivation of the tree; so a person’s speech discloses the cultivation of his mind.  Do not praise anyone before he speaks, for this is the way people are tested”.

Matthew 11:11 cf Sirach 10:24 (v.27 DRB) – “The prince and the judge and the ruler are honoured, but none of them is greater than one who fears the Lord”

Matthew 11:28-30 cf Sirach 6:22-31 – “For wisdom is like her name….Put your feet into her fetters, and your neck into her collar [yoke].  Bend your shoulders and carry her, and do not fret under her bonds….For at last you will find the rest she gives, and she will be changed into joy for you.  Then her fetters will become for you a strong defence, and her collar a glorious robe.  Her yoke is a golden ornament, and her bonds a purple cord….”

Matthew 12:27; Acts 19:13-14 cf Tobit 8:2-3 – “Then Tobias remembered the words of Raphael [the angel], and he took the fish’s liver and heart out of the bag where he had them and put them on the embers of the incense.  The odour of the fish so repelled the demon that he fled to the remotest parts of Egypt.  But Raphael followed him, and at once bound him there hand and foot”

Matthew 13:43 cf Wisdom 3:1, 7 – “But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them….In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and will run like sparks in the stubble”

Matthew 18:23-35 cf Sirach 28:3-5 – “Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord?  If someone has no mercy towards another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins?  If a mere mortal harbours wrath, who will make atonement for his sins?”

*Matthew 22:23-33 cf Tobit 3:7-17 – “On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by one of her father’s maids.  For she had been married to seven husbands, and the wicked demon Asmodeus had killed each of them before they had been with her as is customary for wives.  So the maid said to her, ‘You are the one who kills your husbands!  See, you have already been married to seven husbands and have not borne the name of a single one of them.  Why do you beat us?  Because your husbands are dead?  Go with them!  May we never see a son or a daughter of yours!’?”

Matthew 25:36 cf Sirach 7:35 – “Do not hesitate to visit the sick, because for such deeds you will be loved”

*Matthew 27:42-43 cf Wisdom 2:12-20 – a prophecy of Jesus on the cross.  “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training.  He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.  He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange.  We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father.  Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hands of his adversaries.  Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance.  Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected”.

Mark 7:21; Luke 6:43-45 cf Sir 27:6 – see Matthew 7:15-20

Mark 7:31-37; 8:22-26; John 9:6-8 cf Tobit 3:16-17; 11:7-15 – “At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God.  So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God’s light with his eyes…” (Tobit 3:16).

“…Smear the gall of the fish on his eyes; the medicine will make the white films shrink and peel off from his eyes, and your father will regain his sight and see the light” (Tobit 11:7-3). 

“Then Tobit got up and came stumbling out through the courtyard door.  Tobias went up to him, with the gall of fish in his hand, and holding them firmly, he blew into his eyes, saying, ‘Take courage, father.’  With this he applied the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart.  Next, with both his hands he peeled off the white films from the corners of his eyes.  Then Tobit saw his son and threw his arms around him, and he wept and said to him, ‘I see you, my son, the light of my eyes!” (Tobit 11:10-14).

The point of quoting this is to demonstrate that God uses means that seem strange, even unnecessary, to us to accomplish his purposes. One of the criticisms of the book of Tobit is that this healing was too bizarre to be taken seriously; on that basis Mark 7:31-37, 8:22-26, andJohn 9:6-8 should likewise be rejected because they, too, are bizarre and an unnecessary means of healing.

Mark 8:22-26 – see Mark 7:31-37 above.

*Mark 11:25 cf Sirach 28:2-3 – “Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord?  If someone has no mercy towards another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins?  If a mere mortal harbours wrath, who will make atonement for his sins?”.

Mark 12:18-27 cf Tobit 3:7-17 – see Matthew 22:23-33.

Luke 1:17 cf Sirach 48:10 (almost a direct quote) – “At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob”.

Luke 6:43-45; Mark 7:21 cf Sir 27:6 – see Matthew 7:15-20.

Luke 12:13-21 cf Sirach 5:1; 11:18-19 – “Do not rely on your wealth, or say, ‘I have enough.’  Do not follow your inclination and strength in pursuing the desires of your heart.  Do not say, ‘Who can have power over me?” for the Lord will surely punish you” (Sirach 5:1).

“One becomes rich through diligence and self-denial, and the reward allotted to him is this: when he says, ‘I have found rest, and now I shall feast on my goods!’ he does not know how long it will, be until he leaves them to others and dies” (Sir 11:18-19).

Luke 13:29 cf Baruch 4:37 – “Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away; they are coming, gathered from east and west, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God”.

Luke 18:1-8 cf Sirach 35:16-19 – “[God] will not show partiality to the poor; but he will listen to one who is wronged.  He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint.  Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek as she cries out against the one who causes them to fall?”

*John 1:1; 1 John 5:7 and Revelation 19:13 cf Wisdom 18:14-16 – a prophecy of Jesus who is the Word of God: “For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and the night in its swift course was now half gone, your all-powerful word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on the earth”.

*John 1:14 cf Baruch 3:36-38 – a prophecy of the incarnation of Christ (only in DRB): “This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.  He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.  Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men (DRB)”.

John 3:13 cf Baruch 3:29 – “Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?”

John 3:14-15 cf Wisdom 16:7 – “For the one who turned towards it [the fiery serpent – Numbers 21:1-9] was saved, not by the thing that was beheld, but by you, the Saviour of all”.

John 9:6-8; Mark 7:31-37; 8:22-26 cf Tobit 3:16-17; 11:7-15 – “At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God.  So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God’s light with his eyes…” (Tobit 3:16).

“…Smear the gall of the fish on his eyes; the medicine will make the white films shrink and peel off from his eyes, and your father will regain his sight and see the light” (Tobit 11:7-3). 

“Then Tobit got up and came stumbling out through the courtyard door.  Tobias went up to him, with the gall of fish in his hand, and holding them firmly, he blew into his eyes, saying, ‘Take courage, father.’  With this he applied the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart.  Next, with both his hands he peeled off the white films from the corners of his eyes.  Then Tobit saw his son and threw his arms around him, and he wept and said to him, ‘I see you, my son, the light of my eyes!” (Tobit 11:10-14).

The point of quoting this is to demonstrate that God uses means that seem strange, even unnecessary, to us to accomplish his purposes. One of the criticisms of the book of Tobit is that this healing was too bizarre to be taken seriously; but on that basis the passages fromMark 7:31-37 and 8:22-26, and John 9:6-8 should likewise be rejected because they, too, are bizarre and an unnecessary means of healing.

John 17:3 cf Wisdom 15:3 – “For to know you is complete righteousness, and to know your power is the root of immortality”.

Acts 12:20-23 cf 2 Maccabees 9:1-12 – “….While he [Antiochus Epiphanes] was in Ecbatana, news came to him of what had happened to Nicanor and the forces of Timothy.  Transported with rage, he conceived the idea of turning upon the Jews the injury done by those who had put him to flight [verses 1-2]; so he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he completed the journey.  But the judgment of heaven rode with him!  For in his arrogance he said, ‘When I get there I will make Jerusalem a cemetery of Jews.’  But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with an incurable and invisible blow.  As soon as he stopped speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels, for which there was no relief, and with sharp internal tortures – and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions.  Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to drive even faster.  And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body.  Thus he who only a little while before had thought in his superhuman arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea, and had imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all.  And so the ungodly man’s body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of the stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay.  Because of his intolerable stench no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven.  Then it was that, broken in spirit, he began to lose much of his arrogance and to come to his senses under the scourge of God, for he was tortured with pain at every moment.  And when he could not endure his own stench, he uttered these words, ‘It is right to be subject to God; mortals should not think that they are equal to God”.

Acts 10:28-29 cf Wisdom 6:7 (v. 8 in DRB) – “For the Lord of all will not stand in awe of anyone, or show deference to greatness; because he himself made both small and great, and he takes thought for all alike”.

Romans 1:18-23 cf Wisdom 12:24-13:10 – “For they went far astray on the paths of error, accepting as gods those animals that even their enemies despised; they were deceived like foolish infants.  Therefore, as though to children who cannot reason, you sent your judgment to mock them….For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists, nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that ruled the world…Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things? But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are those who give the name ‘gods’ to the works of human hands, gold and silver fashioned with skill, and likenesses of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand”.

Romans 2:4 cf Wisdom 11:23 – “But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things, and you overlook people’s sins, so that they may repent”.

Romans 5:12 cf Wisdom 2:24 – “But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it” (NABRE).

Romans 6:1, 15 cf Sirach 5:4-7 – “Do not say, ‘I sinned, yet what has happened to me?’ for the Lord is slow to anger.  Do not be so confident of forgiveness that you add sin to sin.  Do not say, ‘His mercy is great, he will forgive me the multitude of my sins’, for both mercy and wrath are with him, and his anger will rest on sinners.  Do not delay to turn back to the Lord, and do not postpone it from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of God will come upon you, and at the time of punishment you will perish”.

Romans 12:15-21 cf Sirach 7:34 – “Do not avoid those who weep, but mourn with those who mourn….”.

1 Corinthians 1:18 cf Wisdom 14:7 – “For blessed is the wood [the cross] by which righteousness comes” See 1 Peter 2:24 below.

1 Corinthians 6:2 cf Wisdom 3:1, 8 – “….the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God….They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them for ever”’

1 Corinthians 10:19-21 cf Baruch 4:7 – “For you provoked the one who made you by sacrificing to demons and not to God”.

Ephesians 2:1-3 cf Wisdom 2:24 – “….but through the devil’s envy, death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it”.

Ephesians 4:22, 29 cf Sirach 23:12-13, 15 – “There is a manner of speaking comparable to death; may it never be found in the inheritance of Jacob!  Such conduct will be far from the godly, and they will not wallow in sins.  Do not accustom your mouth to coarse, foul language, for it involves sinful speech….Those who are accustomed to using abusive language will never become disciplined as long as they live”

Ephesians 6:10-17 cf Wisdom 5:17-21 – “The Lord will take his zeal as his whole armour, and will arm all creation to repel his enemies; he will put on righteousness as a breastplate, and wear impartial justice as a helmet; he will take holiness as an invincible shield, and sharpen stern wrath for a sword, and creation will join with him to fight against his frenzied foes….”.

Colossians 3:8 cf Sirach 23:13 – see Ephesians 4:22

2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4; Revelation 2:10; 3:11 cf Wisdom 5:16 – “But the righteous live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them.  Therefore they

will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord….”.

Hebrews 11:34: “….won strength out of weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight….” cf 1 and 2 Maccabees

Hebrews 11:35 cf 2 Maccabees 6:18-31, and 2 Maccabees 7:1-41

“Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth and eat swine’s flesh.  But he, welcoming death with honour rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh, as all ought to do who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life….Those who a little before had acted towards him with goodwill now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered [vss. 24-28] were in their opinion sheer madness.  When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said, ‘It is clear to the Lord that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him’.  So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation” (2 Maccabees 6:18-20, 28-31).

“It also happened that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and things, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh.  One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, ‘What do you intend to ask and learn from us?  For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors?’.  The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to have pans and cauldrons heated.  These were heated immediately and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on.  When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan.  The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, ‘The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song that bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, And he will have compassion on his servants’.  After the first brother had died, they brought forward the second for their sport.  They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, ‘Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?’  He replied in the language of his ancestors and said to them, ‘No’.  Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done.  And when he was at his last breath, he said, ‘You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the king of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.  After him the third was the victim of their sport….After he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way…..Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him….After him they brought forward the sixth…..The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honourable memory.  Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors….Antiochus felt that he was being treated with contempt, and he was suspicious of her reproachful tone.  The youngest brother being still alive, Antiochus not only appealed to him in words, but promised with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn from the ways of his ancestors, and that he would take him for his Friend and entrust him with public affairs.  Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself.  But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native language as follows…..’Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again along with your brothers’….The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn.  So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the Lord.  Last of all the mother died, after her sons” (2 Maccabees 7:1-41).

Hebrews 13:17 cf Sirach 7:29-31 – “With all your soul, fear the Lord, and revere his priests.  With all your might love your Maker, and do not neglect his ministers.  Fear the Lord and honour the priest, and give him his portion, as you have been commanded….”.

James 1:2 cf Judith 8:25 – “In spite of everything let us give thanks to the Lord our God who is putting us to the test as he did our ancestors”.

James 1:6-8 cf Sirach 1:28 (1:36 DRB); 2:14 DRB – “Do not disobey the fear of the Lord; do not approach him with a divided mind” (Sirach 1:28 NRSV).

“Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth in two ways” (Sirach 2:14 DRB).

James 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4; Rev 2:10; 3:11 cf Wisdom 5:15-16 – “But the righteous live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them.  Therefore they will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord….”.

James 1:13-16 cf Sirach 15:11-20 – “Do not say, ‘It was the Lord’s doing that I fell away’; for he does not do what he hates.  Do not say, ‘It was he who led me astray’; for he has no need of the sinful.  The Lord hates all abominations; such things are not loved by those who fear him.  It was he who created humankind in the beginning, and he left them in the power of their own free choice.  If you choose you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.  He has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.  Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.  For great is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power and sees everything; his eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every human action.  He has not commanded anyone to be wicked, and he has not given anyone permission to sin”.

James 1:19 cf Sirach 5:11 – “Be quick to hear, but deliberate in answering”.

James 2:1-4 cf Sirach 11:2 – “Do not praise individuals for their good looks, or loathe anyone because of appearance alone”.

James 3:1-12 cf Sirach 5:13-6:1; 28:12 – “Honour and dishonor come from speaking, and the tongue of mortals may be their downfall.  Do not be called double-tongued and do not lay traps with your tongue; for shame comes to the thief, and severe condemnation to the double-tongued.  In great and small matters cause no harm, and do not become an enemy instead of a friend; for a bad name incurs shame and reproach; so it is with the double-tongued sinner” (Sirach 5:13-6:1).

“If you blow on a spark, it will glow; if you spit on it, it will be put out; yet both come out of your mouth” (Sirach 28:12).

James 3:4 cf Wisdom 14:1 – “….one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship that carries him”.

James 4:8 cf Tobit 13:6 – “If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your soul, to do what is true before him, then he will turn to you”.

James 5:1-6; cf Sirach 34:24-27 – “Like one who kills a son before his father’s eyes is the person who offers a sacrifice from the property of the poor.  The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a murderer.  To take away a neighbour’s living is to commit murder; to deprive an employee is to shed blood”. 

James 5:4 cf Tobit 4:14 – “Do not keep over until the next day the wages of those who work for you, but pay them at once.  If you serve God you will receive payment”.

1 Peter 1:3-9 cf Judith 8:24-27 – “Therefore, my brothers, let us set an example to our kindred, for their lives depend on us, and the sanctuary – both the temple and the altar – rests upon us.  In spite of everything let us give thanks to the Lord our God who is putting us to the test as he did our ancestors.  Remember what he did with Abraham, and how he tested Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia, while he was tending the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother.  For he has not tried us with fire, as he did them, to search their hearts, nor has he taken vengeance on us; but the Lord scourges those who are close to him in order to admonish them”.

1 Peter 1:6-7 cf Wisdom 3:5-6; Sirach 2:5 – “Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; like gold in the furnace he tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them” (Wisdom 3:5-6).

“For gold is tested in the fire, and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.  Trust in him and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him” (Sirach 2:5).

1 Peter 2:19 cf Sirach2:4 – “Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation be patient”

1 Peter 2:24 cf Wisdom 14:7 – “For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes”.  Wisdom 14:7 and 10:4 prophesy the cross.  Justin Martyr says the Jews renounced the LXX because of this and other passages which prophesied Jesus, and removed them from their copies. He said he had seen such vandalised copies.

1 Peter 4:17-18 cf Wisdom 12:20-21 – “For if you punished with such great care and indulgence the enemies of your servants and those deserving of death, granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness, with what strictness you have judged your children, to whose ancestors you gave oaths and covenants full of good promises!”.

1 Peter 5:4; 2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; Revelation 2:10 cf Wisdom 5:15-16 – “But the righteous live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them.  Therefore they will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord….”.

2 Peter 3:9 cf Wisdom 1:13 – “…because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living.  For he created all things so that they might exist…”.

Jude 3 cf Sirach 4:28 – “Fight to the death for truth, and the Lord God will fight for you”.

*1 John 5:7; John 1:1; and Revelation 19:13 cf Wisdom 18:14-16 – a prophecy of Jesus who is the Word of God: “For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and the night in its swift course was now half gone, your-all powerful word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on the earth”.

Revelation 2:26 cf Sirach 4:15 – “Those who obey her [wisdom] will judge the nations, and all who listen to her will live secure”.

*Revelation 8:2 cf Tobit 12:15 – “I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord”.   This is the only passage in the whole bible, other than Revelation 8:2, which refers to “the seven angels who stand before God”; yet it is pre-Christian.  How can this be if Tobit is not inspired revelation of the Spirit?

*Revelation 8:3-4 cf Tobit 12:12 – “So now, when you and Sarah prayed, it was I [the angel Raphael] who brought and read the record of your prayer before the glory of the Lord”.  This is closely related to Revelation 8:2 above.

Revelation 18:2 cf Baruch 4:35 – “For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days, and for a long time she will be inhabited by demons”.

*Revelation 19:13, John 1:1 and 1 John 5:7 cf Wisdom 18:15 – the Word is God: see John 1:1

*Revelation 21:18-21 cf Tobit 13:16 (v.21 in DRB) – “….The gates of Jerusalem will be built with sapphire and emerald, and all your walls with precious stones.  The towers of Jerusalem will be built with gold, and their battlements with pure gold.  The streets of Jerusalem will be paved with ruby and with stones of Ophir….”.

References

Scripture quotations [marked NRSV] are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, Catholic Edition, Anglicised Text, copyright 1989, 1995, 1999 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches in the United States of America, and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Holy Bible New Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition, Anglicized Text, copyright 1989, 1995, 1999, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Publ. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, UK.

Douay Rheims Bible, published by Baronius Press, London, 2010.