Sirach 43:1-12

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

43 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] 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^[b]
    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.
¹⁰ At the command of the Holy One they stand as ordered,
    they never relax in their watches.
¹¹ Look upon the rainbow, and praise him who made it,
    exceedingly beautiful in its brightness.
¹² It encircles the heaven with its glorious arc;
    the hands of the Most High have stretched it out.