as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet: Voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

Every gorge shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked places shall become a straight path, and the rough places smooth ways,

And no one having drunk old wine straightway wishes for new, for he says, The old is better.

and Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to him of their substance.

And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give the measure of corn in season?

And he said also to the crowds, When ye see a cloud rising out of the west, straightway ye say, A shower is coming; and so it happens.

And he laid his hands upon her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

And answering he said to them, Of which of you shall an ass or ox fall into a well, that he does not straightway pull him up on the sabbath day?

And he said also to his disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and he was accused to him as wasting his goods.

And having called him, he said to him, What is this that I hear of thee? give the reckoning of thy stewardship, for thou canst be no longer steward.

And the steward said within himself, What shall I do; for my lord is taking the stewardship from me? I am not able to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

And the lord praised the unrighteous steward because he had done prudently. For the sons of this world are, for their own generation, more prudent than the sons of light.