Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

For He brings down those who dwell on high, The lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust.

The foot shall tread it down -- The feet of the poor [And] the steps of the needy."

Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hidden."

The humble also shall increase [their] joy in the LORD, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.

I will leave in your midst A meek and humble people, And they shall trust in the name of the LORD.

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

They immediately left [their] nets and followed Him.

and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.

At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from [the] wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.

and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."

But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

"for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.

"This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,

"But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name."

But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.

So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.

Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

"This Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent [to be] a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with [their] teeth.

Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

"For [his] letters," they say, "[are] weighty and powerful, but [his] bodily presence [is] weak, and [his] speech contemptible."