Even children make themselves known by their acts, by whether what they do is pure and right.
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and the cast images.
Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.
The hearing ear and the seeing eye— the Lord has made them both.
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far away.
You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles?
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.