Wisdom of Solomon
Jewish, likely Alexandria, 1st century BCE
A hymn to a God who loves what God has made. Catholic, Orthodox, and many Anglican churches read it as scripture. It is one of the clearest “God is love” texts in the wider canon — and it is older than the New Testament.
Wisdom 11:24–26 (WEB)
For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made… you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you lover of souls.
Related readings
Wisdom 11:24–26 (WEB)
For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it. How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you lover of souls.
Sirach 4:1–2, 8–10 (WEB)
My son, don’t deprive the poor of his living. Don’t make the needy eyes wait long. Don’t make a hungry soul sorrowful. Don’t provoke a man in his distress. To the poor man incline your ear, and pay your debt, and give him a friendly answer in meekness. Deliver him who is wronged from the hand of the oppressor. Don’t be faint-hearted in giving judgment. Be as a father to the fatherless, and in place of a husband to their mother. So you will be as a son of the Most High, and he will love you more than your mother does.
Tobit 4:15–16 (WEB)
Do that to no one which you hate. Don’t drink wine to drunkenness, and don’t let drunkenness go with you on your way. Give of your bread to the hungry, and of your garments to those who are naked. Of all you possess, give alms; and don’t let your eye begrudge when you give alms.