1. Hebrew Bible, Leviticus, 13.13 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 13.13. וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן וְהִנֵּה כִסְּתָה הַצָּרַעַת אֶת־כָּל־בְּשָׂרוֹ וְטִהַר אֶת־הַנָּגַע כֻּלּוֹ הָפַךְ לָבָן טָהוֹר הוּא׃ | 13.13. then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague; it is all turned white: he is clean." |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 51.1-51.8, 51.10-51.19, 51.21 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 51.1. לַמְנַצֵּחַ מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד׃ 51.1. תַּשְׁמִיעֵנִי שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה תָּגֵלְנָה עֲצָמוֹת דִּכִּיתָ׃ 51.2. הֵיטִיבָה בִרְצוֹנְךָ אֶת־צִיּוֹן תִּבְנֶה חוֹמוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם׃ 51.2. בְּבוֹא־אֵלָיו נָתָן הַנָּבִיא כַּאֲשֶׁר־בָּא אֶל־בַּת־שָׁבַע׃ 51.3. חָנֵּנִי אֱלֹהִים כְּחַסְדֶּךָ כְּרֹב רַחֲמֶיךָ מְחֵה פְשָׁעָי׃ 51.4. הרבה [הֶרֶב] כַּבְּסֵנִי מֵעֲוֺנִי וּמֵחַטָּאתִי טַהֲרֵנִי׃ 51.5. כִּי־פְשָׁעַי אֲנִי אֵדָע וְחַטָּאתִי נֶגְדִּי תָמִיד׃ 51.6. לְךָ לְבַדְּךָ חָטָאתִי וְהָרַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ עָשִׂיתִי לְמַעַן תִּצְדַּק בְּדָבְרֶךָ תִּזְכֶּה בְשָׁפְטֶךָ׃ 51.7. הֵן־בְּעָווֹן חוֹלָלְתִּי וּבְחֵטְא יֶחֱמַתְנִי אִמִּי׃ 51.8. הֵן־אֱמֶת חָפַצְתָּ בַטֻּחוֹת וּבְסָתֻם חָכְמָה תוֹדִיעֵנִי׃ 51.11. הַסְתֵּר פָּנֶיךָ מֵחֲטָאָי וְכָל־עֲוֺנֹתַי מְחֵה׃ 51.12. לֵב טָהוֹר בְּרָא־לִי אֱלֹהִים וְרוּחַ נָכוֹן חַדֵּשׁ בְּקִרְבִּי׃ 51.13. אַל־תַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי מִלְּפָנֶיךָ וְרוּחַ קָדְשְׁךָ אַל־תִּקַּח מִמֶּנִּי׃ 51.14. הָשִׁיבָה לִּי שְׂשׂוֹן יִשְׁעֶךָ וְרוּחַ נְדִיבָה תִסְמְכֵנִי׃ 51.15. אֲלַמְּדָה פֹשְׁעִים דְּרָכֶיךָ וְחַטָּאִים אֵלֶיךָ יָשׁוּבוּ׃ 51.16. הַצִּילֵנִי מִדָּמִים אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵי תְּשׁוּעָתִי תְּרַנֵּן לְשׁוֹנִי צִדְקָתֶךָ׃ 51.17. אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶךָ׃ 51.18. כִּי לֹא־תַחְפֹּץ זֶבַח וְאֶתֵּנָה עוֹלָה לֹא תִרְצֶה׃ 51.19. זִבְחֵי אֱלֹהִים רוּחַ נִשְׁבָּרָה לֵב־נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה אֱלֹהִים לֹא תִבְזֶה׃ 51.21. אָז תַּחְפֹּץ זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק עוֹלָה וְכָלִיל אָז יַעֲלוּ עַל־מִזְבַּחֲךָ פָרִים׃ | 51.1. For the Leader. A Psalm of David;" 51.2. when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba." 51.3. Be gracious unto me, O God, according to Thy mercy; According to the multitude of Thy compassions blot out my transgressions." 51.4. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin." 51.5. For I know my transgressions; And my sin is ever before me." 51.6. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, And done that which is evil in Thy sight; That Thou mayest be justified when Thou speakest, And be in the right when Thou judgest." 51.7. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." 51.8. Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; make me, therefore, to know wisdom in mine inmost heart." 51.10. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast crushed may rejoice." 51.11. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities." 51.12. Create me a clean heart, O God; and renew a stedfast spirit within me." 51.13. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from me." 51.14. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and let a willing spirit uphold me." 51.15. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall return unto Thee. ." 51.16. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; so shall my tongue sing aloud of Thy righteousness." 51.17. O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall declare Thy praise." 51.18. For Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering." 51.19. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." 51.21. Then wilt Thou delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt-offering and whole offering; Then will they offer bullocks upon Thine altar." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 1.15-1.18, 4.3-4.4 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1.15. וּבְפָרִשְׂכֶם כַּפֵּיכֶם אַעְלִים עֵינַי מִכֶּם גַּם כִּי־תַרְבּוּ תְפִלָּה אֵינֶנִּי שֹׁמֵעַ יְדֵיכֶם דָּמִים מָלֵאוּ׃ 1.16. רַחֲצוּ הִזַּכּוּ הָסִירוּ רֹעַ מַעַלְלֵיכֶם מִנֶּגֶד עֵינָי חִדְלוּ הָרֵעַ׃ 1.17. לִמְדוּ הֵיטֵב דִּרְשׁוּ מִשְׁפָּט אַשְּׁרוּ חָמוֹץ שִׁפְטוּ יָתוֹם רִיבוּ אַלְמָנָה׃ 1.18. לְכוּ־נָא וְנִוָּכְחָה יֹאמַר יְהוָה אִם־יִהְיוּ חֲטָאֵיכֶם כַּשָּׁנִים כַּשֶּׁלֶג יַלְבִּינוּ אִם־יַאְדִּימוּ כַתּוֹלָע כַּצֶּמֶר יִהְיוּ׃ 4.3. וְהָיָה הַנִּשְׁאָר בְּצִיּוֹן וְהַנּוֹתָר בִּירוּשָׁלִַם קָדוֹשׁ יֵאָמֶר לוֹ כָּל־הַכָּתוּב לַחַיִּים בִּירוּשָׁלִָם׃ 4.4. אִם רָחַץ אֲדֹנָי אֵת צֹאַת בְּנוֹת־צִיּוֹן וְאֶת־דְּמֵי יְרוּשָׁלִַם יָדִיחַ מִקִּרְבָּהּ בְּרוּחַ מִשְׁפָּט וּבְרוּחַ בָּעֵר׃ | 1.15. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; Your hands are full of blood." 1.16. Wash you, make you clean, Put away the evil of your doings From before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil;" 1.17. Learn to do well; Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." 1.18. Come now, and let us reason together, Saith the LORD; Though your sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, They shall be as wool." 4.3. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written unto life in Jerusalem;" 4.4. when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of destruction." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel, 36.25-36.27 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 36.25. וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם מִכֹּל טֻמְאוֹתֵיכֶם וּמִכָּל־גִּלּוּלֵיכֶם אֲטַהֵר אֶתְכֶם׃ 36.26. וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת־לֵב הָאֶבֶן מִבְּשַׂרְכֶם וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב בָּשָׂר׃ 36.27. וְאֶת־רוּחִי אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וְעָשִׂיתִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר־בְּחֻקַּי תֵּלֵכוּ וּמִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם׃ | 36.25. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." 36.26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." 36.27. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordices, and do them." |
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5. New Testament, 1 John, 1.8-1.9, 3.9, 5.16-5.18 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1.9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 3.9. Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. 5.16. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don't say that he should make a request concerning this. 5.17. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 5.18. We know that whoever is born of God doesn't sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn't touch him. |
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6. New Testament, 2 Corinthians, 7.9 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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7. New Testament, Acts, 2.1-2.13, 8.22 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 2.1. Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2.2. Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 2.3. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and it sat on each one of them. 2.4. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. 2.5. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 2.6. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 2.7. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Behold, aren't all these who speak Galileans? 2.8. How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? 2.9. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia 2.10. Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes 2.11. Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God! 2.12. They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, "What does this mean? 2.13. Others, mocking, said, "They are filled with new wine. 8.22. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. |
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8. New Testament, Apocalypse, 2.5, 2.16, 2.22, 3.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.5. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent. 2.16. Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 2.22. Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. 3.3. Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If therefore you won't watch, I will come as a thief, and you won't know what hour I will come upon you. |
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9. New Testament, James, 4.8, 5.14-5.16 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 4.8. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 5.14. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord 5.15. and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 5.16. Confess your offenses to one another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effective, earnest prayer of a righteous man is powerfully effective. |
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10. New Testament, Hebrews, 6.4-6.8 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 6.4. For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit 6.5. and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come 6.6. and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. 6.7. For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it, and brings forth a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God; 6.8. but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned. |
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11. New Testament, Romans, 2.4 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.4. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? |
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12. New Testament, John, 19.30, 20.22-20.23 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 19.30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished." He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. 20.22. When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit! 20.23. Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever's sins you retain, they have been retained. |
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13. New Testament, Mark, 6.7-6.13 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 6.7. He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 6.8. He charged them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse 6.9. but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics. 6.10. He said to them, "Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there. 6.11. Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city! 6.12. They went out and preached that people should repent. 6.13. They cast out many demons, and anointed many with oil who were sick, and healed them. |
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14. New Testament, Matthew, 16.19, 18.18, 20.23, 28.19-28.20 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 16.19. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 18.18. Most assuredly I tell you, whatever things you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever things you will loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 20.23. He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father. 28.19. Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 28.20. teaching them to observe all things which I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. |
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15. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 59 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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16. Clement of Alexandria, Christ The Educator, 1.6.26-1.6.30 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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17. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 4.20 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
| 4.20. 20.For holy men were of opinion that purity consisted in a thing not being mingled with its contrary, and that mixture is defilement. Hence, they thought that nutriment should be assumed from fruits, and not from dead bodies, and that we should not, by introducing that which is animated to our nature, defile what is administered by nature. But they conceived, that the slaughter of animals, as they are sensitive, and the depriving them of their souls, is a defilement to the living; and that the pollution is much greater, to mingle a body which was once sensitive, but is now deprived of sense, with a sensitive and living being. Hence, universally, the purity pertaining to piety consists in rejecting and abstaining from many things, and in an abandonment of such as are of a contrary nature, and the assumption of such as are appropriate and concordant. On this account, venereal connexions are attended with defilement. For in these, a conjunction takes place of the female with the male; and the seed, when retained by the woman, and causing her to be pregt, defiles the soul, through its association with the body; but when it does not produce conception, it pollutes, in consequence of becoming a lifeless mass. The connexion also of males with males defiles, because it is an emission of seed as it were into a dead body, and because it is contrary to nature. And, in short, all venery, and emissions of the seed in sleep, pollute, because the soul becomes mingled with the body, and is drawn down to pleasure. The passions of the soul likewise defile, through the complication of the irrational and effeminate part with reason, the internal masculine part. For, in a certain respect, defilement and pollution manifest the mixture of things of an heterogeneous nature, and especially when the abstersion of this mixture is attended with difficulty. Whence, also, in tinctures which are produced through mixture, one species being complicated with another, this mixture is denominated a defilement. As when some woman with a lively red Stains the pure iv'ry --- says Homer 22. And again painters call the mixtures of colours, |134 corruptions. It is usual, likewise to denominate that which is unmingled and pure, incorruptible, and to call that which is genuine, unpolluted. For water, when mingled with earth, is corrupted, and is not genuine. But water, which is diffluent, and runs with tumultuous rapidity, leaves behind in its course the earth which it carries in its stream. When from a limpid and perennial fount It defluous runs --- as Hesiod says 23. For such water is salubrious, because it is uncorrupted and unmixed. The female, likewise, that does not receive into herself the exhalation of seed, is said to be uncorrupted. So that the mixture of contraries is corruption and defilement. For the mixture of dead with living bodies, and the insertion of beings that were once living and sentient into animals, and of dead into living flesh, may be reasonably supposed to introduce defilement and stains to our nature; just, again, as the soul is polluted when it is invested with the body. Hence, he who is born, is polluted by the mixture of his soul with body; and he who dies, defiles his body, through leaving it a corpse, different and foreign from that which possesses life. The soul, likewise, is polluted by anger and desire, and the multitude of passions of which in a certain respect diet is a co-operating cause. But as water which flows through a rock is more uncorrupted than that which runs through marshes, because it does not bring with it much mud; thus, also, the soul which administers its own affairs in a body that is dry, and is not moistened by the juices of foreign flesh, is in a more excellent condition, is more uncorrupted, and is more prompt for intellectual energy. Thus too, it is said, that the thyme which is the driest and the sharpest to the taste, affords the best honey to bees. The dianoetic, therefore, or discursive power of the soul, is polluted; or rather, he who energizes dianoetically, when this energy is mingled with the energies of either the imaginative or doxastic power. But purification consists in a separation from all these, and the wisdom which is adapted to divine concerns, is a desertion of every thing of this kind. The proper nutriment likewise, of each thing, is that which essentially preserves it. Thus you may say, that the nutriment of a stone is the cause of its continuing to be a stone, and of firmly remaining in a lapideous form; but the nutriment of a plant is that which preserves it in increase and fructification; and of an animated body, that which preserves its composition. It is one thing, however, |135 to nourish, and another to fatten; and one thing to impart what is necessary, and another to procure what is luxurious. Various, therefore, are the kinds of nutriment, and various also is the nature of the things that are nourished. And it is necessary, indeed, that all things should be nourished, but we should earnestly endeavour to fatten our most principal parts. Hence, the nutriment of the rational soul is that which preserves it in a rational state. But this is intellect; so that it is to be nourished by intellect; and we should earnestly endeavour that it may be fattened through this, rather than that the flesh may become pinguid through esculent substances. For intellect preserves for us eternal life, but the body when fattened causes the soul to be famished, through its hunger after a blessed life not being satisfied, increases our mortal part, since it is of itself insane, and impedes our attainment of an immortal condition of being. It likewise defiles by corporifying the soul, and drawing her down to that which is foreign to her nature. And the magnet, indeed, imparts, as it were, a soul to the iron which is placed near it; and the iron, though most heavy, is elevated, and runs to the spirit of the stone. Should he, therefore, who is suspended from incorporeal and intellectual deity, be anxiously busied in procuring food which fattens the body, that is an impediment to intellectual perception? Ought he not rather, by contracting hat is necessary to the flesh into that which is little and easily procured, he himself nourished, by adhering to God more closely than the iron to the magnet? I wish, indeed, that our nature was not so corruptible, and that it were possible we could live free from molestation, even without the nutriment derived from fruits. O that, as Homer 24 says, we were not in want either of meat or drink, that we might be truly immortal! --- the poet in thus speaking beautifully signifying, that food is the auxiliary not only of life, but also of death. If therefore, we were not in want even of vegetable aliment, we should be by so much the more blessed, in proportion as we should be more immortal. But now, being in a mortal condition, we render ourselves, if it be proper so to speak, still more mortal, through becoming ignorant that, by the addition of this mortality, the soul, as Theophrastus says, does not only confer a great benefit on the body by being its inhabitant, but gives herself wholly to it. 25 Hence, it is much |136 to be wished that we could easily obtain the life celebrated in fables, in which hunger and thirst are unknown; so that, by stopping the everyway-flowing river of the body, we might in a very little time be present with the most excellent natures, to which he who accedes, since deity is there, is himself a God. But how is it possible not to lament the condition of the generality of mankind, who are so involved in darkness as to cherish their own evil, and who, in the first place, hate themselves, and him who truly begot them, and afterwards, those who admonish them, and call on them to return from ebriety to a sober condition of being? Hence, dismissing things of this kind, will it not be requisite to pass on to what remains to be discussed? SPAN |
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