1. Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy, 7.9, 9.27, 18.19, 30.15, 32.46-32.47 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 7.9. וְיָדַעְתָּ כִּי־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים הָאֵל הַנֶּאֱמָן שֹׁמֵר הַבְּרִית וְהַחֶסֶד לְאֹהֲבָיו וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מצותו [מִצְוֺתָיו] לְאֶלֶף דּוֹר׃ 9.27. זְכֹר לַעֲבָדֶיךָ לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב אַל־תֵּפֶן אֶל־קְשִׁי הָעָם הַזֶּה וְאֶל־רִשְׁעוֹ וְאֶל־חַטָּאתוֹ׃ 18.19. וְהָיָה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִשְׁמַע אֶל־דְּבָרַי אֲשֶׁר יְדַבֵּר בִּשְׁמִי אָנֹכִי אֶדְרֹשׁ מֵעִמּוֹ׃ 30.15. רְאֵה נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַיּוֹם אֶת־הַחַיִּים וְאֶת־הַטּוֹב וְאֶת־הַמָּוֶת וְאֶת־הָרָע׃ 32.46. וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶם לְכָל־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מֵעִיד בָּכֶם הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר תְּצַוֻּם אֶת־בְּנֵיכֶם לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת׃ 32.47. כִּי לֹא־דָבָר רֵק הוּא מִכֶּם כִּי־הוּא חַיֵּיכֶם וּבַדָּבָר הַזֶּה תַּאֲרִיכוּ יָמִים עַל־הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ׃ | 7.9. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God; the faithful God, who keepeth covet and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;" 9.27. Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin;" 18.19. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him." 30.15. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil," 32.46. he said unto them: ‘Set your heart unto all the words wherewith I testify against you this day; that ye may charge your children therewith to observe to do all the words of this law." 32.47. For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it.’" |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Exodus, 2.24, 4.1, 4.8-4.9, 4.31, 7.8-7.12, 14.31, 19.9, 32.13, 33.18, 34.5-34.7 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 2.24. וַיִּשְׁמַע אֱלֹהִים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָם וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּרִיתוֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָם אֶת־יִצְחָק וְאֶת־יַעֲקֹב׃ 4.1. וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־יְהוָה בִּי אֲדֹנָי לֹא אִישׁ דְּבָרִים אָנֹכִי גַּם מִתְּמוֹל גַּם מִשִּׁלְשֹׁם גַּם מֵאָז דַּבֶּרְךָ אֶל־עַבְדֶּךָ כִּי כְבַד־פֶּה וּכְבַד לָשׁוֹן אָנֹכִי׃ 4.1. וַיַּעַן מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר וְהֵן לֹא־יַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ בְּקֹלִי כִּי יֹאמְרוּ לֹא־נִרְאָה אֵלֶיךָ יְהוָה׃ 4.8. וְהָיָה אִם־לֹא יַאֲמִינוּ לָךְ וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ לְקֹל הָאֹת הָרִאשׁוֹן וְהֶאֱמִינוּ לְקֹל הָאֹת הָאַחֲרוֹן׃ 4.9. וְהָיָה אִם־לֹא יַאֲמִינוּ גַּם לִשְׁנֵי הָאֹתוֹת הָאֵלֶּה וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּן לְקֹלֶךָ וְלָקַחְתָּ מִמֵּימֵי הַיְאֹר וְשָׁפַכְתָּ הַיַּבָּשָׁה וְהָיוּ הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר תִּקַּח מִן־הַיְאֹר וְהָיוּ לְדָם בַּיַּבָּשֶׁת׃ 4.31. וַיַּאֲמֵן הָעָם וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ כִּי־פָקַד יְהוָה אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכִי רָאָה אֶת־עָנְיָם וַיִּקְּדוּ וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ׃ 7.8. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל־אַהֲרֹן לֵאמֹר׃ 7.9. כִּי יְדַבֵּר אֲלֵכֶם פַּרְעֹה לֵאמֹר תְּנוּ לָכֶם מוֹפֵת וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל־אַהֲרֹן קַח אֶת־מַטְּךָ וְהַשְׁלֵךְ לִפְנֵי־פַרְעֹה יְהִי לְתַנִּין׃ 7.11. וַיִּקְרָא גַּם־פַּרְעֹה לַחֲכָמִים וְלַמְכַשְּׁפִים וַיַּעֲשׂוּ גַם־הֵם חַרְטֻמֵּי מִצְרַיִם בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם כֵּן׃ 7.12. וַיַּשְׁלִיכוּ אִישׁ מַטֵּהוּ וַיִּהְיוּ לְתַנִּינִם וַיִּבְלַע מַטֵּה־אַהֲרֹן אֶת־מַטֹּתָם׃ 14.31. וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת־יְהוָה וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּיהוָה וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ׃ 19.9. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי בָּא אֵלֶיךָ בְּעַב הֶעָנָן בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמַע הָעָם בְּדַבְּרִי עִמָּךְ וְגַם־בְּךָ יַאֲמִינוּ לְעוֹלָם וַיַּגֵּד מֹשֶׁה אֶת־דִּבְרֵי הָעָם אֶל־יְהוָה׃ 32.13. זְכֹר לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לָהֶם בָּךְ וַתְּדַבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם אַרְבֶּה אֶת־זַרְעֲכֶם כְּכוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם וְכָל־הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתִּי אֶתֵּן לְזַרְעֲכֶם וְנָחֲלוּ לְעֹלָם׃ 33.18. וַיֹּאמַר הַרְאֵנִי נָא אֶת־כְּבֹדֶךָ׃ 34.5. וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה בֶּעָנָן וַיִּתְיַצֵּב עִמּוֹ שָׁם וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה׃ 34.6. וַיַּעֲבֹר יְהוָה עַל־פָּנָיו וַיִּקְרָא יְהוָה יְהוָה אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת 34.7. נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים נֹשֵׂא עָוֺן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה פֹּקֵד עֲוֺן אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים וְעַל־בְּנֵי בָנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים׃ | 2.24. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covet with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." 4.1. And Moses answered and said: ‘But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say: The lord hath not appeared unto thee.’" 4.8. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign." 4.9. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.’" 4.31. And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had remembered the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." 7.8. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:" 7.9. ’When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.’" 7.10. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent." 7.11. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their secret arts." 7.12. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods." 14.31. And Israel saw the great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the LORD; and they believed in the LORD, and in His servant Moses." 19.9. And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee for ever.’ And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD." 32.13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou didst swear by Thine own self, and saidst unto them: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.’" 33.18. And he said: ‘Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory.’" 34.5. And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD." 34.6. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed: ‘The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth;" 34.7. keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.’" |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 2.10-2.14, 3.5, 18.22 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 2.11. שֵׁם הָאֶחָד פִּישׁוֹן הוּא הַסֹּבֵב אֵת כָּל־אֶרֶץ הַחֲוִילָה אֲשֶׁר־שָׁם הַזָּהָב׃ 2.12. וּזֲהַב הָאָרֶץ הַהִוא טוֹב שָׁם הַבְּדֹלַח וְאֶבֶן הַשֹּׁהַם׃ 2.13. וְשֵׁם־הַנָּהָר הַשֵּׁנִי גִּיחוֹן הוּא הַסּוֹבֵב אֵת כָּל־אֶרֶץ כּוּשׁ׃ 2.14. וְשֵׁם הַנָּהָר הַשְּׁלִישִׁי חִדֶּקֶל הוּא הַהֹלֵךְ קִדְמַת אַשּׁוּר וְהַנָּהָר הָרְבִיעִי הוּא פְרָת׃ 3.5. כִּי יֹדֵעַ אֱלֹהִים כִּי בְּיוֹם אֲכָלְכֶם מִמֶּנּוּ וְנִפְקְחוּ עֵינֵיכֶם וִהְיִיתֶם כֵּאלֹהִים יֹדְעֵי טוֹב וָרָע׃ 18.22. וַיִּפְנוּ מִשָּׁם הָאֲנָשִׁים וַיֵּלְכוּ סְדֹמָה וְאַבְרָהָם עוֹדֶנּוּ עֹמֵד לִפְנֵי יְהוָה׃ | 2.10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads." 2.11. The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;" 2.12. and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone." 2.13. And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush." 2.14. And the name of the third river is Tigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates." 3.5. for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.’" 18.22. And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Micah, 7.20 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 7.20. Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, As Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old." |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Numbers, 21.6-21.9 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 21.6. וַיְשַׁלַּח יְהוָה בָּעָם אֵת הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים וַיְנַשְּׁכוּ אֶת־הָעָם וַיָּמָת עַם־רָב מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל׃ 21.7. וַיָּבֹא הָעָם אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמְרוּ חָטָאנוּ כִּי־דִבַּרְנוּ בַיהוָה וָבָךְ הִתְפַּלֵּל אֶל־יְהוָה וְיָסֵר מֵעָלֵינוּ אֶת־הַנָּחָשׁ וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל מֹשֶׁה בְּעַד הָעָם׃ 21.8. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף וְשִׂים אֹתוֹ עַל־נֵס וְהָיָה כָּל־הַנָּשׁוּךְ וְרָאָה אֹתוֹ וָחָי׃ 21.9. וַיַּעַשׂ מֹשֶׁה נְחַשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת וַיְשִׂמֵהוּ עַל־הַנֵּס וְהָיָה אִם־נָשַׁךְ הַנָּחָשׁ אֶת־אִישׁ וְהִבִּיט אֶל־נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת וָחָי׃ | 21.6. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." 21.7. And the people came to Moses, and said: ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people." 21.8. And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.’" 21.9. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived." |
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6. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 29.1-29.2, 105.42 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 29.1. מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד הָבוּ לַיהוָה בְּנֵי אֵלִים הָבוּ לַיהוָה כָּבוֹד וָעֹז׃ 29.1. יְהוָה לַמַּבּוּל יָשָׁב וַיֵּשֶׁב יְהוָה מֶלֶךְ לְעוֹלָם׃ 29.2. הָבוּ לַיהוָה כְּבוֹד שְׁמוֹ הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַיהוָה בְּהַדְרַת־קֹדֶשׁ׃ 105.42. כִּי־זָכַר אֶת־דְּבַר קָדְשׁוֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָם עַבְדּוֹ׃ | 29.1. A Psalm of David. Ascribe unto the LORD, O ye sons of might, Ascribe unto the LORD glory and strength." 29.2. Ascribe unto the LORD the glory due unto His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness." 105.42. For He remembered His holy word Unto Abraham His servant;" |
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7. Hebrew Bible, 1 Samuel, 28 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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8. Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel, 16.25, 23.20 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 16.25. אֶל־כָּל־רֹאשׁ דֶּרֶךְ בָּנִית רָמָתֵךְ וַתְּתַעֲבִי אֶת־יָפְיֵךְ וַתְּפַשְּׂקִי אֶת־רַגְלַיִךְ לְכָל־עוֹבֵר וַתַּרְבִּי אֶת־תזנתך [תַּזְנוּתָיִךְ׃] | 16.25. Thou hast built thy lofty place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty an abomination, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy harlotries." 23.20. And she doted upon concubinage with them, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses." |
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9. Hebrew Bible, 1 Chronicles, 29.11-29.13 (5th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 29.11. לְךָ יְהוָה הַגְּדֻלָּה וְהַגְּבוּרָה וְהַתִּפְאֶרֶת וְהַנֵּצַח וְהַהוֹד כִּי־כֹל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ לְךָ יְהוָה הַמַּמְלָכָה וְהַמִּתְנַשֵּׂא לְכֹל לְרֹאשׁ׃ 29.12. וְהָעֹשֶׁר וְהַכָּבוֹד מִלְּפָנֶיךָ וְאַתָּה מוֹשֵׁל בַּכֹּל וּבְיָדְךָ כֹּחַ וּגְבוּרָה וּבְיָדְךָ לְגַדֵּל וּלְחַזֵּק לַכֹּל׃ 29.13. וְעַתָּה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ וּמְהַלְלִים לְשֵׁם תִּפְאַרְתֶּךָ׃ | 29.11. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as head above all." 29.12. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou rulest over all; and in Thy hand is power and might; and in Thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." 29.13. Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name." |
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10. Dead Sea Scrolls, Damascus Covenant, 4.13-4.18 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
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11. Dead Sea Scrolls, (Cairo Damascus Covenant) Cd-A, 4.13-4.18 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
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12. Dead Sea Scrolls, Community Rule, None (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
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13. Septuagint, Wisdom of Solomon, 2.24, 9.15 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 2.24. but through the devils envy death entered the world,and those who belong to his party experience it. 9.15. for a perishable body weighs down the soul,and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind. |
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14. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 1.54 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
| 1.54. And there are some of the Gentiles, who, not attending to the honour due to the one God alone, deserve to be punished with extreme severity of punishment, as having forsaken the most important classification of piety and holiness, and as having chosen darkness in preference to the most brilliant light, and having rendered their own intellect blind when it might have seen clearly. |
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15. Anon., Didache, 8.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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16. Anon., The Life of Adam And Eve, 9 (1st cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
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17. Epictetus, Discourses, 1.18.4, 2.20.37, 2.24.19, 4.6.18 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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18. New Testament, 1 John, 1.2-1.3, 2.1, 2.13-2.16, 2.18-2.19, 3.1-3.2, 3.7-3.10, 3.12, 3.23-3.24, 4.1-4.8, 5.1-5.4, 5.18-5.20 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.2. (and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us); 1.3. that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 2.1. My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. 2.13. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father. 2.14. I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 2.15. Don't love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love isn't in him. 2.16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn't the Father's, but is the world's. 2.18. Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the end times. 2.19. They went out from us, but they didn't belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us. 3.1. Behold, how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn't know us, because it didn't know him. 3.2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is. 3.7. Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 3.8. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 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. 3.10. In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother. 3.12. unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 3.23. This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. 3.24. He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us. 4.1. Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 4.2. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God 4.3. and every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4.4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 4.5. They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 4.6. We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn't listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 4.7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. 4.8. He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love. 5.1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the father also loves the child who is born of him. 5.2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. 5.3. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. 5.4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. 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. 5.19. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 5.20. We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. |
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19. New Testament, 1 Corinthians, 3.8, 5.1-5.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 3.8. Now he who plantsand he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own rewardaccording to his own labor. 5.1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality amongyou, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among theGentiles, that one has his father's wife. 5.2. You are puffed up, anddidn't rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removedfrom among you. 5.3. For I most assuredly, as being absent in body butpresent in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged himwho has done this thing. 5.4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our LordJesus Christ 5.5. are to deliver such a one to Satan for thedestruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day ofthe Lord Jesus. |
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20. New Testament, 1 Thessalonians, 2.14 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.14. For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews; |
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21. New Testament, 1 Timothy, 4.1-4.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 4.1. But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons 4.2. through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; 4.3. forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. |
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22. New Testament, 2 Peter, 2.1-2.2, 2.4-2.5, 2.9-2.10, 2.12-2.13, 2.17-2.22 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.1. But there also arose false prophets among the people, as among you also there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2.2. Many will follow their destructive ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. 2.4. For if God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved to judgment; 2.5. and didn't spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 2.9. the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment; 2.10. but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries; 2.13. receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you; 2.17. These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. 2.18. For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error; 2.19. promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for by whom a man is overcome, by the same is he also brought into bondage. 2.20. For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state has become worse with them than the first. 2.21. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 2.22. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns to his own vomit again," and "the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire. |
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23. New Testament, 2 Corinthians, 6.15, 11.14-11.15 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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24. New Testament, 2 Thessalonians, 3.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 3.3. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one. |
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25. New Testament, 2 Timothy, 3.8-3.9 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 3.8. Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith. 3.9. But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be. |
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26. New Testament, Acts, 3.22, 7.37, 12.15, 13.39, 26.22-26.25, 28.23 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 3.22. For Moses indeed said to the fathers, 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet to you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. 7.37. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel , 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet to you from among your brothers, like me.' 12.15. They said to her, "You are crazy!" But she insisted that it was so. They said, "It is his angel. 13.39. and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 26.22. Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come 26.23. how the Christ must suffer, and how he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles. 26.24. As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane! 26.25. But he said, "I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness. 28.23. When they had appointed him a day, they came to him into his lodging in great number. He explained to them, testifying about the Kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening. |
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27. New Testament, Apocalypse, 2.9, 3.9, 9.20, 12.9, 15.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.9. I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 3.9. Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 9.20. The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn't repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn't worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. 12.9. The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 15.3. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. |
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28. New Testament, Ephesians, 6.16 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 6.16. above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. |
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29. New Testament, Galatians, 5.19-5.21 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 5.19. Now the works of the fleshare obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness,lustfulness 5.20. idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies,outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies 5.21. envyings,murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which Iforewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practicesuch things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. |
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30. New Testament, Hebrews, 2.14, 3.1-3.5, 3.11-3.12, 3.16-3.18, 4.14, 5.10, 6.20, 7.24-7.25, 7.27, 8.1, 9.14-9.15, 9.24, 9.26, 9.28, 10.21, 11.8-11.12, 12.24, 13.12 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.14. Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil 3.1. Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus; 3.2. who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house. 3.3. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house. 3.4. For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God. 3.5. Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken 3.11. As I swore in my wrath, 'They will not enter into my rest.' 3.12. Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 3.16. For who, when they heard, rebelled? No, didn't all those who came out of Egypt by Moses? 3.17. With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn't it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 3.18. To whom did he swear that they wouldn't enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 4.14. Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession. 5.10. named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 6.20. where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 7.24. But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. 7.25. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. 7.27. who doesn't need, like those high priests, to daily offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For this he did once for all, when he offered up himself. 8.1. Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens 9.14. how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 9.15. For this reason he is the mediator of a new covet, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covet, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 9.24. For Christ hasn't entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 9.26. or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 9.28. so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation. 10.21. and having a great priest over the house of God 11.8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. 11.9. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 11.10. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11.11. By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. 11.12. Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead. 12.24. to Jesus, the mediator of a new covet, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. 13.12. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate. |
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31. New Testament, Romans, 3.7, 8.3, 9.15, 10.5-10.13, 11.1-11.36 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 3.7. For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8.3. For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; 9.15. For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. 10.5. For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them. 10.6. But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down); 10.7. or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) 10.8. But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;" that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 10.9. that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10.10. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 10.11. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. 10.12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. 10.13. For, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. 11.1. I ask then, Did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 11.2. God didn't reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don't you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: 11.3. Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 11.4. But how does God answer him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. 11.5. Even so then at this present time also there is a remt according to the election of grace. 11.6. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 11.7. What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn't obtain, but the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 11.8. According as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day. 11.9. David says, "Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, A stumbling block, and a retribution to them. 11.10. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always. 11.11. I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 11.12. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? 11.13. For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; 11.14. if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. 11.15. For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? 11.16. If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. 11.17. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; 11.18. don't boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 11.19. You will say then, "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 11.20. True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited, but fear; 11.21. for if God didn't spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 11.22. See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 11.23. They also, if they don't continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11.24. For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 11.25. For I don't desire, brothers, to have you ignorant of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in 11.26. and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, "There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, And he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 11.27. This is my covet to them, When I will take away their sins. 11.28. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake. 11.29. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 11.30. For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience 11.31. even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy. 11.32. For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. 11.33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! 11.34. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? 11.35. Or who has first given to him, And it will be repaid to him again? 11.36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. |
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32. New Testament, John, 1.1-1.18, 1.45-1.47, 1.49, 2.23-2.25, 3.1-3.21, 4.1-4.42, 5.8-5.19, 5.31-5.40, 5.45-5.47, 6.32, 6.38, 6.46, 6.66, 6.69, 7.1, 7.13, 7.19-7.20, 7.22-7.23, 7.40, 7.42, 7.52, 8.12-8.43, 8.45-8.59, 9.1-9.41, 10.7, 10.9, 10.20, 10.30-10.34, 11.8, 11.47, 11.53-11.54, 12.10, 12.27-12.31, 12.35-12.42, 12.47-12.48, 12.50, 13.2, 13.27, 14.6, 14.13-14.14, 14.16, 14.26, 14.30, 15.16, 15.19, 15.25-15.26, 16.2, 16.11, 16.23-16.26, 16.28, 17.1-17.5, 17.10, 17.14-17.19, 17.22-17.24, 18.31, 18.36-18.38, 19.7, 19.12, 19.14, 19.38, 20.19 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1.2. The same was in the beginning with God. 1.3. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. 1.4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 1.5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it. 1.6. There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 1.7. The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. 1.8. He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. 1.9. The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world. 1.10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him. 1.11. He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him. 1.12. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name: 1.13. who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 1.14. The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 1.15. John testified about him. He cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.' 1.16. From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 1.17. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 1.18. No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. 1.45. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 1.46. Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"Philip said to him, "Come and see. 1.47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit! 1.49. Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel! 2.23. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did. 2.24. But Jesus didn't trust himself to them, because he knew everyone 2.25. and because he didn't need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man. 3.1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 3.2. The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him. 3.3. Jesus answered him, "Most assuredly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God. 3.4. Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 3.5. Jesus answered, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God! 3.6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 3.7. Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' 3.8. The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. 3.9. Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be? 3.10. Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don't understand these things? 3.11. Most assuredly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don't receive our witness. 3.12. If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 3.13. No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 3.14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up 3.15. that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 3.16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 3.17. For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 3.18. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God. 3.19. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 3.20. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 3.21. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God. 4.1. Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 4.2. (although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples) 4.3. he left Judea, and departed into Galilee. 4.4. He needed to pass through Samaria. 4.5. So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. 4.6. Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 4.7. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink. 4.8. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 4.9. The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 4.10. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 4.11. The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water? 4.12. Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his sons, and his cattle? 4.13. Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again 4.14. but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. 4.15. The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw. 4.16. Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here. 4.17. The woman answered, "I have no husband."Jesus said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband,' 4.18. for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly. 4.19. The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 4.20. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. 4.21. Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. 4.22. You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 4.23. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. 4.24. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 4.25. The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who is called Christ). "When he has come, he will declare to us all things. 4.26. Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you. 4.27. At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her? 4.28. So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people 4.29. Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ? 4.30. They went out of the city, and were coming to him. 4.31. In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat. 4.32. But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about. 4.33. The disciples therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat? 4.34. Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. 4.35. Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. 4.36. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 4.37. For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' 4.38. I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. 4.39. From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, 'He told me everything that I did. 4.40. So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. 4.41. Many more believed because of his word. 4.42. They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. 5.8. Jesus said to him, "Arise, take up your mat, and walk. 5.9. Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 5.10. So the Jews said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat. 5.11. He answered them, "He who made me well, the same said to me, 'Take up your mat, and walk.' 5.12. Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'? 5.13. But he who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place. 5.14. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you. 5.15. The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 5.16. For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. 5.17. But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, so I am working, too. 5.18. For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 5.19. Jesus therefore answered them, "Most assuredly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. 5.31. If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. 5.32. It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true. 5.33. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. 5.34. But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved. 5.35. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 5.36. But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me. 5.37. The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. 5.38. You don't have his word living in you; because you don't believe him whom he sent. 5.39. You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. 5.40. Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. 5.45. Don't think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 5.46. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. 5.47. But if you don't believe his writings, how will you believe my words? 6.32. Jesus therefore said to them, "Most assuredly, I tell you, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. 6.38. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 6.46. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. 6.66. At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 6.69. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 7.1. After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn't walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 7.13. Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. 7.19. Didn't Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me? 7.20. The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you? 7.22. Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 7.23. If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man every bit whole on the Sabbath? 7.40. Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the prophet. 7.42. Hasn't the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? 7.52. They answered him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. 8.12. Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. 8.13. The Pharisees therefore said to him, "You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid. 8.14. Jesus answered them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don't know where I came from, or where I am going. 8.15. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. 8.16. Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. 8.17. It's also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid. 8.18. I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me. 8.19. They said therefore to him, "Where is your Father?"Jesus answered, "You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also. 8.20. Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 8.21. Jesus said therefore again to them, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can't come. 8.22. The Jews therefore said, "Will he kill himself, that he says, 'Where I am going, you can't come?' 8.23. He said to them, "You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. 8.24. I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. 8.25. They said therefore to him, "Who are you?"Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 8.26. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world. 8.27. They didn't understand that he spoke to them about the Father. 8.28. Jesus therefore said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. 8.29. He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn't left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. 8.30. As he spoke these things, many believed in him. 8.31. Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. 8.32. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 8.33. They answered him, "We are Abraham's seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, 'You will be made free?' 8.34. Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. 8.35. A bondservant doesn't live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 8.36. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 8.37. I know that you are Abraham's seed, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you. 8.38. I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father. 8.39. They answered him, "Our father is Abraham."Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. 8.40. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn't do this. 8.41. You do the works of your father."They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God. 8.42. Therefore Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven't come of myself, but he sent me. 8.43. Why don't you understand my speech? Because you can't hear my word. 8.45. But because I tell the truth, you don't believe me. 8.46. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 8.47. He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don't hear, because you are not of God. 8.48. Then the Jews answered him, "Don't we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon? 8.49. Jesus answered, "I don't have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 8.50. But I don't seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. 8.51. Most assuredly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death. 8.52. Then the Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, 'If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.' 8.53. Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be? 8.54. Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God. 8.55. You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, 'I don't know him,' I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word. 8.56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad. 8.57. The Jews therefore said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? 8.58. Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM. 8.59. Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through the midst of them, and so passed by. 9.1. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 9.2. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? 9.3. Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him. 9.4. I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 9.5. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 9.6. When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man's eyes with the mud 9.7. and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. 9.8. The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, "Isn't this he who sat and begged? 9.9. Others were saying, "It is he." Still others were saying, "He looks like him."He said, "I am he. 9.10. They therefore were asking him, "How were your eyes opened? 9.11. He answered, "A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, "Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash." So I went away and washed, and I received sight. 9.12. Then they asked him, "Where is he?"He said, "I don't know. 9.13. They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 9.14. It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 9.15. Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see. 9.16. Some therefore of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was division among them. 9.17. Therefore they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?"He said, "He is a prophet. 9.18. The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight 9.19. and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? 9.20. His parents answered them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 9.21. but how he now sees, we don't know; or who opened his eyes, we don't know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself. 9.22. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 9.23. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him. 9.24. So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. 9.25. He therefore answered, "I don't know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see. 9.26. They said to him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? 9.27. He answered them, "I told you already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don't also want to become his disciples, do you? 9.28. They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 9.29. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from. 9.30. The man answered them, "How amazing! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 9.31. We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. 9.32. Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 9.33. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 9.34. They answered him, "You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" They threw him out. 9.35. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of God? 9.36. He answered, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? 9.37. Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you. 9.38. He said, "Lord, I believe!" and he worshiped him. 9.39. Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind. 9.40. Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind? 9.41. Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains. 10.7. Jesus therefore said to them again, "Most assuredly, I tell you, I am the sheep's door. 10.9. I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. 10.20. Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him? 10.30. I and the Father are one. 10.31. Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him. 10.32. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me? 10.33. The Jews answered him, "We don't stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God. 10.34. Jesus answered them, "Isn't it written in your law, 'I said, you are gods?' 11.8. The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again? 11.47. The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, "What are we doing? For this man does many signs. 11.53. So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. 11.54. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples. 12.10. But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also 12.27. Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? 'Father, save me from this time?' But for this cause I came to this time. 12.28. Father, glorify your name!"Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying, "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 12.29. The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him. 12.31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out. 12.35. Jesus therefore said to them, "Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn't overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn't know where he is going. 12.36. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them. 12.37. But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they didn't believe in him 12.38. that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, "Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 12.39. For this cause they couldn't believe, for Isaiah said again 12.40. He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, Lest they should see with their eyes, And perceive with their heart, And would turn, And I would heal them. 12.41. Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory, and spoke of him. 12.42. Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they didn't confess it, so that they wouldn't be put out of the synagogue 12.47. If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn't believe, I don't judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 12.48. He who rejects me, and doesn't receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke, the same will judge him in the last day. 12.50. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak. 13.2. After supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him 13.27. After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly. 14.6. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 14.13. Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14.14. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it. 14.16. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever, -- 14.26. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. 14.30. I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. 15.16. You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 15.19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 15.25. But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.' 15.26. When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. 16.2. They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God. 16.11. about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. 16.23. In that day you will ask me no questions. Most assuredly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 16.24. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full. 16.25. I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. 16.26. In that day you will ask in my name; and I don't say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you 16.28. I came out from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 17.1. Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; 17.2. even as you gave him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 17.3. This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 17.4. I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. 17.5. Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed. 17.10. All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 17.14. I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17.15. I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. 17.16. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. 17.17. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. 17.18. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. 17.19. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 17.22. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; 17.23. I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me. 17.24. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. 18.31. Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law."Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death 18.36. Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn't be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. 18.37. Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you a king then?"Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. 18.38. Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 19.7. The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 19.12. At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you release this man, you aren't Caesar's friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar! 19.14. Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold, your King! 19.38. After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus' body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body. 20.19. When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you. |
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33. New Testament, Luke, 1.1-1.4, 1.46-1.55, 1.68-1.79, 3.8, 4.18, 4.43, 9.30-9.33, 9.48, 10.16, 10.19, 11.14-11.23, 13.16, 13.28, 16.19-16.31, 19.9, 20.37, 24.27, 24.44 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.1. Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us 1.2. even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us 1.3. it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; 1.4. that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed. 1.46. Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord. 1.47. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior 1.48. For he has looked at the humble state of his handmaid. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. 1.49. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name. 1.50. His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him. 1.51. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. 1.52. He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly. 1.53. He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty. 1.54. He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy 1.55. As he spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his seed forever. 1.68. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, For he has visited and worked redemption for his people; 1.69. And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 1.70. (As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old) 1.71. Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; 1.72. To show mercy towards our fathers, To remember his holy covet 1.73. The oath which he spoke to Abraham, our father 1.74. To grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear 1.75. In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. 1.76. And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, For you will go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways 1.77. To give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins 1.78. Because of the tender mercy of our God, Whereby the dawn from on high will visit us 1.79. To shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; To guide our feet into the way of peace. 3.8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don't begin to say among yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father;' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! 4.18. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to the captives, Recovering of sight to the blind, To deliver those who are crushed 4.43. But he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent. 9.30. Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah 9.31. who appeared in glory, and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 9.32. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him. 9.33. It happened, as they were parting from him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let's make three tents: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah," not knowing what he said. 9.48. and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great. 10.16. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me. 10.19. Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you. 11.14. He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 11.15. But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons. 11.16. Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 11.17. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls. 11.18. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 11.19. But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges. 11.20. But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you. 11.21. When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe. 11.22. But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. 11.23. He that is not with me is against me. He who doesn't gather with me scatters. 13.16. Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day? 13.28. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrown outside. 16.19. Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 16.20. A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, full of sores 16.21. and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 16.22. It happened that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. 16.23. In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. 16.24. He cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.' 16.25. But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish. 16.26. Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' 16.27. He said, 'I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house; 16.28. for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won't also come into this place of torment.' 16.29. But Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' 16.30. He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 16.31. He said to him, 'If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.' 19.9. Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 20.37. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 24.27. Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 24.44. He said to them, "This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled. |
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34. New Testament, Mark, 1.24, 3.22-3.27, 9.4-9.5, 9.37, 12.26 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.24. saying, "Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God! 3.22. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and, "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons. 3.23. He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? 3.24. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 3.25. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 3.26. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can't stand, but has an end. 3.27. But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house. 9.4. Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus. 9.5. Peter answered Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let's make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 9.37. Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn't receive me, but him who sent me. 12.26. But about the dead, that they are raised; haven't you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' |
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35. New Testament, Matthew, 1.2, 1.17, 3.9, 4.1, 6.11, 6.13, 8.10-8.11, 11.25-11.27, 12.22-12.27, 13.19, 13.25, 13.45, 15.24, 17.3-17.4, 19.16-19.20, 22.32 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.2. Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers. 1.17. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations. 3.9. Don't think to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 4.1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 6.11. Give us today our daily bread. 6.13. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.' 8.10. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, "Most assuredly I tell you, I haven't found so great a faith, not even in Israel. 8.11. I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven 11.25. At that time, Jesus answered, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. 11.26. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. 11.27. All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him. 12.22. Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 12.23. All the multitudes were amazed, and said, "Can this be the son of David? 12.24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons. 12.25. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 12.26. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 12.27. If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 13.19. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. 13.25. but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel also among the wheat, and went away. 13.45. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls 15.24. But he answered, "I wasn't sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 17.3. Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. 17.4. Peter answered, and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let's make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 19.16. Behold, one came to him and said, "Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 19.17. He said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. 19.18. He said to him, "Which ones?"Jesus said, "'You shall not murder.' 'You shall not commit adultery.' 'You shall not steal.' 'You shall not offer false testimony.' 19.19. 'Honor your father and mother.' And, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 19.20. The young man said to him, "All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack? 22.32. 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. |
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36. Plutarch, Oracles At Delphi No Longer Given In Verse, 396 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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37. Seneca The Younger, De Beneficiis, 5.25.5-5.25.6 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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38. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 50.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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39. Anon., Acts of Thomas, 109-113, 108 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 108. And as he prayed, all the prisoners looked on him, and besought him to pray for them: and when he had prayed and was set down, he began to utter a psalm in this wise: [Here follows the Hymn of the Soul: a most remarkable composition, originally Syriac, and certainly older than the Acts, with which it has no real connection. We have it in Greek in one manuscript, the Vallicellian, and in a paraphrase by Nicetas of Thessalonica, found and edited by Bonnet.] When I was an infant child in the palace of my Father and resting in the wealth and luxury of my nurturers, out of the East, our native country, my parents provisioned me and sent me. And of the wealth of those their treasures they put together a load both great and light, that I might carry it alone. Gold is the load, of them that are above (or of the land of the Ellaeans or Gilaeans), and silver of the great treasures (or of Gazzak the great) and stones, chalcedonies from the Indians and pearls from [THE of land] the Kosani (Kushan). And they armed me with adamant [WHICH iron breaketh] and they took off from me (Gr. put on me) the garment set with gems, spangled with gold, which they had made for me because they loved me and the robe that was yellow in hue, made for my stature. And they made a covet with me, and inscribed it on mine understanding, that I should [NOT] forget it, and said: If thou go down into Egypt, and bring back thence the one pearl which is there [IN the of sea midst] girt about by the devouring serpent thou shalt put on [AGAIN] the garment set with gems, and that robe whereupon it resteth (or which is thereon) and become with thy brother that is next unto us (Gr. of the well-remembered) an heir (Gr. herald) in our kingdom. |
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40. Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts From Theodotus, 6.4 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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41. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies, (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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42. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 5.6, 5.16.7-5.16.12, 5.17.1-5.17.2, 5.17.7-5.17.10 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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43. Irenaeus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.3.6, 1.6.1, 1.7.5, 1.8.5, 1.19.1, 1.20.2-1.20.3, 1.22.1, 1.25.4, 1.30.7, 1.30.15, 2.28.9, 2.31.2, 3.2.1, 3.11.1, 3.11.3, 3.11.7, 3.15.2, 3.17.4, 3.20.2, 4.14.1-4.14.2, 4.18.4, 4.29.2, 4.38.4, 4.39.1, 4.41.1-4.41.3, 5.2.2, 5.17.1-5.17.2, 5.21.1-5.21.2, 5.22.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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44. Irenaeus, Demonstration of The Apostolic Teaching, 16 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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45. Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome, Meditations, 4.29 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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46. Nag Hammadi, Apocalypse of Peter, 73.27-73.28, 83.3 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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47. Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Philip, 61.7-61.8 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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48. Plotinus, Enneads, 2.9.9-2.9.10 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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49. Augustine, The City of God, 11.1, 11.10-11.11, 11.13, 11.20, 14.1, 14.3-14.6, 14.10-14.13, 14.15 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
| 11.1. The city of God we speak of is the same to which testimony is borne by that Scripture, which excels all the writings of all nations by its divine authority, and has brought under its influence all kinds of minds, and this not by a casual intellectual movement, but obviously by an express providential arrangement. For there it is written, Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. And in another psalm we read, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness, increasing the joy of the whole earth. And, a little after, in the same psalm, As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. God has established it forever. And in another, There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. From these and similar testimonies, all of which it were tedious to cite, we have learned that there is a city of God, and its Founder has inspired us with a love which makes us covet its citizenship. To this Founder of the holy city the citizens of the earthly city prefer their own gods, not knowing that He is the God of gods, not of false, i.e., of impious and proud gods, who, being deprived of His unchangeable and freely communicated light, and so reduced to a kind of poverty-stricken power, eagerly grasp at their own private privileges, and seek divine honors from their deluded subjects; but of the pious and holy gods, who are better pleased to submit themselves to one, than to subject many to themselves, and who would rather worship God than be worshipped as God. But to the enemies of this city we have replied in the ten preceding books, according to our ability and the help afforded by our Lord and King. Now, recognizing what is expected of me, and not unmindful of my promise, and relying, too, on the same succor, I will endeavor to treat of the origin, and progress, and deserved destinies of the two cities (the earthly and the heavenly, to wit), which, as we said, are in this present world commingled, and as it were entangled together. And, first, I will explain how the foundations of these two cities were originally laid, in the difference that arose among the angels. 11.10. There is, accordingly, a good which is alone simple, and therefore alone unchangeable, and this is God. By this Good have all others been created, but not simple, and therefore not unchangeable. Created, I say - that is, made, not begotten. For that which is begotten of the simple Good is simple as itself, and the same as itself. These two we call the Father and the Son; and both together with the Holy Spirit are one God; and to this Spirit the epithet Holy is in Scripture, as it were, appropriated. And He is another than the Father and the Son, for He is neither the Father nor the Son. I say another, not another thing, because He is equally with them the simple Good, unchangeable and co-eternal. And this Trinity is one God; and none the less simple because a Trinity. For we do not say that the nature of the good is simple, because the Father alone possesses it, or the Son alone, or the Holy Ghost alone; nor do we say, with the Sabellian heretics, that it is only nominally a Trinity, and has no real distinction of persons; but we say it is simple, because it is what it has, with the exception of the relation of the persons to one another. For, in regard to this relation, it is true that the Father has a Son, and yet is not Himself the Son; and the Son has a Father, and is not Himself the Father. But, as regards Himself, irrespective of relation to the other, each is what He has; thus, He is in Himself living, for He has life, and is Himself the Life which He has. It is for this reason, then, that the nature of the Trinity is called simple, because it has not anything which it can lose, and because it is not one thing and its contents another, as a cup and the liquor, or a body and its color, or the air and the light or heat of it, or a mind and its wisdom. For none of these is what it has: the cup is not liquor, nor the body color, nor the air light and heat, nor the mind wisdom. And hence they can be deprived of what they have, and can be turned or changed into other qualities and states, so that the cup may be emptied of the liquid of which it is full, the body be discolored, the air darken, the mind grow silly. The incorruptible body which is promised to the saints in the resurrection cannot, indeed, lose its quality of incorruption, but the bodily substance and the quality of incorruption are not the same thing. For the quality of incorruption resides entire in each several part, not greater in one and less in another; for no part is more incorruptible than another. The body, indeed, is itself greater in whole than in part; and one part of it is larger, another smaller, yet is not the larger more incorruptible than the smaller. The body, then, which is not in each of its parts a whole body, is one thing; incorruptibility, which is throughout complete, is another thing - for every part of the incorruptible body, however unequal to the rest otherwise, is equally incorrupt. For the hand, e.g., is not more incorrupt than the finger because it is larger than the finger; so, though finger and hand are unequal, their incorruptibility is equal. Thus, although incorruptibility is inseparable from an incorruptible body, yet the substance of the body is one thing, the quality of incorruption another. And therefore the body is not what it has. The soul itself, too, though it be always wise (as it will be eternally when it is redeemed), will be so by participating in the unchangeable wisdom, which it is not; for though the air be never robbed of the light that is shed abroad in it, it is not on that account the same thing as the light. I do not mean that the soul is air, as has been supposed by some who could not conceive a spiritual nature; but, with much dissimilarity, the two things have a kind of likeness, which makes it suitable to say that the immaterial soul is illumined with the immaterial light of the simple wisdom of God, as the material air is irradiated with material light, and that, as the air, when deprived of this light, grows dark, (for material darkness is nothing else than air wanting light, ) so the soul, deprived of the light of wisdom, grows dark. According to this, then, those things which are essentially and truly divine are called simple, because in them quality and substance are identical, and because they are divine, or wise, or blessed in themselves, and without extraneous supplement. In Holy Scripture, it is true, the Spirit of wisdom is called manifold Wisdom 7:22 because it contains many things in it; but what it contains it also is, and it being one is all these things. For neither are there many wisdoms, but one, in which are untold and infinite treasures of things intellectual, wherein are all invisible and unchangeable reasons of things visible and changeable which were created by it. For God made nothing unwittingly; not even a human workman can be said to do so. But if He knew all that He made, He made only those things which He had known. Whence flows a very striking but true conclusion, that this world could not be known to us unless it existed, but could not have existed unless it had been known to God. 11.11. And since these things are so, those spirits whom we call angels were never at any time or in any way darkness, but, as soon as they were made, were made light; yet they were not so created in order that they might exist and live in any way whatever, but were enlightened that they might live wisely and blessedly. Some of them, having turned away from this light, have not won this wise and blessed life, which is certainly eternal, and accompanied with the sure confidence of its eternity; but they have still the life of reason, though darkened with folly, and this they cannot lose even if they would. But who can determine to what extent they were partakers of that wisdom before they fell? And how shall we say that they participated in it equally with those who through it are truly and fully blessed, resting in a true certainty of eternal felicity? For if they had equally participated in this true knowledge, then the evil angels would have remained eternally blessed equally with the good, because they were equally expectant of it. For, though a life be never so long, it cannot be truly called eternal if it is destined to have an end; for it is called life inasmuch as it is lived, but eternal because it has no end. Wherefore, although everything eternal is not therefore blessed (for hell-fire is eternal), yet if no life can be truly and perfectly blessed except it be eternal, the life of these angels was not blessed, for it was doomed to end, and therefore not eternal, whether they knew it or not. In the one case fear, in the other ignorance, prevented them from being blessed. And even if their ignorance was not so great as to breed in them a wholly false expectation, but left them wavering in uncertainty whether their good would be eternal or would some time terminate, this very doubt concerning so grand a destiny was incompatible with the plenitude of blessedness which we believe the holy angels enjoyed. For we do not so narrow and restrict the application of the term blessedness as to apply it to God only, though doubtless He is so truly blessed that greater blessedness cannot be; and, in comparison of His blessedness, what is that of the angels, though, according to their capacity, they be perfectly blessed? 11.13. From all this, it will readily occur to any one that the blessedness which an intelligent being desires as its legitimate object results from a combination of these two things, namely, that it uninterruptedly enjoy the unchangeable good, which is God; and that it be delivered from all dubiety, and know certainly that it shall eternally abide in the same enjoyment. That it is so with the angels of light we piously believe; but that the fallen angels, who by their own default lost that light, did not enjoy this blessedness even before they sinned, reason bids us conclude. Yet if their life was of any duration before they fell, we must allow them a blessedness of some kind, though not that which is accompanied with foresight. Or, if it seems hard to believe that, when the angels were created, some were created in ignorance either of their perseverance or their fall, while others were most certainly assured of the eternity of their felicity - if it is hard to believe that they were not all from the beginning on an equal footing, until these who are now evil did of their own will fall away from the light of goodness, certainly it is much harder to believe that the holy angels are now uncertain of their eternal blessedness, and do not know regarding themselves as much as we have been able to gather regarding them from the Holy Scriptures. For what Catholic Christian does not know that no new devil will ever arise among the good angels, as he knows that this present devil will never again return into the fellowship of the good? For the truth in the gospel promises to the saints and the faithful that they will be equal to the angels of God; and it is also promised them that they will go away into life eternal. Matthew 25:46 But if we are certain that we shall never lapse from eternal felicity, while they are not certain, then we shall not be their equals, but their superiors. But as the truth never deceives, and as we shall be their equals, they must be certain of their blessedness. And because the evil angels could not be certain of that, since their blessedness was destined to come to an end, it follows either that the angels were unequal, or that, if equal, the good angels were assured of the eternity of their blessedness after the perdition of the others; unless, possibly, some one may say that the words of the Lord about the devil He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, John 8:44 are to be understood as if he was not only a murderer from the beginning of the human race, when man, whom he could kill by his deceit, was made, but also that he did not abide in the truth from the time of his own creation, and was accordingly never blessed with the holy angels, but refused to submit to his Creator, and proudly exulted as if in a private lordship of his own, and was thus deceived and deceiving. For the dominion of the Almighty cannot be eluded; and he who will not piously submit himself to things as they are, proudly feigns, and mocks himself with a state of things that does not exist; so that what the blessed Apostle John says thus becomes intelligible: The devil sins from the beginning, 1 John 3:8 - that is, from the time he was created he refused righteousness, which none but a will piously subject to God can enjoy. Whoever adopts this opinion at least disagrees with those heretics the Manichees, and with any other pestilential sect that may suppose that the devil has derived from some adverse evil principle a nature proper to himself. These persons are so befooled by error, that, although they acknowledge with ourselves the authority of the gospels, they do not notice that the Lord did not say, The devil was naturally a stranger to the truth, but The devil abode not in the truth, by which He meant us to understand that he had fallen from the truth, in which, if he had abode, he would have become a partaker of it, and have remained in blessedness along with the holy angels. 11.20. Then, we must not pass from this passage of Scripture without noticing that when God said, Let there be light, and there was light, it was immediately added, And God saw the light that it was good. No such expression followed the statement that He separated the light from the darkness, and called the light Day and the darkness Night, lest the seal of His approval might seem to be set on such darkness, as well as on the light. For when the darkness was not subject of disapprobation, as when it was divided by the heavenly bodies from this light which our eyes discern, the statement that God saw that it was good is inserted, not before, but after the division is recorded. And God set them, so runs the passage, in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. For He approved of both, because both were sinless. But where God said, Let there be light, and there was light; and God saw the light that it was good; and the narrative goes on, and God divided the light from the darkness! And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night, there was not in this place subjoined the statement, And God saw that it was good, lest both should be designated good, while one of them was evil, not by nature, but by its own fault. And therefore, in this case, the light alone received the approbation of the Creator, while the angelic darkness, though it had been ordained, was yet not approved. 14.1. We have already stated in the preceding books that God, desiring not only that the human race might be able by their similarity of nature to associate with one another, but also that they might be bound together in harmony and peace by the ties of relationship, was pleased to derive all men from one individual, and created man with such a nature that the members of the race should not have died, had not the two first (of whom the one was created out of nothing, and the other out of him) merited this by their disobedience; for by them so great a sin was committed, that by it the human nature was altered for the worse, and was transmitted also to their posterity, liable to sin and subject to death. And the kingdom of death so reigned over men, that the deserved penalty of sin would have hurled all headlong even into the second death, of which there is no end, had not the undeserved grace of God saved some therefrom. And thus it has come to pass, that though there are very many and great nations all over the earth, whose rites and customs, speech, arms, and dress, are distinguished by marked differences, yet there are no more than two kinds of human society, which we may justly call two cities, according to the language of our Scriptures. The one consists of those who wish to live after the flesh, the other of those who wish to live after the spirit; and when they severally achieve what they wish, they live in peace, each after their kind. 14.3. But if any one says that the flesh is the cause of all vices and ill conduct, inasmuch as the soul lives wickedly only because it is moved by the flesh, it is certain he has not carefully considered the whole nature of man. For the corruptible body, indeed, weighs down the soul. Wisdom 9:15 Whence, too, the apostle, speaking of this corruptible body, of which he had shortly before said, though our outward man perish, 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up in life. 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 We are then burdened with this corruptible body; but knowing that the cause of this burdensomeness is not the nature and substance of the body, but its corruption, we do not desire to be deprived of the body, but to be clothed with its immortality. For then, also, there will be a body, but it shall no longer be a burden, being no longer corruptible. At present, then, the corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind that muses upon many things, nevertheless they are in error who suppose that all the evils of the soul proceed from the body. Virgil, indeed, seems to express the sentiments of Plato in the beautiful lines, where he says - A fiery strength inspires their lives, An essence that from heaven derives, Though clogged in part by limbs of clay And the dull 'vesture of decay;' but though he goes on to mention the four most common mental emotions - desire, fear, joy, sorrow - with the intention of showing that the body is the origin of all sins and vices, saying - Hence wild desires and grovelling fears, And human laughter, human tears, Immured in dungeon-seeming nights They look abroad, yet see no light, yet we believe quite otherwise. For the corruption of the body, which weighs down the soul, is not the cause but the punishment of the first sin; and it was not the corruptible flesh that made the soul sinful, but the sinful soul that made the flesh corruptible. And though from this corruption of the flesh there arise certain incitements to vice, and indeed vicious desires, yet we must not attribute to the flesh all the vices of a wicked life, in case we thereby clear the devil of all these, for he has no flesh. For though we cannot call the devil a fornicator or drunkard, or ascribe to him any sensual indulgence (though he is the secret instigator and prompter of those who sin in these ways), yet he is exceedingly proud and envious. And this viciousness has so possessed him, that on account of it he is reserved in chains of darkness to everlasting punishment. Now these vices, which have dominion over the devil, the apostle attributes to the flesh, which certainly the devil has not. For he says hatred, variance, emulations, strife, envying are the works of the flesh; and of all these evils pride is the origin and head, and it rules in the devil though he has no flesh. For who shows more hatred to the saints? Who is more at variance with them? Who more envious, bitter, and jealous? And since he exhibits all these works, though he has no flesh, how are they works of the flesh, unless because they are the works of man, who is, as I said, spoken of under the name of flesh? For it is not by having flesh, which the devil has not, but by living according to himself - that is, according to man - that man became like the devil. For the devil too, wished to live according to himself when he did not abide in the truth; so that when he lied, this was not of God, but of himself, who is not only a liar, but the father of lies, he being the first who lied, and the originator of lying as of sin. 14.6. But the character of the human will is of moment; because, if it is wrong, these motions of the soul will be wrong, but if it is right, they will be not merely blameless, but even praiseworthy. For the will is in them all; yea, none of them is anything else than will. For what are desire and joy but a volition of consent to the things we wish? And what are fear and sadness but a volition of aversion from the things which we do not wish? But when consent takes the form of seeking to possess the things we wish, this is called desire; and when consent takes the form of enjoying the things we wish, this is called joy. In like manner, when we turn with aversion from that which we do not wish to happen, this volition is termed fear; and when we turn away from that which has happened against our will, this act of will is called sorrow. And generally in respect of all that we seek or shun, as a man's will is attracted or repelled, so it is changed and turned into these different affections. Wherefore the man who lives according to God, and not according to man, ought to be a lover of good, and therefore a hater of evil. And since no one is evil by nature, but whoever is evil is evil by vice, he who lives according to God ought to cherish towards evil men a perfect hatred, so that he shall neither hate the man because of his vice, nor love the vice because of the man, but hate the vice and love the man. For the vice being cursed, all that ought to be loved, and nothing that ought to be hated, will remain. 14.10. But it is a fair question, whether our first parent or first parents (for there was a marriage of two), before they sinned, experienced in their animal body such emotions as we shall not experience in the spiritual body when sin has been purged and finally abolished. For if they did, then how were they blessed in that boasted place of bliss, Paradise? For who that is affected by fear or grief can be called absolutely blessed? And what could those persons fear or suffer in such affluence of blessings, where neither death nor ill-health was feared, and where nothing was wanting which a good will could desire, and nothing present which could interrupt man's mental or bodily enjoyment? Their love to God was unclouded, and their mutual affection was that of faithful and sincere marriage; and from this love flowed a wonderful delight, because they always enjoyed what was loved. Their avoidance of sin was tranquil; and, so long as it was maintained, no other ill at all could invade them and bring sorrow. Or did they perhaps desire to touch and eat the forbidden fruit, yet feared to die; and thus both fear and desire already, even in that blissful place, preyed upon those first of mankind? Away with the thought that such could be the case where there was no sin! And, indeed, this is already sin, to desire those things which the law of God forbids, and to abstain from them through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness. Away, I say, with the thought, that before there was any sin, there should already have been committed regarding that fruit the very sin which our Lord warns us against regarding a woman: Whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:28 As happy, then, as were these our first parents, who were agitated by no mental perturbations, and annoyed by no bodily discomforts, so happy should the whole human race have been, had they not introduced that evil which they have transmitted to their posterity, and had none of their descendants committed iniquity worthy of damnation; but this original blessedness continuing until, in virtue of that benediction which said, Increase and multiply, Genesis 1:28 the number of the predestined saints should have been completed, there would then have been bestowed that higher felicity which is enjoyed by the most blessed angels - a blessedness in which there should have been a secure assurance that no one would sin, and no one die; and so should the saints have lived, after no taste of labor, pain, or death, as now they shall live in the resurrection, after they have endured all these things. 14.11. But because God foresaw all things, and was therefore not ignorant that man also would fall, we ought to consider this holy city in connection with what God foresaw and ordained, and not according to our own ideas, which do not embrace God's ordination. For man, by his sin, could not disturb the divine counsel, nor compel God to change what He had decreed; for God's foreknowledge had anticipated both - that is to say, both how evil the man whom He had created good should become, and what good He Himself should even thus derive from him. For though God is said to change His determinations (so that in a tropical sense the Holy Scripture says even that God repented ), this is said with reference to man's expectation, or the order of natural causes, and not with reference to that which the Almighty had foreknown that He would do. Accordingly God, as it is written, made man upright, Ecclesiastes 7:29 and consequently with a good will. For if he had not had a good will, he could not have been upright. The good will, then, is the work of God; for God created him with it. But the first evil will, which preceded all man's evil acts, was rather a kind of falling away from the work of God to its own works than any positive work. And therefore the acts resulting were evil, not having God, but the will itself for their end; so that the will or the man himself, so far as his will is bad, was as it were the evil tree bringing forth evil fruit. Moreover, the bad will, though it be not in harmony with, but opposed to nature, inasmuch as it is a vice or blemish, yet it is true of it as of all vice, that it cannot exist except in a nature, and only in a nature created out of nothing, and not in that which the Creator has begotten of Himself, as He begot the Word, by whom all things were made. For though God formed man of the dust of the earth, yet the earth itself, and every earthly material, is absolutely created out of nothing; and man's soul, too, God created out of nothing, and joined to the body, when He made man. But evils are so thoroughly overcome by good, that though they are permitted to exist, for the sake of demonstrating how the most righteous foresight of God can make a good use even of them, yet good can exist without evil, as in the true and supreme God Himself, and as in every invisible and visible celestial creature that exists above this murky atmosphere; but evil cannot exist without good, because the natures in which evil exists, in so far as they are natures, are good. And evil is removed, not by removing any nature, or part of a nature, which had been introduced by the evil, but by healing and correcting that which had been vitiated and depraved. The will, therefore, is then truly free, when it is not the slave of vices and sins. Such was it given us by God; and this being lost by its own fault, can only be restored by Him who was able at first to give it. And therefore the truth says, If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed; 1 John 8:36 which is equivalent to saying, If the Son shall save you, you shall be saved indeed. For He is our Liberator, inasmuch as He is our Saviour. Man then lived with God for his rule in a paradise at once physical and spiritual. For neither was it a paradise only physical for the advantage of the body, and not also spiritual for the advantage of the mind; nor was it only spiritual to afford enjoyment to man by his internal sensations, and not also physical to afford him enjoyment through his external senses. But obviously it was both for both ends. But after that proud and therefore envious angel (of whose fall I have said as much as I was able in the eleventh and twelfth books of this work, as well as that of his fellows, who, from being God's angels, became his angels), preferring to rule with a kind of pomp of empire rather than to be another's subject, fell from the spiritual Paradise, and essaying to insinuate his persuasive guile into the mind of man, whose unfallen condition provoked him to envy now that himself was fallen, he chose the serpent as his mouthpiece in that bodily Paradise in which it and all the other earthly animals were living with those two human beings, the man and his wife, subject to them, and harmless; and he chose the serpent because, being slippery, and moving in tortuous windings, it was suitable for his purpose. And this animal being subdued to his wicked ends by the presence and superior force of his angelic nature, he abused as his instrument, and first tried his deceit upon the woman, making his assault upon the weaker part of that human alliance, that he might gradually gain the whole, and not supposing that the man would readily give ear to him, or be deceived, but that he might yield to the error of the woman. For as Aaron was not induced to agree with the people when they blindly wished him to make an idol, and yet yielded to constraint; and as it is not credible that Solomon was so blind as to suppose that idols should be worshipped, but was drawn over to such sacrilege by the blandishments of women; so we cannot believe that Adam was deceived, and supposed the devil's word to be truth, and therefore transgressed God's law, but that he by the drawings of kindred yielded to the woman, the husband to the wife, the one human being to the only other human being. For not without significance did the apostle say, And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression; 1 Timothy 2:14 but he speaks thus, because the woman accepted as true what the serpent told her, but the man could not bear to be severed from his only companion, even though this involved a partnership in sin. He was not on this account less culpable, but sinned with his eyes open. And so the apostle does not say, He did not sin, but He was not deceived. For he shows that he sinned when he says, By one man sin entered into the world, Romans 5:12 and immediately after more distinctly, In the likeness of Adam's transgression. But he meant that those are deceived who do not judge that which they do to be sin; but he knew. Otherwise how were it true Adam was not deceived? But having as yet no experience of the divine severity, he was possibly deceived in so far as he thought his sin venial. And consequently he was not deceived as the woman was deceived, but he was deceived as to the judgment which would be passed on his apology: The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12 What need of saying more? Although they were not both deceived by credulity, yet both were entangled in the snares of the devil, and taken by sin. 14.13. Our first parents fell into open disobedience because already they were secretly corrupted; for the evil act had never been done had not an evil will preceded it. And what is the origin of our evil will but pride? For pride is the beginning of sin. Sirach 10:13 And what is pride but the craving for undue exaltation? And this is undue exaltation, when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself. This happens when it becomes its own satisfaction. And it does so when it falls away from that unchangeable good which ought to satisfy it more than itself. This falling away is spontaneous; for if the will had remained steadfast in the love of that higher and changeless good by which it was illumined to intelligence and kindled into love, it would not have turned away to find satisfaction in itself, and so become frigid and benighted; the woman would not have believed the serpent spoke the truth, nor would the man have preferred the request of his wife to the command of God, nor have supposed that it was a venial trangression to cleave to the partner of his life even in a partnership of sin. The wicked deed, then - that is to say, the trangression of eating the forbidden fruit - was committed by persons who were already wicked. That evil fruit Matthew 7:18 could be brought forth only by a corrupt tree. But that the tree was evil was not the result of nature; for certainly it could become so only by the vice of the will, and vice is contrary to nature. Now, nature could not have been depraved by vice had it not been made out of nothing. Consequently, that it is a nature, this is because it is made by God; but that it falls away from Him, this is because it is made out of nothing. But man did not so fall away as to become absolutely nothing; but being turned towards himself, his being became more contracted than it was when he clave to Him who supremely is. Accordingly, to exist in himself, that is, to be his own satisfaction after abandoning God, is not quite to become a nonentity, but to approximate to that. And therefore the holy Scriptures designate the proud by another name, self-pleasers. For it is good to have the heart lifted up, yet not to one's self, for this is proud, but to the Lord, for this is obedient, and can be the act only of the humble. There is, therefore, something in humility which, strangely enough, exalts the heart, and something in pride which debases it. This seems, indeed, to be contradictory, that loftiness should debase and lowliness exalt. But pious humility enables us to submit to what is above us; and nothing is more exalted above us than God; and therefore humility, by making us subject to God, exalts us. But pride, being a defect of nature, by the very act of refusing subjection and revolting from Him who is supreme, falls to a low condition; and then comes to pass what is written: You cast them down when they lifted up themselves. For he does not say, when they had been lifted up, as if first they were exalted, and then afterwards cast down; but when they lifted up themselves even then they were cast down - that is to say, the very lifting up was already a fall. And therefore it is that humility is specially recommended to the city of God as it sojourns in this world, and is specially exhibited in the city of God, and in the person of Christ its King; while the contrary vice of pride, according to the testimony of the sacred writings, specially rules his adversary the devil. And certainly this is the great difference which distinguishes the two cities of which we speak, the one being the society of the godly men, the other of the ungodly, each associated with the angels that adhere to their party, and the one guided and fashioned by love of self, the other by love of God. The devil, then, would not have ensnared man in the open and manifest sin of doing what God had forbidden, had man not already begun to live for himself. It was this that made him listen with pleasure to the words, You shall be as gods, Genesis 3:5 which they would much more readily have accomplished by obediently adhering to their supreme and true end than by proudly living to themselves. For created gods are gods not by virtue of what is in themselves, but by a participation of the true God. By craving to be more, man becomes less; and by aspiring to be self-sufficing, he fell away from Him who truly suffices him. Accordingly, this wicked desire which prompts man to please himself as if he were himself light, and which thus turns him away from that light by which, had he followed it, he would himself have become light - this wicked desire, I say, already secretly existed in him, and the open sin was but its consequence. For that is true which is written, Pride goes before destruction, and before honor is humility; Proverbs 18:12 that is to say, secret ruin precedes open ruin, while the former is not counted ruin. For who counts exaltation ruin, though no sooner is the Highest forsaken than a fall is begun? But who does not recognize it as ruin, when there occurs an evident and indubitable transgression of the commandment? And consequently, God's prohibition had reference to such an act as, when committed, could not be defended on any pretense of doing what was righteous. And I make bold to say that it is useful for the proud to fall into an open and indisputable transgression, and so displease themselves, as already, by pleasing themselves, they had fallen. For Peter was in a healthier condition when he wept and was dissatisfied with himself, than when he boldly presumed and satisfied himself. And this is averred by the sacred Psalmist when he says, Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord; that is, that they who have pleased themselves in seeking their own glory may be pleased and satisfied with You in seeking Your glory. 14.15. Therefore, because the sin was a despising of the authority of God - who had created man; who had made him in His own image; who had set him above the other animals; who had placed him in Paradise; who had enriched him with abundance of every kind and of safety; who had laid upon him neither many, nor great, nor difficult commandments, but, in order to make a wholesome obedience easy to him, had given him a single very brief and very light precept by which He reminded that creature whose service was to be free that He was Lord, - it was just that condemnation followed, and condemnation such that man, who by keeping the commandments should have been spiritual even in his flesh, became fleshly even in his spirit; and as in his pride he had sought to be his own satisfaction, God in His justice abandoned him to himself, not to live in the absolute independence he affected, but instead of the liberty he desired, to live dissatisfied with himself in a hard and miserable bondage to him to whom by sinning he had yielded himself, doomed in spite of himself to die in body as he had willingly become dead in spirit, condemned even to eternal death (had not the grace of God delivered him) because he had forsaken eternal life. Whoever thinks such punishment either excessive or unjust shows his inability to measure the great iniquity of sinning where sin might so easily have been avoided. For as Abraham's obedience is with justice pronounced to be great, because the thing commanded, to kill his son, was very difficult, so in Paradise the disobedience was the greater, because the difficulty of that which was commanded was imperceptible. And as the obedience of the second Man was the more laudable because He became obedient even unto death, Philippians 2:8 so the disobedience of the first man was the more detestable because he became disobedient even unto death. For where the penalty annexed to disobedience is great, and the thing commanded by the Creator is easy, who can sufficiently estimate how great a wickedness it is, in a matter so easy, not to obey the authority of so great a power, even when that power deters with so terrible a penalty? In short, to say all in a word, what but disobedience was the punishment of disobedience in that sin? For what else is man's misery but his own disobedience to himself, so that in consequence of his not being willing to do what he could do, he now wills to do what he cannot? For though he could not do all things in Paradise before he sinned, yet he wished to do only what he could do, and therefore he could do all things he wished. But now, as we recognize in his offspring, and as divine Scripture testifies, Man is like to vanity. For who can count how many things he wishes which he cannot do, so long as he is disobedient to himself, that is, so long as his mind and his flesh do not obey his will? For in spite of himself his mind is both frequently disturbed, and his flesh suffers, and grows old, and dies; and in spite of ourselves we suffer whatever else we suffer, and which we would not suffer if our nature absolutely and in all its parts obeyed our will. But is it not the infirmities of the flesh which hamper it in its service? Yet what does it matter how its service is hampered, so long as the fact remains, that by the just retribution of the sovereign God whom we refused to be subject to and serve, our flesh, which was subjected to us, now torments us by insubordination, although our disobedience brought trouble on ourselves, not upon God? For He is not in need of our service as we of our body's; and therefore what we did was no punishment to Him, but what we receive is so to us. And the pains which are called bodily are pains of the soul in and from the body. For what pain or desire can the flesh feel by itself and without the soul? But when the flesh is said to desire or to suffer, it is meant, as we have explained, that the man does so, or some part of the soul which is affected by the sensation of the flesh, whether a harsh sensation causing pain, or gentle, causing pleasure. But pain in the flesh is only a discomfort of the soul arising from the flesh, and a kind of shrinking from its suffering, as the pain of the soul which is called sadness is a shrinking from those things which have happened to us in spite of ourselves. But sadness is frequently preceded by fear, which is itself in the soul, not in the flesh; while bodily pain is not preceded by any kind of fear of the flesh, which can be felt in the flesh before the pain. But pleasure is preceded by a certain appetite which is felt in the flesh like a craving, as hunger and thirst and that generative appetite which is most commonly identified with the name lust, though this is the generic word for all desires. For anger itself was defined by the ancients as nothing else than the lust of revenge; although sometimes a man is angry even at iimate objects which cannot feel his vengeance, as when one breaks a pen, or crushes a quill that writes badly. Yet even this, though less reasonable, is in its way a lust of revenge, and is, so to speak, a mysterious kind of shadow of [the great law of] retribution, that they who do evil should suffer evil. There is therefore a lust for revenge, which is called anger; there is a lust of money, which goes by the name of avarice; there is a lust of conquering, no matter by what means, which is called opinionativeness; there is a lust of applause, which is named boasting. There are many and various lusts, of which some have names of their own, while others have not. For who could readily give a name to the lust of ruling, which yet has a powerful influence in the soul of tyrants, as civil wars bear witness? |
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50. Anon., Apocalypse of Peter, 73.23-73.26, 83.3
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