1. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 15.6 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 15.6. וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוָה וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה׃ | 15.6. And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness." |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Daniel, 3.25 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 3.25. עָנֵה וְאָמַר הָא־אֲנָה חָזֵה גֻּבְרִין אַרְבְּעָה שְׁרַיִן מַהְלְכִין בְּגוֹא־נוּרָא וַחֲבָל לָא־אִיתַי בְּהוֹן וְרֵוֵהּ דִּי רביעיא [רְבִיעָאָה] דָּמֵה לְבַר־אֱלָהִין׃ | 3.25. He answered and said: ‘Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.’" |
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3. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 11.227 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 11.227. Now when the eunuch carried this message from Esther to Mordecai, he bade him also tell her that she must not only provide for her own preservation, but for the common preservation of her nation, for that if she now neglected this opportunity, there would certainly arise help to them from God some other way, but she and her father’s house would be destroyed by those whom she now despised. |
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4. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 2.478, 3.446 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.478. those of Tyre also put a great number to death, but kept a greater number in prison; moreover, those of Hippos, and those of Gadara, did the like while they put to death the boldest of the Jews, but kept those of whom they wereafraid in custody; as did the rest of the cities of Syria, according as they every one either hated them or were afraid of them; 3.446. So he sent away his son Titus to [the other] Caesarea, that he might bring the army that lay there to Scythopolis, which is the largest city of Decapolis, and in the neighborhood of Tiberias |
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5. Mishnah, Berachot, 5.5 (1st cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 5.5. One who is praying and makes a mistake, it is a bad sign for him. And if he is the messenger of the congregation (the prayer leader) it is a bad sign for those who have sent him, because one’s messenger is equivalent to one’s self. They said about Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa that he used to pray for the sick and say, “This one will die, this one will live.” They said to him: “How do you know?” He replied: “If my prayer comes out fluently, I know that he is accepted, but if not, then I know that he is rejected.”" |
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6. New Testament, 1 Corinthians, 7.10 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 7.10. But to the married I command-- not I, but the Lord -- that the wife not leave her husband |
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7. New Testament, Acts, 10.15 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 10.15. A voice came to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed, you must not make unholy. |
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8. New Testament, James, 5.13-5.15 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 5.13. Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 5.14. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord 5.15. and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. |
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9. New Testament, Galatians, 2 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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10. New Testament, Romans, 4, 3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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11. New Testament, John, 1.41, 3.16, 4.1-4.42, 4.46-4.54, 5.24, 6.69, 11.1-11.44, 12.27, 12.32, 14.1, 14.3, 14.10-14.12, 16.27, 16.30, 17.8 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.41. He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 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. 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. 4.46. Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 4.47. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 4.48. Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe. 4.49. The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies. 4.50. Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 4.51. As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying "Your child lives! 4.52. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him. 4.53. So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house. 4.54. This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee. 5.24. Most assuredly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn't come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 6.69. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 11.1. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. 11.2. It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. 11.3. The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, "Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick. 11.4. But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it. 11.5. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 11.6. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was. 11.7. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let's go into Judea again. 11.8. The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again? 11.9. Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 11.10. But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn't in him. 11.11. He said these things, and after that, he said to them, "Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep. 11.12. The disciples therefore said, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. 11.13. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. 11.14. So Jesus said to them plainly then, "Lazarus is dead. 11.15. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let's go to him. 11.16. Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go also, that we may die with him. 11.17. So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. 11.18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. 11.19. Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 11.20. Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. 11.21. Therefore Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 11.22. Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you. 11.23. Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again. 11.24. Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 11.25. Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live. 11.26. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? 11.27. She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God's Son, he who comes into the world. 11.28. When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, "The Teacher is here, and is calling you. 11.29. When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him. 11.30. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. 11.31. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there. 11.32. Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 11.33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled 11.34. and said, "Where have you laid him?"They told him, "Lord, come and see. 11.35. Jesus wept. 11.36. The Jews therefore said, "See how much affection he had for him! 11.37. Some of them said, "Couldn't this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying? 11.38. Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 11.39. Jesus said, "Take away the stone."Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days. 11.40. Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory? 11.41. So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me. 11.42. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. 11.43. When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out! 11.44. He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Free him, and let him go. 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. 12.32. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. 14.1. Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. 14.3. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also. 14.10. Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. 14.11. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake. 14.12. Most assuredly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these will he do; because I am going to my Father. 16.27. for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 16.30. Now we know that you know all things, and don't need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God. 17.8. for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me. |
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12. New Testament, Luke, 2.30, 2.32, 4.33-4.35, 4.40-4.41, 5.24, 5.27-5.28, 5.30-5.39, 7.1-7.17, 7.22, 7.36-7.50, 8.10, 8.26-8.39, 8.45-8.46, 8.48, 8.51, 9.20, 9.37-9.43, 10.12-10.15, 11.1, 11.20, 11.29, 13.19-13.21, 15.21, 17.13, 17.19, 17.21, 18.1-18.8, 18.42, 19.1-19.2, 22.31-22.34, 22.42 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.30. For my eyes have seen your salvation 2.32. A light for revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of your people Israel. 4.33. In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice 4.34. saying, "Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God! 4.35. Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 4.40. When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 4.41. Demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!" Rebuking them, he didn't allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. 5.24. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (he said to the paralyzed man), "I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house. 5.27. After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me! 5.28. He left everything, and rose up and followed him. 5.30. Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners? 5.31. Jesus answered them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 5.32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 5.33. They said to him, "Why do John's disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink? 5.34. He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 5.35. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days. 5.36. He also told a parable to them. "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. 5.37. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 5.38. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. 5.39. No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, 'The old is better.' 7.1. After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 7.2. A certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death. 7.3. When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant. 7.4. When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy for you to do this for him 7.5. for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us. 7.6. Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. 7.7. Therefore I didn't even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed. 7.8. For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, 'Go!' and he goes; and to another, 'Come!' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it. 7.9. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel. 7.10. Those who were sent, returning to the house, found that the servant who had been sick was well. 7.11. It happened soon afterwards, that he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him. 7.12. Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her. 7.13. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, "Don't cry. 7.14. He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I tell you, arise! 7.15. He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. 7.16. Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and, "God has visited his people! 7.17. This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea, and in all the surrounding region. 7.22. Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 7.36. One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee's house, and sat at the table. 7.37. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 7.38. Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 7.39. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner. 7.40. Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."He said, "Teacher, say on. 7.41. A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 7.42. When they couldn't pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? 7.43. Simon answered, "He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most."He said to him, "You have judged correctly. 7.44. Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. 7.45. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. 7.46. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 7.47. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. 7.48. He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven. 7.49. Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins? 7.50. He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. 8.10. He said, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables; that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 8.26. They arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 8.27. When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn't live in a house, but in the tombs. 8.28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, "What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torment me! 8.29. For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bands apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert. 8.30. Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"He said, "Legion," for many demons had entered into him. 8.31. They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss. 8.32. Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. He allowed them. 8.33. The demons came out from the man, and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned. 8.34. When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. 8.35. People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 8.36. Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed. 8.37. All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. He entered into the boat, and returned. 8.38. But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying 8.39. Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you." He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. 8.45. Jesus said, "Who touched me?"When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, 'Who touched me?' 8.46. But Jesus said, "Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me. 8.48. He said to her, "Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. 8.51. When he came to the house, he didn't allow anyone to enter in, except Peter, John, James, the father of the girl, and her mother. 9.20. He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"Peter answered, "The Christ of God. 9.37. It happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met him. 9.38. Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 9.39. Behold, a spirit takes him, he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him so that he foams, and it hardly departs from him, bruising him severely. 9.40. I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn't. 9.41. Jesus answered, "Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here. 9.42. While he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 9.43. They were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, he said to his disciples 10.12. I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. 10.13. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 10.14. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. 10.15. You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. 11.1. It happened, that when he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples. 11.20. But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you. 11.29. When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet. 13.19. It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches. 13.20. Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? 13.21. It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three sata of flour, until it was all leavened. 15.21. The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 17.13. They lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! 17.19. Then he said to him, "Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you. 17.21. neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. 18.1. He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up 18.2. saying, "There was a judge in a certain city who didn't fear God, and didn't respect man. 18.3. A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, 'Defend me from my adversary!' 18.4. He wouldn't for a while, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God, nor respect man 18.5. yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.' 18.6. The Lord said, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. 18.7. Won't God avenge his elect, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? 18.8. I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? 18.42. Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you. 19.1. He entered and was passing through Jericho. 19.2. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 22.31. The Lord said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat 22.32. but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn't fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers. 22.33. He said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death! 22.34. He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will by no means crow today until you deny that you know me three times. 22.42. saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. |
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13. New Testament, Mark, 1.22-1.26, 1.32-1.34, 2.1-2.12, 3.5, 4.11-4.12, 5.1-5.20, 5.22-5.43, 6.6, 6.52, 6.55, 7.3, 7.24-7.30, 8.12, 8.29, 9.14-9.29, 10.12, 10.47-10.48, 10.51-10.52, 11.22, 11.24, 14.36, 15.32, 15.34 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.22. They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 1.23. Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out 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! 1.25. Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him! 1.26. The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 1.32. At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed by demons. 1.33. All the city was gathered together at the door. 1.34. He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn't allow the demons to speak, because they knew him. 2.1. When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was in the house. 2.2. Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. 2.3. Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. 2.4. When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. 2.5. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you. 2.6. But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts 2.7. Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone? 2.8. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you reason these things in your hearts? 2.9. Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven;' or to say, 'Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?' 2.10. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- 2.11. I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house. 2.12. He arose, and immediately took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this! 3.5. When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other. 4.11. He said to them, "To you is given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables 4.12. that 'seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.' 5.1. They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 5.2. When he had come out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit 5.3. who had his dwelling in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains 5.4. because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him. 5.5. Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. 5.6. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him 5.7. and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don't torment me. 5.8. For he said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit! 5.9. He asked him, "What is your name?"He said to him, "My name is Legion, for we are many. 5.10. He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 5.11. Now there was on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding. 5.12. All the demons begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them. 5.13. At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea. 5.14. Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened. 5.15. They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid. 5.16. Those who saw it declared to them how it happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs. 5.17. They began to beg him to depart from their region. 5.18. As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. 5.19. He didn't allow him, but said to him, "Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you. 5.20. He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled. 5.22. Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet 5.23. and begged him much, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live. 5.24. He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides. 5.25. A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years 5.26. and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse 5.27. having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes. 5.28. For she said, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well. 5.29. Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 5.30. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, "Who touched my clothes? 5.31. His disciples said to him, "You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, 'Who touched me?' 5.32. He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 5.33. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 5.34. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease. 5.35. While he was still speaking, they came from the synagogue ruler's house saying, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more? 5.36. But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Don't be afraid, only believe. 5.37. He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 5.38. He came to the synagogue ruler's house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing. 5.39. When he had entered in, he said to them, "Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep. 5.40. They laughed him to scorn. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child and her mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying. 5.41. Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha cumi;" which means, being interpreted, "Young lady, I tell you, get up. 5.42. Immediately the young lady rose up, and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement. 5.43. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat. 6.6. He marveled because of their unbelief. He went around the villages teaching. 6.52. for they hadn't understood about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. 6.55. and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick, on their mats, to where they heard he was. 7.3. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, don't eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders. 7.24. From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn't want anyone to know it, but he couldn't escape notice. 7.25. For a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. 7.26. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. 7.27. But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. 7.28. But she answered him, "Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. 7.29. He said to her, "For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter. 7.30. She went away to her house, and found the child lying on the bed, with the demon gone out. 8.12. He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Most assuredly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation. 8.29. He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"Peter answered, "You are the Christ. 9.14. Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them. 9.15. Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him greeted him. 9.16. He asked the scribes, "What are you asking them? 9.17. One of the multitude answered, "Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit; 9.18. and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and wastes away. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren't able. 9.19. He answered him, "Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me. 9.20. They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth. 9.21. He asked his father, "How long has it been since this has come to him?"He said, "From childhood. 9.22. often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. 9.23. Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. 9.24. Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, "I believe. Help my unbelief! 9.25. When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again! 9.26. Having cried out, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, "He is dead. 9.27. But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose. 9.28. When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we cast it out? 9.29. He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting. 10.12. If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery. 10.47. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, "Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me! 10.48. Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, "You son of David, have mercy on me! 10.51. Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"The blind man said to him, "Rhabboni, that I may see again. 10.52. Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. 11.22. Jesus answering said to them, "Have faith in God. 11.24. Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. 14.36. He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire. 15.32. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him." Those who were crucified with him insulted him. 15.34. At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is, being interpreted, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? |
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14. New Testament, Matthew, 2.12-2.14, 2.22, 4.24-4.25, 5.1-5.2, 5.6, 5.10, 5.17-5.20, 5.33, 5.41, 5.45, 5.47, 6.1, 6.7-6.8, 6.32-6.33, 7.27-7.28, 8.1-8.2, 8.5-8.13, 8.16, 8.28-8.34, 9.2-9.13, 9.22, 9.24, 9.27, 10.5-10.6, 11.1, 11.3-11.4, 11.19, 11.21-11.24, 12.18, 12.21, 12.28, 12.39, 12.42, 13.11, 13.31-13.32, 13.53, 13.58, 14.13, 14.31, 15.22-15.28, 16.19, 17.14-17.21, 18.1-18.3, 18.15-18.20, 19.1, 20.30, 21.21-21.22, 21.31-21.32, 22.13, 24.1-24.3, 24.14, 26.1, 26.39, 27.5, 27.42, 27.46, 28.16-28.20 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.12. Being warned in a dream that they shouldn't return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way. 2.13. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 2.14. He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt 2.22. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee 4.24. The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them. 4.25. Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and from beyond the Jordan followed him. 5.1. Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 5.2. He opened his mouth and taught them, saying 5.6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, For they shall be filled. 5.10. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 5.17. Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill. 5.18. For most assuredly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. 5.19. Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 5.20. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 5.33. Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,' 5.41. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 5.45. that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 5.47. If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don't even the tax collectors do the same? 6.1. Be careful that you don't do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 6.7. In praying, don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. 6.8. Therefore don't be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him. 6.32. For the Gentiles seek after all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 6.33. But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. 7.27. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell -- and great was its fall. 7.28. It happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the multitudes were astonished at his teaching 8.1. When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 8.2. Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean. 8.5. When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him 8.6. and saying, "Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented. 8.7. Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him. 8.8. The centurion answered, "Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8.9. For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it. 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 8.12. but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 8.13. Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way. Let it be done for you as you as you have believed." His servant was healed in that hour. 8.16. When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick; 8.28. When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass by that way. 8.29. Behold, they cried out, saying, "What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? 8.30. Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. 8.31. The demons begged him, saying, "If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs. 8.32. He said to them, "Go!"They came out, and went into the herd of pigs: and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the water. 8.33. Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. 8.34. Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders. 9.2. Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you. 9.3. Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man blasphemes. 9.4. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? 9.5. For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven;' or to say, 'Get up, and walk?' 9.6. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." (then he said to the paralytic), "Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house. 9.7. He arose and departed to his house. 9.8. But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men. 9.9. As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, "Follow me." He got up and followed him. 9.10. It happened as he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 9.11. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 9.12. When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 9.13. But you go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 9.22. But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, "Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. 9.24. he said to them, "Make room, because the girl isn't dead, but sleeping."They were ridiculing him. 9.27. As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, "Have mercy on us, son of David! 10.5. Jesus sent these twelve out, and charged them, saying, "Don't go among the Gentiles, and don't enter into any city of the Samaritans. 10.6. Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 11.1. It happened that when Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. 11.3. and said to him, "Are you he who comes, or should we look for another? 11.4. Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 11.19. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children. 11.21. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 11.22. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 11.23. You, Capernaum, who are exalted to Heaven, you will go down to Hades. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day. 11.24. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, on the day of judgment, than for you. 12.18. Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him. He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 12.21. In his name, the Gentiles will hope. 12.28. But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. 12.39. But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 12.42. The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here. 13.11. He answered them, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 13.31. He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; 13.32. which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches. 13.53. It happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 13.58. He didn't do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. 14.13. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. 14.31. Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt? 15.22. Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely demonized! 15.23. But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away; for she cries after us. 15.24. But he answered, "I wasn't sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 15.25. But she came and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, help me. 15.26. But he answered, "It is not appropriate to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. 15.27. But she said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 15.28. Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that hour. 16.19. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 17.14. When they came to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him, saying 17.15. Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. 17.16. So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him. 17.17. Jesus answered, "Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me. 17.18. Jesus rebuked him, the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour. 17.19. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, "Why weren't we able to cast it out? 17.20. He said to them, "Because of your unbelief. For most assuredly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 17.21. But this kind doesn't go out except by prayer and fasting. 18.1. In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? 18.2. Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the midst of them 18.3. and said, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 18.15. If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. 18.16. But if he doesn't listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 18.17. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. 18.18. Most assuredly I tell you, whatever things you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever things you will loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 18.19. Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. 18.20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. 19.1. It happened when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. 20.30. Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David! 21.21. Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly I tell you, if you have faith, and don't doubt, you will not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it would be done. 21.22. All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. 21.31. Which of the two did the will of his father?"They said to him, "The first."Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you. 21.32. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him. 22.13. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.' 24.1. Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. 24.2. But he answered them, "Don't you see all of these things? Most assuredly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down. 24.3. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age? 24.14. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 26.1. It happened, when Jesus had finished all these words, that he said to his disciples 26.39. He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire. 27.5. He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself. 27.42. He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 27.46. About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" That is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 28.16. But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 28.17. When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 28.18. Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 28.19. Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 28.20. teaching them to observe all things which I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. |
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15. Nag Hammadi, Allogenes, 60.16-60.17 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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16. Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Philip, 54.18-54.31 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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17. Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Thomas, 53 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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18. Augustine, The City of God, 22.8 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
| 22.8. Why, they say, are those miracles, which you affirm were wrought formerly, wrought no longer? I might, indeed, reply that miracles were necessary before the world believed, in order that it might believe. And whoever now-a-days demands to see prodigies that he may believe, is himself a great prodigy, because he does not believe, though the whole world does. But they make these objections for the sole purpose of insinuating that even those former miracles were never wrought. How, then, is it that everywhere Christ is celebrated with such firm belief in His resurrection and ascension? How is it that in enlightened times, in which every impossibility is rejected, the world has, without any miracles, believed things marvellously incredible? Or will they say that these things were credible, and therefore were credited? Why then do they themselves not believe? Our argument, therefore, is a summary one - either incredible things which were not witnessed have caused the world to believe other incredible things which both occurred and were witnessed, or this matter was so credible that it needed no miracles in proof of it, and therefore convicts these unbelievers of unpardonable scepticism. This I might say for the sake of refuting these most frivolous objectors. But we cannot deny that many miracles were wrought to confirm that one grand and health-giving miracle of Christ's ascension to heaven with the flesh in which He rose. For these most trustworthy books of ours contain in one narrative both the miracles that were wrought and the creed which they were wrought to confirm. The miracles were published that they might produce faith, and the faith which they produced brought them into greater prominence. For they are read in congregations that they may be believed, and yet they would not be so read unless they were believed. For even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ, whether by His sacraments or by the prayers or relics of His saints; but they are not so brilliant and conspicuous as to cause them to be published with such glory as accompanied the former miracles. For the canon of the sacred writings, which behooved to be closed, causes those to be everywhere recited, and to sink into the memory of all the congregations; but these modern miracles are scarcely known even to the whole population in the midst of which they are wrought, and at the best are confined to one spot. For frequently they are known only to a very few persons, while all the rest are ignorant of them, especially if the state is a large one; and when they are reported to other persons in other localities, there is no sufficient authority to give them prompt and unwavering credence, although they are reported to the faithful by the faithful. The miracle which was wrought at Milan when I was there, and by which a blind man was restored to sight, could come to the knowledge of many; for not only is the city a large one, but also the emperor was there at the time, and the occurrence was witnessed by an immense concourse of people that had gathered to the bodies of the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius, which had long lain concealed and unknown, but were now made known to the bishop Ambrose in a dream, and discovered by him. By virtue of these remains the darkness of that blind man was scattered, and he saw the light of day. But who but a very small number are aware of the cure which was wrought upon Innocentius, ex-advocate of the deputy prefecture, a cure wrought at Carthage, in my presence, and under my own eyes? For when I and my brother Alypius, who were not yet clergymen, though already servants of God, came from abroad, this man received us, and made us live with him, for he and all his household were devotedly pious. He was being treated by medical men for fistul, of which he had a large number intricately seated in the rectum. He had already undergone an operation, and the surgeons were using every means at their command for his relief. In that operation he had suffered long-continued and acute pain; yet, among the many folds of the gut, one had escaped the operators so entirely, that, though they ought to have laid it open with the knife, they never touched it. And thus, though all those that had been opened were cured, this one remained as it was, and frustrated all their labor. The patient, having his suspicions awakened by the delay thus occasioned, and fearing greatly a second operation, which another medical man - one of his own domestics - had told him he must undergo, though this man had not even been allowed to witness the first operation, and had been banished from the house, and with difficulty allowed to come back to his enraged master's presence - the patient, I say, broke out to the surgeons, saying, Are you going to cut me again? Are you, after all, to fulfill the prediction of that man whom you would not allow even to be present? The surgeons laughed at the unskillful doctor, and soothed their patient's fears with fair words and promises. So several days passed, and yet nothing they tried did him good. Still they persisted in promising that they would cure that fistula by drugs, without the knife. They called in also another old practitioner of great repute in that department, Ammonius (for he was still alive at that time); and he, after examining the part, promised the same result as themselves from their care and skill. On this great authority, the patient became confident, and, as if already well, vented his good spirits in facetious remarks at the expense of his domestic physician, who had predicted a second operation. To make a long story short, after a number of days had thus uselessly elapsed, the surgeons, wearied and confused, had at last to confess that he could only be cured by the knife. Agitated with excessive fear, he was terrified, and grew pale with dread; and when he collected himself and was able to speak, he ordered them to go away and never to return. Worn out with weeping, and driven by necessity, it occurred to him to call in an Alexandrian, who was at that time esteemed a wonderfully skillful operator, that he might perform the operation his rage would not suffer them to do. But when he had come, and examined with a professional eye the traces of their careful work, he acted the part of a good man, and persuaded his patient to allow those same hands the satisfaction of finishing his cure which had begun it with a skill that excited his admiration, adding that there was no doubt his only hope of a cure was by an operation, but that it was thoroughly inconsistent with his nature to win the credit of the cure by doing the little that remained to be done, and rob of their reward men whose consummate skill, care, and diligence he could not but admire when be saw the traces of their work. They were therefore again received to favor; and it was agreed that, in the presence of the Alexandrian, they should operate on the fistula, which, by the consent of all, could now only be cured by the knife. The operation was deferred till the following day. But when they had left, there arose in the house such a wailing, in sympathy with the excessive despondency of the master, that it seemed to us like the mourning at a funeral, and we could scarcely repress it. Holy men were in the habit of visiting him daily; Saturninus of blessed memory, at that time bishop of Uzali, and the presbyter Gelosus, and the deacons of the church of Carthage; and among these was the bishop Aurelius, who alone of them all survives - a man to be named by us with due reverence - and with him I have often spoken of this affair, as we conversed together about the wonderful works of God, and I have found that he distinctly remembers what I am now relating. When these persons visited him that evening according to their custom, he besought them, with pitiable tears, that they would do him the honor of being present next day at what he judged his funeral rather than his suffering. For such was the terror his former pains had produced, that he made no doubt he would die in the hands of the surgeons. They comforted him, and exhorted him to put his trust in God, and nerve his will like a man. Then we went to prayer; but while we, in the usual way, were kneeling and bending to the ground, he cast himself down, as if some one were hurling him violently to the earth, and began to pray; but in what a manner, with what earnestness and emotion, with what a flood of tears, with what groans and sobs, that shook his whole body, and almost prevented him speaking, who can describe! Whether the others prayed, and had not their attention wholly diverted by this conduct, I do not know. For myself, I could not pray at all. This only I briefly said in my heart: O Lord, what prayers of Your people do You hear if You hear not these? For it seemed to me that nothing could be added to this prayer, unless he expired in praying. We rose from our knees, and, receiving the blessing of the bishop, departed, the patient beseeching his visitors to be present next morning, they exhorting him to keep up his heart. The dreaded day dawned. The servants of God were present, as they had promised to be; the surgeons arrived; all that the circumstances required was ready; the frightful instruments are produced; all look on in wonder and suspense. While those who have most influence with the patient are cheering his fainting spirit, his limbs are arranged on the couch so as to suit the hand of the operator; the knots of the bandages are untied; the part is bared; the surgeon examines it, and, with knife in hand, eagerly looks for the sinus that is to be cut. He searches for it with his eyes; he feels for it with his finger; he applies every kind of scrutiny: he finds a perfectly firm cicatrix! No words of mine can describe the joy, and praise, and thanksgiving to the merciful and almighty God which was poured from the lips of all, with tears of gladness. Let the scene be imagined rather than described! In the same city of Carthage lived Innocentia, a very devout woman of the highest rank in the state. She had cancer in one of her breasts, a disease which, as physicians say, is incurable. Ordinarily, therefore, they either amputate, and so separate from the body the member on which the disease has seized, or, that the patient's life may be prolonged a little, though death is inevitable even if somewhat delayed, they abandon all remedies, following, as they say, the advice of Hippocrates. This the lady we speak of had been advised to by a skillful physician, who was intimate with her family; and she betook herself to God alone by prayer. On the approach of Easter, she was instructed in a dream to wait for the first woman that came out from the baptistery after being baptized, and to ask her to make the sign of Christ upon her sore. She did so, and was immediately cured. The physician who had advised her to apply no remedy if she wished to live a little longer, when he had examined her after this, and found that she who, on his former examination, was afflicted with that disease was now perfectly cured, eagerly asked her what remedy she had used, anxious, as we may well believe, to discover the drug which should defeat the decision of Hippocrates. But when she told him what had happened, he is said to have replied, with religious politeness, though with a contemptuous tone, and an expression which made her fear he would utter some blasphemy against Christ, I thought you would make some great discovery to me. She, shuddering at his indifference, quickly replied, What great thing was it for Christ to heal a cancer, who raised one who had been four days dead? When, therefore, I had heard this, I was extremely indigt that so great a miracle wrought in that well-known city, and on a person who was certainly not obscure, should not be divulged, and I considered that she should be spoken to, if not reprimanded on this score. And when she replied to me that she had not kept silence on the subject, I asked the women with whom she was best acquainted whether they had ever heard of this before. They told me they knew nothing of it. See, I said, what your not keeping silence amounts to, since not even those who are so familiar with you know of it. And as I had only briefly heard the story, I made her tell how the whole thing happened, from beginning to end, while the other women listened in great astonishment, and glorified God. A gouty doctor of the same city, when he had given in his name for baptism, and had been prohibited the day before his baptism from being baptized that year, by black woolly-haired boys who appeared to him in his dreams, and whom he understood to be devils, and when, though they trod on his feet, and inflicted the acutest pain he had ever yet experienced, he refused to obey them, but overcame them, and would not defer being washed in the laver of regeneration, was relieved in the very act of baptism, not only of the extraordinary pain he was tortured with, but also of the disease itself, so that, though he lived a long time afterwards, he never suffered from gout; and yet who knows of this miracle? We, however, do know it, and so, too, do the small number of brethren who were in the neighborhood, and to whose ears it might come. An old comedian of Curubis was cured at baptism not only of paralysis, but also of hernia, and, being delivered from both afflictions, came up out of the font of regeneration as if he had had nothing wrong with his body. Who outside of Curubis knows of this, or who but a very few who might hear it elsewhere? But we, when we heard of it, made the man come to Carthage, by order of the holy bishop Aurelius, although we had already ascertained the fact on the information of persons whose word we could not doubt. Hesperius, of a tribunitian family, and a neighbor of our own, has a farm called Zubedi in the Fussalian district; and, finding that his family, his cattle, and his servants were suffering from the malice of evil spirits, he asked our presbyters, during my absence, that one of them would go with him and banish the spirits by his prayers. One went, offered there the sacrifice of the body of Christ, praying with all his might that that vexation might cease. It did cease immediately, through God's mercy. Now he had received from a friend of his own some holy earth brought from Jerusalem, where Christ, having been buried, rose again the third day. This earth he had hung up in his bedroom to preserve himself from harm. But when his house was purged of that demoniacal invasion, he began to consider what should be done with the earth; for his reverence for it made him unwilling to have it any longer in his bedroom. It so happened that I and Maximinus bishop of Synita, and then my colleague, were in the neighborhood. Hesperius asked us to visit him, and we did so. When he had related all the circumstances, he begged that the earth might be buried somewhere, and that the spot should be made a place of prayer where Christians might assemble for the worship of God. We made no objection: it was done as he desired. There was in that neighborhood a young countryman who was paralytic, who, when he heard of this, begged his parents to take him without delay to that holy place. When he had been brought there, he prayed, and immediately went away on his own feet perfectly cured. There is a country-seat called Victoriana, less than thirty miles from Hippo-regius. At it there is a monument to the Milanese martyrs, Protasius and Gervasius. Thither a young man was carried, who, when he was watering his horse one summer day at noon in a pool of a river, had been taken possession of by a devil. As he lay at the monument, near death, or even quite like a dead person, the lady of the manor, with her maids and religious attendants, entered the place for evening prayer and praise, as her custom was, and they began to sing hymns. At this sound the young man, as if electrified, was thoroughly aroused, and with frightful screaming seized the altar, and held it as if he did not dare or were not able to let it go, and as if he were fixed or tied to it; and the devil in him, with loud lamentation, besought that he might be spared, and confessed where and when and how he took possession of the youth. At last, declaring that he would go out of him, he named one by one the parts of his body which he threatened to mutilate as he went out and with these words he departed from the man. But his eye, falling out on his cheek, hung by a slender vein as by a root, and the whole of the pupil which had been black became white. When this was witnessed by those present (others too had now gathered to his cries, and had all joined in prayer for him), although they were delighted that he had recovered his sanity of mind, yet, on the other hand, they were grieved about his eye, and said he should seek medical advice. But his sister's husband, who had brought him there, said, God, who has banished the devil, is able to restore his eye at the prayers of His saints. Therewith he replaced the eye that was fallen out and hanging, and bound it in its place with his handkerchief as well as he could, and advised him not to loose the bandage for seven days. When he did so, he found it quite healthy. Others also were cured there, but of them it were tedious to speak. I know that a young woman of Hippo was immediately dispossessed of a devil, on anointing herself with oil, mixed with the tears of the prebsyter who had been praying for her. I know also that a bishop once prayed for a demoniac young man whom he never saw, and that he was cured on the spot. There was a fellow-townsman of ours at Hippo, Florentius, an old man, religious and poor, who supported himself as a tailor. Having lost his coat, and not having means to buy another, he prayed to the Twenty Martyrs, who have a very celebrated memorial shrine in our town, begging in a distinct voice that he might be clothed. Some scoffing young men, who happened to be present, heard him, and followed him with their sarcasm as he went away, as if he had asked the martyrs for fifty pence to buy a coat. But he, walking on in silence, saw on the shore a great fish, gasping as if just cast up, and having secured it with the good-natured assistance of the youths, he sold it for curing to a cook of the name of Catosus, a good Christian man, telling him how he had come by it, and receiving for it three hundred pence, which he laid out in wool, that his wife might exercise her skill upon, and make into a coat for him. But, on cutting up the fish, the cook found a gold ring in its belly; and immediately, moved with compassion, and influenced, too, by religious fear, gave it up to the man, saying, See how the Twenty Martyrs have clothed you. When the bishop Projectus was bringing the relics of the most glorious martyr Stephen to the waters of Tibilis, a great concourse of people came to meet him at the shrine. There a blind woman entreated that she might be led to the bishop who was carrying the relics. He gave her the flowers he was carrying. She took them, applied them to her eyes, and immediately saw. Those who were present were astounded, while she, with every expression of joy, preceded them, pursuing her way without further need of a guide. Lucillus bishop of Sinita, in the neighborhood of the colonial town of Hippo, was carrying in procession some relics of the same martyr, which had been deposited in the castle of Sinita. A fistula under which he had long labored, and which his private physician was watching an opportunity to cut, was suddenly cured by the mere carrying of that sacred fardel, - at least, afterwards there was no trace of it in his body. Eucharius, a Spanish priest, residing at Calama, was for a long time a sufferer from stone. By the relics of the same martyr, which the bishop Possidius brought him, he was cured. Afterwards the same priest, sinking under another disease, was lying dead, and already they were binding his hands. By the succor of the same martyr he was raised to life, the priest's cloak having been brought from the oratory and laid upon the corpse. There was there an old nobleman named Martial, who had a great aversion to the Christian religion, but whose daughter was a Christian, while her husband had been baptized that same year. When he was ill, they besought him with tears and prayers to become a Christian, but he positively refused, and dismissed them from his presence in a storm of indignation. It occurred to the son-in-law to go to the oratory of St. Stephen, and there pray for him with all earnestness that God might give him a right mind, so that he should not delay believing in Christ. This he did with great groaning and tears, and the burning fervor of sincere piety; then, as he left the place, he took some of the flowers that were lying there, and, as it was already night, laid them by his father's head, who so slept. And lo! Before dawn, he cries out for some one to run for the bishop; but he happened at that time to be with me at Hippo. So when he had heard that he was from home, he asked the presbyters to come. They came. To the joy and amazement of all, he declared that he believed, and he was baptized. As long as he remained in life, these words were ever on his lips: Christ, receive my spirit, though he was not aware that these were the last words of the most blessed Stephen when he was stoned by the Jews. They were his last words also, for not long after he himself also gave up the ghost. There, too, by the same martyr, two men, one a citizen, the other a stranger, were cured of gout; but while the citizen was absolutely cured, the stranger was only informed what he should apply when the pain returned; and when he followed this advice, the pain was at once relieved. Audurus is the name of an estate, where there is a church that contains a memorial shrine of the martyr Stephen. It happened that, as a little boy was playing in the court, the oxen drawing a wagon went out of the track and crushed him with the wheel, so that immediately he seemed at his last gasp. His mother snatched him up, and laid him at the shrine, and not only did he revive, but also appeared uninjured. A religious female, who lived at Caspalium, a neighboring estate, when she was so ill as to be despaired of, had her dress brought to this shrine, but before it was brought back she had gone. However, her parents wrapped her corpse in the dress, and, her breath returning, she became quite well. At Hippo a Syrian called Bassus was praying at the relics of the same martyr for his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He too had brought her dress with him to the shrine. But as he prayed, behold, his servants ran from the house to tell him she was dead. His friends, however, intercepted them, and forbade them to tell him, lest he should bewail her in public. And when he had returned to his house, which was already ringing with the lamentations of his family, and had thrown on his daughter's body the dress he was carrying, she was restored to life. There, too, the son of a man, Iren us, one of our tax-gatherers, took ill and died. And while his body was lying lifeless, and the last rites were being prepared, amidst the weeping and mourning of all, one of the friends who were consoling the father suggested that the body should be anointed with the oil of the same martyr. It was done, and he revived. Likewise Eleusinus, a man of tribunitian rank among us, laid his infant son, who had died, on the shrine of the martyr, which is in the suburb where he lived, and, after prayer, which he poured out there with many tears, he took up his child alive. What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work, that I cannot record all the miracles I know; and doubtless several of our adherents, when they read what I have narrated, will regret that I have omitted so many which they, as well as I, certainly know. Even now I beg these persons to excuse me, and to consider how long it would take me to relate all those miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me to omit. For were I to be silent of all others, and to record exclusively the miracles of healing which were wrought in the district of Calama and of Hippo by means of this martyr- I mean the most glorious Stephen - they would fill many volumes; and yet all even of these could not be collected, but only those of which narratives have been written for public recital. For when I saw, in our own times, frequent signs of the presence of divine powers similar to those which had been given of old, I desired that narratives might be written, judging that the multitude should not remain ignorant of these things. It is not yet two years since these relics were first brought to Hippo-regius, and though many of the miracles which have been wrought by it have not, as I have the most certain means of knowing, been recorded, those which have been published amount to almost seventy at the hour at which I write. But at Calama, where these relics have been for a longer time, and where more of the miracles were narrated for public information, there are incomparably more. At Uzali, too, a colony near Utica, many signal miracles were, to my knowledge, wrought by the same martyr, whose relics had found a place there by direction of the bishop Evodius, long before we had them at Hippo. But there the custom of publishing narratives does not obtain, or, I should say, did not obtain, for possibly it may now have been begun. For, when I was there recently, a woman of rank, Petronia, had been miraculously cured of a serious illness of long standing, in which all medical appliances had failed, and, with the consent of the above-named bishop of the place, I exhorted her to publish an account of it that might be read to the people. She most promptly obeyed, and inserted in her narrative a circumstance which I cannot omit to mention, though I am compelled to hasten on to the subjects which this work requires me to treat. She said that she had been persuaded by a Jew to wear next her skin, under all her clothes, a hair girdle, and on this girdle a ring, which, instead of a gem, had a stone which had been found in the kidneys of an ox. Girt with this charm, she was making her way to the threshold of the holy martyr. But, after leaving Carthage, and when she had been lodging in her own demesne on the river Bagrada, and was now rising to continue her journey, she saw her ring lying before her feet. In great surprise she examined the hair girdle, and when she found it bound, as it had been, quite firmly with knots, she conjectured that the ring had been worn through and dropped off; but when she found that the ring was itself also perfectly whole, she presumed that by this great miracle she had received somehow a pledge of her cure, whereupon she untied the girdle, and cast it into the river, and the ring along with it. This is not credited by those who do not believe either that the Lord Jesus Christ came forth from His mother's womb without destroying her virginity, and entered among His disciples when the doors were shut; but let them make strict inquiry into this miracle, and if they find it true, let them believe those others. The lady is of distinction, nobly born, married to a nobleman. She resides at Carthage. The city is distinguished, the person is distinguished, so that they who make inquiries cannot fail to find satisfaction. Certainly the martyr himself, by whose prayers she was healed, believed on the Son of her who remained a virgin; on Him who came in among the disciples when the doors were shut; in fine - and to this tends all that we have been retailing - on Him who ascended into heaven with the flesh in which He had risen; and it is because he laid down his life for this faith that such miracles were done by his means. Even now, therefore, many miracles are wrought, the same God who wrought those we read of still performing them, by whom He will and as He will; but they are not as well known, nor are they beaten into the memory, like gravel, by frequent reading, so that they cannot fall out of mind. For even where, as is now done among ourselves, care is taken that the pamphlets of those who receive benefit be read publicly, yet those who are present hear the narrative but once, and many are absent; and so it comes to pass that even those who are present forget in a few days what they heard, and scarcely one of them can be found who will tell what he heard to one who he knows was not present. One miracle was wrought among ourselves, which, though no greater than those I have mentioned, was yet so signal and conspicuous, that I suppose there is no inhabitant of Hippo who did not either see or hear of it, none who could possibly forget it. There were seven brothers and three sisters of a noble family of the Cappadocian C sarea, who were cursed by their mother, a new-made widow, on account of some wrong they had done her, and which she bitterly resented, and who were visited with so severe a punishment from Heaven, that all of them were seized with a hideous shaking in all their limbs. Unable, while presenting this loathsome appearance, to endure the eyes of their fellow citizens, they wandered over almost the whole Roman world, each following his own direction. Two of them came to Hippo, a brother and a sister, Paulus and Palladia, already known in many other places by the fame of their wretched lot. Now it was about fifteen days before Easter when they came, and they came daily to church, and specially to the relics of the most glorious Stephen, praying that God might now be appeased, and restore their former health. There, and wherever they went, they attracted the attention of every one. Some who had seen them elsewhere, and knew the cause of their trembling, told others as occasion offered. Easter arrived, and on the Lord's day, in the morning, when there was now a large crowd present, and the young man was holding the bars of the holy place where the relics were, and praying, suddenly he fell down, and lay precisely as if asleep, but not trembling as he was wont to do even in sleep. All present were astonished. Some were alarmed, some were moved with pity; and while some were for lifting him up, others prevented them, and said they should rather wait and see what would result. And behold! He rose up, and trembled no more, for he was healed, and stood quite well, scanning those who were scanning him. Who then refrained himself from praising God? The whole church was filled with the voices of those who were shouting and congratulating him. Then they came running to me, where I was sitting ready to come into the church. One after another they throng in, the last comer telling me as news what the first had told me already; and while I rejoiced and inwardly gave God thanks, the young man himself also enters, with a number of others, falls at my knees, is raised up to receive my kiss. We go in to the congregation: the church was full, and ringing with the shouts of joy, Thanks to God! Praised be God! every one joining and shouting on all sides, I have healed the people, and then with still louder voice shouting again. Silence being at last obtained, the customary lessons of the divine Scriptures were read. And when I came to my sermon, I made a few remarks suitable to the occasion and the happy and joyful feeling, not desiring them to listen to me, but rather to consider the eloquence of God in this divine work. The man dined with us, and gave us a careful ac count of his own, his mother's, and his family's calamity. Accordingly, on the following day, after delivering my sermon, I promised that next day I would read his narrative to the people. And when I did so, the third day after Easter Sunday, I made the brother and sister both stand on the steps of the raised place from which I used to speak; and while they stood there their pamphlet was read. The whole congregation, men and women alike, saw the one standing without any unnatural movement, the other trembling in all her limbs; so that those who had not before seen the man himself saw in his sister what the divine compassion had removed from him. In him they saw matter of congratulation, in her subject for prayer. Meanwhile, their pamphlet being finished, I instructed them to withdraw from the gaze of the people; and I had begun to discuss the whole matter somewhat more carefully, when lo! As I was proceeding, other voices are heard from the tomb of the martyr, shouting new congratulations. My audience turned round, and began to run to the tomb. The young woman, when she had come down from the steps where she had been standing, went to pray at the holy relics, and no sooner had she touched the bars than she, in the same way as her brother, collapsed, as if falling asleep, and rose up cured. While, then, we were asking what had happened, and what occasioned this noise of joy, they came into the basilica where we were, leading her from the martyr's tomb in perfect health. Then, indeed, such a shout of wonder rose from men and women together, that the exclamations and the tears seemed like never to come to an end. She was led to the place where she had a little before stood trembling. They now rejoiced that she was like her brother, as before they had mourned that she remained unlike him; and as they had not yet uttered their prayers in her behalf, they perceived that their intention of doing so had been speedily heard. They shouted God's praises without words, but with such a noise that our ears could scarcely bear it. What was there in the hearts of these exultant people but the faith of Christ, for which Stephen had shed his blood? |
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